“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”
― Denis Waitley
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
From Day To Day
I was visiting a church out of town last Sunday which played/sang "The Blood" and I was struck by the words in the beautiful timeless hymn... "The Blood that gives me strength from day to day, will never lose it's power." I began to reflect upon all the countless desperate times I have pleaded the blood over a situation and how I needed the power in that blood to sweep over the situation to cleanse and heal. In the "big" times I need God to apply His blood covering to my needs. I began to wonder, Is there anything big or little in God's eye?
It bodes the age old biblical question found in Jeremiah 32: 27 "Is there anything too hard for God?" No... of course not, as He stated, He is the Lord God and creator of all mankind. His power is not less or more in any given situation. It just is. When I am weak, His power is strong. When I am strong, His power is strong. The weakness is only found in me, in the humanity that embraces me. That is why I must daily seek His power. When I am capable and when I am not capable, His power is the same. From day to day, any situation I face, He is there beside me offering His power. Whether that power is giving me strength to face a "No." or propelling me forward into His blessings, it is constant, faithful and working its work in and for me.
I am often approached by people who request my prayer for situations in their life. I count it a privilege that they have faith in me, but I sometimes wonder if its easier to run to the phone and ask someone else to pray than it is to fall on my face and get the answers I need first hand and on a personal level. Of course there are situations that require strength of many to bind together in prayer and I am always ready and willing. But don't ever let the ease of asking someone else to pray, cheat you out of the strength God wants to give you in prayer. There is no greater time in your walk with God than when you seek His face and His power. Time with your creator, the Lover of your soul is the only place you can truly experience power. Don't be too quick to run ask someone else for prayer. Have more faith in the God who will be right there to answer, more so than the person you ask to pray for you. You be the conduit! You be the one who can run to God and get His attention! There is nothing that can make you feel strong in the Lord except for time with Him. If you are feeling weak spiritually it is most likely because you have not been in prayer ... from day to day! Just as an automobile needs gas, just as a plant needs water, just as you need food, your spiritual being must have time in prayer. It is the ONLY thing that will make you strong in the Lord and in the power of His MIGHT! Philippians 4:6 says "...but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.... then verse 9 says ... these things... DO!
In other words just DO it! Pray, think on the things of God... whatsoever things are pure... holy... of good report... if there be any virtue (strength)... just do it! I Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing. Has there been a pause in your prayer life? Are you feeling very weak? Have you lost the faith? Run to the Father, your creator. He has every answer you need. Whether its in His Word, or on your knees, the answer is available to you because of His blood. He loves you so very much and is just waiting to spend time with you to renew your strength as His blood to cleanses you and frees your heart and mind. That same blood reaches to the highest mountain and flows to the lowest valley, and is reaching for you and wanting to flow through you. Go to the one from the blood so freely was made to flow. There is POWER in that blood of the spotless lamb. Oh Lamb of God, thank you for being there for me from day to day!
It bodes the age old biblical question found in Jeremiah 32: 27 "Is there anything too hard for God?" No... of course not, as He stated, He is the Lord God and creator of all mankind. His power is not less or more in any given situation. It just is. When I am weak, His power is strong. When I am strong, His power is strong. The weakness is only found in me, in the humanity that embraces me. That is why I must daily seek His power. When I am capable and when I am not capable, His power is the same. From day to day, any situation I face, He is there beside me offering His power. Whether that power is giving me strength to face a "No." or propelling me forward into His blessings, it is constant, faithful and working its work in and for me.
I am often approached by people who request my prayer for situations in their life. I count it a privilege that they have faith in me, but I sometimes wonder if its easier to run to the phone and ask someone else to pray than it is to fall on my face and get the answers I need first hand and on a personal level. Of course there are situations that require strength of many to bind together in prayer and I am always ready and willing. But don't ever let the ease of asking someone else to pray, cheat you out of the strength God wants to give you in prayer. There is no greater time in your walk with God than when you seek His face and His power. Time with your creator, the Lover of your soul is the only place you can truly experience power. Don't be too quick to run ask someone else for prayer. Have more faith in the God who will be right there to answer, more so than the person you ask to pray for you. You be the conduit! You be the one who can run to God and get His attention! There is nothing that can make you feel strong in the Lord except for time with Him. If you are feeling weak spiritually it is most likely because you have not been in prayer ... from day to day! Just as an automobile needs gas, just as a plant needs water, just as you need food, your spiritual being must have time in prayer. It is the ONLY thing that will make you strong in the Lord and in the power of His MIGHT! Philippians 4:6 says "...but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.... then verse 9 says ... these things... DO!
In other words just DO it! Pray, think on the things of God... whatsoever things are pure... holy... of good report... if there be any virtue (strength)... just do it! I Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing. Has there been a pause in your prayer life? Are you feeling very weak? Have you lost the faith? Run to the Father, your creator. He has every answer you need. Whether its in His Word, or on your knees, the answer is available to you because of His blood. He loves you so very much and is just waiting to spend time with you to renew your strength as His blood to cleanses you and frees your heart and mind. That same blood reaches to the highest mountain and flows to the lowest valley, and is reaching for you and wanting to flow through you. Go to the one from the blood so freely was made to flow. There is POWER in that blood of the spotless lamb. Oh Lamb of God, thank you for being there for me from day to day!
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Falling Down. Getting up.
You Can!
... be a success story, no matter how far below the surface of overcoming you find yourself.
How I feel about myself is directly related to how successful I am to become.
Many times we have to fix how we feel about ourselves before we can go forward. You must have faith in yourself before you can expect anyone else to. Often we wait for the cheers, for the encouraging word to come from others before we take a step forward. We have fallen and we can't get up. In order for success to come, we must change our thinking. People follow after those who are confident. If you want encouragement, people on your team, cheerleaders, you need to have some measure of confidence in yourself. There is nothing worse than trying to give encouragement to someone who absolutely will not accept it. You must be in a place to accept encouragement when it comes, or you will shrug it off as not applying to your impossible situation. What is keeping you from being assured that you are still worthy of being lifted out of the place you have fallen? Do you feel you are not worthy of success? No one is worthy of anything compared to Calvary. No one is deserving of blessing. It is by His mercy that we can achieve anything. Are you afraid of failing before you even begin? Is there a bit of pride holding you back? In order to succeed you need failure. I would say that failure is the best starting line. What are you allowing to hold you back from being all that God intends for you? Is it your past? If you are unable or unwilling to exercise faith in yourself because of the past, then it has not truly passed. Whatever you are holding on to from yesterday's failure is the same thing that is keeping you from moving forward into today's success. Let go of yesterday and step up to the starting line for your dream, for your successful future.
Easier said than done you say? How do I even begin?
I am no philosophical guru, but, for me a few necessary steps need to be taken. I do these things while in prayer because that is when my mind is focused and I am at my most honest state of humility.
1. Acknowledge the failure of the past. Pray through it... allow the tears of regret to flow and wash
you clean. Become washed in the blood of the Lamb.
2. Look honestly at the facts of how your situation affected you, how it stopped you.
3. Examine what you could have done differently. Apologize to yourself for your fault. Apologize to
others, if they were affected. Take on the garment of sincere humility.
4. Forgive yourself.
5. Let GO! You cannot ever move forward until you do this. Don't let it define you!!!!!
6. Now take a step forward into your dream, into your calling. This must be an active move on your
part. Do something that will propel you into that new beginning. If at first you don't succeed... try
try again! I assure you that God will be with you every step of the way and you will find strength
you never thought you could have. I have been in the pit.
Each step forward that you take is one step further from the failures of yesterday. You cannot afford to let a failure be your defining moment. Once you have forgiven yourself and followed these steps, do not revisit the past. You will never forget it of course, but you never have to go back to that level of low. Don't allow yourself to ever be brought back to that pit from which you dug yourself out of.
Let the lessons learned be a point of motivation to propel you in a positive direction.
We cannot afford to allow the feelings of inferiority to be a gauge of how deserving we are to fulfill Gods calling for our life. He knows you, yet still He called you! He knows your past, present, and future and still He calls. Answer the call. He is still wanting to use you for His intended purpose, even in your ashes, even in your failure. Don't let it consume you. It is because of God's mercies that we are not consumed. We ALL have fallen and come short of the Glory of God. Some of our situations are more prevalent than others and less easily overcome. However, the pits are all just as dark and consuming. Whatever pit you find yourself in, His mercies are there, waiting for you to grab hold of and allow yourself to be pulled into a blessed future. You must succeed. There really is no other choice. He is calling. Pull yourself up.
... be a success story, no matter how far below the surface of overcoming you find yourself.
How I feel about myself is directly related to how successful I am to become.
Many times we have to fix how we feel about ourselves before we can go forward. You must have faith in yourself before you can expect anyone else to. Often we wait for the cheers, for the encouraging word to come from others before we take a step forward. We have fallen and we can't get up. In order for success to come, we must change our thinking. People follow after those who are confident. If you want encouragement, people on your team, cheerleaders, you need to have some measure of confidence in yourself. There is nothing worse than trying to give encouragement to someone who absolutely will not accept it. You must be in a place to accept encouragement when it comes, or you will shrug it off as not applying to your impossible situation. What is keeping you from being assured that you are still worthy of being lifted out of the place you have fallen? Do you feel you are not worthy of success? No one is worthy of anything compared to Calvary. No one is deserving of blessing. It is by His mercy that we can achieve anything. Are you afraid of failing before you even begin? Is there a bit of pride holding you back? In order to succeed you need failure. I would say that failure is the best starting line. What are you allowing to hold you back from being all that God intends for you? Is it your past? If you are unable or unwilling to exercise faith in yourself because of the past, then it has not truly passed. Whatever you are holding on to from yesterday's failure is the same thing that is keeping you from moving forward into today's success. Let go of yesterday and step up to the starting line for your dream, for your successful future.
Easier said than done you say? How do I even begin?
I am no philosophical guru, but, for me a few necessary steps need to be taken. I do these things while in prayer because that is when my mind is focused and I am at my most honest state of humility.
1. Acknowledge the failure of the past. Pray through it... allow the tears of regret to flow and wash
you clean. Become washed in the blood of the Lamb.
2. Look honestly at the facts of how your situation affected you, how it stopped you.
3. Examine what you could have done differently. Apologize to yourself for your fault. Apologize to
others, if they were affected. Take on the garment of sincere humility.
4. Forgive yourself.
5. Let GO! You cannot ever move forward until you do this. Don't let it define you!!!!!
6. Now take a step forward into your dream, into your calling. This must be an active move on your
part. Do something that will propel you into that new beginning. If at first you don't succeed... try
try again! I assure you that God will be with you every step of the way and you will find strength
you never thought you could have. I have been in the pit.
Each step forward that you take is one step further from the failures of yesterday. You cannot afford to let a failure be your defining moment. Once you have forgiven yourself and followed these steps, do not revisit the past. You will never forget it of course, but you never have to go back to that level of low. Don't allow yourself to ever be brought back to that pit from which you dug yourself out of.
Let the lessons learned be a point of motivation to propel you in a positive direction.
We cannot afford to allow the feelings of inferiority to be a gauge of how deserving we are to fulfill Gods calling for our life. He knows you, yet still He called you! He knows your past, present, and future and still He calls. Answer the call. He is still wanting to use you for His intended purpose, even in your ashes, even in your failure. Don't let it consume you. It is because of God's mercies that we are not consumed. We ALL have fallen and come short of the Glory of God. Some of our situations are more prevalent than others and less easily overcome. However, the pits are all just as dark and consuming. Whatever pit you find yourself in, His mercies are there, waiting for you to grab hold of and allow yourself to be pulled into a blessed future. You must succeed. There really is no other choice. He is calling. Pull yourself up.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
A Lesson From The Price of the Calling.
It's impossible. I can't. The criticism was too great. The haters hate too heavily. They said I was fake. They laughed at me. Talked among themselves. My accusers were many. The onslaught wouldn't stop. I am not capable. It's not important. It wasn't effective. Who am I kidding? I thought I could fight it and win... I can't. I thought I was secure and confident enough to handle it. I wasn't. I won't.
These are just a few of the many voices I have listened to for approximately two years. Now God is doing more than calling me... He is pushing me...compelling me with an irresistible strength and I am feeling the force of that push. I must continue in this. I have allowed myself to wallow in the "I Can't" long enough. I can't even begin to tell you the path my mind has taken to try and push this aside. It just won't go away. So here I am, two years later, beginning again and continuing this blog. I can!... and I will. What more criticism could come my way? I have faced it, stared it down and let it pause me, but I refuse to let it stop me. There have been hurdles, some of which I didn't clear, but I can't lay down what God has commanded me to pick up. I don't want to leave behind an unfinished task. Ironic that I can come out so boldly against something that has the power to stop me from doing the very thing that is my God-calling. It is often said that nothing has power over you that you don't allow. I understand that statement in theory, but criticism does have power on its own. Words hurt and kill. No one is exempt from being affected. The pause button was definitely pushed but I have found the power to punch it back on! The punch was a forceful one with a "TAKE THAT" behind it!
The experiences I have been privileged to have the opportunity and time to overcome have taught me so much about myself, but I am now thankful for the criticism and the accusation. I may have fallen from the call but I still hear it. God was not stopped by the criticism. His power in me was in no way diminished. I personally chose to stop. With that acknowledgement, I now know that I have the power to persevere and I can get back up and stand in the face of adversity, even though I may stumble and actually fall. While I didn't fall into sin, I did choose to turn aside from the calling placed upon my life. I didn't walk away from it, but I took awhile getting back up.
Never think for an instant there won't be a price to pay if you acknowledge a call. Know that it will be worth the price and you will not be forsaken in the journey up the hill as you take up your cross. The journey has been long and wearisome but God walked beside me. I knew the moment the attack became personal that I was on to something big. What I didn't know, was that in the midnight hour, when I was at my weakest, more assault would come. I didn't know the voices wouldn't stop. I did not understand that I would not be protected from an onslaught of proportions beyond what I knew how to overcome. I have sat and been silent and contemplated and learned a most expensive lesson.
For the next few posts I will attempt to share what I have learned. There will be a price to pay when you say I CAN! There will be a voice that tells you "YOU CAN'T". You will be given time to decide if you want to continue paying the price. You will be given the power to overcome. There will be scars, there will be relationships lost. There will be broken trust. There will be heart-pain beyond which you think you can endure. But in the end you will know every aspect of Philippians 4:13. You will know how to be abased and how to abound. You will understand how to be full and hungry at the same time. You will abound as you suffer need. You will survive. You will come to know a resounding voice that says, "I am still calling you to what I have given you strength to do."
Two years later, Lesson Learned! "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."
These are just a few of the many voices I have listened to for approximately two years. Now God is doing more than calling me... He is pushing me...compelling me with an irresistible strength and I am feeling the force of that push. I must continue in this. I have allowed myself to wallow in the "I Can't" long enough. I can't even begin to tell you the path my mind has taken to try and push this aside. It just won't go away. So here I am, two years later, beginning again and continuing this blog. I can!... and I will. What more criticism could come my way? I have faced it, stared it down and let it pause me, but I refuse to let it stop me. There have been hurdles, some of which I didn't clear, but I can't lay down what God has commanded me to pick up. I don't want to leave behind an unfinished task. Ironic that I can come out so boldly against something that has the power to stop me from doing the very thing that is my God-calling. It is often said that nothing has power over you that you don't allow. I understand that statement in theory, but criticism does have power on its own. Words hurt and kill. No one is exempt from being affected. The pause button was definitely pushed but I have found the power to punch it back on! The punch was a forceful one with a "TAKE THAT" behind it!
The experiences I have been privileged to have the opportunity and time to overcome have taught me so much about myself, but I am now thankful for the criticism and the accusation. I may have fallen from the call but I still hear it. God was not stopped by the criticism. His power in me was in no way diminished. I personally chose to stop. With that acknowledgement, I now know that I have the power to persevere and I can get back up and stand in the face of adversity, even though I may stumble and actually fall. While I didn't fall into sin, I did choose to turn aside from the calling placed upon my life. I didn't walk away from it, but I took awhile getting back up.
Never think for an instant there won't be a price to pay if you acknowledge a call. Know that it will be worth the price and you will not be forsaken in the journey up the hill as you take up your cross. The journey has been long and wearisome but God walked beside me. I knew the moment the attack became personal that I was on to something big. What I didn't know, was that in the midnight hour, when I was at my weakest, more assault would come. I didn't know the voices wouldn't stop. I did not understand that I would not be protected from an onslaught of proportions beyond what I knew how to overcome. I have sat and been silent and contemplated and learned a most expensive lesson.
For the next few posts I will attempt to share what I have learned. There will be a price to pay when you say I CAN! There will be a voice that tells you "YOU CAN'T". You will be given time to decide if you want to continue paying the price. You will be given the power to overcome. There will be scars, there will be relationships lost. There will be broken trust. There will be heart-pain beyond which you think you can endure. But in the end you will know every aspect of Philippians 4:13. You will know how to be abased and how to abound. You will understand how to be full and hungry at the same time. You will abound as you suffer need. You will survive. You will come to know a resounding voice that says, "I am still calling you to what I have given you strength to do."
Two years later, Lesson Learned! "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."
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