In God

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

 -Psalm 118:8

Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength
and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

 -Jeremiah 17:5, 7

At times we try to isolate ourselves away from others as if they are contagious to that which would ruin our day.

We hit our car remote 8 times to hear it beep 6 times to make sure we really comprehend that the car is locked.

We live in gated communities; have a sophisticated house alarm system.  We want our world to be sterile so we can live exactly the way we want.

Our technology is so advanced that everything in the world is literally at our finger tips instantly.

We have learned so much about our minds and the workings of the human bodies.  Even freezing bodies to be thawed when a cure for whatever disease they had is discovered.

It’s everything that man has derived that we may trust in ourselves.  Becoming our own God and therefore not needing The God. Many people are buying it too.

However, there will always be at least one experience, event- moment in your life (for many it is their final one) when you, others, technology will fall inadequately short of helping you.

It isn’t just a slight of speech when we utter – Oh my God!  Because deep within us is truth that without God we are nothing – With God we have everything.

Be mindful each day that it is by the grace of God you woke up today.  It is by His hand that keeps you to this very moment.  It should keep us humble and in a continual mindset of thanksgiving.

Develop a habit of confessing God’s goodness.  Your trust will be in Him and in Him alone.

Intentionally, today……and every day…. Acknowledge your God

Be The Example

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.  -2 Chronicles 16:9

Watching Derek Jeter play his last baseball game a few years ago, after 20 Hall of Fame seasons with the Yankees, I reminisced back to a story I had heard about Jeter’s first training camp.  It was the end of the day and he was one of the last players to come off the field.  Yankee captain (A title Jeter would wear for years himself) Don Mattingly jogged alongside him and advised him to jog off the field.  Though it seemed no one was around, Mattingly cautioned him that some young kid could be watching him.

You never know who is watching.

You never know who you are influencing.

Jeter took the advice and added more habits of excellence that help define him as one of the best on and off the field.

God gave him a great gift and how he developed the gift was a testament of the honor he felt to put on the uniform every day.

“God gave me the gift.  It was my responsibility to develop it.” – The late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn

He finished his career as #6 All Time in hits in all of baseball history.  Number 1 in the history of the Yankees.  Because of his commitment to excellence he always ended up making memorable plays.

As great as that all was his integrity and professionalism shined even more. 

He was looked up to, and given much respect, from teammates, rivals and all those in the game.

Even though you don’t have millions of eyes on you it is still the same deal that there are individuals that, you may not be aware of, are watching you.  You are an influence.  Experts say the most introverted person will influence 10,000 persons over a lifetime.

So, are you developing your gifts and applying them to life with integrity and professionalism?

Ultimately, you have an audience of One.

What are you doing with what He has given you?  How is your attitude about it?  How do you receive advice / constructive criticism?

Every day, do excellent in every area of life! Someone is watching.

Intentionally, today……and every day….Live and develop the gift and show gratitude to the GIVER.

Let God Write The Script

looking unto Jesus, the author (Champion) and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  –Hebrews 12:2

“If only there wasn’t that mean guy everything would be alright!” my daughter said as we watched a movie.  I told her that there wouldn’t be a movie if there was not a villain.  There would be no overcoming and victory.  That is what makes the movie a movie.  It’s a story.  You need all the suspense and unknowing that comes all together in the end.

I saw a bumper sticker that read –

I wish Morgan Freeman narrated my life.

Sin has corrupted this world.  There is evil all around trying to sabotage God’s plan for your victory.  Our lives are full of peaks and valleys, triumphs, failures and mistakes.

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. –John 16:33

God’s desire is to narrate your life.  Surrendering it to Him allows Him to put you on the paths that you might not consider on your own.  Paths that He knows will bring difficulty but also the experience of His grace and victory.

Wherever and whatever, right now in your life….surrender.  If you allow God to narrate your life then the responsibility is all on Him.  And He won’t fail.  You will be able to look back and realize God didn’t waste any challenge that faced you to ultimately be for your good. You will see that He kept you from great mistakes and misfortune. To empower, embolden and strengthen your resolve to strive and excel in His power!

Your life is to be a story of God. 

-You being brought to Him through His grace and forgiveness.

-Being carried by Him through trials and tribulations. 

-You discovering His love for you. 

-You uncovering gifts and talents to be used in accordance to His will.

-You experiencing His unfailing love.

Intentionally, today……and every day…. Let God write the script

Decision of Wisdom

Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.  – Ephesians 5:17 

 Act without thinking?

Or

Think without acting?

We can either jump in full bore without checking the depth or water temperature.

Or

We can sit on the side and never dip our toe in the pool.

Lack of wisdom or lack of courage?  Or both?

For myself I am sure it’s a lot of one and some of the other.  But it comes from my natural mind deciding how and what I do dependant on selfishness, self preservation, self satisfying.

We act, or do not act, depending a lot on our experiences, our situations and our mood.  We can easily act on something on how we feel we think the direction something should or shouldn’t go in.

We act impulsive or we can procrastinate and talk ourselves out of something due to how we feel it affects our convenience, agenda, comfort zone.  We might think it won’t make a difference anyway.

And with that we kind of stay right where we are; being, doing, acting, or not acting – always the same.

Seek first His Kingdom, His righteousness; and He will give you all you need.  What will be added?  All that you need wisdom wise to fulfill all the necessities in your life; mind, body and spirit.

An ability to have spiritual discernment to make decisions based on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Ask for wisdom.  Ask for clarity.  Ask God to guide your mind, thinking and your taking action.

Walk circumspectly – Ephesians 5:15

Intentionally, today……and every day…. seek wisdom, take the right action, speak the right words

Add Value by Subtraction

But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.  – 2 Corinthians 11:3

 Cunning – adj. marked by or given to subtlety and deceptiveness to achieve one’s ends. 

He that dies with the most toys wins

Are you adding value to your life?  Or are you just adding.

We think of Satan trying to get us to do bad things.  Which, he does.  However, his ultimate goal is to keep you ineffective for God’s Kingdom, God’s purposes, by keeping you busy.  Keeping you busy with keeping your attention on stuff of this world.

Have we been duped!  We think we are missing out because we don’t have this, or need to be around this person, or need to be doing this or that.   We get caught up on who is and who isn’t liking our Instagram and Facebook pictures or following us on twitter.

There are things, people and activities in our lives that are devaluing our minds, body and spirit.  We add these that entice our flesh at the expense of our wellbeing. 

Sometimes we need to stop and take inventory. At this time in my life do I need this and that? Is this relationship really good for me? What have I unconsciously allowed to take time away from my spouse, children; from time with my God- that I really don’t need, or so much of?  It can even be some very good things; but not at this time. 

Subtraction by addition.

Addition by subtraction.

Sometimes less is more.  We need to have more time away from all the noise that we can receive clarity, peace and understanding for that which completes us and not takes from us; to replenish us.

We are complete when the things, the people, the activities are lead from harmony with God.

What does that look like?  When we give God our first fruits. – Proverbs 3:9

When we give God our first. 

Our first of our time.

 Our seeking God’s will.

Being obedient when God says no- so that we can receive His yes’s.  God knows the things, people and activities that will lead to adding value to your life and in turn those around you.

It is allowing God to prosper us from the inside out.

We add what God would have for us and it will eliminate time for that which we would want that He doesn’t want for us.

Start your day with Him. Seek, ask and knock (Matthew 7:7)

God will give you focus; a clear mindset for that which He would have you have and do. And, also, He will give you wisdom and empowerment for that which you are to ignore and move away from.

There have been things, people and activities that I have thought were all right in and for my life.  They in themselves are fine.  But for specific seasons of life God has said, “No.” 

Do we do what we think or what God commands?

The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy but I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. – John 10:10

Will I add value to my life? Or just add, and corrupt it to feed my flesh desires and affect those in my life?

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind by leaning not on your own understanding but trusting on the Lord with all your heart. 

Intentionally, today……and every day…. add value by subtraction

Time to Make the Donuts

This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!

  -Psalm 118:24

Time to make the Donuts.

Early in the morning, he gets up out of bed. Off to work, again. It’s time to make the donuts. In a comatose-like state he goes about doing the same thing, day after day after day.

But he did it.  And all the DD faithful were the beneficiaries.

Decades later, I still remember that Dunkin Donuts commercial.

Do you sometimes feel like the Dunkin Donut man?  Do you get to a point where you become numb?  Your mere existence feels like this mundane routine that only benefits others?

But you do it.  Why?

Our initial response is – gotta get paid so I can pay the bills!

When we go deeper there is a sense of responsibility.  Not only to our families with a paycheck.  We have people that count on us.  We have people that benefit from what we do.  But, most importantly, to God.  What if every day you saw your life as an offering, a sacrifice, unto the One who gave you your existence and won your salvation?

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.  –Romans 12:1

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

–Colossians 3:17

I believe our life, how we live and feel, would change if we take the focus off of ourselves and onto Him.  Instead of God give me this or that or get me out of this or that; what if we asked God every day what He wanted from us?  What if we saw every day as an opportunity to serve God by serving others?  What if we were so thankful for what we had instead of griping to Him what we don’t?

I believe that changing our perspective and attitude are the single greatest factors in living the abundant life that Jesus desires for us to experience.

God centered, other people focused

Intentionally, today……and every day…. Go make the donuts with a joyful servant heart

Live Truth

The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. – Isaiah 8:11

If you don’t control your mind, someone else will. ~John Allston

So much of what we do isn’t from our nature, but our habits.  And those habits mostly come from what we have been told by culture to do.

Do not wear white after Labor Day and then not until after Easter. (Or is it Memorial Day?!)

We end up herded into uniformity of our culture.

We have notions within that we accept as status quo and we stick within the parameters.  Political correctness.  Don’t rock the boat.

Look at your thumbprint.

Really

Look at your thumbprint.

There are approximately 7 Billion – 7,000,000,000 – people on this planet.  There is not a single person that has that same thumbprint.

You are unique!

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it!

  -Psalm 139:13-14

The conformity of thinking like everyone else is judging ourselves by what we achieve or not.  The culture’s flow of downstream is being content with mediocrity and labeling it status quo.

YOU WERE NOT CREATED FOR STATUS QUO!

You were created to be unique.

You were created to seek God’s purpose for yourself continually.

You were created to strive and persevere through adversity, setbacks and mistakes.

You were created with the most powerful in all of creation – your brain!  We are to continue to challenge and sharpen it.

You were created to walk in the ways of God and not in the ways of man.

You were created for God.  To walk in His ways and to be in relationship with Him.

You were created to listen and trust Him.

We have to step back and pause.  We must evaluate what we do, what we say and what we allow into our mind.  Does it align with what God says.  How do you know?  Read His word, the Bible.  A whole lot of what the world has taught us to conform to is not in line with what your Creator says.

Will you think outside of the box?

We must first see ourselves as God sees us.

I have attached the “Who God says you are” as I have done before.  Put your name in the box and hit enter.  We have to get our mind back to our true identity in order to start living out the uncommon life that God has called us out to do.

 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. – Romans 12:2

Intentionally, today……and every day…. Speak truth in order to live truth

Choose to Empower

Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity we should do good to everyone- especially to those in the family of faith – Galatians 6:10

You have a power within, given by God, to bless those closest to you. And sometimes that is a challenge within our own homes.  It is easy to be critical and negative to those you love the most because you are with them the most.  The power, given by God, is within us to impact our children and our spouses each and every day.

Be mindful today; God gives you the power through words and action to build up, to encourage and lift up those who need it from you the most.

All the time my girls are coming to me to show me something they have received, or have done or doing.  They are looking for approval from their dad. I believe, not only should I give it, but to be conscientious to go out of my way to compliment, encourage and lift them up. 

But I say, love your enemies!  Pray for those who persecute you!

 – Matthew 5:44

If you only love those who love you, what reward is there in that?  Even the tax collectors do that much. – Matthew 5:46

Impacting the world for Christ is living in His mold.  Kill’em with kindness!  It is tough but all things are possible with God.  Impacting others is you having your thermostat set on Christ and being steadfast in being kind, considerate and even yielding to those who aren’t likewise.   That is being strong.  Honor God with your words and actions today.

The power to bless someone is a CHOICE.

Jesus made the choice.  Even as you were His enemy He loved you so much with the action of obedience at the hands of His enemies in order that He may bless you with His amazing grace.

Lift up that you may be lifted up

Intentionally, today……and every day…. choose to empower others

Shark Attack

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. – Hebrews 10:24

The movie Soul Surfer is a true story about a teenage girl, Bethany Hamilton, a competitive surfer who loses her arm from a shark attack.

Bethany, a Christian, struggles with the aftermath of the attack in both her faith and her desire to surf again.  Everyone treats her with kid gloves.  Everyone, that is, except her main rival, Malina.  Malina is so competitive against her that she beats Bethany in her first competition back by going all out.  Later on they pass each other and Bethany thanks her for not going soft on her.  She thanks her for making her work hard to compete, and that Malina didn’t feel sorry for her, but she pushed her.  And that is just what Bethany needed.  She no longer felt sorry for herself.  She wanted to excel and she could only do so if she was being pushed to do so.

Do you shy away from those who challenge you?  Challenge you to push yourself?

Is it easier to side up with those who encourage you to be mediocre by not encouraging you to do more, where you are, with what you have?

Are you the one who affirms someone in their belief of compromising and making excuses because of circumstances/ situations?

Bethany said she didn’t want easier.  She just wanted possible.

We too should encourage and challenge one another to want to strive in what is possible, not what is just easier.

We need to for each other because our culture we live in will not.  Settling for less has become more than just acceptable.

Don’t accept it in yourself or others.

Be mindful during your day in where you can uplift, challenge and encourage someone to be the best them that God desires for them to be.

Don’t begrudge, but thank someone who does the same for you.

Intentionally, today……and every day…. push and pull one another to victorious living

Keep Building!

As Nehemiah and the Israelites began to rebuild the wall their foes came and mocked them. “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing?  Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap- and charred ones at that?!”

Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing besides remarked, “That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!”

And even some of the Jews themselves complained, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be removed.  We will never be able to build the walls by ourselves.” – Nehemiah 4:1-3

From both outside and inside.  Nehemiah had to be just so disheartened.  He must have just wanted to give up.  Feeling hopeless and even probably a little angry.

What in your life are you trying to build?  Is it something all together new? Or is it like the Israelites who are trying to rebuild something that once was and then was destroyed.

Are you hearing the voices?  Both real and imaginative, from inside and out?

Do you ever doubt God?  How about doubting yourself?

God had put this burn in Nehemiah’s heart to rebuild the wall – restore Jerusalem.  Was he mistaken?  Where was God in all of this?  Am I wasting time?  Is this just a pipe dream; foolishness?

NO, Right there, NO and NO

If God has put it in your heart/ and is aligned with His Truth – trust God and keep building.

Don’t let the enemy kill it.  He only has the power to if you let him.

Trust that God sees you and hears your petitions. 

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen  – Hebrews 11:1

It’s impossible to please God without faith.  For anyone that goes to Him must believe that He Is, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him – Hebrews 11:6

I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me – Philippians 4:13

“Not by your power, and not by your might, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of Heavens armies. – Zechariah 4:6

To the voices and naysayers, and especially to yourself – speak out loud those 2 scriptures continuously.  Speak Truth.  Believe it.  Live it.

Show your faith by your works – faith without works is dead – James 2:17

Intentionally, today……and every day…. keep building!