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This is the claim and celebration of Easter, yet there are still so many who do not accept this amazing love story. Do you ever wonder why? I’m sure you can add to the list, but here are a few suggestions:
But what if it’s true? What if it’s really the Creator’s plan? There are significant implications! Experts say the earth weighs approximately 6,000 million, million, million tons; and right now it’s suspended in space, spinning on its own axis while rotating around the sun and at the same time the moon is revolving around it. This is only a small part of The Universe, everything is so perfectly designed; it amazes the most brilliant minds. And yet God spoke it all into being; and He holds it in the palm of His hands. He is an amazing being, way bigger than I can understand.
Long before He made the earth He was thinking of us… in fact He made all of it for us. He decided to love us before we were conceived, regardless of how we perform. For comparison think of an expecting parent who has love for their child before birth, God has love for us before He made the earth. Huh? He demonstrated His love for us and made the way for us to love Him through Jesus Christ. His life has been well documented, a review of history would reveal that it is impossible for this story to be concocted. His divine virgin birth, His on-purpose life, sacrificial death and miraculous resurrection witnessed by many, brings about the forgiveness of sins and opens the door for us to have intimate relationship with Him forever.
It’s His story not ours… it’s His plan, not ours! I write this not to convert you, though I am a believer and hope that you will become a believer yourself, that is a choice that you have to make. While my circumstances are not the same as yours, I write this as one who had the same choice to make and having made it, and found it to be true, I want to share my positive experience with you. He is real. This story is true. Jesus really loves you! He can be trusted, just look at the cross to see how much He believes in and loves you… Exercise a little faith, it’s worth it! Make no mistake, I will let you down, and I will let Him down, and chances are you will do the same. But He will not let us down. He loves us. The proof is in His Son. What do you think? “The gap between knowing and doing is significantly greater than the gap between ignorance and knowledge.” John Maxwell Most of us already know what to do… without a doubt there is still much to learn. I am not suggesting that we know all that we need to, however if we did half of what we knew to do, our lives would be so much more meaningful. We know what it takes to get and remain in shape don’t we? We know what it takes to love our spouse, don’t we? We know what it takes to be successful Networkers, don’t we? If you are a bible believing person of faith, we know what the word says, don’t we? Are we doing what it says? We know what it takes to ______________________________ so why aren’t we? I have to remind myself regularly and encourage you to consider the eleventh commandment: “Thou shall not kid thyself.” Yes, let’s clarify what we value and what we want to accomplish, write it down, and learn to articulate it well. Include personal growth as one of your ongoing goals. Formulate a plan of action and make it your priority to review, restate and act on your plan daily. Then just do it! We get distracted. Life happens, and we get off track… and that contributes to making the gap even greater. How do we reduce the impact of our distractions? And how do we get back on track? We make it a habit of reviewing, restating and acting on our priorities daily. Daily is the key! Set a time and place and do it everyday. This is so simple (yet not easy) that we underestimate the ramifications of it and allow ourselves to miss one day, then the next and the next and before you know it we are completely off track and discouraged and wondering how and why this happened. Success doesn’t jump up and grab you; it requires your daily focused attention. As you review, celebrate your victories, learn from your mistakes, make the necessary adjustments and just do it! Let’s shorten the gap, one day at a time. You can do it. I believe in you! I was inspired to write this after reading a great post from Seth Godin. I found myself confirming the validity and significance of what he wrote, yet also the opportunity for improvement in my life. Here is an excerpt from the article,
If this is true and I believe it is, what should we do about the two major stumbling blocks to greatness?
The answer: Keep the right perspective.
This perspective provides the motivation necessary for us to rise above the fear, to get back up after we fail, learn from it and move on. We must do our best to clarify, review and renew our commitment to that purpose. When the purpose is more important than our fears and when we realize that accomplishing it requires us to courageously face our fears and fail over and over and over again, we will welcome those fears and failures. Learn from it but do not get discouraged because of it. Keep swinging the bat, making the call, serving others, doing the research, writing, reading, making the speech. Keep kicking, shooting, throwing, hitting or catching the ball… keep trying, keep learning, keep getting back up, do not be discouraged. Every time you fail you are one step closer to winning! One step closer. It’s just as important for us to instill this perspective into our children and those we influence. Be an encourager. Discipline your children and those you love as you must, but do not discourage them. Do not make their mistake seem so big that they fear failing, more than they want to try again and again. Practice the art of helping them to learn from their mistakes while encouraging them to be resilient and to retain the conviction that their existence holds a purpose and to be bold and courageous in the pursuit of it. The point is, greatness comes through failure. Go fail yourself to greatness while encouraging and inspiring others to do the same! By Faith Implies:
The more we act by faith… the more by faith, we will act. Yet what we do by faith is tested and challenged daily. What are you doing… how are you living by faith? I encourage and challenge you to make a list (and keep it near) of the things you are doing by faith. If you would like to share something on your list, please do so, we would love to hear. Lead yourself first. Be your best follower… Here are three key areas to master:
Then confidently say, “follow me…” Have you ever thought that some day you are going to be faced with and overcome some great challenge and be the hero? I have… maybe I would be seriously injured in a major accident or develop a serious illness or disease or something like that. It would be my opportunity to be the hero and display my strong faith, positive attitude and perseverance. People would look to me and say, wow! Surely if he can pull through that, then I too can overcome any challenge. I dream of one day becoming such a great success, that family, friends, co-workers, business associates and others in the community will be proud of and want to follow me. I would be their example and hero. While praying the other day I suddenly became aware of something. In the midst of the struggles that we now face, with income dropping significantly over the past three years and having to make some tough business decisions, trying to position the company to not just be around but to improve our impact in the community. And to live out our vision: Together we achieve, protect and strengthen the world. I suddenly realized that today is that some day. While I have not had any serious injury, disease or illness today I do have the opportunity to display my faith and positive attitude and the opportunity to persevere. If I cannot display these characteristics now, how will I, in the midst of some real struggle. Not to minimize our struggles, but I am sure you will agree, if it’s a financial struggle we can overcome it… the truth is there is hope in all circumstances. Especially for those who believe in God and His promises to renew our strength and always be with us. It’s how we approach it that counts. Be the hero, do the right thing today. Display the right attitude today. Dream big today. Expect to and overcome whatever it is you are faced with today. You will succeed and people will be proud of and want to follow you. You can do it… today!
What does this mean? Paul, one of the great leaders of the early church described it this way:
Whether we are talking about the human body or a corporate body, a husband and wife team or the body of Christ Followers, or any other team, one thing holds true: There is power in unity. We are most effective when we are together or one in spirit. There are many articles, books, blogs and speeches covering this subject, yet most teams/organizations don’t have it. Why is that? I believe, our selfishness is at the root of the problem. Here are a few suggestions:
Celebrate and share your victories.
As Erwin Raphael McManus says, “Together is the solution.” On a recent trip to Cuiaba, Brazil I was given the opportunity to share a few thoughts with the Comec Leadership an organization of 200 or more pastors and leaders from different denominations. We were worshipping the Lord in song prior to the general session. Sitting beside me was my translator, Nayla. She is a pre-law student who loves the Lord so deeply. Nayla whispered that she would like to stand in an act of worship, but was hesitant because others were sitting. I agreed, and without lingering on the thought, “What if”, we both stood. Worshipping the Lord with eyes closed, arms raised and our hearts on Him, we realized in just a few minutes that almost everyone else was standing in worship as well. It was encouraging for me to see that this one small act of love; honor and worship helped and encouraged others. We were leaders that day without even saying a word. It reminded me of a simple truth that I came across in the highly recommended book, Tribes, by Seth Godin. “The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.” What do you believe in? What picture are you painting? Where are you going? Over two thousand years ago, King David the King of Israel wrote, “ Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
The word heart is used to describe the starting place or the center (the core) of your thoughts, beliefs, values, motives and convictions. Guard this more than anything else, because from here your life’s meaning, purpose and fulfillment flow. Who or what is at the heart of your life? As we connect on this blog site, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you, who and what is at the heart of my life. Here are a few thoughts: There is a God. He created the heavens and the earth, He created you and me and He loves us more than we can understand. The core desire of His heart is to have a meaningful relationship with us. He has revealed himself and made provision for this relationship through Jesus Christ. The whole world was designed as a stage for this relationship, so the more we cultivate it and align ourselves with God and His way of thinking, the more we align ourselves with the way things work in the world. Following God’s principles for your finances tends to lead to better financial success. Knowing His ideas about relationships will help your family. The same is true in the workplace, in the neighborhood…wherever you go. It all goes back to the cornerstone relationship~~~you and God. I remember as a teenager searching for the truth, one night we were standing out on the street corner in front of my friend’s house, looking up into the star filled sky, I said a simple prayer: Surely God if you are real and you have made all of this, then you must have the capability of revealing yourself and the truth to me. I don’t need to know and understand it all, however you should be able to reveal enough for me to know without any doubt that it is you. Please reveal yourself to me. And He has…and He does… Who or what is at the heart of your life? Post a comment below. Recently I’ve been encouraging others to, “bring it.” And I would like to encourage you to step up to the plate, gut it up, and volunteer your potential. On what basis?
When we bring our full potential, we all win. Together we strengthen the world. We need you! |
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Copyright © 2010 Robin Lewis - All Rights Reserved |
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