Motivation

Stop for a moment and think about something that you really enjoy doing. For me, I enjoy coaching sports... Baseball, softball, or basketball mostly. I enjoy teaching kids the proper technique and fundamentals, along with seeing them improve throughout the course of the season. I learn a great deal from the experiences and it motivates me to continue.

Have you ever stopped to wonder what motivated God to send his only son, Jesus into the world? It would have been so easy to give up on the filthy sinful world... but He never has. As John 3:16 so blatently puts it...

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

If you really stop and think about this statement for a moment... I don't know about you, but this blows me away. God loves us so much that He was motivated to go as far as sending Jesus to help save us. That's how far gone we were. There was no other lever to pull. Jesus had to come down to provide us with the opportunity to save ourselves. That's right... for us to save ourselves. I say this because God doesn't send us to Hell, He gives us the path to Heaven. He respects our free will and we, by our choices, beliefs, and motivations send ourselves to Heaven or Hell. Of course, God has the final say in everything, but my point is we can either be motivated to propel our ourselves (and the people we interact with on a daily basis) on the path to Heaven or toward the path to Hell.

What is your motivation?

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

Simplicity

Have you ever stopped to think why we make bad choices? Is it that we are just caught in the moment, is it deliberate, or even premeditated? In any case, I believe that self discipline is a critical safety net that we can use in any of those three scenarios.  Lately, I've been trying to focus on simplicity.  I've found that over complicating a problem tends to make it harder to solve. When caught in a moral dilemma, I try to reflect on one basic principle:

"What is the right thing to do?"

Taking this principle one step further... I would ask myself, "do I think (what I'm about to do) would be pleasing in the eyes of God?"

If the answer is "no," the appropriate choice is to cease and desist the course of action.  Small wins of resistance will increase self confidence, resiliency, and discipline.

You can read this short passage in Ephesians 6:10-18  "The Armor of God" to hear what the Bible says.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

Unlimited...

Unlimited mercy.
Unlimited love.
Unlimited chances.
Unlimited grace.
Unlimited blessings.
Unlimited power.

The Lord God almighty, the One who sits on the throne, has no limits. With this being understood, I'd like for you to think about all the times you've placed limits on God. Think about a time when you've asked God for something small. Something that is achievable, but might just be a bit out of your reach. Thus, you need God's help to get you across the finish line.

Now think about the concept of risk versus reward.

What if you really went out on a limb and asked God for something that you know you cannot obtain without his intervention. Perhaps it's getting a ridiculous promotion that you thought you could never achieve. Or getting over an illness that you've been fighting for an extended period of time. Or maybe it's to help you turn around a relationship that's gone down hill for years. Financial setbacks, hard times, mistakes, etc. the list goes on and on.

With that I say that we should ask God for those unimaginable blessings. Ask and believe and it shall be yours.

 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
-Mark 11:24 

Ask God for those things that you cannot achieve on your own. For many requests have earthly boundaries. However, I tell you that we serve a God that has no boundaries. He is a God that can do anything, at anytime, for anyone.

Take the limits off the Lord and allow Him to show you His supernatural power. Increase your faith by unshackling the early chains you place on the Lord. Do this and He will show you great blessings.

Think about the unwavering faith the paralyzed man had as he his friends carried him to meet Jesus. When the paralyzed man came to the place where Jesus was teaching, it was overly crowded and they could not get in.

So what did the man have them do? He had his friends cut an opening in the roof and lower him to see Jesus. That, my friends, is unimaginable faith. That is taking the boundaries off our Lord and saying... "Here I am Lord, I believe that you can heal me."

Here is the passage from Mark 2:

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man

2 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Go forward today with great faith in your heart. Allow the Lord to show you His unlimited love, mercy, and power. Take the boundaries off the Lord and He will shower you with great blessings.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

Your faith has made you well

I recently realized what it truly means to have faith in God. It sounds strange even writing this, but there is a big difference between saying something and "hoping" it will come true versus saying something and BELIEVING it will come true.

On a personal level, I've determined that the word "Faith" equals "Trust". Meaning that you must put all of your trust in the Lord and believe that what the bible says is the absolute truth. The bible comes from the breath of God...  and God's Word does not change nor does God lie.

Far too many times we (as a society) attempt to create our own destiny. We think that we must have complete and total control over our lives in order to be successful or get what we need or want. However, the bible tells us that God understands all of our needs and God also allows us to ask Him for favors, blessings, etc. For it is out of prayer that we talk to God.

The one verse that I've really talked openly to God about this week comes from the Book of Mark.

Believe in your heart 

I've recently prayed for something that I never thought was possible and I spoke this verse to the Lord (as a reminder) of what He has promised... "what you ask in prayer, believe it and it will be yours." God has come through with his promise and in my mind it is a miracle. However, to the Lord, I'm sure it was effortless.

This same situation held true with the woman that touched Jesus' robe.

Healed by faith

My message is very simple today. When you pray, remove yourself of any earthly boundaries and maintain complete trust and belief in God's power. When you pray, believe that you will receive God's gifts. Not out of arrogance, but out of trust in God's Word from the bible.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory.

Goals

Regardless of age, we've all heard the saying... "You can do anything you want to do, if you put your mind to it."

I, for one, believe that once we make something a priority (meaning it is important) we get it done. For example, how many times have you heard (or seen) weight loss transformations? People lose large amounts of weight, firm up, become healthier and fitter. How do they do it? They do it by making it a priority in their life.

I also believe that a large part of this "thought process" is being able to visualize the end state. Having a clear vision for what is not there. The same level of determination revolves around people we call "over achievers." They are people who place large amounts of self induced pressure on themselves to accomplish one or many goals. I'm not saying this is misplaced or wrong (it depends largely on the goal), only that this exists in our society and most likely has always existed since the time of Adam and Eve.

However, the problems that can surface with placing our own needs above the needs of others or the obedience to God's Word from the Holy Bible are limitless.  Many times we point our internal compass toward selfish goals in an attempt to rectify or obtain what we feel is important. This is exactly the type of deception that the devil wants us to buy into. Lack of making time for God... due to our "busy schedules" is nothing more than an excuse. It's hard to hear this even for myself. But, I'm as guilty of this as anyone and am not ashamed to admit it. The important thing is to get ourselves back on the right track. There may be many roads to Heaven, but they all end with meeting Jesus and our mutual goal is given to us in the Book of Matthew to "Seek first the Kingdom of God."

Simply put, this means placing God first. I'm not saying this is not difficult to do... I'm saying it's nearly impossible... but with God all things are possible - Matt 19:26 

That is why we are constantly "seeking." Yet, one day we all will "find" ourselves before Jesus and will give account of our actions and goals. God loves all of us and wants everyone to get to Heaven. If you make Jesus a priority, your life will change. It's not something that I am promising you. This is something that the Lord promises.

Remember... "You can do anything you want to do, if you put your mind to it." The only question is... what are you going to do next?

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!