Commitment...

I don't know about you but sometimes I feel like I am lacking commitment in many areas of my life. I have grand ambitions and dreams and I know that God is going to take me higher than I have ever been before but sometimes I just get tired of pushing myself and pressing forward. My commitment lacks passion becuase I have pushed myself so hard for such extended periods of time that I just want to stop and relax. What do people do when they are lacking commitment and drive to keep pushing onward towards their goals? What is it that makes a man relentless and tireless when their body is telling them to quit or to take a break? I can only tell you from my own experience what causes me to slow down and what makes me have a spirit of lazyness. I feel most run down when I stop doing what I know I need to do which is staying in the Word of God. When I stop having my quiet time and stop reading God's word on a daily basis is when I feel most tired and also when I am tempted the most in every aspect of my life. Getting God's word on the inside of you inspires you to keep pushing forward and it gives you the spark of passion that you need to keep up your commitments whether they be to someone else or to yourself. Just from my own personal experience I can tell you that if you stop feeding on the Word of God and ingesting the truth and passion that comes from the pages of the bible you will Lack commitment to whatever you are trying to accomplish becuase it is God who sustains us and gives us the Power, Determination and Discipline needed to keep pressing on when we feel like we can't take another step. The days that I don't feel very powerful are the days or weeks that I have been depriving myself of the Word of God. Lately I have been so tired in the mornings that I can't make myself get out of bed for anything and I have been sleeping as late as I possibly can to get every last minute of sleep before I have to get up and get ready for work. I used to get up at 5AM every day and spend an hour and a half reading my bible and other Christian books; filling myself with the Word of God and preparing myself for the day that is ahead of me. It was something that motivated me and gave me passion to work as hard as I could and truly be a blessing to someone that day. I have also committed myself to working out 4 times a week and getting up 2 days a week and working out before I go to work and I just haven't been able to motivate myself to do that either for various reasons. As I look back over the last 2 weeks I can see that my level of committment has gone down and I can directly corelate it to my daily walk with God. My favorite bible verse that establishes this principal is Isaiah 40:31 which says, "But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint." This verse is the principal and promise on which we should govern our lives and our daily activities. I only wish that I would have remembered this over the past 2 weeks and many times before that because I have lost sight of what my committments are and where I draw my strength from. I need to trust in the Lord and he will renew my strength. He will give me Power and Discipline to push forward when I feel like sleeping in and strength when I feel like I can't go any farther. To soar on wings like eagles is a magical picture of the true power of God and the power of resting in Him and relying on Him to renew our strength and committment when we feel like giving up. Eagles can soar at amazing heights, up to 10,000 feet in the air and because of their enormous wing span they can ride the wind without having to use any energy which greatly increases their territory they can cover to hunt. Eagles are at the top of the food chain and one of the most beautiful and elegant birds on this earth, yet they are also one of the most powerful and agressive birds as well. To soar on wings like eagles gives us the power to save our energy for the real fight that we are going through, we get to conserve our energy and rest in God's mighty power that He gives us to sustain us when we feel weak. It's an amazing picture of the awesome power of God and the necessity to be connected to His power through the daily reading of His Word.
Committment is something that is hard for us naturally. It's easy to say you are going to do something in the heat of the moment and for awhile you stick to it because it's something that you are determined to do. But after awhile the emotion of that moments wears off and you have to re-evaluate the choice you made and decide again in your mind that you are going to reapply yourself to do whatever it takes to achieve your goal that you set in the past. Everyone gets tired and everyone lacks in committment and discipline every once and awhile, it's just part of life. The real test is to see if you can stick it out and achieve the goals that you set for yourself in the face of adversity and if you can muster up the discipline and strength to do the hard things when you don't feel like doing it anymore. Discipline is the WORD of the new year for me. I am going to explore every meaning of the word discipline and figure out what it means to me and I'm going to take that meaning to a new level. I have to be disciplined in every area of my life because that's what God has called me to be. I want to strive for Excellence in every area of my life because it's my destiny. It's part of the Glory of God that Jesus has given me through His death on the cross and resurection from the grave. So if you are lacking committment and discipline like I am I invite you to take the challenge with me. Figure out what discipline and committment mean to you and what you need to apply yourself more to this new year. Once you figure out what you need to do find the passion within yourself to see it through to the end and rely on God to give you the strength needed to make it happen. Like my pastor always says; it's our job to BELIEVE, it's God's job to do the IMPOSSIBLE!!! I have learned that it's not by my strength that I am able to achieve my goals but my strength comes from staying in the Word of God. When I spend time with God daily in prayer and in the bible I find the strength to stay on course and I am in a position to win. I am committing myself today and from this day forward to spend time daily in the Word of God; I hope you will join me in this challenge, it will change your life. God's blessings for you today and have a Merry Christmas!!! Take time to read the Christmas Story in Luke with your family. I'm going to do that tonight and it's going to become a tradition in the Hayes household to make sure to remember the Reason for the Season of Christmas which is the birth of Jesus our savior. I love you JESUS!!!!

If God is the CEO...

My thoughts on the way to work this morning while I was driving and talking to God turned towards the thought of what Jesus said when he was 12 years old when he stayed behind at the temple to confront the teachers while his parents left to go home with the rest of his family. His parents were worried sick about him because they couldn't find him for 3 days and finally they went back to the temple and found him there talking with the teachers of the law. When they asked him why he had done this to them, caused them so much pain and grief by abandoning them and making them worry about him and where he was Jesus simply said,"Why did you seek me, didn't you know that I must be about my Father's business?" Just the thought that we are son's and daughter's of God, and brothers and sisters of Jesus is an amazing thought that our little brains really can't fully comprehend kinda like eternity and living forever in heaven with the angels. It's just a little over my head. But to think of Kingdom business, working for God and doing things His way and living your life for Him is a little easier to understand with our human brains. If you think of this world like a business and God as the CEO then we are walking around wherever we are as the Bosses Sons and Daughters; what a great feeling. If you are the bosses kid then you have every advantage there is and nothing is impossible for you, you are an heir to inherit the family business and you have the privilege that goes along with being the CEO's child. Just knowing that the God of the Universe is your father and you are His beloved child is something that I know I need to think about more often because if I think in terms of being the bosses kid then I will have more confidence in every step I take and in every move I make because I know that I am blessed and if God is on my side I can't FAIL. If you think of God as your father, your loving Father then you will realize that if you are doing what you are supposed to be doing then you have every advantage in the whole world at your disposal; all you have to do is ask and believe that He will provide everything you need because He want's you to succeed and He delights in our faith in Him as our Father. That is His role in our life, our Father.
God is my CEO and I am his son; nobody can stop this train from heading straight to the TOP. Anything is Possible with God on my side and I am going to start believing that in every situation that I come across and every moment in my life. God's blessings on your life today. Thank God for everything He does for you today. He made the sun come up this morning just for you...

The Promised Land...

I've been struggling with something lately that I want to get off my chest. Since I started my new job I have been struggling with a spirit of insecurity about my ability to do my job well and that I can and will be the best at what God has given me to do. I have been feeling weak and insecure for some reason and I am fighting against this spirit everyday when I get to the office. It is getting better for me, I am believing in myself and my ability more and more everyday and believing that God put me here in this place and in this position for a reason but it's still hard. I know I am in a war for the battle of my mind and that this spirit that I am dealing with isn't from God but just another attempt from the devil to distract me and make me miss the promise of God for my life. I am reading and studying how to overcome the storms of life, I am learning how to be better at my job by studying and constantly educating myself and I am listening to motivational messages from my pastor on the way to and from work everyday to get myself in the right mindset to be the best I can be. I know I am on the right path it's just hard fighting this battle everyday and I know that everyone is fighting some kind of battle so I'm not alone.
Some of the things I am learning about and putting into practice I would like to share with you and reinforce them in my own mind as well. I have had the revelation from God that He has put me in this job, at this point in my life and at this time in history for a purpose and His purpose for my life is for me to be the BEST and to achieve great things. I have put my story up against the children of Israel after Moses led them out of Egypt and before they were about to enter the promised land. God told them to go spy out the land and bring back a report to all the congregation and tell them what they found out. God already knew what was there but He wanted them to see for themselves and trust that God would provide the way for them to receive the land that He had already promised to give them. They saw that the land was filled with giants and they lived in great cities; they were afraid and they brought back a bad report. Out of the 12 spies, the leaders of the 12 tribes, only 2 men said that they were able to overcome the obstacle and believed that since God had already told them that He would give them this land they believed that God would provide the way to overcome the giants and their fortified cities. This is how I feel sometimes. I see the huge mountain ahead of me, the trials, the number of other sales people and companies out there, the people who have been doing this longer than I have and who are better naturally at it than I am. I see all of this and the huge mountain ahead of me and I can easily get discouraged and I actually started to about a week ago when God reveled this to me and it opened my eyes to the Truth that God wants us to know. GOD brought me to this place just like He brought the Israelites to the promised land; He gave me this job out of His own good pleasure and I have to believe that He didn't give me this job for me to fail. There's a reason why I am here and He wants me to succeed and be the best. He wants me to bring His Supernatural Power to this place and change not only my business but my industry. He wants me to trust Him and His Power that is within me to be the best; I just have to believe and put in the work and effort that is needed. He will show me the way and if I do my part and work as hard as I can unto the Lord I will prosper. That is what God wants for every one of us in everything we do. He wants us to Trust Him and have Faith that He has given us His Supernatural Power to do what He has called us to do in our lives. We are all special in His sight and He has plans to use us for great and mighty things if we will just believe in Him and also believe in ourselves. That is where a lot of us fall short, we don't believe that we are the BEST at what we do. We might believe that we are good or that we know what we're doing but God wants us to be the best at what we do and He wants us to succeed. With God on our side whom shall we fear? If God is for us Who can be against us? With God all things are Possible and we need to put that in our hearts and believe that with every fiber in our bodies because it's the TRUTH from GOD Himself that He wants us to believe.
I have been struggling with this spirit of insecurity and it is still in the back of my mind but I am going to keep telling myself and believing that I am the best at what I do and I have every hope that God is going to provide for me what He has promised and that is a hope for a future and an expected end. Things are going to be great, in fact things are already great in my future because I am believing that now and seeing it happen in the future. I am hearing what God is saying and He is saying that I am His son and He wants me to be the best so that's what I'm going to believe and that's what I am going to think from now on. Put the spirit of insecurity on the shelf and never pick it up again because you have a Heavenly Father that wants the BEST for His children, He wants to see you succeed and He will make a way for you to achieve your goals if you will just believe the promise that He has given you. The wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. Just don't forget to say thank you when God gives it to you. God's blessings on your life today.

The Peter principal...

Peter was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus and was a part of Jesus' inner circle of friends that He shared everything with. Peter was completely obedient to Jesus even though he was only a fisherman and didn't always Get It when Jesus was trying to explain things to the disciples. He loved Jesus and said that he would die for him even if every other man left his side. He had the guts to step out of the boat and come to Jesus on the water and God revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God. Peter was special to Jesus and He told Peter that because of his strong faith and conviction God had appointed him an apostle and told him that He would build His church through his testimony. Peter's original name was Simon but Jesus changed it to Peter which means Rock and He said that he would build His church upon this Rock.
I give you this background because something has been on my heart today and I wanted to share it with you. Peter was the one whom Jesus said that He would build his church through and Peter told Jesus that he would die for him and that no matter what happened Peter would never leave Jesus' side. Yet this same man, the one who told Jesus that he would die for him, denied the Christ 3 times like Jesus said he would on the night of Jesus' capture and must have felt the unbearable pain and suffering of failure and disgrace that night like nobody in the world has felt before. I was thinking about this on the way to work this morning. How easy it is for us to hang our heads and feel sorry for ourselves when we screw up or when we do something we know we shouldn't have done. When we let our families down and our friends down we feel ashamed and even if they forgive us we have a hard time forgiving ourselves and we let the burden stay on our backs for much longer than God wants us to. I got to thinking about poor Peter. How do you deny knowing Jesus even though Jesus forgave him and told him that he was going to do it in the first place? How do you get over that feeling of shame, disgrace and overall self-loathing that comes with denying Jesus 3 times on the most important day in all of history? Yet Peter went onto be one of the greatest apostles of all and did wind up dying for Jesus on a cross upside down because he didn't feel worthy to die the same way as his King. What must have gone through Peter's mind those days following Jesus' death and resurrection? Can you imagine the pain and suffering that he must have put himself through during those days? The guilt and shame of abandoning your best friend and savior must have been almost unbearable. I can understand Peter's thought process and the feelings he must have been having, the thoughts that must have been going through his mind all of those days. I know that when I have done things in the past I didn't want to talk to God because I was so ashamed much less go to Church and worship Him or Praise Him. I didn't feel like a son of God should feel because of the guilt in my heart and soul. But the funny thing is that God has already seen everything you and I will do in our lives and He has forgiven us before it even happens. God Loves us and He doesn't want to see us live in unforgivness of ourselves because it will eat us up. We have to realize that we are forgiven and move on in repentance, learning a lesson from it all so we don't do it again in the future. Peter must have had an awful couple of weeks, reflecting on the things he said and the way he spoke about his best friend and teacher but when Jesus appeared to the women and to the other disciples He told them to tell Peter specifically that He was alive. Before Jesus was arrested He told Peter that the devil asked to sift him like wheat but for Peter not to lose his faith. This is how I feel right now and the promise that I am keeping in my heart from now on. I am going to do everything I can to keep from sinning but if I do I will always come back to God and ask forgiveness, repent and receive the forgiveness that God has promised me as a child of His. He is our loving Father and He has forgiven us of all of our sins past, present and future. When Peter saw Jesus sitting on the shore while he was fishing in his boat Peter jumped out of the boat and swam as fast as he could to see his friend. It must have been the best time of his life because he got to see the love in his friends eyes and feel the forgiveness in his smile. From that moment on Peter was a great and mighty Warrior for God and as far as I know he never lost heart again because he knew that he was forgiven. We should feel the same way. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you today. God's blessings to you.

When do I get to take a break???

I have to live everyday on guard, ready for the fiery darts of the enemy to be shot as soon as I let my guard down. That might sound like a pessimistic statement to you but if you believe that you have everything under control and you are covering all of your bases you have believed the lie that the enemy wants you to believe and he is stalking you right now waiting for the opportune moment to strike when you least expect it. From my own experience it's been the times when I was on top of the mountain and everything was perfect in my life when the enemy attacked me the most because I was vulnerable and naive. I thought that since everything was going great nothing could hurt me and no matter what I did everything would be ok; famous last words!! I have learned that you can never take your guard down no matter what because we are in a spiritual WAR and we are here to DECLARE WAR against the enemy not just react when he comes to our temple looking for trouble. Once you realize that you are in a WAR, a daily war that will not end until you go home to be with the Lord, you will begin to take things for what they really are. You will see the guys from work going to the strip club as a potential battlefield because the devil wants to destroy your marriage to your wife and destroy your credibility with your children; and the same goes for pornography on your computer, it's all a trap to destroy you in due time. You will see the guys going to the bar for drinks as an attempt to hook you and debilitate you with an addiction that creeps up on you like a stalker in the night who puts a hood over your head right before you get into your car and carries you so far away from reality that you wonder how you ever got there. When you put on the whole armor of God you are equipped and ready for battle and you have the God of the Universe on your side who has already won the final battle so all you have to do is just fight until it's time to go home and then your Warrior days are over. Waking up with the Warrior attitude and mindset is something that Men are naturally equipped to do because we are supposed to be the protectors and providers for our families. We were told to take Dominion wherever we go and we can do so because we are Sons of the Most High God of the Universe, we have royal blood flowing through our veins and if God is on our side who can be against us? NOBODY that's who!! So that's how I'm living my life and it makes me feel good to know that God has my back and to be able to wake up in the morning and prepare for battle.
Now for those who think I'm talking crazy this will probably not make any sense to you but just think about it for a minute. Can you explain why certain things happen in your daily life that make you mad or cause you to get off track? Why the person cuts you off on the highway or your neighbor does something to tick you off? Why that person at the office stole your idea or is talking bad about you or making up rumors that you did something wrong? These are all battles that the enemy is trying to break you down through and if you just look at them as coincidences then you can get frustrated and mad which is exactly what the enemy wants you to be because it takes your focus off God and in turn gets you out of God's protection when you try to retaliate on your own. Everything is a TEST and that's something that we all must learn. We are tested daily with different things and the way we react to them is a testimony to our faith and trust in our God. BE on GUARD and put on the Armor of God so you will be ready for battle and you will have the strength to overcome any challenge and the wisdom to be able to see when the enemy is trying to attack you. Just because you have overcome something that was trying to destroy you, like an addiction or if you have repaired a once failing relationship, don't think that you have won because the battle might be over but the war is just beginning. The enemy will try to take you down a different way so you have to always be on guard and be on the lookout because the enemy is walking around stalking you like a roaring lion waiting to devour you anyway he can.
The second that you understand that you are in a WAR your perspective on life changes and you realize why things happen around you and in your life; you are being tested. But don't get discouraged because if you are a Son or Daughter of the Most High God the WAR has already been won and you are on the winning team. God will give you the strength to fight everyday, you just have to choose to put on the Armor of God and get ready for battle. God is a Warrior at heart and He's got your back so prepare for battle like the men from 300 everyday and realize that your Profession is a WARRIOR; it's what you do and you can never lose!! Bring every negative thought into captivity and don't let those negative thoughts take any root in your heart because you are Royalty and you are a Winner based on your Blood that is flowing through your veins. Just think about that the next time you feel beat down or discouraged; you are a winner and you have the God of the Universe as your Father, who can mess with you and actually think they can get away with it?
So don't let your guard down, stay alert, put on the Armor of God and take Dominion wherever you go because you are a Son or Daughter of God himself and you are a winner. May God make His face to shine upon you today and have a blessed week!!! Amen...

Elevated...

To be raised from a low place to a high place is a definition of the word elevated. Today I was elevated to a new height and raised up out of the ashes if you will. Out of the place that had the ability to hurt me the most I have found new meaning in this life, new strength that I didn't know I had and God has turned a situation that could have brought me down in many different ways into something that has given me new hope for the future. I don't know where you are at right now in life or in your walk with Christ but my only thoughts for anyone who is struggling with something that has the potential to bring them down is to just have faith in the Lord and believe that He will provide for you. Believing is more than just asking for God to do something for you and praying for something to happen. Believing is knowing in your heart that you are a son or daughter of Almighty God and that He is on your side and has your back no matter what and that whatever you ask of Him, if it is in line with His will for your life, He will give it to you because He wants to see you prosper in every aspect of your life. Believing that God will take care of you and that He wants you to be happy because it makes Him happy when you are happy is something that can be hard to do when you are looking down the barrel of a gun or just got laid off from the only job you have ever had but it's all a TEST and an opportunity to grow your faith and for God to show up in your life and do something amazing; that's how I look at it. So no matter what you are going through just turn to God, even if you haven't been that close to Him lately and ask Him what you should do. Get focused on the things that you can change like yourself and your relationship with your heavenly father and once you get those 2 things lined up everything else will fall into place. The best gift you can give anyone is a healthy you; and when you are healthy physically, mentally and spiritually you are unstoppable. Don't give up on the dream, do the hard things now so you can change your future and be ready for God to show up at the time that you least expect Him to and pour out His blessings on you. He wants to bless you beyond your wildest imagination; He's just looking for someone out there to dream as big as He is.

How do you climb the biggest mountain in the world...

The best way to describe the task that is on my mind constantly is to relate it to climbing the biggest mountain in the entire world. Now I think it's safe to say that most men don't look at being a Man as the most important task in their lives but the essence of being the Man of the house has so much tied to it that I believe it's the most important task that a father and a husband takes on in his entire life. Being a man encompasses so many different tasks that it's almost overwhelming when you really sit down and think about it. It you are like me you've never really thought about what it means to be a Mighty Warrior which is essentially the role of the man of the house. As the head of the household, the man of the house, it's your JOB to take care of your family through protecting them, providing a home for them, providing food for them, being the leader of the house by setting standards for living and speaking words of wisdom and love over them. These are all things that good men already do for their families if they are committed to their role as the head of the house and if you do these things then you will have a pretty happy family. But what I'm talking about here is not just having a "good" family life or a good standard of living; what I'm talking about is living a Godly life and striving for God's BEST in every aspect of your life. This is such an abstract thought for most people and it is for me too because I never really thought about it before just recently. I have been doing a lot of thinking and reading over the past year about living a God centered life and enjoying the best of God's blessings in my life and it's brought me to this point in time where I finally GET IT. But as soon as I GOT IT I realized that I have barely scratched the surface and I have an ENORMOUS mountain to climb because I am nowhere near close to being the best Man that I could be and that scares me quite frankly.
At this point in my life, at age 27 I am closer to God than I have ever been in my whole life. My life is going great and my relationship with my Lord is stronger than ever. My family is comprised of some of the most loving people on the planet and they have all come to have a relationship with God and have accepted Jesus as their personal savior. I have seen miracles happen in my mom's life by beating breast cancer twice, my brother has been saved from death numerous times along with my brother in law getting past something that could have killed him and I myself have battled with addictions and through the grace of God I have come through the fire without being burned. Miraculous things have been happening in my life and it has strengthened my faith beyond belief and I trust God with my life and with the lives of everyone in my family because He is always faithful and just. My wife and I have a great relationship and we have made a beautiful, smart, handsome little baby boy who is perfect in every way and he is healthy. Life is going great and I could sit back and seriously be happy and content with the way things are right now and live a great life and have a good relationship with God and my family but this is where things really get tough to swallow. I am not content at all with where I am at in life. I am not content at all with my relationship with my wife or my son and I'm certainly not content with my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I want more than just this, I want to be more and I want to have more. Now this isn't a selfish plea to be rich in the natural sense it's a plea and a CRY on my knees to God to give me the ability to be more than I am, to go farther and deeper than I am right now. I don't want to be average, that's the LAST thing I want to be is an average Christian and an average father/husband. Average is failure to me and at this point I am failing because I have been content with being who I am. Most people would kill to be me right now. Yea I lost my job and I don't have much money at the moment and I don't know what the future holds in that respect but that means NOTHING to me; what I'm concerned about is my relationship with my Lord and Savior and being Kingdom Focused in everything I do. I want to be better than I am right now across the board. I want to be the Man of my household and speak love and wisdom into my son's life and provide a model for my whole family on living a Christ centered life and what it means to be sold out for God. I want to be a GREAT and MIGHTY warrior for God, helping change the world and bringing people to the throne of Almighty God where they can be saved and forgiven of their sins and transformed into a new person through the love of Jesus Christ. I want to focus on my relationship with God and building my character to become the Prophet that God created me to be for my family and for everyone I know and will know in the future. The biggest obstacle in my path right now is my own stupid self, the idiot that I wake up and look at every morning in the mirror; because he's lazy and wants nothing more than to be comfortable. I have to discipline my body and die to myself everyday, looking to God for the strength to fight the battle that is before me and to focus my mind on things that are above and not the things that are average and normal. It's such a daunting task that seems impossible and it really is. To be the kind of man that I am talking about is Impossible in the natural but I am not looking to do natural, average things. I'm looking to do the Hard Things that I don't want to do Because they are hard and they involve me making sacrifices in my life that I don't want to make. Sacrifice is a nasty word because it goes against our natural way of thinking and our selfish human nature. If you can get past the selfishness of your flesh and your mind and reach the point where you want nothing more than to bless others with your time, talents and treasure that's where you will find true happiness. This is the kind of Man that I want to be! I want to be a GIVING MAN, generous with everything God has blessed me with. I have seen it before in other people and I have felt it myself when I have given something of value to someone else; the transfer of LOVE between two people is describable.
So to answer the question I posed in the title of this blog,"How do you climb the biggest mountain in the world?" It all starts 1 step at a time just like anything else but the biggest obstacle, other than the enemy of your soul prowling around you like a roaring lion waiting to pounce on you at the sign of any weakness, is having the self-discipline to stay focused and keep working no matter what happens. The word discipline means to bring to a state of order and obedience by training and control. This is where most people fall short because they don't have the will power to do the Hard Things that they naturally don't want to do. Reading is hard for some people, getting up and going to church on Sunday morning is hard for some people and giving up things that you like doing like playing golf or watching football to serve up at the church or help someone else out is hard for everyone in one way or another. Forcing your body and your mind to do things that they naturally don't want to do and rewiring your brain through repetition and a new way of thinking is what it takes to achieve what I'm talking about here. It's what makes people Great, the determination to follow their dreams no matter what happens and the self discipline to keep working harder and harder everyday, striving to be better today than you were yesterday. That's how fortunes are made and companies become great in the natural; but take that same enthusiasm and self discipline and put it into a Follower of Jesus who is Kingdom Focused with the God of the Universe as his Father it's unimaginable what kind of Awesome Things can be accomplished and what kind of a Man or Woman you will be if you will devote your life to this way of thinking. This is what's on my mind all day long and to be honest I'm failing miserably as it stands right now but I am on the rise and I am not going to let anything hold me down. I am reading more of God's word than I ever have before and equipping myself with the whole armor of God everyday preparing for BATTLE as a mighty warrior in the spiritual war that is going on around me. I have gotten plugged into an amazing church filled with people who are on the same path I'm striving toward and most are where I want to be. So I have many role models in my life and it gives me the sense that what I am trying to do is possible if I will just get focused and take the time to do the things I need to do instead of all of the other things that come up and try to take my attention away everyday. With God on my side whom shall I fear, nothing can stop me if I really want this and it's the only thing in this world that will last forever. I hope and pray that I can stay the course not only for my sake and my wife's sake but for the sake of my beautiful son. This is the kind of man that I want to be his father and this is the kind of man I am going to be. SO how do you climb the biggest mountain in the world? One step at a time, going all the way to the TOP and I can't be stopped.

Mighty WARRIORS...

This weekend was one of the best weekends of my life. I spent Friday and Saturday up at my church Celebration Covenant with a group of about 500 mighty men worshiping and praising God. It's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. A room full of mighty men worshiping God Almighty, singing and shouting praises to Him and leaning on each other showing honor and love for their brothers in Christ. It's something that I have never seen before yet wished I could do every weekend because of the raw power and electricity that was flowing through that room and throughout the entire group of men present. Seeing that many men talking to one another, teaching each other and growing friendships and bonds between each other is something that this world is missing in the day to day. We learned together how important Christian leadership really is and what a Warriors spirit is all about. I wish my son was old enough to understand so he could have been there with me and shared the experience of the love and power that was flowing in that place through those Mighty Men. Oh how I want to be a Mighty Warrior for God not only for myself but for my wife and for my little boy. I want to wake up everyday with the mentality that I'm a Warrior for God and taht I am in a battle because I really am. We all are in the middle of a dangerous war for our souls battling not other people but evil spirits and powers of darkness. I know that might sound like something out of a science fiction novel or a little crazy but it's the God honest truth. If you choose not to believe that you are in a war for your soul then you are seriously mistaken and you are never going to understand the things of God or why things happen in this world and to you. It's your choice because God gives us a choice to believe whatever we want but understand that it's exactly what the enemy of your soul wants you to believe. He wants you to believe that Hell isn't a real place and that there's no way that a Loving God would send people to such an awful place. The devil wants you to believe that he doesn't exist so he can do whatever he wants and you will just think that it's God punishing you for some reason. The devil believes in God and he knows what's coming at the end of the world. He hates humans because we are made in God's image and we are the objects of His divine affection and love. He will stop at nothing to destroy us and make us turn against God anyway he can. It's important that you look at yourself as being a warrior in a battle everyday. It's important to your survival and success as a Christian man or woman that you wake up every morning and put on the whole armor of God and prepare for battle because you are in a war weather you like it or not. When you became a Christian you made a decision to go against the ways of this world and the ways of the enemy; you took a stand against the evil powers of this world publicly. At that moment you put a huge Man Sized bullzeye on your back and you entered the war zone fighting against the powers of darkness. The enemy of your soul is shooting fiery darts at you all the time, testing your weaknesses and prowling around you like a roaring lion waiting to catch you when you least expect it. This is the reality that I want you to understand and see for yourself. The things that happen to you in this life, the things that test your patience and have the ability to send you into a state of depression are from the enemy of your soul. They are shots that he's taking to get you to focus on your problems and lose your faith and trust in God. He want you to get as far away from God as you possibly can so you never have the ability to be an active Christian and touch the lives of others around you.
Being a Mighty Kingdom Warrior is actively taking a stand with brothers and sisters in Christ and locking arms in battle daily for each other. Being a Warrior is all about keeping your focus on God and Kingdom work and spending your time serving God on your knees in prayer for yourself and for your brothers and sisters in Christ. It all starts by realizing that you are in a battle for your life and learning the weaknesses that you have that your enemy can exploit and doing whatever you can to strengthen yourself for battle. Putting on the whole armor of God is spending time in His word and reading your bible along with devoting yourself to daily prayer. This is how you fight against the evil one for yourself and for your Christian family. I hope this makes sense to you because it's something that I am really taking seriously from now on. I realize that I am in a war and it's not going to be over anytime soon so I need to Man Up and fight for my life and for the lives of the people I care about. Wake up everyday with the mentality that you are going to be a warrior and take that everywhere with you; because you are a warrior and a warriors profession is WAGING WAR. So be on guard and take a stand the next time the enemy tries to take you down with one of his old tricks that used to get you every time with. BE aware of what's going on around you and make sure that you are fighting with your brothers and sisters. Strengthen your people in their time of need and they will be there to step in for you when you are in trouble as well. God's blessings to you today everyone! Let's DECLARE WAR together, the battles are ours for the taking because if God's on our side whom shall we fear?

You never know what you have until you lose it...

What do you do when tragedy strikes? When you get that pink slip at work and your boss tells you that they appreciate everything you have done for them but they no longer need you anymore. Or you get your results back from the Dr. and you get told that you have cancer or someone you love gets that bad news? How do you prepare for a situation like that? What can you do to make yourself ready for such sudden change and immediate shift in thought? I heard a saying from my pastor Keith Craft that goes,"You never know what you think until you see what you say." You never know what you will do until it happens and you see how you react or what you will say to your boss when they tell you that they no longer need you there at the office anymore. You never know how you will react until the Dr. tells you or your loved one that they have cancer and you find yourself asking the question WHY? That's the question that tells us all more about ourselves in 1 moment than everything leading up to that moment in time. How you deal with the WHY question shows you what you are made of and what your life stands on. If you can stand there in your office as you clean it out or stand in that Dr's office after the devastating news and not be bitter or mad and not blame anyone for what is happening you learn something about yourself that you would never have known. Or if you get angry or depressed then you also learn something about yourself and you realize that your whole life as you knew it wasn't reality. Basing your life on a job or financial security will ultimately disappoint you because you can't control what goes on around you at all times. Everyone loses a job at some point in time and everyone knows someone who gets an awful disease or has to go through one themselves but you can't prepare yourself for that trauma or set ahead of time what you will say and do. You can make all the plans you want but in the end you have no control what will happen and if your expectations and your happiness is based on security then you will not be able to move forward and you will be crippled by the loss.
This is where faith enters the picture. This is where faith takes center stage and begins it's beautiful solo performance in the lives of it's owners. Without faith in God and His divine grace and power, at the moment of trauma when the cards come falling down, if you are without faith then you are without hope and the world becomes a black hole of despair. Uncertainty has it's benefits and it's hard consequences depending on how much faith you have in yourself and in God. Uncertainty can be a place of freedom or feel like you were just dropped out in the middle of the ocean at midnight without a life jacket. As Christians we were never created to lead a completely comfortable lifestyle on this earth. Comfort and stability can breed a life of stagnation and can puff up a man's pride in himself and give a man a false sense security. Being too comfortable can cause a man to relax to the point where he loses his passion for adventure and trades living life to the fullest for the pursuit of maintaining stability where he currently is in life. Everybody loses a job at one point in time or another and everybody goes through the loss of a loved one; sometimes it takes things like this to make us realize that nothing ever stays the same and that the pursuit of stability is a futile game. Change is all around us, it's waiting in the wings in our blind spot at all times without our even knowing it. We wake up every morning the same way with the days activities on our minds, knowing the daily routine we have grown so accustomed to is about to start and the schedule that we set yesterday for today is about to be set free. We all know that tragedy is always around the corner in the back of our minds yet we push it back and suppress it, never giving it any thought. Fear is a weakness that must not be given a foothold in our minds less we live in a constant state of dread for fear of calamity looming in the darkness waiting to jump out and choke us to the ground at any given time. We have seen it in the lives of people all around us; people who have lost loved ones to diseases or sudden tragedy like a car accident or divorce or job loss. These things are written about in thousands of books and portrayed in movies everyday; American's love of the theater and entertainment stems from the obsession with drama and the feeling you get from seeing someone be broken down by an unseen force and watch as they pick themselves up and cope with the trauma or lose their minds and destroy themselves and everyone in their path along with them. Our minds are filled with these images of movies and novels yet when the tragedy happens to us we act like we never saw it coming and that we never could have prepared for such an awful thing because we never thought it would happen to us. The truth is people love to watch a drama unfold but when the drama is their life some people just can't handle it because they don't have the strength of character or the faith to get through it or past it.
From faith stems hope; it's the only place you can find it. It is grown through difficult times not sunny carefree days of luxury and leisure. Faith is the unseen part of a person's character that is the X factor when it comes to matters such as these that we have been talking about. It is the only thing that, when tragedy strikes in your life, will give you the hope necessary to pick yourself back up again and begin to move forward. Faith gives you the courage needed to face your fears and to give comfort to those around you that are going through dark times as well. Faith can't be bought but it can be borrowed and it can be given away to others; sharing your faith with someone who is struggling can be the best gift they have ever received. One of our greatest faults is that we live our lives like nothing bad is ever going to happen and we do everything in our power to control situations to prevent change from occurring. We have our hopes and dreams set on eventually retiring from the workforce and leading a happy life doing nothing or rather not having anybody tell us what we have to do. The goal of most Americans is to retire at 60-65 and just rest in front of a TV or travel the world without any responsibility to have to work anymore. That is the goal that the "world" has set forth and everybody believes is what will ultimately make them happy; financial security is the key to a happy life they say and that is what people spend their whole lives trying to accomplish yet few people ever reach that goal. The point is that you will never be secure or shielded from the possibility of something tragic happening, it's inevitable that tragedy will strike in your life or in someone's life very close to you and you will have to deal with it whether you want to or not. If you put your trust in financial security or your health or any other worldly thing you will be disappointed because all of these things can be taken away from you and you have no control over if and when it happens.
The saying goes you never know what you have until you lose it. I lost my job this week and it is one of the most difficult things that has ever happened to me because I now have a son who just turned 6 months today and a wife who were both counting on me to provide for them financially and to provide health insurance for them in case anything were to happen. In the tough economic climate of 2009 and with the rate of unemployment higher than it has been in decades it would be very easy for me to go crazy with worry and despair but I have something that most people don't have. I have the X-factor or in this case it would be called the F-factor; the Faith Factor that gives me the strength to stand tall and to tell my family with confidence that everything is going to be ok. In fact everything is going to better than it was before because we have the God of the Universe on our side and if He is for us who can be against us? We are trusting God to provide like He always has and we are thanking Him for what He is going to do for us. We know that His timing is perfect and that He has a plan for our lives, a plan that we cannot see or fathom but I know that He is making our paths straight for us and He is leading us to a place that we could not have gotten to on our own. Sometimes change is something that we have to be pushed into because we are so determined to stay in our comfort zone that it takes being Fired from your job to get you outside on the road again where God can lead you to the place that He has been preparing for you all along. I learned that one of the definitions of Passion is taking something that could hurt you the most and turning it into the thing that can help you the most. Losing a job can be the best thing that has ever happened to me because I know that God created me for great things and that He is leading me to the exact place at the exact moment in time where He is going to use me for Mighty Works and I am believing that in Jesus' name because I know I am a son of the Most High God and His hand of favor and blessing is on my life.
So when tragedy strikes, and that's a When not an If, you must have the faith that everything happens for a reason and that God is orchestrating His master plan to bring you to a place where He is going to bless you and make you prosper more than you could where you were before. If you don't have that faith right now ask God for it, and if you don't have a relationship with God start one because He has been waiting to hear from you since you were born and He is ready to forgive you and give you everything you need. Just like an earthly father has love for his son and gives him everything he needs so your Heavenly Father will give you everything you need and He already knows what you need all you have to do is ask Him for it and believe that He will provide. I thank God today for the faith that He has given me in my heart and the ability to look past a time that could stress me out and break me down knowing that He is already working out a plan to bring me to the BEST that He has in store for me and that's what I want more than anything. I know you have to walk through the valley to get to the mountain top and that there is always a valley in between each mountain so I expect to go through another tough time again in the future; but with each valley you gain wisdom and strengthen your faith which makes you stronger for the next valley and next situation that comes along. Life is a roller-coaster ride in the sense that you are always going up one side to get down the other and you never stay in one place forever so to try to make being comfortable and secure within your own man made boundaries is futile and you will only be disappointed. Put your faith in God and no matter what happens in your life or in another person's life you will have the courage to face it with your head held high and the faith to believe that something better is coming. If you put your faith in God you will realize that everything you need you already have and all the other things are just possessions that can and will be replaced in time. You will realize that you are blessed beyond your imagination and nothing can take away the joy you have in your heart and the love you feel from being a son or daughter of the Most High God. This life is but a vapor in the wind, a grain of sand on a beach and a passing breeze on a hot summers day. It is all here today and gone tomorrow. Make your treasure something that will last for eternity, put your faith in God and watch as He transforms your life into something bigger than yourself and your physical needs. You were put here for a purpose and if you are living your life according to God's will He will always provide for you and give you everything you need to accomplish His purposes He set forth before the beginning of time.
Maybe you need to rethink what's really important in this life...

God's blessings for you and your family. Remember you are a son or daughter of the Mighty God of the Universe; nothing is too big for Him all you have to do is just ask Him and He will answer you if you believe.

I got pushed over the edge of the cliff...

Nobody likes change unless you are talking about changing the sheets on your bed; I love the smell and feel of freshly clean sheets on the bed that are still warm from coming out of the dryer. Curling up in the clean sheets and falling asleep knowing that you are going to have a great nights sleep. Man that's the best! Other than some of life's small pleasures like clean sheets change is something that most people avoid at all costs. People are naturally bent towards keeping the status quo and doing everything they can to stay comfortable, contained in their own little box, sealed inside their own predictable world. We all enjoy watching TV shows filled with drama and suspense but when it happens to us the fear of the unknown is sometimes too much to bear and we feel like the walls are caving in all around us. In the business world of today's economic downturn a lot of businesses are driven by fear of change and their business decisions reflect that fear. Owners have been accustomed to a certain level of success and growth over the past 20 years and they are unwilling to resign themselves to a lower standard of living because they view that as failure. The wealthy of this country, business owners and others, are not willing to accept that the lifestyle and money that they have been used to making isn't a reasonable or realistic goal anymore because of the downturn in the market and the mass exodus of consumers out of the marketplace. The rich want to stay rich and get richer like they are used to and when that is challenged by a failing economy, when the thought that they might not get to buy that new Jag or be able to afford their multi-million dollar penthouse anymore they cease to care about anything else other than how to save money and save their current lifestyle. Growth ceases to exist as well. You can't be concerned about the present suffering if you are focused on growing in the future. You have to be willing to take 1 step back now to take 2 steps forward down the road. Ultra rich people generally are obsessed with money because they find their security in the fact that they can afford to do anything they want and they get their identity from the things they own, where they live and the prestige and power that comes from being wealthy. The thought of losing any of those things is like losing their life because that is what they consider most important in this world. The pursuit of money is an addiction that can be unrecognized until you start losing it and then it comes to the surface raging and screaming, causing you to make decisions and do things that are without reason or logical thought. Decisions based on the fear of losing money are never going to be good decisions because they are self preservative and don't include thought about the future or the people in the business who ultimately are making it profitable to begin with. Self preservation halts growth because it causes you to lose sight of the big picture and only focus on the immediate danger of the short term. Pastor Keith Craft made a statement at church a few weeks ago that says,"Change will happen with or without you." This statement is very true and when you make business decisions based on the fear of losing money, sacrificing the very people who have kept the company floating through good times and bad you are using a band-aid to fix a broken arm. Sacrificing the future growth of the business for the short term savings will wind up costing you more money in long run.
On a personal level change is just as unwelcome. Nobody likes to change their routine and habits are extremely hard to alter. They say it takes 2 weeks to develop a habit or change a habit to a new habit. Nobody will change on their own unless they have to or they are pushed into it by somebody else because change can be a painful experience no matter what you are talking about. Changing a job can be one of the most difficult and gut wrenching things in a persons life that ever happens to them especially if they are married and have children. When a man loses his job it's like someone tied a huge stone around his neck, threw him in the river and told him he needs to get to the other side before he sinks. The responsibility a man has to provide for his family and take care of them is something so huge that when he loses his job he feels like a failure and he loses confidence in himself. Losing a job can make a man feel like he isn't good enough or that he is a fool, undeserving of respect in his own home or preceiving that he isn't respected anymore because he failed to provide. Change can be very painful especially if it is prolonged for a long period of time or if there are circumstances that compound the situation like sickness or looming debt that catches up to them in their poverty. A man that can be comfortable in a mansion or in an apartment eating microwave dinners is the kind of man that I want to be and the kind of man that I want my son to be.
How do people deal with change? You have 1 of 2 choices when it comes to change; you can either run from it or embrace and accept it for what it is and the reality it brings along with it. Running from change is pointless unless you can somehow twist the change that is coming at you into something else before it happens; but either way you look at it things are still going to change. Having the courage and faith to accept change when it happens and trusting that you will be ok regardless of what happens comes from being content no matter what happens. It's being content with what you have and being able to live in any circumstance knowing that you will be happy because you have all that you need. I am able to say that today because I have a strong faith in the God of the Universe and because I know I am a son of the Most High God in heaven and that His son Jesus Christ has got my back and He has saved me and my family. The faith that I have in God gives me hope for today and hope for the future because I know I am right where I am supposed to be which is in the will of God. I know in my heart and in my mind that God has a plan for my life and that sometimes you have to go Through the Vally, you have to endure hard times and pain to get to where you need to go; to the place where your blessings are waiting for you. God is leading me through the valley right now but I am not worried or scared because I know He has a plan for me and not just for another job but for the BEST JOB I could want, somewhere I will be appreciated and a place where I can grow and be motivated to be the best I can be. God sees the forest where I can only see the trees right in front of me. Too often people scramble when tragedy strikes and they just run to the first thing they can and settle for good when they could have waited and had faith that God wanted to lead them past "good" and onto what was "BEST" for them where He could bless them more abundantly.
I am only interested in God's best for my life and for the life of my family. We are trusting God in Jesus' name that He is leading us to the land of milk and honey, where He will open up the heavens and pour out blessings on our family so great that we won't even have room for them all; a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and over flowing with Joy and Love. That's the kind of life that I want for myself and for every member of my family and even if it hurts for awhile and we have to give up some of the things that we like to have in the present we are looking forward to the future and thanking God for the Mighty work that He is going to do for us. Faith comes from Under-standing the word of God and the promises that He has made to His children. As a Son of the Most High God I am privileged and favored in the sight of the Lord, He makes His face to shine upon me and lights my path in the midst of darkness. I only need to have enough light to see where to put my foot for my next step because I have faith that He is leading me in the right direction. I have "understanding" of His words to me and His love for me; I have put that faith under myself and I am standing upon it (understanding) reaching Higher and Higher above the normal waiting for God's SuperNormal and His Best to come that He has planned for me. This Under-Standing lifts me up and gives me hope where most people lose their faith and start to feel sorry for themselves. I refuse to feel sorry for myself because I have nothing to fear but fear itself and fear doesn't affect me anymore because I have the God of the Universe on my side so who can touch me? Nobody!!
Change is a powerful force that has the ability to break people down or push them to rise to new heights and accomplish things that they never thought were possible. My faith in God gives me the ability to be free from worry and guilt; to look beyond my current situation and circumstances and not give into the natural tendency people have to think about what might happen. I am looking forward to what God has in store for me and my family and I am willing to suffer to reach the destination that God is leading me toward. I count myself blessed and honored to be used by God and to have Him care enough about me to lead me out of a failing situation and move me into the place where I can receive His blessings more abundently. I am going to continue to believe Him for that and work hard no matter what. I am going to accept change, not run from it and I am going to be content no matter what happens. Everything I have can be replaced except that which is most important to me, and that can never be taken away from me or lost. I am blessed to have a wonderful family, a beautiful wife and an incredible little boy to call my son; I have 2 families who are always going to be there for me and who are so supportive and I have my Father in Heaven leading the way to the promised land. These things cannot be taken away no matter what kind of job I have or don't have, no matter where I live or what kind of car I drive or how much money I have in the bank. I am rich no matter what happens and I am so blessed. I pray the same for all of you. Trust God no matter what happens. It's in the hard times that faith is grown. Allow God to work in your life and trust that He has your best interests in mind and that Good things are coming your way and it will be so. God bless you all today!!!

Who has a health care problem...

The American health care crisis is all over the news right now and the American Government is working on developing a new plan to lower the cost of health care and make it possible for all Americans to be able to afford health care for themselves and their families. The fact that there are so many people without health care in this country because the providers have escalated the price of care and made it impossible through regulations and rules is a tragedy to say the least. The cost of health care is very expensive and with the number of people who have lost their jobs recently the percentage of the American population that is without coverage is much higher that it traditionally has been. I believe that our government does need to step in and regulate the health care industry in some form to make health care more affordable and keep the insurance companies from denying people insurance who are willing to pay for it for whatever reason they feel like it. I do not believe that health care should be "universal" or government funded or regulated in the sense that the Government is in control of the health care system. I believe that health care is a privilege not a right and that you must be willing to have a job, work hard and pay for it just like anything else.
The problem with what's going on right now is that people are talking like it's a right to have health care and that everyone should have the same ability to go to the doctor and have the same coverage as the next person. People act like doctors are just something that should be available to everyone, free of cost like drinking out of a water fountain or using a public bathroom. It's absurd to think that some of the smartest people in our country, who have gone to school and devoted their lives to learning the art of medicine and medical procedures should be lumped together and treated like what they do should just be a public service because everyone needs their help. I don't think that health care is a RIGHT for everyone to have in America just like it's not a RIGHT for everyone to drive a Mercedes or have a Plasma TV and cable in their living room. You have to work hard in this life to be able to provide for yourself and your family in order to be able to afford the luxuries and things that you want. Having a house isn't a right, having a car to drive around isn't a right, having a job isn't a right, getting an education isn't a right. These are all things that everyone should want to have and work hard to achieve but just because you were born here in America doesn't give you the right to all of these things. People need to realize how good we have it over here and we need to take a good look at the values and morals we have as a nation and try to improve the foundation before we start building again. This country is spending money it doesn't have on things it doesn't need just like the American people have done which has caused the housing market to crash along with many of the major corporations in this company. We have spent and spent and never looked back until it all came falling down and then we were looking for someone to blame when in reality as a country there's nobody to blame but ourselves because we didn't think there would be any consequences for the way we were living. To bring it back to the health care issue why don't people take a look at what is causing the health care crisis and why people are getting so sick instead of pointing the finger at the doctors and insurance companies saying they are just greedy. That's also a problem but the real problem is that people aren't taking care of themselves anymore. People have gotten lazy and they don't exercise or eat healthy anymore. The fast food generation has caused many problems for many Americans yet we don't hold McDonald's responsible for their quarter pounders and french fries. Why is that? Why don't we take a good look at the root of the problem instead of pointing the finger at the easy target and saying they are just being greedy we want free health care for everyone now.
The leaders of this country need to step up and do the difficult thing which is address the root problems instead of taking the easy way out and saying the "government" is going to take care of everything to buy them some time to think of a real solution. We are cursing our children with this problem if we don't step up and handle it ourselves. When are we going to be truthful with ourselves about what is going on in this country?

Put me in coach, I'm ready to play...

So many people in this country call themselves Christians. They call themselves this because they believe in God and they might go to church from time to time and they always make it for Easter and Christmas services. God has some very harsh words for people who live like this because He demands a full commitment from a man or woman to be devoted to Him and to live this life fully for the kingdom or fully against the kingdom; to Him there's no in between grove that you can ride.

So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

This is Revelations 3:16 and it's talking about people who are fence sitters with one leg on one side and the other on the other side of the fence. They want to be called a Christian but they want to live their own life the way they want to. They don't want to be obedient to God and follow all of His commandments because it's hard and they will have to give up things they want to do or be. Whether it's a drug habit, the love for money, sexual addiction or any other thing people decide that they don't want to give up they are making a choice to walk down their own path instead of walk with God on the path to heaven. It doesn't even have to be a bad thing you are doing it could just be that you don't want to read the bible because you don't like to read or you don't want to take time out of your weekend to go to church or serve God in whatever way He is calling you to serve. Living the life of a Christian follower of Jesus isn't easy, we weren't designed to live the comfortable life. We were designed to follow wherever God leads us and to be ready to go when He calls us. Everyone can look at their life at any point during their life no matter how old or young you are and see something that they know they shouldn't be doing because it goes against the will of God. It's a never ending struggle of sacrifice and suffering being a Christian because it goes against Human Nature to be a Christian. We are naturally selfish people who want to do things our way. We dont want to be told what to do or how to live because we can take care of our selves; right? Wrong. We think we can take care of ourselves but what we might think is good God has something Better in mind and as a Christian you should always want God's Best in your life not the Good that you can do on your own.
The example of this came to me this afternoon when I was just sitting and thinking for a minute; I know that's a dangerous thing for me to do but it happened so I'm telling you about it. You can call yourself a baseball player all you want but if you never practice and you don't ever get into the game what are you really? Can you really call yourself a baseball player if you never play baseball? The same goes with being a Christian in this life. You can call yourself a Christian until you are blue in the face but if you don't live the Christian life by studying the word of God, getting plugged into a church and serving God in whatever way He has blessed you tallent wise then what are you really? Just calling yourself a Christian isn't going to get you into heaven because you can't fool God. He knows your heart and Jesus said where your treasure is there your heart will be also. If you find your treasure in helping people, reading the word of God and getting plugged into your church and serving the people God has put in front of you then your heart will be focused on God. If you are following after the things of this world like money, power, lust and greed then that's where your heart will be which is far away from God.
Jesus said that because you are lukewarm he will spit you out of His mouth at the end of your life. You will not get into heaven with a half hearted attempt to be a Christian. You will not impress God by coming to church a couple times a year or being a good person. He wants YOU, all of you everyday. He wants your thoughts, your time, your treasure all to be on Him and His will for your life. He wants a relationship with you and a relationship is like a flower that takes time to bloom. It needs constant watering and care to become fully grown. Such is the Christian life and the water is the Word of God and spending time in a church that teaches the word of God and surrounding yourself with people who believe the word of God. This relationship is the most important thing in this lifetime and it's not something that you can just do a couple of times a year. It takes daily devotion and all of the time you have to spare. It's not easy but its the most rewarding thing you could ever do in your whole life and you will get to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus your savior. Not only that but you will get to have God work through you and touch the lives of everyone around you; all the people you care about and even people you don't know can come to see God in you and have a relationship with Him themselves. It's the hardest / easiest thing you could ever do. Just trust God and have faith in Him to save you and ask Him to change you from the inside out and just watch what happens. Put me in coach, I'm ready to play...

The hand of God...

Once you make the decision to follow Jesus and live your life according to biblical principals you become more aware of what's going on around you in your daily life. You begin to see things happening that you might not have seen before and you notice God working in areas of your life and in other people's lives that you were oblivious to before you became a Christian. I know this is true in my own life and everyday it's becoming more apparent to me as time goes on.
I became a believer when I was very young. I came forward at my parent's church and accepted Jesus as my savior, I was baptized and I was attending Sunday School every week like a good little boy. As I got older though I drifted away and lost sight of the commitment I had made to God but He never forgot about it and He never left my side no matter how many stupid things I did growing up or how many times I tried to get away. God never forgot about that day that I gave my life to Christ and He worked in my life daily to get me back through trials, hard times, disasters and many close calls along the way. About 8 months ago, with my son on the way and just getting over a really tough time that tested my faith I re-dedicated my life to Jesus 100% like I have never done before and my whole world has changed in that short time span. My mom had just gotten finished with her breast cancer treatments at that time and it seemed that she was going to be cured which was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and Christian was getting close to being born when I realized that even though I believed in God and I called myself a Christian I wasn't living the life that I needed to live. I realized that I needed to get closer to God and have a closer relationship with my heavenly father in order to live the life that I needed to live and to be the man that Christian and Vanessa deserved to have as the leader of our house. I have done some very selfish things in the past year that really caused me to take a closer look at the man I was becoming and I didn't like what I saw. It scared me to think that I was about to be a father and that I was going to have a son, a little guy that was going to look up to me and want to be just like me. When I looked at myself I didn't see anything in my character that I wanted anybody to take for their own and emulate much less my own flesh and blood son. I was disgusted to say the least and that's when I prayed to God to help me change and to do a mighty work in me and give me wisdom so I could become the man that my family needed to lead them. I started to read Christian books about getting my life on track and how to become a better Christian man. I forced myself to get up early to read and have a quiet time so I could get myself focused on God and start my day off right so I could be ready for whatever the day might bring forth. Vanessa and I decided to start going to church again once Christian was born because we hadn't gone in a long time and we were in between churches at the time when he was born. It was a hard process, to look at yourself in the mirror and not like what you see and have the courage to change not only for yourself but for the people who depend on you in this world. I have been through a lot of things in my life, a lot of them bad and some good but honestly it wasn't the bad things that happened to me that made me want to change; it was the thought that there are people all around me that depend on me and look up to me in whatever capacity and I was letting them down.
The hand of God is all around us in everything we do. Everything happens for a reason and nothing happens unless it's ordained by God. We are all put here on this earth with a specific purpose and destiny with people strategically placed around us by God that we are to influence to further the kingdom of God. As followers of Jesus we are supposed to live our lives a certain way to express the love and grace of our heavenly Father and if we are living according to God's commands and being obedient to Him then God will work through us to change the lives of people around us. We are not worthy of this honor and God doesn't use Christians because He needs us to do things; He uses people who are willing to be used and who are serving God to fulfill His will on this earth as a blessing to them and a blessing to those around them. Everyone has people in their lives that were put there for a reason by God himself and He wants to use YOU to point them toward the path. He wants to use YOU to show them what a follower of Jesus looks, acts, and sounds like and He wants to use YOU to bring them to church to feel and see the power of God so they might believe in Him. Our call as Christians isn't to SAVE people or to make disciples out of other people; it's to point people, our friends and family and the people we work with to the God of the Universe through our own lives and the way we serve Him everyday in everything we do. Everyone has someone they know that's going through a hard time or that is lost in this world. You don't need to go to Africa to be on a Mission for God all you need to do is look outside your own front door. It's hard to do don't get me wrong because we are so afraid of what someone else might say or think if we open up to them about our beliefs. We have been trained that we aren't supposed to OFFEND anybody and that if we talk about Jesus to someone who doesn't believe then they will get us in trouble or who knows what might happen. You never know what will happen until you give it a try and you will be surprised what kind of a reaction you might get from someone you thought would never be caught dead in a church. Who knows, they just might never have been invited to church before but they have been searching for meaning in this life and God has prepared their heart for this very moment in time and it is your job to bring them to the house of God where He can work on their heart and speak to them.
God works in mysterious ways they say and I know it's true. I never knew the power of God until I started living the life that God expects and requires us to live, if we are really to be called Christians, on a daily basis. Spending time talking to God anytime I can, reading His word on a daily basis and encouraging my friends and family with the hope and joy that comes from having a relationship with God. Trusting God has changed my life and I can't believe I lived so much of my life trying to do things my way instead of letting God take control and following where He leads me. It's so exciting to see God work around me in the people he brings into my life, the conversations that pop up out of the blue about God and the opportunities to share my story with people or invite them to church to experience it for themselves. It's refreshing to see God work the way that He does when I am at church. The electricity and excitement that happens in that building is remarkable and it energizes me and makes me want to tell everybody about it. That's the love of God and the hand of God at work.
Once I decided to live my life for Jesus and follow Him everything changed. Just knowing that the God of the Universe is on my side and is watching out for me makes this life so much easier to deal with. I still have bad days and things that bother me. I still have hang ups and I do stupid things but I know I am on the right track and I am walking in the right direction. Nobody is perfect, and I am certainly never going to achieve perfection but I want to live my life striving for excellence and being the best I can be. I want to live my life according to what is right and good in God's eyes and be a good example of what a Christian man is supposed to be for my son who will follow in my footsteps one day.
The hand of God is all around us all you have to do is open your eyes and really see. It's so easy to just look past what's going an around you because you are so busy doing whatever you are doing. Don't live your life in the fast lane all of the time because you might miss God along the way. He might put someone in your path that He has placed there specifically for you to talk to and if you aren't looking then you will just cruise right on by and you will never know it. Be on the look out for God to show up and you will see Him. The hand of God is everywher.

Becoming a Mighty Man of God...

What does being a man really mean? Does anybody even really know anymore? When you look around you in your current life what makes a Man stand out as really being a Man today? The world has many different views on what a Man is in this day and age. If you are in the business world a man is a cut throat deal maker that will do whatever it takes to get ahead of the game and get the deal done; by any means necessary. If you watch TV the typical man on most sitcoms is a passive and lazy guy who goes to work at a job he hates, comes home and pops the top of a beer while sitting in front of the TV thinking of ways to get out of helping around the house. He's usually fat or over weight, doesn't help his children do anything or his wife and he has a bunch of friends who are exactly the same way that he drinks beer with on a regular basis. The role models our children have today are celebrities and athletes who entertain them either in movies or on the radio or playing a game making millions of dollars. Most of these people are self absorbed and spoiled trying to out do the other one as to who can party the most or be the "baddest." Now I'm not against pro athletes because most of them make good role models for the most part. Many NFL players have charities and perform public service to kids who look up to them; for that we are grateful and I look up to them as well for that. They use their wealth to better others lives and use their celebrity to influence kids to work hard and never give up. It's a great message and I just want to let you know I'm not knocking these people, it's the ones who get the spotlight and live like hell that concern me and I want to shield my son from them as much as possible or at least teach him how to see past the celebrity to what's truly on the inside of a person, their heart and motives.
With all of this said we now have a good picture of what this world portrays a "Man" to be. The man is usually a really funny guy who is likable and his family all gets along and he has a nice house but what we laugh at and think is funny is really degrading and depleting how boys see what a real man is supposed to be like and it's a facade they use for themselves when they get older. I want to talk about what I have learned from my father, other men in my life and what the bible says about what a Real Man actually is and does.
My father was always there for me as a boy. I can remember him getting home from a long day at work as a mechanic on heavy machinery, a very labor intensive job mind you, and I would ask him to throw the baseball with me. Now I can't remember a single time in my life that my father didn't go change clothes, get his glove and come outside to play with me. He was just always there for me. He coached my baseball teams, he was at all of my games, he was at all of my functions at school and he came home every night from work and didn't stay out drinking with his friends or anything like that. In fact I never saw him drink at all until after I was out of high school, he just never did anything like that around me. Just in passing, I think I had a lot to do with his drinking some after I got out of high school because I was a pretty bad kid at that time so I don't blame him for having a stiff drink every now and again to relax; I'm sure I will probably do the same thing if my son is anything like me when he gets older. My father was always good to my mom. I can't ever remember seeing them argue or fight in front of me or my brother or have any problems when I was growing up or to this day and they have been together for a long time. He was and is a good man and one of my best friends and role models. He is exactly the kind of man I want to be for my son and if I can be half as good as he was to me Christian will grow up to be a great man. I have had other good role models in my life who have showed me what being a man is all about and what it means to be compassionate and show love to others. My church's pastor Keith Craft and all of the Mighty Men of Celebration Covenant Church are perfect examples of what it means to be a man and just being in their presence every weekend, even though I don't know many of them yet, gives me hope and makes me strive for excellence in my own life because that's the kind of man I want to be. The bible is the best place to look for what a real man is supposed to be and I have learned what being a man is all about through reading stories of Great Men of God and how they acted in every situation known to man. Stories of King David are some of my favorite because he was a man after God's own heart and he is the perfect example of a loving, caring, compassionate, strong and brave man that I want to model my life after. I want to go over a few characteristics of what the biblical man looks like to me and my thoughts and feelings of how it relates to my own life.
A man is supposed to be Strong and Brave, full of love and compassion, God fearing and reverent and overall a servant to those around him. Jesus was and is the only perfect man this world has ever seen and all throughout the new testament are stories and examples of how He acted and responded in situations that we should use to mold ourselves to be more like. The love He showed everyone He came in contact with and the servant spirit that moved Him to do the things He did for us and everyone in the world is the love that comes from the Holy Spirit which has been given to us as well. Jesus stood up for what was right and just; He didn't back down from the powerful men of His day because they could kill His body. He stood up to them and exposed them for what they really were and showed the world their hypocrisy. He exposed the leaders of His day for taking something that was Good, the Laws of God given through Moses, and adding their own "laws" and "commandments" of men to the laws of God and calling it tradition which caused people to stumble. They took the 10 commandments and added their own traditions to it causing people to feel that they couldn't live up to the standard that God required which in turn caused them to run away from God instead of bringing them closer to God. The hypocrites of Jesus' day, the teachers of the law and the religious men of that age made the "law" of God seem like it was too hard, too many things that people couldn't do or were supposed to do that it just became overwhelming for the common man which made people run away from God and caused them to stumble. Jesus says that He is the Light of the World and that nobody comes to the father except through Him by believing in Him and asking Him for forgiveness of their sins. All who ask will be forgiven and Jesus will testify for them to the Father in Heaven and they will have eternal life. It's the breaking down of the human Ego and the Pride that is in a man that will allow him to drop to his knees and accept that he isn't in control of his life and ask God to forgive him of his sins. If the man will humble himself in this way and ask God to take control of his life then the humbled man will be exalted higher than he ever could have gotten on his own. God will raise that man up to be a Mighty Warrior for His kingdom and will do many great and mighty things in and through him. This is the kind of man that I want to be and that I want my son to be; a man who can be found on his knees praying and also a man who is strong and fully armed ready to do battle at a moments notice. Armed with the word of God and the sword of the spirit and through Jesus Christ I can do all things and nobody can stand in my way because if God is for me who can be against me?
My Pastor gave a sermon on Power last weekend at CCC and he posed a question to us all that really got me thinking. He asked us who we were following? He said that everyone is following someone or some ideology whether you know it or not. You are either following the world's do whatever feels good ideology that is fully against anything that has to do with the God of Israel and that says that there are no right or wrong answers that everyone gets to decide for themselves what they think. This is what people have adopted to be "politically correct" so as not to offend anybody in this country with their own personal views on Anything. So you can either be of the "World" or you can be of God's kingdom, living for Jesus everyday and furthering the kingdom of God through your thoughts, actions and the way you live your life everyday. You can't serve 2 masters and this isn't something that you can be on both sides about; you are either for God or you are against Him, it's that simple and God takes it very seriously.
Becoming a Mighty Man of God is something that should be a top priority for all men who call themselves followers of Christ. It's something that isn't taught anywhere but in the church and you can only understand the concept by surrounding yourself with strong men of God who spend time in the word and serving others. You can't learn how to be a Mighty Man of God by just going to church on Sunday you have to read the stories of the bible and be around men you can look up to and model your life around the principals you learn. You have to take time to spend time with God and ask Him for the wisdom to become the man that He wants you to be and put His hand of blessing on your life and the lives of your children. Desiring to be a better man, a Mighty Man of God is something that God is looking for and it's a prayer that HE WILL ANSWER because that's the kind of man He can use to do miracles through and change the world with. A man who is passionate about his devotion to God and devoted to raising up followers of Christ everywhere he goes especially in his own home. Yes becoming a Mighty Man of God is something that I pray for everyday and it's something I pray for my son for as well because I know that God is going to do Mighty works through him and I just want to raise him up in the eyes of the Lord, knowing that God's hand of blessing is on his life and that God is going to give me the wisdom I need to teach him everything he needs to know. A man is someone who loves the Lord our God, spends time praying and reading the word and storing it in his heart, cares for and protects his family and serves the people around him with open arms and a heart full of love. That's the kind of man I want to be and the kind of man that Christian deserves to have as his father. I pray that I can rise to the occasion and that you can too...

May the Lord make His face to SHINE upon you...

What a beautiful picture this sentence creates. I can picture seeing our Lord Jesus Christ in all His Glory and Splendor, looking on His beautiful face for the first time when I get to heaven; such an amazing thought, it's hard to imagine. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you. It's a picture and description of God's blessings upon your life figuratively and on your body literally. It's like waking up early in the morning and being outside when the beautiful majestic sunrise takes place. It's feeling the first rays of sunshine splash across your face and knowing that it's your heavenly Father that created that moment just for you and Him to share. It's such a powerful statement yet it's gentle and soft at the same time. To think about having the Lords face shine upon you is frightening to say the least because nobody can look upon the Lord's face and live to tell about it. Yet as a Christian Jesus has bridged the gap between us and the Father so we can have His face shine upon us freely and be showered with Grace and Mercy not fear and trembling. It's still reverent to be fearful of THE great and powerful, all MIGHTY God of the Universe because of who He is. It shows respect and honor to fear God because of who He is but He is not a mean God whom you should only fear, He is a God of Love and Mercy.
I feel the Lord's face shining upon me all the time. Sometimes more than others; but I feel it when it happens because I get a sense of peace and I can enjoy the moment in whatever I'm doing or wherever I may be. Whether I'm putting my son in his crib and saying good night to him or when I'm curling up with my wife right before we go to bed and I am putting my head on her pillow and my arm around her waist just listening to her breathe. It's in these moments that God is shining His face upon my life because He has blessed me with so much Joy and Happiness. If we just spend a little more time looking and listening for God we will see that His beauty is all around us everywhere we go. It's in the beautiful flowers in a garden, in helping a friend who's going through a tough time, in playing with your son and just acting silly and in the simple moments of just enjoying the presence of someone you love. God is everywhere and He is in control; He makes His face to shine upon us daily we just have to stop going going going long enough to realize it and appreciate it. It's in those moments where you see His face in your everyday world that you can stop and thank Him for His love for you. Thank Him that He would actually be thinking about you and care about you enough to brighten your day by shining His face upon your life.
May the Lord make His face to shine upon you is a blessing that is almost too good to be true but it is. The Lord looks upon you daily and makes His face available to you anytime, anywhere and for any reason. He doesn't just want to hear from you when you are going through a tough time. He wants to hear from you through everything you are going through good or bad because He wants to have a relationship with you and for you to get to know Him. God is a God of blessings, that's His business. Like any good father He likes to shower His children with blessings and see them happy. He wants to make His face to shine upon you and smile at you and see you smile because He loves you more than you could ever know or understand no matter what you have done, are doing or will do in the future. The hope you have in Jesus and the saving Grace of God because of what Jesus did for you is enough to make you smile no matter what you are going through. I pray that I would stop and see the beauty in my life all around me every chance I get because I don't want to run through this life and miss something God created for me or miss His face in a certain situation that could change everything. I pray the same for you today. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you today and may you have the eyes to see and not look right past it when He does. God Bless you all.

The 23rd Psalm

I have this lamanated card on my desk at the office that I got at the hospital where my son was born that has the 23rd Psalm on 1 side in the King James and a picture of Jesus with some sheep on the other side displaying him as the good shepherd. This card holds a lot of personal value and meaning to me because I found it when I was going through one of the most difficult times in my life which was preparing for the birth of my little boy. I understand that I wasn't the one who had to push the baby out and go through the intense labor pains but the situation for me was very agonizing because of the ramifications of what was about to happen; I was about to become a father to another human being!!! That thought entered my brain first when we found out Vanessa was pregnant and I was excited but the reality of the situation hadn't set in yet. Over the next few months we went to dr's appointments and got the ultrasounds with pictures and videos of the little squirt, we heard the heartbeat and saw him move around but for some reason it still hadn't hit me yet what was about to happen to my life. Now I want to pause right here for a moment and make a statement that I don't know the answer to but I have a pretty good idea that it could be a generality in the male population. I don't believe that men can really understand the enormous responsibility of being a father until the baby is here or at least until really close to the delivery date because we are not carrying the baby in our bellies nor have we been thinking about being a father our whole lives. I had never been around babies before ever in my life, I hadn't even held a baby of any size or age before I held my son on the day he was born; so I had no idea what I was in store for or what was about to happen. My only concerns when Vanessa and I started talking about having kids were financial concerns. I was afraid that we weren't ready to support a baby or that we couldn't afford for her to stay home with the baby instead of having to go to work. I didn't want my baby to have to be raised by someone else at a daycare and I knew that she really wanted to be able to stay home and take care of our child too so I had my doubts. These are all valid concerns that I had and if I didn't have those concerns I would be worried about myself or anyone else who is thinking about having kids because you don't need any additional stress; just having a baby in the house is stressful enough. I got over all of those concerns and I was trusting God to take care of our needs like He always had so I put those in His hands and watched Him work in our lives by providing us enough money for Vanessa to stay home by helping one of her friends out from work by taking care of her baby too during the day. So those issues were solved and prayers were answered but about a month or so before Christian was scheduled to be born I had a whole NEW wave of insecurities blow in that almost floored me and gave me a nervous breakdown.
Up to this point all I was worried about was being able to afford the baby and the financial aspect of everything; I was married to a professional when it came to taking care of a baby so I didn't really feel uncomfortable about that and everything else was taken care of. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks; this little guy is going to call me his FATHER and I am going to have to raise him. WHAT??? (imagine my voice really loud and in a high pitched tone)
I am going to be this little guy's role model and his hero, he is going to look up to me for everything and he is going to rely on me to teach him everything I know. What am I going to teach him? How am I going to raise this little man up to be a man of God and teach him how to fear and reverence the God of the Universe? How am I going to steer my son down the right path which leads to a saving relationship with Jesus and keep him from falling into the traps and pitfalls that I fell into which have caused so much pain and disappointment in my past life? How am I going to be all of this for this little man when I can barely take care of myself sometimes? You can see the flood of questions that hit me and knocked me down to my knees wondering how I can ever measure up to be the man he deserves in his life as his father. These questions are still on my mind to this day and they always will be. That's where the little card with the 23rd Psalm comes in.
We were at the hospital a week early because Vanessa was having blood pressure issues and the dr decided that we should just go ahead and get our son out so we don't have any complications. I was not prepared for this to come early because I thought I had a whole week before I had to be ready for this so needless to say I was a little more than flustered. I was walking around mumbling nonsense trying to get out of my office and home so we could leave to go to the hospital and once we got there I never really calmed down because my wife was already in pain and the whirlwind had begun. We made it through the night with a lot of interruptions because Vanessa was in a lot of pain and couldn't sleep so I was pretty tired the next morning when I got up and had to get my game face on for the fun filled day of excitement that was ahead of us. When it was time for Vanessa to get her epidural I immediately left the room because I couldn't stand to see the size of the needle they were about to use on her so I took a walk to clear my mind and get ready for what was about to happen. I was scared out of my mind at the possibilities of what could take place over the next couple of hours; all of the different scenarios were playing through my mind like they always do, thinking about the worst possible things that could happen. The complications she could have, something happening to her, something happening to my son, wondering if I was going to pass out during the middle of it all and wind up in a room myself; the list goes on and on. I was about to start hyperventilating when I found myself in the hospital gift shop looking at a row of cards with bible verses on them. I started reading through them and I came across the 23rd Psalm. The 23rd is Vanessa's birthday and her lucky number and it was my baseball number in high school so the number holds some meaning for us both. I had never read the Psalm before that I could remember, I knew what the Lords Prayer was but I had certainly never seen it before in the King James version so I was intrigued. There's something about the King James version that gives things a certain spark and a little more meaning than some of the other newer translations. I don't have a King James bible because I find it a little hard to read, especially the old testament; but I love this verse in the KJV. I purchased the card and began walking around the hospital as many times as I could to calm down. I must have been outside for about an hour it seems just reading and re-reading the card and speaking every word in a prayer to God completely opening myself up to Him with every word. I read,"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil: my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. AMEN" It seems like all in one moment my fears were put aside, my mind was relieved of the pressure and tension I was buckling under and I felt a peace come over me that everything was going to be ok and that I didn't need to worry anymore. I knew that God was watching over me and my family and that everything was going to be ok so I could go back into Vanessa's room and say that with confidence and support her with the knowledge that God told me that everything would be ok and not to worry. I honestly can't tell you that this has ever happened to me before but I really do feel like God spoke to me through this card because I have never had a scripture speak to me or influence me like the 23rd Psalm did for me that day. It was like God was speaking to me directly in my situation through this little card that I could have never seen if I wasn't walking around the hospital aimlessly. This Psalm will always hold a special meaning for me and my family and it will be a reminder that God is always watching over me and He is always here for me anytime I am in need or whatever I'm going through.
I was walking through the valley of the shadow of death in the sense that I was losing my mind with worry and I was afraid of what could happen and what was going to happen. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to be there to help Vanessa and that everything was out of my control and that there was nothing I could do if there were any complications. The thought of there being nothing I could do to help her and the uncertainty of the whole situation was tearing my brains apart not to mention the thoughts I was having about not being ready to be a father or not measuring up for my son. It was the darkest valley I had been in but God shown His light into the situation and showed me that I didn't have to be everything all at once. He was going to show me the way, He is going to point me in the right direction and give me the opportunity to grow in my faith and stature as a man and if I will walk with Him and ask for His wisdom then my God will provide. That was a prophetic statement for my life because I was really getting scared and I was afraid that I wasn't going to be good enough for my family but God let me in on a little secret that nobody changes over night. It takes time and effort to change and to become more like Christ, it's not something that happens just because you want it to. The fact that I'm so concerned about it shows that I am on the right track and I will not stop ever. I am determined to live my life striving for Excellence in every area of my life but especially in my relationship with my heavenly Father so I can show Christian what being a man of God is all about. I want to portray the image of what a Christian is for my son because he is going to look up to me and I want him to have a role model worthy of following. It's a daunting task and it's one that I have to ask for strength from God for everyday of my life. I am making an intentional effort to change my life from the inside out not only for myself but for my son and my wife because they are my responsibility and they deserve to have a man who is respectable to lead them into the future and that comes from me first humbling myself before God Almighty and having Him raise me up to be a MIGHTY WARRIOR for my family.
Psalms 23 holds and will always hold a special place in my heart because this little card symbolizes a turning point in my life that I see more clearly in retrospect than I did at the time. I was on the verge of defeat and God raised me up and elevated my mind to see Him and hear Him at a point of weakness in a very crucial hour. I struggle everyday with self doubt and a fear of failure for myself and for my family but I ask God to strengthen me and to give me wisdom and He always comes through. I will continue to trust God all of the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever because that's where my strength comes from. I know the next years of my life are going to be challenging and everyday will be an uphill battle but Christ Jesus didn't have a walk in the park kinda life and as Christians we can expect the same but that's what grows our faith in our God. I challenge you to find your strength in God no matter what you are going through because God will LEAD you THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death and you will have hard times but He will never leave you in the valley; you will always be lead through the valley to the other side where you can stand upon the mountaintop and see what you went through and how your heavenly Father helped you and appreciate the good times that much more. God bless all of you my friends today and thank you for being a part of my life. I am the luckiest man in the world today and I am blessed beyond imagination. God's blessing to you...