Right In Front Of You

Sometimes I think we look for "x marks the spot" maps for success when truthfully, we should just look in the mirror.  Think about your wins and losses and what is the most constant thing-you are.  You are the x factor.  Its been quoted since the day it has been said but until its realized in everyone it must be repeated:  the Kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21)!  I was talking to a coworker and he told me the story of his friend who worked for this lawn company-his friend was on his first day after training looking around all morning for a house he was scheduled but couldn't find it; so he started crying and took a cigarette break and just when he was about to cut his loss on his quota and go on to the next house, he looks up and not only sees his first house but also the next few houses he's supposed to do right around the block.  Its a much funnier story than the way I said it but you have to understand the meaning; this guy went all around the world to find something that was close by the whole time, and not just one house but other houses too.  See God has put something in each of us not just for the moment but for work on the line also.  Think about it, a kingdom is, for lack of a better word, big, so you can just use your imagination when you think of a kingdom-and God put a kingdom inside all of us.  Its not something you have to go on an adventure for to find, or fight a war to take over someone else's kingdom as your own; all you have to do is submit to God's Way and He will bring it out of you in wherever your destiny is supposed to be.  Now you will have to make some sacrifices and do some work to reach that potential inside of you but as we all know, you'll be better in the end for it.   So lets stop asking God to bring things together for us and lets start asking Him to stir up what is in on the inside so that we can give it back to those who need to see that they are not far off from where God wants them to be as well.

Legend & Legacy

In the wake of a loss of a great singer Whitney Houston and what her life has meant to people all over the world, let us not forget what this legendary figure has taught us in her legacy. In all of her accomplishments we should understand that all of us have a great gift inside of us and that we should not be afraid to share it with the rest of the world. Who knows how many people we can inspire and encourage to bring forth what God has put in them. We all can reflect on Whitney Houston's career and all of the great songs from such a beautiful voice that brought so many to have hope and brought many to tears of joy through her words. Imagine, if she never picked up a microphone because she was afraid or thought someone was better than her; think of moments when you heard her sing and how her voice lifted you. Remember, you can do the same thing also with what is inside of you. Greatness is inside all of us and at this very moment, we need to ask God to give us the wisdom to "crack the bottle" sort of speak and unleash what we have kept hidden because the world is waiting for the light in you to shine (Romans 8:19). Do not wait another moment to get in gear the destiny that lies before. God will lead you every step of the way but hasten to His throne first so He can bring the greatness out of you. What legacy will you leave behind for future generations?

Be A Finisher II

"Do not plan for ventures before finishing what's at hand," the playwright Euripides says. I had come face to face with this very thing the other day in two ways. I started to clean my place and make room for new things but getting rid of some the old things that I had packed up over the years (it is very easy to get attached to certain things even at the risk of it cluttering your life but that's another story). As I was cleaning, I got tired and wanted to just do it another time even when the best time to do it is now (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Now during this time of cleaning I was also keeping score of the Falcons-Saints game the whole evening because I felt cleaning my place was more of a priority than the prime time game. Now me being a big Falcons fan, I was delighted to see the score for pretty much of the first two quarters until the last few seconds of the first half. Needless to say, the second of that game made me glad I chose to spring clean than to watch my birds get their feathers plucked in the second half. But that was very motivational and it is something that I have been hearing strongly all year, especially from sports analyst Skip Bayless, and that is you must have or develop the "clutch gene." It does not matter how well you start off, God and all of us look at the finished product. Champions, business, relationships, and other things we think of are modeled after the score after the buzzer and the product sold; they are not modeled off of first half scores and blueprints because those are the times when things should be adjusted for us finishing. Remember to be a great finisher we need patience to see it through to the end because it will not always look great at the beginning (Ecclesiastes 7:8). But we have to keep in mind that God has given us all the tools to finish the work He has put before us.

We Need To Super Size

Last night I was at church (Gospel of Faith Worship Center: http://www.gospeloffaithwc.org) and we all became a part of a transformation. We didn't have a church service but what we did do is come together for a cause to build and make where we dwell even better. All year our motto has been "a temporary discomfort for a long term success," and today I had to step back and look at some things to see that God wants us to maximize our entire land before He expands it. If you think about it, no one ever really moves out of a place if it is still spacious for them because there is still more to do in that particular place. Bringing those beams in last night reminded me of 2 Kings 6: 1-3 in a way when the people needed to upgrade from a 3G to a 4G but before they could do that they had to recognize that they were in a place that reached its full potential. See, its a cardinal rule that God puts in place that you have to take care of the little things first before you go on to the bigger things i.e. learning your ABC's before you write a novel. The other cardinal rule is unity because no matter how much we think we're moving from somewhere, in truth, its all of us moving somewhere if we share the same dream and purpose (and lets be honest, it is always better to have family and friends to help you move because when you move its like they're moving too). If you break it down, to reach that next level we have to push ourselves to make the place where we are now small and we will need to have people along side of us to help us carry those beams for the place we are building next. One more thing, along with maximizing our potential and having the spirit of unity, we also need a visionary, a leader among leaders that will give us counsel and guidance and let us know if the picture we are painting is a masterpiece or if we're painting off the easel because God never wants your good to be taken the wrong way. The next level is here and it is up to us to step up to it.

Be A Finisher

Recently in my personal life, I have been faced with this statement that seems to stare everyone everywhere in the face and that is "finish it!" Now let me give a proper applause to the Ladies of Prayer, Praise, and Purpose at Gospel of Faith Worship Center for repeating their change drive championship drive this year. It was a hard pill to swallow for the men but we were reminded by Pastor Burns (http://twitter.com/gospeloffaithwc) that its okay to start out good but if you do not follow through to the end it will do you no good. Starting is important and I would imagine that some people have a hard time starting anything they sit around talking about and we generally call those people "talkers" because that's what they are good at more than anything. But I would be willing to bet that the people that actually start something they talk about, more than half of them never finish what they start. We can just call those people "starters" because they can start one project but never see it through to the end, mainly because those people probably thought someone else's idea and thought it was good but never planned anything for themselves. But if it is one thing I'm sure God appreciates is a "finisher" because they are able to sit back and realize that what they have started can be self-sustaining. If you read Luke 14: 25-35 you will see that you have to go into whatever your dreams are prepared to start and planned out to finish and always prayerful that God will give you guidance throughout the work. Steve Jobs said you have to have a passion for what you are doing otherwise you will quit what you started working on in the first place. That's what God asks of us when He gives us a work to do: have a purpose, have preparation, have a plan, have passion, and above all be in prayer that God will give you the strength to see it through to the end.

Getting "The Job" Done

Alright, today I ran across this post on facebook from youtube entitled I Don't Need A Job from Pastor Jamal Bryant [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJuhivnGcDw&sns=fb] and curiosity led to me being doubtful until I heard what he had to say and it is very profound. To sum it up, we are wasting our abilities God gave us on jobs we should not be working because they are out of our sphere of purpose and takes us further away from what we really should be doing. Now he says a key that rings in my ear is that God calls us to work and not to get a job and for those old enough to remember Arsenio Hall's phrase, "things that make you go hmmmm." So let me give you a strange definition on the word "job" and this comes from a wrestling definition and not Webster's Dictionary which is to have a losing performance or basically to be a jobber. Now a jobber is different from a worker because a jobbers "job" is to lose to make the workers look good-let me say that again, a jobbers "job" is to lose to make the workers look good. It sounds harsh but we work our fingers to the bone to make someone else look like a million bucks and get very little reward from it if any to do performing the job. Some might say, what about stewardship (Luke 16:10) but that is speaking to people that being stewards in a cause or a purpose that God has set them on. You have to remember that "whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might" (Ecclesiastes 9:10) is talking about your destiny. So if you're supposed to be a teacher, you shouldn't be managing at a grocery store, if you're supposed to be sanitation worker figuring out how to make a cleaner environment, you shouldn't be in a cubicle crunching numbers, etc. We only have one life to live and very limited opportunities to gain talents for God's glory with the talents He gave us to use. This is something we really need to take to heart and applying it because God is giving us our opportunities right now to use the gifts He placed in us to the max of our abilities and we can not afford to miss what is coming towards us. Check out Jon Acuff's book Quitter: Closing The Gap Between Your Day Job & Your Dream Job.

Find Your Life

So in studying Matthew 10 (focusing on verse 39) and getting wisdom from Pastor Burns (twitter.com/gospeloffaithwc), it is clear that you cannot do anything without Christ. I think often times we say that and repeat that in our affirmations or have it in our cubicle or on a bumper sticker but we do not really apply it. Personally, I started to take it out of context until I got the understanding of it: if you try to find your life, you will lose it, but if you lose your life for Christ’s sake, then you’ll find out. If you notice before that statement He said you have to take up your cross and follow Him and right before that He says if you love your family more than Him then you are not even worthy of Him. It sounds harsh but notice the things we have to give up in this chapter to gain the life God has put in us that we have been seeking for our whole lives: we have to let go of having fear of people and we have to let go of fear we have of losing our family. The old saying comes to mind, the tighter you hold on to something the easier it is for it to slip through your fingers. And honestly, our natural instincts are to go with popular opinion and to love papa, mama, big bro, and baby sis above all others so that is why Jesus says you have to crucify that along with other things so that you can put it out of your mind to not seek for your own life but seek Him and He will give you an even greater life. Check this out, if Christ is not the center and the guiding force in what you do, whatever you put your hands to do will be meaningless and it will come to nothing (Psalm 127). We can do all things through Christ which strengthens us only if we are willing and obedient to do all things He leads us in.