PSALM 22. I AM POURED OUT LIKE WATER

My Life is an offering to God. I give of those things which are close to my heart, because he first poured ot himself, giving himself for me.

I pray, "God give me strength," and he gives me oppertunities to exercise my weakness. I pray "God give me patience," and he sends me a situation that try it. I pray "God, help me to be loving," and he sends me one who is hard to love. For the gifts of the Sprit must be trained, as the mind must be educated. Strength is an act of will, as we love, patience, charity, and the rest.

When I come to the end of my own strength, patience, and love, I have come also to the end of my own will, and there in the empty place God iswaiting for me. "You have given your own strength," he says, "but now you shall give mine. You have loved with your own heart; love now with mine."

Until I am emptied of myself, of my own will, God cannot fill me; for he can give only to those who have made room for him in their souls.

My will is not my own

Till thou hast made it thine;

If I would reach a monarch's throne

I must my crown resign

-George Matheson

Principals For Possessing Your Promise

 

1.       Leave and Cleave.           Leave your past behind you and cleave to tomorrow and what is promised you.

2.       Change your Focus.        Stop looking at your circumstances in you and lift up your eyes.  Change your perspective and your attitude.

3.       Vision: See It and Receive It.      You will die without vision. Be sensitive to the glimpse God gives you the future. He wants you to possess.

4.       Understand the Purpose for the Storm.                When God gives you a revelation, the enemy will send a storm (distraction) to take away the Word. God will use the storm to build your patience so you can inherit the promise.

5.       Endurance It Takes Commitment.            Make the decision to be consistent in your faith so that God will deliver His promise to you. You are on only rewarded for that which you endure in life.

6.       Learn to Operate in God’s System.          There are two systems in operation-the world’s system and God’s system. If you operate in God’s system, your needs will be met. To do that, you must seek first the Kingdom of god, understand what the Kingdom is, and operate in that Kingdom.

7.       Seedtime and Harvest.                 You have a seed to plant and the authority to plant it, but remember; “The seed you plant today is what you will reap tomorrow”. So, Don’t wait until you’re sick or broke to plant seeds!                                             

      You may say to yourself, “my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me”. But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.  Deuteronomy 8-17-18  And “Ira” shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his due season; “Ira’s” leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Psalm 1:3 AMEN

The Lure of Money "The Earthly Way"

 

Lure: Something that tempts or attracts, especially one with a promise of reward or pleasure;

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

Frequently we worry about money. We are in awe of it. It is the world’s measuring stick of accomplishments. The world tells us that we will succeed and gain respect if we earn enough money. The world’s life is determined by money, money status, money power, money obtained from work, money needed, the fear of not having enough money in the future and the fear of losing the money presently in hand.

We think about money more than we think about God. We can end up worshiping money and have no time to worship God. Money can displace God from our lives. It becomes our god. I’ve seen myself, and many other people who are very interested in the Lord, do it. When we are focus on money, we think about it in such a way that we worry and are not at peace.

The deceitfulness of riches is the money promises everything; it appears to give some things, but in reality it gives nothing. In the end, money lets us down. When we worry that we won’t have enough money to meet our needs, we’re not trusting the Lord to provide. Were forgetting His eternal perspective. We’re allowing our fear of running out can be worse than actually running out.

That worry is more harmful for us than any decreased financial status. It ages us, it changes our judgment, it consumes and controls our lives; it takes us away from God. “The love of Money” puts us in bondage. How can we worship God on Sunday and cheat on our taxes-or anything else-throughout the week? The mind games we play show that we are devious and not devoted to God. We are being untrue. Money is NOT worth cheating. We fool ourselves if we think finances are of such great importance. There has to be a balance!!

Our true worth is not measured by having money in the bank; or by having cars and houses. Our true worth was measured on the cross and is reflected by our response in faith and thanksgiving to Jesus’ death and resurrection. The cash we live by is the presence of Jesus in our lives.

Counting the cost 

Here’s a favorite exercise of mine. If I start getting too worried or anxious about a situation, I like to take a step back from it. Maybe I even step up to a mirror, look at myself in the face, and ask, “Is this worth the worry?” Jesus poses the same questions:

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. ~Luke 12:6-7s

God loves us and treasures us as His children. He has everything under his control for all eternity. All we need to do is remember to look to Him and let Him provide. Praise be to God for his infinite wisdom and mercy!  Amen James Gillis, M.D.

See Principals for Possessing Your Promise God’s way… my next blog]

The Blessings of Failure Napoleon Hill

Failure sometimes becomes a blessing, when it turns one back from contemplated purposes which would mean embarrassment – or even total destruction had they been carried out.

Failure often opens new doors to opportunity, and provides one with useful knowledge of the realities of life by the trial-and-error method. It also frequently reveals methods and plans which will not work, and cures vain people of their conceit.

The British suffered grave defeat and failure when Lord Cornwallis surrendered to the Americans, giving the colonies their freedom. But without such freedom, America wouldn’t have had the strength to help save the British Empire from destruction in World Wars I and II.

The War Between the States impoverished the Southern States for several decades. But the law of compensation is now balancing the budget on his old score by moving Northern Industry to the South so rapidly that the people are receiving compound interest on the war’s toll of pride and possessions.

Somehow the law of compensation has a very long arm and a very sound memory, plus a wonderful bookkeeping system, and sooner or later all debts must be paid and all wrongs must be righted, among whole communities as well as among individuals.

I felt that I suffered and irreparable loss when my name did not appear in the will of a wealthy great-uncle who left his fortune to closer relatives. But that turned out to be one of the many great blessings that came my way through defeat and failure. Not receiving any of that money forced me to work out my own economic destiny, and in doing so I was fortunate enough to have discovered the way to success for other people throughout the world.

The failures of Abraham Lincoln in store-keeping, surveying, soldiering, and the practice of law had only the effect of preparing him to lead our people through their worst crisis in the War Between the States. Lincoln became great because his mental attitude was such that his struggles led him to a source of power we would not have known without his unpleasant experiences.

Milo C. Jones made a bare living from his farm near Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin until he was stricken down by double paralysis and suffered a total loss of the use of his body except the most important part – his brain.

His affliction forced him to the discovery and use of that brain so effectively that it came up with an idea that yielded him over a million dollars from the same farm which had previously made only a modest living. He converted the farm into the raising of corn, fed the corn to hogs, and turned them into “Little Pig” sausage which made a name for itself throughout America.

Failure in physical health sometimes diverts an individual’s attention from his body to his brain, and introduces him to the real “boss” of the physical body, the mind, and opens wide horizons of opportunity he never would have known with the failure.

Failure usually affects people in one or the other of two ways: It serves only as a challenge to greater effort, as in Lincoln’s case, or it subdues and discourages one from making another try.

The majority of people give up hope and quit at the first signs of failure, even before it catches up with them. And a large percentage of people quit when they are overtaken by only one failure, be it ever so trifling.

The potential leader never is subdued by failure, but is inspired to greater effort by it. Watch your reaction to your failures and you will know if you have the potentialities for leadership.

If you can keep on trying after three failures in a given undertaking, you may consider yourself a “suspect” as a leader in your present occupation. If you can keep on trying after a dozen failures, the seed of genius is sprouting within you. Give it the sunshine of Hope and Faith and watch it grow into great personal achievements.

It appears that Nature often knocks individuals down with adversity in order to learn who among them will get up and make another fight.

The world generously forgives one for his mistakes and temporary defeats provided that he accepts them as a challenge and keeps on trying, but there is no forgiveness for the sin of quitting when the going is hard.

Source: Success Unlimited. February, 1965. Vol. 12, No. 2. Pgs. 10 & 11.