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Good Success

"Good Success."

Almost everyone in this world wants to be successful, and by the world system, many appear to be. But, according to God’s Word, success is referred to as “good success” (Joshua 1:8 amp). It is God’s will that the believer come in to good success and not just success.

Every one of us wants the taste of success, and we live our whole lives chasing success as the world presents it. Success, the world’s way, is packaged nicely on the outside. The trimmings and bows on a package may make it look enticing, but the contents may not match up to that which is on the outside.

Too many times we continue to base our future on empty promises made by men who hold a position in society.
I want to encourage you to take God at his Word, because his Word tells us that everything will pass away but not one dot from his Word will pass away, and this, my friends, is a promise beyond promises (Matthew 24:35 amp ).
After God lays out the plan and equips us with the promise, he will most definitely give us the instructions to make that plan a success.

The key to possessing our promise is really remaining confident in his ability to bring it to pass, as opposed to our own abilities.

In order to remain confident in God’s abilities to bring the promises to pass, we have to focus, ponder, think about, and speak the promises. This principle was laid down from very early on in God’s Word and it has not changed. It is we who are changing because of the inability to maintain consistency in right believing.

Somehow man’s opinions and thoughts and strategies seem to take the forefront and God’s Word and promises become the last resort in the backup plan. Sometimes, unless we exhaust all our resources and truly come to the end of ourselves, we will not truly be able to embrace God and his Word as the priority in our lives. My friends, I want to encourage you to take God’s instruction first in your life, and I assure you that the results of good success will most definitely manifest!

Power Thought: I am not interested in success, but I will experience good success because I will follow the God-pattern for good success.

What is your purpose?

"What is our God-purpose?"

We have all been equipped with certain gifts and talents by God to accomplish our purpose, and it all leads to one specific end, and that is to be a witness for him. Every one of us was created to be a witness for Jesus.

It does not mean that once we become a Christian that we have to leave our jobs and families and go off on some mission to a country to help the poor. While helping poor people should be our concern and considering the experience of a mission trip in the future could prove beneficial to our world view of poverty. God does not expect us to leave life as we know it unless there is a specific call on our lives for missions. But his purpose is for us to use the platform we have been given through our talents and gifting to be a witness right where we are. So it doesn't matter what field we may be in, the fact is, this specific field now transforms into a witnessing field.

The idea is that while we are operating in our purpose in life we are fulfilling the God purpose, by using our natural talents, such as leadership skills, artistic skills, compassion, kindness, and even encouragement to glorify God and lead others to him.

As believers we need to have a revelation that this time on earth is only as it suggests- for a time, and then there is life after, but while here, God wants us to be good stewards of time!

Power Thought: My ultimate God-purpose is to be a witness for God.

Created on purpose for a purpose

"God does not create anything insignificant, inferior, or without a purpose."

In the Christian circle, purpose is a word that is used frequently, yet to me it was just a word. However, if we are to get where we are going in this life, purpose is the defining factor to the end result. On my new venture with my heavenly father, I began to get the clarity necessary for a successful journey and slowly realized the whole point of getting saved was not just to secure a spot in heaven when the Lord returns, but more so that I would be a living testimony for Jesus Christ.

Life is more than just passing through to get to a better place; even though that will be the end result, we have to believe that life is much more, and that the reason we were put on the earth is not to do time or to buy time but accomplish something with the time we have been given. We have to arrive at a place in our lives where we are convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that we have been created on purpose for purpose!

“On purpose” means intentional or deliberate. God’s plan for creating us was intentional and deliberate, and there had to be a process of planning which would have crystallized the details for the finished product. My friends, I want to make this statement a personal one as you say it out loud so you can hear yourself, “I am created on purpose for purpose!”

Power Thought: I don’t just have a purpose, but I have a God-purpose.

Elohim Shama : The God Who hears

Anytime we about to enter into a new year, many people come out with so many resolutions, goals and aspirations for the coming year. There is so much excitement about it in the first month or two but what happens after that? It's good to have a plan or sense of direction for your life but it is very important to know the kind of plan or purpose God has for you as well. Many are the plans of man but it is only the counsel of God that stands. Let us commit all our ways unto him for him to direct our paths. Leaning on our own understanding and wisdom will only lead us into doom. Whenever you feel like giving up or lost never give up, remember there is a God who hears you and listens to you from the very depth of your heart. He is Elohim Shama.

Like that faithful friend who puts all else aside when we show up with a need, God takes us by the hand, locks His gaze on us, and gives us His undivided attention Psalm 17:6 assures us God is an active listener. But He doesn't merely hear our words; He is also moved by the unvoiced groanings of our hearts ( Romans 8:26)

How encouraging to know that in Christ, God is completely empathetic to our human struggles ( Hebrews 4:14-16).

Because He knows us intimately( Psalm 139:1), because He listens attentively to us, and because He loves us perfectly, we can rest assured that He will always meet our needs ( Philippians 4:19). Even when no one else seems to be paying attention, you van trust that God hears the cries of your heart.

Never for a moment believe that God doesn't hear the supplications of His children, for He is a God who hears even before you make utterances He knows your heart.

May Elohim Shama who listens to His children hear your prayers and answer them according to His will and purpose for your life.

BE CONTENT!!!

As long as you keep searching, comparing, and envying what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough. Only when you rely on God and practice gratitude for all he provides will you be able to overcome the dissatisfaction that comes from envy. Envy causes you to resent God’s goodness in other people’s lives and to ignore God’s goodness in your own.

For people always comparing themselves to others—you know, checking their status and updating their profile—every single day brings more trouble. There’s no way for them to see their blessings because the glass is always half-empty. But people who trust God as the source of their happiness have no desire to compare themselves to anyone else. They know that he loves them and remains in charge of their lives, through pleasant circumstances as well as painful ones.

So enjoy what God has given you, instead of longing for what you don’t have. Be thankful for what God has given you, instead of creeping on someone else’s Instagram: “Oh, I wish I had their life!” Guess what? They’re longing for your life in ways you don’t even know about!

Enjoy what you do have rather than desiring what you don’t have.

With Christ’s help, you can win the battle of constantly comparing yourself and envying others. Social media should be a place to see what’s happening in the lives of those you love—not the place to make you envy. Let’s rejoice with those who rejoice. Let’s cultivate gratitude.

Let’s worship our God, not because he gives us everything we want, but because he is worthy of our praise. Let’s worship him because we’ve learned the secret of being content, whether we’re living in plenty or living in want. That secret is that we can do all things through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who gives us strength.

Because he is all we need, let’s pursue him with our whole hearts.

Only in him will we find true joy and true contentment.

Because only he is life, and only he truly satisfies.

What Unforgiveness Does to your Brain...Charles Stone

"Unforgiveness not only keeps us chained to our offender but it profoundly affects our bodies and brains"
We've all been deeply hurt in some way.. a betrayal by a spouse, a behind-your-back criticism from a friend, hateful judgment from a colleague , unfair treatment by a parent or boss. And the deeper the hurt, the harder it is and the longer it takes us to forgive. But sometimes we simply don't forgive. We harbour a grudge. Resentment builds in our hearts. We nurse the offense. As a result, we remain prisoner to our pain and we harm our brain.
When someone hurts us, it's natural and normal to feel pain. God created our brains to help us survive when we feel threatened, it's called the fight-flight-freeze response generated in our emotional centers, primarily mediated by two almond shaped clusters of brain cells called amygdale. When the amygdalae are activated, a series of bio-chemical processes begin. The adrenal glands that lie on top of our kidneys release the stress hormone cortisol into our bodies and the brain releases neurotransmitters into the brain. Those in turn activate part of our nervous system called the sympathetic nervous system. When this system is activated, among other things, our attention gets highly focused on survival, our digestive system stops, our pupils dilate, our saliva glands slow, our blood pressure and heart rate increases, and our muscles are readied for action. Our body prepares itself to fight, flee or freeze.
Unforgiveness can keep our bodies and brains in this state of high alertness and leads to these unhealthy results.

• Rumination: We nurse and rehearse the hurt, which reinforces our negative emotions and burns the event and pain even deeper into our neuropathways. When we're not focused on a task, our inner self-talk will often default to rehearsing the painful solution.
• Diminished Memory: When we remain stressed for longs periods of time (i.e refuse to forgive), cortisol actually causes our brain to atrophy, especially our memory center called  the hippocampus.
• Amplified negative emotions: Prolonged stress also amplifies our amygdlae's sensitivity making us even  more susceptible to further hurt and pain
• Shadenfreude:  This concept describes the secret pleasure we feel when we see those who have hurt us experience misfortune themselves. It actually causes our brain to produce the pleasure neurotransmitter dopamine. It actually feels good to see bad things happen to those we don't forgive. It's  the opposite of praying for your enemies, which Jesus commanded us to do.

So what can we do? consider these insights to forgive those who have hurt you

1. first admit the pain:  when we name a painful emotion ( not stuffing or rehearsing it) we actually decreases that negative emotion's intensity.
2. Begin to choose to forgive the person:  Notice  that i used the word 'begin'. some offences can be quickly forgiven.  some may take a long time to fully forgive . Forgiveness is a process. The deeper the pain, the longer it takes. It's not so much forgive and forget. Rather, true forgiveness is more like remembering it less and less.
3. Draw deeply from God's grace:  At the root of the Christian faith lies grace, receiving God's grace and extending it to others who have hurt us.

The Apostle Paul reminded us in colosians 3:13 to forgive others as Jesus has forgiven us.

 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

By  Charles Stone