Live It

Emerson once said, "What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say."

Jesus preached a powerful message but He also Lived it...The disciples learned from not only what they heard, but what they saw...

The Medical profession is somewhat similar. Medical Resident's will go on rounds with the Attending Physician. They watch him/her...They study their every move...They listen as well...but they watch...The Attending has credibility because they are living what they teach...

I want to be a person who lives what they believe...and you know one thing that motivates me to live better...it is when someone tells me that I can not do something...this even pertains to my Christian life...

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

That stings...but there is truth to it...I don't want someone telling me that I am unlike The Christ I follow...So I must analyze myself...what would others say?

Gandhi's quote challenges me...does it challenge you?

If you and I want credibility, if we want to influence others, then our beliefs and our actions must be in sync...

1 Corinthians 13 says it best: What if I could speak all languages of humans and of angels? If I did not love others, I would be nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Risk Of Faith

Jesus said to her, "Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you're healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague." ~ Mark 5.34 ~ (emphasis added)

I love this Passage of Scripture from Mark 5.25-34 on so many different levels, one being The Healing of Jesus, how His touch can immediately take years of illness and change it into a renewed condition of perfect health. But another thing has been revealed to me as I meditated on this passage the other night...and that is on the topic of RISK...

The crowd was huge that day my friends, Jesus was walking through it...the woman was sick...she had to take ACTION...she had FAITH that "If I can put a finger on his robe, I can get well."

Jesus knew someone had touched her... "The woman, knowing what had happened, knowing she was the one, stepped up in fear and trembling, knelt before him, and gave him the whole story. "

Here is my point: Sometimes we know we need to do something to change our current condition. It could be an illness, it could be a career change, it could be a suffering economy, maybe a relationship problem...Like the woman, we need to:

1. Have Faith In Jesus and know that we are one touch away from His Blessings
2. Take Action - Jesus will heal, but we must do our part and Seek after Him
3. Bust through the crowd - there will always be a "crowd" and the timing may not seem perfect, but we must do whatever it takes to seek Christ
4. Risk of Faith - When we have our opportunity, we must seize it...The woman took a Risk of Faith...A Reach of Faith...
5. Step Up & Kneel - We need to take responsibility, Step Up & Kneel before Christ with respect and awe, give Him our whole story, our whole life

What Risk do you need to take today? You could be only one touch away from Victory!

Lord, I want to take a Risk of Faith in Your Name. You have the immediate power to heal. It's time for me to believe, bust through the crowd, and reach for you, Yes and Amen!

Bleed

Steve Prefontaine is the "Elvis" of the Track and Field world. The guy is a Legend is every respect of the word. One of the main things everyone loved about "Pre" is that he was a creative artist on the track, but even more so, he was a no-holds-barred-WARRIOR on the track!

"Pre's" WARRIOR status began In The 1970 NCAA Track & Field Championships where "Pre" competed as a freshman in the 3 mile. His performance was in doubt because he had cut his foot four days before the race. Six stitches were required to close the cut. "Pre" had to spend four days in bed.

When Race day arrived, Pre's foot was taped and everyone hoped the wound would not reopen. Listen to what Pre said even if it had reopened...

"I will keep going until I finish or until I run out of blood."

Well Pre's wound did reopen. In fact, He ran the majority of the race with a huge gash in his foot...the six stitches were no match for the 3 mile pounding on the pavement. The good thing is Pre did not run out of blood...but He did finish...not only did he finish, but Pre set the meet record in 13 minutes 22 seconds as a FRESHMAN. "Pre" wanted to run and to win so badly that he was willing to BLEED to do it!

One of "Pre's" greatest quotes explains his mindset when it came to Race Day:

"Somebody may beat me,
but they are going to have to bleed to do it."

Is there anything you are willing to BLEED for?

Jesus BLED for us. He was willing to do whatever it took. He sweat drops of blood. He had a crown of thorns that caused blood to drip down His face. He was flogged and beaten and it left a trail of blood when the guards pulled him away. He hung naked on a cross...bleeding. After He was crucified, the guards wanted to make sure he was dead...so they stuck a spear in His side...blood and water came rushing out...

I can imagine Jesus, on The Cross saying:

"I will keep going until I finish or until I run out of blood."

Here is the cool thing...Jesus finished before he ran out of blood! And because He finished, we get to begin...begin a life of ABUNDANCE!

Live As Jesus Died
I want to live my life the way Jesus died. I want to live my life the way "Pre" ran. The time is now. The passion is here....

...It's Time to BLEED...

Run so hard you come in with bloody feet and missing toenails"

-Rob Decestella

No Execuses

After landing his invasion forces on the shores of a particular country, the sixteenth-century Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés would immediately burn his own boats. He was sending his army a message: "We can't turn back. Either we succeed here or we die here."

Burn the boats...throw off everything that hinders...

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,
and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
~ Hebrews 12.1 ~

So how do we do this...how do we allow for Excuses to not be an option?

Answer: We focus...we fix our eyes on Jesus. Christ focused. Even knowing His death was upon Him, He was able to stay on course for His mission because of His focus:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
~ Hebrews 12.2 ~

Let's go forward today, having no room for excuses. Let's burn our boats, focus, and fix our eyes on Jesus, just as He focused His life on His mission in order to make our lives super abundant...This will open up the ability for us to make the most of every opportunity that God has mercifully granted us!

...make the most of every opportunity.

~ From Colossians 4:2-6 ~

Attitude: The Desire To Be Great!

"How Well You Do Something is determined by your Attitude."
~ Lou Holtz ~

Winning Everyday
Lou Holtz, in his book, "Winning Everyday," tells a great story about one of his football players at Notre Dame. This player was Andy Heck. Andy was a very good starting tight end, but the coaches decided to move him to offensive tackle. Andy had to make difficult adjustments in order to get used to this new position...

One day Andy was complaining to his offensive line coach, Joe Moore, about receiving a negative grade on a particular play. As Holtz states, "Andy thought he had performed adequately." In response to Andy's complaint, Coach Moore said the following:

"Andy, that would be true for an average player, but I don't think you are an average player. Do you want me to grade you as an average player so your mark will be positive? Or should I grade Andy as a great player, in which case your performance on that play was a minus. Which do you choose?" (emphasis added)

Lou Holtz goes on to say, "Coach Moore didn't have to say another word. Andy chose to think of himself as a great player and the rest is history." Andy went on to elevate his personal standards, become team captain and then went on to become one of the best offensive tackles in the National Football League while playing for the Chicago Bears.

Andy was forced to make an attitude check...

As Lou says, "It takes just as much time and energy to think, 'I can,' as it does to think, 'I can't.' Think about winning before you go to sleep and the moment you wake. Remember: Every day, some ordinary person does something extraordinary. Today, it's your turn."

As Followers of Jesus Christ, do we see ourselves as average or great? Which do we choose? Like Andy, lets choose greatness and the rest will take care of itself!

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus...to the glory of God the Father.

~ Philippians 2:5-11 ~

Glorifying God In The Details

Glorifying God in The Details
God is a Detailed God...all you have to do is look at what He has created to notice that He cares about the smallest of details. And when it comes down to completing His assignment for our lives, we must stick to it and never quit...

Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You've heard, of course, of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last detail. ~ James 5.10-11 ~ (emphasis added)

Jesus Cares About The Details
In John 17.1-5, Jesus Prays an Awesome Prayer to The Heavenly Father, I Pray that in my own way, I can Pray the same thing when it comes to fulfilling God's Purposes...take a look:

I glorified you on earth
By completing down to the last detail
What you assigned me to do. (emphasis added)

I Pray these words as well for all who read this, that you would complete down to the last detail what God assigns you to do...

Displaying God's Bright Splendor
It's very cool as well when you look a few verses prior to The detail Prayer of Christ...Jesus says, "Father, it's time. Display the bright splendor of your Son So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor." That's really what it is all about...our lives are to Glorify God. 1 Corinthians 10.31 says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

Lord, Thank you that You care not only about the big and the general, but YOU also care about the small and the detailed! May we stay the course and live to display Your Bright Splendor today by focusing on the details! Yes and Amen!

God's Calling, satan's echo

Have you ever heard God Calling you to do something, and then once you decided to act on it, you began to second guess yourself? Did the negative voices creep up inside your head telling you that you are not good enough and do not have what it takes?

If so, then you have possibly heard the echo of satan. When God calls you and me to do something, especially something that is outside of our comfort zone, satan begins to tremble because satan does not want us to do anything for The Kingdom of God...

For us to live out God's Will for our lives, we must put the mute on satan's echo. Thankfully James tells us how to do so:

So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper.
Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time.
~ From James 4.7-10 ~