Wisdom

“For the Lord gives wisdom.” Pr 2:6 NKJV

To succeed in life you must do these three things:

(1) Decide what’s important. The story’s told of a family who moved to the country to get away from the city. They decided to raise cattle so they bought a ranch. One day a friend visited them and asked what they’d named it. Dad said, “I wanted to call it The Flying-W, but Mom wanted to call it The Suzy-Q. One of our sons liked The Bar-J, but our daughter preferred The Lazy-Y. So we compromised and called it The Flying-W, Suzy-Q, Bar-J, Lazy-Y Ranch.” The friend asked, “How are your cattle doing?” Dad replied, “We don’t have any. They didn’t survive the branding.” Come on—decide what’s important to you!

(2) Prioritize your time. Too many of us are like the store owner who got so busy trying to keep the place clean that he forgot to open the front door. The reason you’re in business is to serve customers and make a profit, not get distracted by secondary things. Base your life’s decisions on your priorities. And if you need help figuring out what they are, ask God: “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

(3) Learn to motivate yourself. Most times, nobody else will. When tragedy struck his life, we read: “David encouraged himself in the Lord” (1Sa 30:6). You need to learn how to do that too. Jude writes: “Building up yourselves…praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude v. 20). To succeed in life you must learn to encourage yourself, pray and build yourself up.

LAUNCH OUT

“Launch out into the deep.” Lk 5:4

Dr. Robert Schuller’s hobbies include raising koi fish. Asked why some grow big while others stay small, he replied, “If a koi fish lives in a small tank it will never grow longer than two or three inches. In a larger pond they can grow up to ten inches long—in ponds the size of mine they’ll get to be eighteen inches long—but if they live in a huge lake where they can swim and stretch, they can grow up to three feet long. The size of the pond determines the size of the fish. Similarly, little ideas in little-thinking minds produce little achievements. But little ideas embraced by big-thinking minds produce enormous achievements.”

Jesus said, “According to your faith be it unto you” (Mt 9:29). The size of your faith and your vision determines the outcome of your idea. Edison had to install electric lights for free in an office building before anyone even came to look at them. The first sewing machine invented was destroyed by a mob in France. Morse waited for ten years before the world showed any interest in his telegraph. And when the idea of traveling by railroad was introduced, people scoffed because it was widely believed that traveling at thirty miles per hour stopped blood circulation in the human body.

Ronald E. Osborn said, “Undertake something difficult; it will do you good. Unless you try something beyond what you have already mastered, you’ll never grow.” You attain in direct proportion to what you attempt, which is why Jesus said to His disciples: “Launch out into the deep.”

purpose

'I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt.'

Jer 31:4 NKJV

Don't allow anybody but God to tell you what you're worth. That's too much power to give anyone. If people can label you, they can limit you.

Until you know how God feels about you, you'll know neither your worth as an individual nor your life's purpose. You'll worry about how you look, what others think, and whether or not you're going to succeed in life.

But when you believe God's promise, 'I have loved you with an everlasting love... I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt' (v.3 NKJV), you're free to focus on improving and reaching your God-given potential.

What life has torn down, God can rebuild. If you're suffering from lack of self-worth, here's a prayer to help you: 'Father, sometimes I think I'm of no use, that I can't do anything right, that nothing I do is ever good enough. But I know that when You look at who I am, and who I can be - You see Jesus.

And He is good enough!

It's good enough that He shed His precious blood to cover my unworthiness.

Good enough that He paid the price for every sin I would ever commit.

Good enough that He's working to perfect me each day.

Good enough that He sees me as 'righteous' in Christ.

Good enough that He's interceding for me at the throne of God right now.

Good enough that He's mending the broken areas of my life and making me whole.

Good enough that His love for me is everlasting and guaranteed.

Thank You, Father, that everything Jesus does is good enough, and that in Him,

I am good enough too!'

Grow into your destiny

God prepares us for our destiny, much like a tree. He plants seeds of passion and desire in our hearts. As we feed our faith, we grow into our destiny. It is important to realize that seasons of pruning and refining, like a tree, are for growth. Many times before fruit can be added, distractions must be subtracted.

Have you ever seen a tree that has been pruned? It looks like it had a bad day, but pruning stimulates fruit production. Any time God is "hacking away" at you, it may look like you went backwards, but if you'll learn to have faith, when you look like this it just means you're headed to a new level of productivity in God!

1 Peter 1:7 (New Living Translation)

⁷ These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

Sometimes God works on you, cutting away the excess and whittling you into something completely different. When you think you'll never produce fruit, God works a miracle.

Jesus said,

John 15:5 (New Living Translation)

⁵ “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

As long as you stay connected to that Vine, which is Jesus, it doesn't matter what you go through. He is your source for life, healing and destiny. Whatever problem you face, just stay in God's presence and your fruitful days are coming. God is your source......

If God has given you a vision and a calling, don't give up. Get into His presence and wait for your appointed time.

Habakkuk 2:3 (New American Standard Bible)

³"For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.

Just like a strong tree, God is raising you up and nurturing you for a divine purpose. Don't give up!!!!

Pray about everything.......

Philippians 4:6 (New Living Translation)

⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

The four-year-old son of a missionary family in Africa spotted a picture of a little pink dinosaur in a magazine and set his heart on having one. His mom knew it was impossible (the magazine was three years old), but her son never doubted God would come through for him. Ten months later, on Christmas Eve, a box from home arrived. At first glance it seemed to contain something special for everyone-except a four-year-old boy. Then they reached the bottom-and they were stunned. The lady who sent the box had no way of knowing God would use her to answer a little boy's prayer. Before taping up the box, at the last minute, she tossed in the one item impossible for his parents to provide-something so insignificant no rational adult would ever have been foolish enough to ask God for...a pink plastic brontosaurus from a fast-food restaurant promotion!

Sometimes we feel foolish bothering God with little things, but we shouldn't. The Bible says: "Pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." God is interested in every detail of your life; if something is important to you, it's important to Him. In Bible times two sparrows were sold for a cent (on sale you could buy five for two cents!) yet Jesus said, "Not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it...the very hairs on your head are all numbered" (Mt 10:29-30 NLT). When you learn to trust God in little things, you'll be able to trust Him in big ones.

You can conquer worry........

Matthew 6:34 (New Living Translation)

³⁴ “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Most of the stuff we worry about never happens, or turns out better than we anticipate. Worry, like faith, is a spiritual force. Like a magnet, it attracts the very things we fear, clouds our judgment and distorts our perspective.......

God never intended us to carry tomorrow's burdens along with today's........

So, here are 3 ways that helps me conquer worry.........

1) Replace it......

Telling somebody not to worry doesn't work. Worry is like an emotional spasm; the only way to break it is to replace it.

Philippians 4:8 (Contemporary English Version)

⁸Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don't ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise.

2) Dissect it.......

1 John 4:17-18 (The Message)

^17-18God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

Worry torments you; your imagination runs wild, conjuring up all kinds of scary scenarios. But it's also illogical; when you take it apart rationally and systemically, it loses its power to control you.

3) Rise above it........

A well-known pastor was flying over the Mississippi River one day when the sky grew dark. "We can't see where we're going!" he exclaimed. Calmly the pilot replied, "We just need to rise above the ground heat, dust, and smoke." After climbing another 1,000 feet they emerged into a clear, beautiful world.

Corrie Ten Boom called faith "the radar that pierces through the fog."

When worry tries to fog you in, you can rise above it by placing your trust in the Lord.

Isaiah 40:29-31 (New Living Translation)

²⁹ He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
³⁰ Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
³¹ 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 faint.

He gives power to the weak: After explaining all the greatness and glory of God, now Isaiah explains another benefit we can receive from our God - He gives us His great power!

Notice who God gives power to: the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Those who are proud and confident in their own wisdom and strength will receive no strength from God.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary: Those who thought themselves strong find themselves weak. God’s strength is reserved for those who know they are weak, and know they have no might.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength:

How do we receive this strength from the Lord?

We receive it as we wait on the Lord. The idea behind wait on the Lord is not a passive sitting around until the Lord does something. Yes, God gives us strength; but we don’t expect it to come as if He were pouring it into as you sit passively. He brings it to us as we seek Him, and rely on Him, instead of our own strength.

If we are weak, it is because we do not wait on the Lord!

We are also told that we renew our strength. It is strength that was once received when we first came to the Lord in weakness and no might. Then, that strength is renewed as we wait on the Lord.

Renew is “from a basic meaning ‘to change’ . . . [it] comes to mean ‘to put on afresh’: here, ‘keep putting on fresh strength.’

They shall mount up with wings like eagles: This is the measure of strength the Lord gives us - strength to soar above everything else.

They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint: This is the purpose of the strength the Lord gives us - strength to move forward and progress for Him. It isn’t strength to show off, but strength to go forward in.

Weak in Isaiah 40:29 and faint in Isaiah 40:30 are the same Hebrew word, which means “failure through loss of inherent strength.”

Weary in Isaiah 40:30 is a different word, which means “exhaustion because of the hardness of life." If we are worn out for either reason, God is here to give us strength - if we will wait on Him!

First we mount up with wings like eagles. Then we run. Finally we walk. Does it seem out of order? Not at all.

First, we recognize that we soar up into heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Then we set ourselves on the course to run the race (Hebrews 12:1).

Hebrews 12:1 (New Living Translation)

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Then we are in the good place to walk the walk.

Colossians 2:6 (Contemporary English Version)

⁶You have accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord. Now keep on following him.

Matthew 6:34 (New International Version)

³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Dry bones

Ezekiel 37:1 (New King James Version)

¹ The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.

Maybe you are looking around your life and finding yourself right in the middle of a valley of trouble, valley full of dry bones! Everybody's valley is different.......

Maybe your valley experience is a troubled marriage, dissatisfaction with your job or a struggling church. If you're not in a valley today, you'll get there. We all go through valleys and we all have times in our lives when we feel like dry bones of despair and gloom surround us. When I am going through a valley, I sat down and I read this story. This is a story that will give you hope. (Ezekiel 37:1-10)

I believe God wants us to believe for a miracle, but I also believe that His purpose is in your valley experience.......just like with Ezekiel.

God had amazing plans for Ezekiel in the valley. But he first had to get Ezekiel there. According to Ezekiel 37:1, the hand of the Lord took him to the valley. He was carried there in the Spirit.

Maybe you don't think God understands what you're going through today, but He knows every step you make.

Psalm 37:23 (New Living Translation)

²³ The Lord directs the steps of the godly.
He delights in every detail of their lives.

Ezekiel was in the midst of a spiritual experience. The presence of the Lord came upon him and the Spirit carried him. If you are coming out of a great spiritual breakthrough or experience, don't expect to be left on the mountaintop. God plucked Ezekiel up and placed him in the valley full of bones......very dry bones.

Why??? Because that is where the miracle could happen.........

God has a purpose for it........