Hold on!

Herewith another very compelling story I read:

Shaped for Glory

During the Great Depression, a good man lost his job, exhausted his savings and forfeited his home. His grief was multiplied by the sudden death of his precious wife. The only thing he had left was his faith-and it was weakening.

One day he was combing the neighborhood looking for work. He stopped to watch some men who were doing the stonework on a church building. One of these men was skillfully chiseling a triangular piece of rock. Not seeing a spot where it would fit, he asked, "Where are you going to put that?" The man pointed toward the top of the building and said, "See that little opening up near the spire? That is where it goes. I am shaping it down here so it will fit in up there."

Some of you are going through terrible troublesome times. You may be experiencing some heartbreaking sorrow. Or perhaps you are enduring some painful physical illness. Or it may be something else-maybe even too excruciating to talk to anyone about. The blows of the hammer and chisel hurt.

But hold on to your faith. These difficulties will not get you down. They are only temporary. Glory is coming. It is the harsh blows to the outward man that often bring the greatest strength to the inner man.

Keep praying. Keep believing. The Master has to do some shaping of us down here so we will fit in up there.

Psa 77:1 An Asaph psalm. I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might, I yell at the top of my lungs. He listens. 2 I found myself in trouble and went looking for my Lord; my life was an open wound that wouldn't heal. When friends said, "Everything will turn out all right," I didn't believe a word they said. 3 I remember God--and shake my head. I ow my head--then wring my hands. 4 I'm awake all night--not a wink of sleep; I can't ven say what's bothering me. 5 I go over the days one by one, I ponder the years gone y. 6 I strum my lute all through the night, ondering how to get my life together. 7 Will the Lord walk off and leave us for good? Will he never smile again? 8 Is his love orn threadbare? Has his salvation promise burned out? 9 Has God forgotten his manners Has he angrily stalked off and left us? 10 "Just my
luck," I said. "The High God goesut of business just the moment I
need him." 11 Once again I'll go over what Godhas done, lay out on the table the
ancient wonders; 12 I'll ponder all the thingsyou've accomplished, and give a long, loving look at your acts. 13 O God! Your way isholy! No god is great like God! 14 You're the God who makes things happen; youshowed everyone what you can do-- 15 You pulled your people out of the worst kind oftrouble, rescued the children of Jacob and
Joseph.

In one of his most compelling speeches, Winston Churchill addressed the group and said “never, never, never give up” In one of his famous if not the most famous adress during WW2, he stated “we will fight them on the land, we will fight them at sea, we will fight them in the air, we will fight them on the beaches, but we will never surrender”

Just like the attacks on Britain by the Luftwaffe, when wave after wave of nazi bombers and fighters attacked the U.K. our lives sometimes seem under wave upon wave of attack by the enemy.

But: like the brave fighter pilots of the Royal Airforce during what is known as “the battle for Britain”, we should bravely face attack after attack, determined with a Godly determination, never to surrender.

Winston Churchill later stated that never before did so many owe so much to so few. Referring to the bravery of the R A F pilots and their efforts to protect Britain.

It might seem that we stand in the battle alone, that we are facing hordes of the enemy. But Praise be to God!

We are not alone. The God of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, declares that we will be victorious.

He said, I believe it and that settles it!

Influential Leadership

Leadership = influence.

Every leader has these two characteristics;

A: He is going somewhere

B: He is able to persuade others to go with him.

Influence by and in itself is not enough - the influence needs to be measured against it’s quality.

How do I examine the quality:

1 What is the level of influence? Do you have followers because of your: title: by their permission: because of production or personhood ?

2 Who influences the leader? Who are you following - People become like their role-models. Is your model ethical, what are his/her priorities?

3 Whom do you influence? The quality of the follower will indicate to the quality of the leader. Are they positive followers or mediocre `yes-men`?

Every leader must know where he is going. And every follower had better be sure he’s behind a leader who knows what he’s doing.

1Ki 3:7 "And now here I am: GOD, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I'm too young for this, a mere child! I don't know the ropes, hardly know the 'ins' and 'outs' of this job. 8 And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you've chosen, a great people--far too many to ever count. 9 "Here's what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?" ( msg )

Knowing yourself is crucial to your own development. Self-awareness is about knowing and understanding your own values, intentions, strengths and weaknesses. It is a deep understanding and commitment to learning and growth.

Lack of awareness and unwillingness to be influenced by others through feedback are two of the main reasons for personal failures. We are unwilling to listen to others’ feedback regarding our flaws. Willingness to listening to feedback from our supporters and our critics is the first step to self-awareness.

Mat 7:2 For with whatever judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with whatever measure you measure out, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why do you look on the splinter that is in your brother's eye, but do not consider the beam that is in your own eye?

Self-leadership is about recognizing opportunities for growth, learning and gaining insights in your own life. Self-leadership is about educating yourself – it is a learning behaviour. How does one become truly self-leading?

There are a number of aspects to self-leadership:

Ø Personal values

Ø Intentions (knowing your purpose)

Ø Behaviour

Ø Vision Skills to recognize opportunities to contribute and to influence others to contribute.

2Ti 2:15 Study earnestly to present yourself approved to God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

Continuously striving to develop your character and behaviours is the key to self-leadership. The willingness to develop from within, through a process of self-discovery and learning, creates the most powerful and lasting changes.

Gal 6:9 But we should not lose heart in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not faint.

From Problem to Profit

About 100 years ago there was a candlestick maker who often stopped at a market and bought a fish for his evening meal. It was wrapped in ordinary paper which became soggy, and the passengers on the street car always complained about the odor.

One morning he dipped the paper in molten wax. That day he wrapped his fish in the treated paper. It did not become soggy, and there was no odor.

That is how waxed paper was born.

Got a problem? Do not curse it. Look for a cure.

2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue, :4 through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

It is so easy to get caught up in the daily problems that life throws at us. I once saw this statement : “you plan your routine and then life happens”

Nobody plans to fail, I can not believe that there is a single person on the face of this earth, who wakes up in the morning and then says to himself “let’s see how big a mess we can make today”.

But. Life happens.

Jesus however comforts us with these words:

Joh 16:33 I have spoken these things to you so that you might have peace in Me. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

God has given us all the right tools, the inner strength and the courage that enables us to walk in victory. In 2 Pet 1. We read that we can overcome the corruption of this world.

Jesus boldly states that because of Him and His mighty works ( the victory on the cross ) we have no reason to doubt.

He did not say that we will not have to face adversity, but He did say, that we can overcome. We never have to face the giants alone. His rod and His staff will protect us.

Remember today, God says, The battle is His. He will vindicate us. All He desires is that we will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

Don’t look at the problem, look for the solution. Try something else today. Try a different angle. Choose to smile in the face of trouble. I often say this: Cry and you cry alone, laugh and the world laughs with you. Smile, and let them wonder what you’re up to”

Blessed to become a blessing

Gal 3:14 so that the blessing of Abraham might be to the nations in Jesus Christ, and that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

As we bless others, we are allowing the beneficial life or force of God that has been conferred upon us and resides within us to be transmitted through us. Jesus said that when the Holy Ghost comes to us that rivers of living water will flow out from us.

Unfortunately, there's a tendency that when a benefit of God comes to us, we stop it and turn the rivers into swamps. Any river that cannot flow ceases to be a river and becomes a swamp.

The Jordan River in Israel flows into what is called the Dead Sea. While the Dead Sea's water is part of the Jordan River, which is alive and full of fish, after it enters the Dead Sea, nothing can live in it. This once vibrant water becomes stagnant because it can no longer flow freely. The water dies and begins to stink.

Sadly, that is what happens in the body of Christ. God does a special work and creates a river within the lives of His people, but the living waters become a swamp because we stop the flow.

We all acknowledge that God wants to bless us, but we have not truly understood that He wants to bless us so that we might be a blessing to others.

We should take the next step and become a blessing.

1Pe 3:9 Never give back evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, giving blessing, knowing that you are called to this so that you might inherit blessing.

Eph 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus. 2 Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ;

Perhaps you do not feel particularly blessed at the moment. Well, let me remind you that if you achieve the greater blessing, which is being a blessing to others, you will automatically receive the lesser, which is being blessed yourself.

One of your great blessings is that Christ has redeemed you from the Law.

Your blessings are sure, for they are completed works, which means they have already been accomplished. How did Christ redeem us? By being made a curse for us: "For it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3:13). Why did He do it? So that "the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles" (v. 14).

All of us were unbe­lievers, or Gentiles, at one time, but after accepting Christ's sacrifice we became Abraham's heirs and partakers of the covenant. The apostle Paul said, "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17).

What is your life's purpose?

Your values, principals and passion are the strongest indicators of your Life’s Purpose.

Passion is that burning interest and enthusiasm that propels the huge effort you put into something.

Pro 23:7 for as he thinks in his heart, so is he

If you have managed to turn your hobby or passion for a subject into a career, then you are probably one of the successful people on earth – because success is what normally happens to people who live their Life’s Purpose. Most people have never considered turning their passion into a career simply because the first thought that comes to mind is “it won’t pay the bills” or “it can’t happen…” instead of: “how can I make it happen…?”

Psa 37:3 Trust in Jehovah, and do good; you shall dwell in the land, and you shall be fed on truth. 4 Delight yourself also in Jehovah, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Roll your way on Jehovah; trust also in Him, and He will work.

Stop sabotaging yourself. We prevent our own success. We find excuses, or blame others, for our own failures or mistakes instead of learning from them. Our self-talk is all negative. "I'd never get a job like that," or "I'm not good enough," or "Why try? It's too hard." Re-program yourself by writing appropriate affirmations, which will change your thoughts, beliefs and behavior.

Psa 37:7 Rest in Jehovah, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of him who practices wickedness. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret yourself to do evil.

Through affirmations you will “speak” your dreams into reality.

Jam 1:4 But let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. 5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and with no reproach, and it shall be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.

Avoid people who rain on your parade. You must avoid negative dialogue — it's poisonous to your dreams and future achievements. Instead, find supporters, new mentors, a coach, take classes, read books, listen to motivational tapes that teach effective ways to make your future and next job a real dream come true. Find ways to incorporate your passions and hobbies into your career.

You were born with natural talents and strengths. These talents and strengths are the things you find easy to do. Maybe it’s writing or training. Perhaps it’s designing or sport. Remember you don’t have to be a sportsman / woman forever. You could Coach Training and help others develop their talents and strengths.

That may be your Life’s Purpose. If you built your career on your talents, strengths and passion it will be easier to excel. When you live your Life’s Purpose, you automatically work harder, longer hours and feel absolute joy doing it. You will jump out of bed in the morning to rush to your job - if it’s doing what you were meant to do.

We often prevent our own success by sabotaging ourselves. We blame others and find excuses for our own failures or mistakes instead of taking responsibility and changing our lives forever by having the courage to make a career from our passion. We sabotage ourselves with negative beliefs and self-talk.

Successful people surround themselves with people who share their passion, goals and beliefs. To create that, you have to support others in the same way.

Do you listen to your friends, colleagues and family when they express a need to reach a certain goal? Do you offer support and encouragement?

Remember to display the behaviors that you want others to display to you. In other words, if you want trust, love and respect, then you have to show them that you trust, love and respect them.

If you want your family to support your dreams, goals and career, then you have to support their dreams, goals and career.

Encourage the people that matter to you and they will give you the same encouragement and support.

to be or not to be

Mat 5:33 "You have also heard that people were told in the past, 'Do not break your promise, but do what you have vowed to the Lord to do.' 34 But now I tell you: do not use any vow when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 nor by earth, for it is the resting place for his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. 37 Just say 'Yes' or 'No'---anything else you say comes from the Evil One.

With God’s anointing comes God's power and presence.

There is a special blessing bestowed on God’s anointed.

• It is the blessing of God’s power manifest in ways only seen through the work of God’s chosen.

• God’s anointed shout and walls fall.

• They lift their feeble staff and seas part.

• They speak God’s word boldly and movements are begun that free men’s souls.

God’s anointed do the miraculous because they are the servant of the Almighty.

There is a unique presence of God in the lives of those God anoints and calls to leadership through that anointing.

For this reason, God’s anointed are incredibly unique people.

• God’s anointed will do anything God asks… anything.

• God’s anointed will seek God’s will with a passion. They will not move without it and they will not be diverted from their course once they have it.

• God’s anointed will love what God loves and hate what God hates. That means loving God’s people, God’s church, God’s environment, God’s resources, and God’s plan.

• It also means hating sin in every form and coming against anything that stands between God’s loving plan and its accomplishment.

• God’s anointed are people of keen discernment, they are branches who are solidly engrafted into the true vine.

• God’s anointed are servants first, last and always. And God’s anointed have only one passion, to know and do God’s will that He might have the glory.

• In this way, God’s anointed are people of no reputation.

However:

2

Anointing has NOTHING to do with how you live.

Anointing rises and falls based on God.

Integrity is how you live the rest of your life when the anointing is not “on you”.

I think a lot of times people confuse gift with anointing.

You could be anointed to be creative, to be a mechanic, to preach, to wash cars, to make records, whatever, but you do not “live the anointing”.

• You may minister/serve/sit under it for an hour, but what do you do with the other 23 hours? That is what makes or breaks someone.

Jdg 14:6 Suddenly the power of the LORD made Samson strong, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as if it were a young goat. But he did not tell his parents what he had done. 7 Then he went and talked to the young woman, and he liked her.

• He did not tell his parents.

• His thing for woman started.

Jdg 14:12 Samson said to them, "Let me tell you a riddle. I'll bet each one of you a piece of fine linen and a change of fine clothes that you can't tell me its meaning before the seven days of the wedding feast are over." "Tell us your riddle," they said. "Let's hear it."

· He became arrogant

· He became aggressive.

Gen 39:6 Potiphar turned over everything he had to the care of Joseph and did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Joseph was well-built and good-looking, 7 and after a while his master's wife began to desire Joseph and asked him to go to bed with her. 8 He refused and said to her, "Look, my master does not have to concern himself with anything in the house, because I am here. He has put me in charge of everything he has. 9 I have as much authority in this house as he has, and he has not kept back anything from me except you. How then could I do such an immoral thing and sin against God?" 10 Although she asked Joseph day after day, he would not go to bed with her.

• He was given man made power and recognition

• He had the looks

• He was tempted

• He stuck to His values.

3

Fighting the Need to Increase

When John the Baptist saw Jesus walking in his presence, he made the declaration, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Most Christian leaders would say that in their hearts they would wish that Jesus would increase and they would decrease.

But it is hard to decrease in a leadership position.

There are natural trappings that distinguish those in leadership such as salary, title, prestige, priority, power, influence, honor and advancement.

And in each area there are tempting opportunities for increase.

There are also pressures to increase and motivations to build a kingdom in which we house our growing collection of leadership trappings.

This desire for the fame and fortune of leadership must be met not only by resistance, but, according to John Adams, we must have "a habitual contempt of them.

By overestimating our own worth, we help our people depend on us for everything.

· And that dependence feeds into our need to be needed, to be the “idea person” and visionary, and to be in control.

· We tell ourselves that the more we lead in this way, the more our leadership is valued and our presence desired.

For this reason, leadership bent on increasing the leader lacks integrity. Integrity is the attribute of honesty, moral behaviour and a value-cantered life.

Unless God has taken our hearts captive, all of our good ‘doing’ will lack spiritual integrity and authority.

Our work will expose the absence of God’s anointing.

And it is at the exact moment that we think we ‘have it all together’ that we cease to be useable in the work of the kingdom.

We are all chosen by God and are called. I do not believe you can be anointed without any character or integrity. Light and darkness cannot abide in the same vessel.

That doesn’t mean that God cannot use you despite your shortcomings.

4

The Attributes of Integrity:

2 Cor. 13:5 “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed you are disqualified.:

We are instructed to take a good hard look at ourselves to determine if we are obedient to the commands of God or not.

As it applies to the concept of integrity, it is eminently possible for us to determine if we are walking in perfection or not.

1. Honesty: Is your testimony above reproach, and can you be relied upon to be truthful in all circumstances, even if it causes you harm? For you see , anybody can tell the truth if it’s in your best interest.

b. Reliability: Can you complete the task at hand, even without supervision, or do you only put forth effort when you are being watched? Can you be trusted? Is your word any good? In other words, as Jesus said, Is your “yes, yes and your no no”?

c. Maturity: This is of course one of the most important aspects of perfection. Mature Christians are confident in their relationship with God so they are rarely moved or shaken by things external. Maturity is not easily offended, in other words the mature person does not wear his heart on his sleeve. The person who is mature is able to receive correction, and stand up under rebuke.

d. Self Control: Those who walk in perfection are not easily provoked, and are not given to wrath, preferring to suffer the insult rather than to respond in the flesh..

e. Pettiness: The mature Christian does not involve himself in small minded antics, such as jealousies, gossip, backbiting and the like.

f. Esteem of the body: The perfect Christian esteems his brethren higher than himself, and is always ready to be of service. He is ready to defend the cause of the weak, and to side in with righteousness in everything. He is careful not to sow division within the body.

g. Envy: This is a particularly dangerous fault since it betrays a host of character flaws, such as discontentment, selfish ambition, and low self esteem.

Jdg 16:16 She kept on asking him, day after day. He got so sick and tired of her bothering him about it 17 that he finally told her the truth. "My hair has never been cut," he said. "I have been dedicated to God as a nazirite from the time I was born. If my hair were cut, I would lose my strength and be as weak as anybody else."

He finally compromised everything he had.

He lived a life of compromise and that created the habit of surrender.

But:

Jdg 16:28 Then Samson prayed, "Sovereign LORD, please remember me; please, God, give me my strength just this one time more, so that with this one blow I can get even with the Philistines for putting out my two eyes."

Repentance brought restoration.

Mic 7:8 Our enemies have no reason to gloat over us. We have fallen, but we will rise again. We are in darkness now, but the LORD will give us light. 9 We have sinned against the LORD, so now we must endure his anger for a while. But in the end he will defend us and right the wrongs that have been done to us. He will bring us out to the light; we will live to see him save us.

A Great price

1 Corinthians 6:20 For God has bought you with a great price. So use every part of your body to give glory back to God.

- God has paid a great price for each one of us.
- This should affect the way we live our lives.
- The way in which we live should bring glory to God.
- Let everything you do bring glory to God!

ROMANS 8:29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters.

Don't despair over your current condition -- you have an amazing destiny!

God's plan is to make you like Jesus Christ. Don't laugh! Remember that nothing is impossible with God.

You can become ‘like’ Jesus!

Always remember that this tops God's agenda for you. You may be concentrating on some temporal project or need in your life. But God's focus is always on transforming you into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

We can't expect becoming like Jesus to always be painless or without difficulty. After all, most of us have quite a few rough edges. But, if we understand what is going on in life, and we keep our eyes on God's goal, it will be easier.

2 CORINTHIANS 4:17 For our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! 18 So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.

SAY THIS: I look forward to God finishing His work in me -- making me like Jesus. I will live my life in such a way, so as to bring glory to God in all I do!

Deuteronomy 20:4 The Lord your God is the one who goes WITH YOU to fight FOR YOU against your enemies to give you victory.

- This is an incredible scripture. Think about it.
- God goes WITH YOU to fight FOR YOU!
- When facing a battle it is always more difficult alone.
- With God you are not alone and He will bring you to a place of victory!