"One of the most difficult things is not to change society - but to change yourself."
Imprisoned for 27 years and enduring the rigors of battling apartheid, Nelson Mandela was able to change the world as we know it. However, changing who he is was even more difficult. Most of us will never face the struggles that Nelson Mandela endured, but we all have our own habits, problems, and excuses.
Friday, 12 October 2007
"It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny."
Have you ever walked into your boss’s office on annual review and mumbled under your breath, “I hope I get a good pay raise?” If you have, chances are you weren’t shocked afterwards when you didn’t get it. The reason? You were leaving something as important as your income to chance. Instead, why not choose to get the pay raise that you deserve? Choose to be the most indispensable employee in your company. Choose to make yourself so valuable that your boss has no choice but to give you everything you deserve and more. As Nick Hall observes, only then will your destiny be determined.
Have you ever walked into your boss’s office on annual review and mumbled under your breath, “I hope I get a good pay raise?” If you have, chances are you weren’t shocked afterwards when you didn’t get it. The reason? You were leaving something as important as your income to chance. Instead, why not choose to get the pay raise that you deserve? Choose to be the most indispensable employee in your company. Choose to make yourself so valuable that your boss has no choice but to give you everything you deserve and more. As Nick Hall observes, only then will your destiny be determined.
Thursday, 13 September 2007
"Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else."
Where you are today, what you’ve accomplished in your life, and who you will become in the future is determined by one person…YOU! Once you grasp that concept, you take the first steps toward empowering yourself to become the person you’ve always longed to be. Many people today believe that other people, outside influences, and environment shape who you are. As a result, those people will never possess the inner confidence to improve themselves. Les Brown
Where you are today, what you’ve accomplished in your life, and who you will become in the future is determined by one person…YOU! Once you grasp that concept, you take the first steps toward empowering yourself to become the person you’ve always longed to be. Many people today believe that other people, outside influences, and environment shape who you are. As a result, those people will never possess the inner confidence to improve themselves. Les Brown
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
HIDDEN BENEFITS OF STRUGGLE
Whether you are your own boss or you work for someone else, you've probably faced some 'rough patches' from time to time where things didn't turn out quite like you had expected or you went toe to toe with a challenging problem.Some were probably minor, others a bit more serious, but if you look carefully, you'll find that virtually all of them helped you in one unexpected way or another.
How could struggle possibly help you?
There's an old legend about a little boy who was playing in the garden and found a caterpillar crawling in a nearby tree. He picked it up and took it inside to show his mother.The boy was so excited, that he asked his mother if he could keep his new "pet." The mother was a little perplexed, but said he could keep it if he took really good care of it.
The boy kept the caterpillar in a large jar. He gave it some leaves to eat and a few little sticks to climb. Each day he would bring more leaves and spent hours watching the caterpillar chow them down.
One day, the caterpillar climbed up one of the sticks and started hanging upside down from it. They boy was worried and asked his mother what was happening. The mother explained that the caterpillar was creating a cocoon and soon would change into a beautiful butterfly.The boy was excited to learn about all the changes that his caterpillar was going through.
Each day he would watch and wait for the butterfly to come out.One day, he noticed that a small hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to come out. But the hole was too small and it was a real struggle for the butterfly to fit through that tiny little hole.
Soon, the boy became concerned. His butterfly was struggling sohard and making so little progress. He worried that the butterfly would get stuck, give up, and die.The little boy was so worried, that he decided to help. He got asharp knife from the kitchen and used it to make the hole a littlebit bigger.
With his help, the butterfly quickly emerged from the cocoon with little struggle.However, the boy noticed that the butterfly was very swollen and had tiny shriveled wings. He waited and waited for the wings to expand so the butterfly could take off and fly, but it never happened.
The mother took the boy to a wise man from the village who explained that the hole in the cocoon was too small on purpose...the butterfly was supposed to struggle to come out of its cocoon.He said that all that struggle pushes the fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings.Without the struggle, the fluid was stuck in its body. Thebutterfly would spend the rest of its life with tiny, shriveled wings and would never be able to fly.
I have mixed feelings about this story because it makes it seem like struggle is necessary. Unlike butterflies emerging from their cocoons, I don't believe that people need to struggle in order tobe successful.In fact, most successful people take advantage of their strengths and talents to do things they are naturally good at and that come fairly easily to them. Often they are so good at them, that they make it seem effortless.
Does that mean they never struggle? Of course not!
But it does mean that they struggle a lot less than those who are not leveraging their natural talents and strengths.At the same time, struggle does have hidden benefits. It helps you learn, it helps you grow, and it develops persistence and flexibility.
It may sound like an old cliche, but struggle does build character.The key is to recognize the difference between positive struggle that challenges you and makes you stronger, and needless struggle that is keeping you trapped and leading you nowhere.
Whenever you face struggles or challenges, as most people always do, look at it as an opportunity to grow rather than just a waste of time.
Here are some practical tips to help you get the most from difficult experiences. You'll often find that changing yourperspective just a little bit is enough to turn things around.
1) Learning experience
It helps if you view every difficulty and failure as a potentiallearning experience, even if the ultimate lesson is that you needto start playing to your strengths and trying something else.
2) A difficult situation helps you grow
By problem solving and gaining new knowledge, you strengthen yourcharacter and expand your expertise.
3) Be positive
Just because you struggled doesn't mean that the outcome is alwaysnegative.Maintain a positive attitude throughout your situation. This helpsyou make good decisions and will also keep your stress levels undercontrol.
4) Become stronger
Use each new life experience to better equip yourself for whateverthe future holds.
5) Perspective
Sometimes, your ability to handle difficulties is all a matter ofperspective. Try to put your situation in perspective by comparingit to things you've gone through in the past.Sometimes, it also helps to think of a "worst case scenario".Realizing how things could have turned out much worse can quicklyshift your perspective.
6) Know when to let go
Constant struggle could be a sign that you are using a poor strategy to pursue your goals.
Take a step back and see if there is a better, easier, or simpler way to accomplish your objective.Don't keep banging your head against the wall!
Taking this a step further, sometimes you just need to let go of this particular outcome and open yourself up to other possibilities.This doesn't mean you need to give up on your ultimate goal, but it may mean that you need to find another way to get there.Sometimes it's better to find a way around an obstacle rather than trying to force your way through it.
How could struggle possibly help you?
There's an old legend about a little boy who was playing in the garden and found a caterpillar crawling in a nearby tree. He picked it up and took it inside to show his mother.The boy was so excited, that he asked his mother if he could keep his new "pet." The mother was a little perplexed, but said he could keep it if he took really good care of it.
The boy kept the caterpillar in a large jar. He gave it some leaves to eat and a few little sticks to climb. Each day he would bring more leaves and spent hours watching the caterpillar chow them down.
One day, the caterpillar climbed up one of the sticks and started hanging upside down from it. They boy was worried and asked his mother what was happening. The mother explained that the caterpillar was creating a cocoon and soon would change into a beautiful butterfly.The boy was excited to learn about all the changes that his caterpillar was going through.
Each day he would watch and wait for the butterfly to come out.One day, he noticed that a small hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to come out. But the hole was too small and it was a real struggle for the butterfly to fit through that tiny little hole.
Soon, the boy became concerned. His butterfly was struggling sohard and making so little progress. He worried that the butterfly would get stuck, give up, and die.The little boy was so worried, that he decided to help. He got asharp knife from the kitchen and used it to make the hole a littlebit bigger.
With his help, the butterfly quickly emerged from the cocoon with little struggle.However, the boy noticed that the butterfly was very swollen and had tiny shriveled wings. He waited and waited for the wings to expand so the butterfly could take off and fly, but it never happened.
The mother took the boy to a wise man from the village who explained that the hole in the cocoon was too small on purpose...the butterfly was supposed to struggle to come out of its cocoon.He said that all that struggle pushes the fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings.Without the struggle, the fluid was stuck in its body. Thebutterfly would spend the rest of its life with tiny, shriveled wings and would never be able to fly.
I have mixed feelings about this story because it makes it seem like struggle is necessary. Unlike butterflies emerging from their cocoons, I don't believe that people need to struggle in order tobe successful.In fact, most successful people take advantage of their strengths and talents to do things they are naturally good at and that come fairly easily to them. Often they are so good at them, that they make it seem effortless.
Does that mean they never struggle? Of course not!
But it does mean that they struggle a lot less than those who are not leveraging their natural talents and strengths.At the same time, struggle does have hidden benefits. It helps you learn, it helps you grow, and it develops persistence and flexibility.
It may sound like an old cliche, but struggle does build character.The key is to recognize the difference between positive struggle that challenges you and makes you stronger, and needless struggle that is keeping you trapped and leading you nowhere.
Whenever you face struggles or challenges, as most people always do, look at it as an opportunity to grow rather than just a waste of time.
Here are some practical tips to help you get the most from difficult experiences. You'll often find that changing yourperspective just a little bit is enough to turn things around.
1) Learning experience
It helps if you view every difficulty and failure as a potentiallearning experience, even if the ultimate lesson is that you needto start playing to your strengths and trying something else.
2) A difficult situation helps you grow
By problem solving and gaining new knowledge, you strengthen yourcharacter and expand your expertise.
3) Be positive
Just because you struggled doesn't mean that the outcome is alwaysnegative.Maintain a positive attitude throughout your situation. This helpsyou make good decisions and will also keep your stress levels undercontrol.
4) Become stronger
Use each new life experience to better equip yourself for whateverthe future holds.
5) Perspective
Sometimes, your ability to handle difficulties is all a matter ofperspective. Try to put your situation in perspective by comparingit to things you've gone through in the past.Sometimes, it also helps to think of a "worst case scenario".Realizing how things could have turned out much worse can quicklyshift your perspective.
6) Know when to let go
Constant struggle could be a sign that you are using a poor strategy to pursue your goals.
Take a step back and see if there is a better, easier, or simpler way to accomplish your objective.Don't keep banging your head against the wall!
Taking this a step further, sometimes you just need to let go of this particular outcome and open yourself up to other possibilities.This doesn't mean you need to give up on your ultimate goal, but it may mean that you need to find another way to get there.Sometimes it's better to find a way around an obstacle rather than trying to force your way through it.
Wednesday, 29 August 2007
THE MAIN THING...
The main thing that we can do to help the earth in a permanent and lasting way is to help the Church become what she is called to be. The most effective way that we can do this is by loving God more, knowing Him better, abiding in Him and directing the Church's attention to who He is. The Church is in desperate need of knowing who she is called to be, but it is not by knowing who we are in Christ that we will be changed, but by knowing who He is in us. We do not want to worship the temple of the Lord, but the Lord of the temple. Even so, as we come to understand His love for His Bride, we will do everything we can to help her get ready for Him because of our love for Him.
Friday, 17 August 2007
The Church... (Part 1)
Rom 8:14 Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.
Rom 8:15 For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, "Father! my Father!"
Rom 8:16 God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.
Rom 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
Rom 8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
It's important to see that we have received a "spirit of adoption". Not to an organisation but into the family of God. When God sent a Redeemer to purchase us from the bondage of Satan's kingdom and his tyranny, He didn't send a pastor or a prophet (although Jesus was all that) But He sent His Son. Why?
God was revealing that His heart is for 'family'. He doesn't just make 'Christians' or believers or even members of the 'church'., but He adopts sons and children into His FAMILY.
No, God purchased with the blood of Jesus, our adoption into the family of God. Adoption papers have been issued for ALL. The opposite to that, and that's where we ALL found ourselves in the past, was in a "spirit of bondage" or slavery,leading us to fear. You see we may not think that is our case before we get "saved", but everyone suffers from 'fear' of death In fact, all fear stems from fear of death and leaves all men in bondage. But God...
He redeems us, meaning, He purchases our adoption, with the blood of Jesus and makes it available to ALL men. The GOOD NEWS is that we we are adopted, ALL, EVERYONE, but some just have never heard about it.
Somehow the message has been conveyed that you are born-again to go to church. But there is so much more than that.... Well, in fact, rather, we are adopted to be members OF HIS FAMILY!
The word "bondage" or "slavery" means to be enslaved; which means: The state of being prevented from enjoying and possessing life freely; a state opposed to liberty. Jesus came and revealed not Himself only, but the revelation of the Heavenly Father. Time and time again He would refer to the Fathers will and that it was the Father who had sent Him. Why? Jesus was bringing a revelation of the Father and His family to the earth, not just some austere God out there, but a real father who loves us and relates to us. Who makes makes us part of His family regardless of the past. Satan's system of "death" kept us enslaved, in bondage, so we could not enjoy the free abundant life or liberty that the Father wanted us to have, but would all our lives be in fear.
But hey! The GOOD NEWS is we are adopted and part of His family. Paper work done, all you need to to do is accept it and receive your adoption as children of God.
Check this out:
Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
Gal 4:5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as his children.
Gal 4:6 Now because you are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to cry out, "Abba! Father!"
Gal 4:7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if you are a child, then you are also an heir through God.
God sent His Son- relational,
to redeem us- legally its been taken care of,
to be adopted- not as Christians but as children.
(Now don't go around saying Shaun doesn't believe we are 'Christians'. But consider this, that only once was 'the church' called Christians, and that wasn't by God! In fact, the term Born-again is also only used once by Jesus, to a religious leader, at night, away from the crowd of people. I do believe we are Christians and I do believe we need to be born-again [John3:3-8]. However, the real emphasis should be on the fact that you are adopted into the family. With rights as an heir.
Let's look at another scripture:
2Co 6:16 What agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people."
2Co 6:17 Therefore, "Get away from them and separate yourselves from them," declares the Lord, "and don't touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.
2Co 6:18 I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters," declares the Lord Almighty.
Did I read this right?
Did God just say that we would be...sons and daughters?His sons and daughters?
OK! Now we can see that church is not just an organisational structure made up of 'members', but a real family,made up of children, with God being our Father. Jesus prayed at one time "Our Father..."
He was revealing a family and that is why the Jewish leaders of the day were getting so mad at Him. I mean, how can this man call God His Father?
"Adoption" in Romans 8 means: to be placed in the position of a son.
As family we don't have to earn or 'work' to be accepted or to try and make ourselves 'good enough' to be part of the family. We had NOTHING to do with the adoption process, except to receive the benefit of being called His sons and daughters. Heavenly Father, doesn't just pay the legal price, but gives us the Spirit of His Son, the Spirit of adoption, so that with full assurance we too can cry out, with absolute certainty, FATHER, FATHER.....
So, today, Go to your Heavenly Father and settle with Him the fact that you ARE His child.Received, accepted, assured and identified. Just be!
My sons don't try and convince me that they are my sons, No they just know and act like it.
Next time we will look at some more of who we are as the 'church'.
[Hope this helps Cale: be blessed and GO FOR IT!]
Rom 8:15 For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, "Father! my Father!"
Rom 8:16 God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.
Rom 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
Rom 8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
It's important to see that we have received a "spirit of adoption". Not to an organisation but into the family of God. When God sent a Redeemer to purchase us from the bondage of Satan's kingdom and his tyranny, He didn't send a pastor or a prophet (although Jesus was all that) But He sent His Son. Why?
God was revealing that His heart is for 'family'. He doesn't just make 'Christians' or believers or even members of the 'church'., but He adopts sons and children into His FAMILY.
No, God purchased with the blood of Jesus, our adoption into the family of God. Adoption papers have been issued for ALL. The opposite to that, and that's where we ALL found ourselves in the past, was in a "spirit of bondage" or slavery,leading us to fear. You see we may not think that is our case before we get "saved", but everyone suffers from 'fear' of death In fact, all fear stems from fear of death and leaves all men in bondage. But God...
He redeems us, meaning, He purchases our adoption, with the blood of Jesus and makes it available to ALL men. The GOOD NEWS is that we we are adopted, ALL, EVERYONE, but some just have never heard about it.
Somehow the message has been conveyed that you are born-again to go to church. But there is so much more than that.... Well, in fact, rather, we are adopted to be members OF HIS FAMILY!
The word "bondage" or "slavery" means to be enslaved; which means: The state of being prevented from enjoying and possessing life freely; a state opposed to liberty. Jesus came and revealed not Himself only, but the revelation of the Heavenly Father. Time and time again He would refer to the Fathers will and that it was the Father who had sent Him. Why? Jesus was bringing a revelation of the Father and His family to the earth, not just some austere God out there, but a real father who loves us and relates to us. Who makes makes us part of His family regardless of the past. Satan's system of "death" kept us enslaved, in bondage, so we could not enjoy the free abundant life or liberty that the Father wanted us to have, but would all our lives be in fear.
But hey! The GOOD NEWS is we are adopted and part of His family. Paper work done, all you need to to do is accept it and receive your adoption as children of God.
Check this out:
Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
Gal 4:5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as his children.
Gal 4:6 Now because you are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to cry out, "Abba! Father!"
Gal 4:7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if you are a child, then you are also an heir through God.
God sent His Son- relational,
to redeem us- legally its been taken care of,
to be adopted- not as Christians but as children.
(Now don't go around saying Shaun doesn't believe we are 'Christians'. But consider this, that only once was 'the church' called Christians, and that wasn't by God! In fact, the term Born-again is also only used once by Jesus, to a religious leader, at night, away from the crowd of people. I do believe we are Christians and I do believe we need to be born-again [John3:3-8]. However, the real emphasis should be on the fact that you are adopted into the family. With rights as an heir.
Let's look at another scripture:
2Co 6:16 What agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people."
2Co 6:17 Therefore, "Get away from them and separate yourselves from them," declares the Lord, "and don't touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.
2Co 6:18 I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters," declares the Lord Almighty.
Did I read this right?
Did God just say that we would be...sons and daughters?His sons and daughters?
OK! Now we can see that church is not just an organisational structure made up of 'members', but a real family,made up of children, with God being our Father. Jesus prayed at one time "Our Father..."
He was revealing a family and that is why the Jewish leaders of the day were getting so mad at Him. I mean, how can this man call God His Father?
"Adoption" in Romans 8 means: to be placed in the position of a son.
As family we don't have to earn or 'work' to be accepted or to try and make ourselves 'good enough' to be part of the family. We had NOTHING to do with the adoption process, except to receive the benefit of being called His sons and daughters. Heavenly Father, doesn't just pay the legal price, but gives us the Spirit of His Son, the Spirit of adoption, so that with full assurance we too can cry out, with absolute certainty, FATHER, FATHER.....
So, today, Go to your Heavenly Father and settle with Him the fact that you ARE His child.Received, accepted, assured and identified. Just be!
My sons don't try and convince me that they are my sons, No they just know and act like it.
Next time we will look at some more of who we are as the 'church'.
[Hope this helps Cale: be blessed and GO FOR IT!]
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Eph 4:11 It was he who "gave gifts to people"; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers.
Eph 4:12 He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.
Eph 4:13 And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.
Eph 4:14 Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent.
Eph 4:15 Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head.
Eph 4:16 Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love. (highlights are mine) GNB Bible
The Lord gave all 5 gifts, to be gifts to the Body, to equip the Church(every member) for their works of service. Under His control, all the parts FIT together and held together by EVERY JOINT with which the body is provided.
When we recognise that all needs to be under the Lord's control, it is His church and His people. The 5fold ministry should all be contributing as the Lord has set them in place, to the equipping/perfecting of the church. But NOT controlling!
As the church is equipped by all these giftings the Lord has given, then and only then will the "works of service" and the "edifying of the body" take place.
Ministry will flow from the equipping of the saints.
Eph 4:12 He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.
Eph 4:13 And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.
Eph 4:14 Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent.
Eph 4:15 Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head.
Eph 4:16 Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love. (highlights are mine) GNB Bible
The Lord gave all 5 gifts, to be gifts to the Body, to equip the Church(every member) for their works of service. Under His control, all the parts FIT together and held together by EVERY JOINT with which the body is provided.
When we recognise that all needs to be under the Lord's control, it is His church and His people. The 5fold ministry should all be contributing as the Lord has set them in place, to the equipping/perfecting of the church. But NOT controlling!
As the church is equipped by all these giftings the Lord has given, then and only then will the "works of service" and the "edifying of the body" take place.
Ministry will flow from the equipping of the saints.
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