Overcome That Fear of Failure!

A human tendency is to please people! Because of this, we develop a fear of failure. This fear often prevents us from stepping out and fulfilling GOD’s ultimate plan and purpose for our lives. Doors of opportunity will swing open before us. We might step up to the threshhold and take a peek inside, but soon afterwards the idea of failure enters our mind and we turn back to the path we were stumbling along on.

Overcoming our fears associated with possible failure require faith in GOD’s promises and faithfulness. The LORD spoke these words to us through the Prophet Isaiah: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand. Be sure that all who are enraged against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will become as nothing and will perish. You will look for those who contend with you, but you will not find them. Those who war against you will become absolutely nothing. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand and say to you: Do not fear, I will help you” (Isaiah 41:10-13).

Being an overcomer involves placing your faith and trust in the GOD who is capable of carrying you through. Being an overcomer involves taking GOD’s words and applying them directly to your life situations. As you continue to move through life, GOD will open doors of opportunities along your path. When He does trust Him to be there for you throughout the adventure as He has promised in His Word. He says: “Do not fear, I will help you!”

Overcome your fear of failure by trusting GOD in all things. Quit trying to please people and begin pleasing GOD. As you do, you will find He always remain true to His promises to carry you through with His strength and protection.

The Buck Stops Here!

President Truman had a sign on his desk with the words, “The Buck Stops Here” embellished across it. The actual saying goes back to frontier days and had to do with assigning who the dealer in a game of poker. If it came a person’s turn to deal and they did not wish to, they could “pass the buck” on to the next person. President Truman used the saying to indicate his intention to take care of business when it hit his desk rather than passing it on down the line to someone else.

The church has been guilty of passing the buck for a long time. If we carefully read the verse we are all so familiar with concerning national revival, we would recognize this. Think carefully about this verse so you understand what I am saying before moving on: “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Take note there is no reference to Washington or any governmental office or power. There is no reference to who is in the White House. The only reference in this verse is “my people” indicating the people of God. If my people will carry out the obligations of this verse, national forgiveness, healing and revival are promised.

For too long, the church has been passing the buck for our national problems off on the wrong people. It is time for the church to recognize only we can stop the buck. The Washington establishment will change when God’s people take responsibility for the condition of our nation. The crime rates will drop; the addiction problems will cease; domestic violence will decline—if my people change!

Church, it is time for the buck to stop and only you and I can do that. Quit passing blame and look inward. Discover what it truly means to follow Jesus in purity of heart and mind. 

Planning for Success!

The beginning of the New Year has arrived. I hear people talking about their plans, resolutions and goals to be attained this year. Certainly, planning and preparing for the future is important. Setting goals and working to achieve them can certainly be profitable.

However, most of what I hear involves self-achievement and personal gain or development. Please don’t get me wrong. Done in the right spirit, there is no harm in carrying this out. But, I would like to encourage you to consider what the LORD would have for you in 2016. What plans and achievements you can make for the sake of GOD’s kingdom.

GOD has ordained a special purpose and plan for your life. When you involve Him into your planning and engage His desires for your life, you will discover your purpose. The Proverb’s writer said: “Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed” (Proverbs 16:3). True success lies in your plans and preparations meshing with GOD’s plans for you.

Why is it we find ourselves never fully satisfied? Why is it we always seem to come up wanting for more? Why do we reach the end of a year and have to set new goals and establish new plans for ourselves? Simply because we have failed to commit our actions unto the LORD establishing them within His will for us. As you plan and prepare, seek the LORD’s will and direction. Get into His Word and discover what He has for you and the goals He desires for you to fulfill. Then you will discover satisfaction and success.

Where’s the Real Problem?

Our world has become so mixed-up—politically, economically, spiritually, and in so many other regards. Everywhere you turn radical changes are occuring. It can be so frightening to so many at times.

What bothers me most, though, is the radical spiritual changes that have taken place in the last three or four decades in churches. I find myself looking at society’s changing view of Christianity and the church and I ask myself: Where’s the real problem? What’s happened? How did we get to this place in our world? What have we done with Jesus?

Let me simply this for you. I go on Facebook and see so-called preachers and their followers posting pics of big sums of money that GOD supposedly wants you to have if you will simply say “AMEN” to the pic or “LIKE” it. The pic has scores of “AMENs” in the response section— LORD, help us! I read articles of pastors and preachers living in multi-million dollar mansions, jet-setting around in their own personal multi-million dollar jets—LORD, help us! I see churches building mega-buildings with all the finery and all the necessary comforts to make everyone as comfortable as possible in their “church-experience”—LORD, help us! I see churches taking their members on skiing trips, fishing trips, pleasure trips to distant places, wasting huge sums of money all for pleasure—LORD, help us! All of this going on while millions of lost souls are slipping into hell!

So, where’s the real problem? I would have to say it revolves around the church’s mission. The church has lost sight of its reason for being. It has become a country club, a pleasure cruise, a comfort zone for “its” people. Our Master, Jesus Christ, laid out the church’s mission when He said: “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). The church’s marching orders are quite succinct: we are to be seeking out the lost and leading them to Jesus. The real problem: we’ve lost sight of the mission! 

We’ve traded Jesus in on a genie-in-a-bottle who wants us prosperous, living in luxury and comfort, sipping our frappes before service, and enjoying our pleasure trips when we should be out finding lost people and pointing them to Jesus!

Do you see what the problem is? What are you willing to do about it?

The Line in the Sand!

History tells us that during the during the final days of the Battle of the Alamo, Colonel Travis called his beleagered force of men together as the probability for total defeat increased. He told his men that it appeared re-enforcements would not be coming. It was this small force against a trained army of over 5,000 Mexican soldiers. This was their opportunity to bail out and make a run for it. Crossing the line Travis drew in the sand meant a man was all-in for whatever lay ahead. All but one crossed over. Although the Alamo fell, the commitment of that small band of warriors became the driving force that led to an eventual victory for the Texicans.

Scripture tells about the Israelites crossing over the Jordan into the Promised Land. As they did so, they were passing from their former life to the new life GOD had promised them. Crossing over was a commitment to GOD to live according to His plan and purpose. They faced the great city of Jericho and saw GOD bring the walls down miraculously. Next they found themselves up against a relatively small town and with their confidence strong from Jericho’s defeat, they attacked and were routed by the small force.

We find Joshua on the ground crying out to GOD over the defeat. Whinin gand carrying on that GOD had brought them this far only to allow them to be face destruction. “The Lord then said to Joshua, ‘Stand up! Why are you on the ground?’“ (Joshua 7:10). The story goes that GOD had commanded the Israelites to give all the treasures from Jericho back to Him but one family held out which resulted in the defeat. One family had failed to count the cost of commitment as they crossed the Jordan and many paid the price.

Today, you have crossed the line in the sand by your surrender to Jesus as your Lord and Savior but your life isn’t fully reflecting that commitment. You are still living with hidden sins and habits that should’ve been released from your life. Your lack of a total commitment reflects in your actions and tells others that totally surrendering to Christ is really not that important. Quit whining about your inability to overcome problems and issues and hear the LORD speaking to you today to get up and get things right.

I encourage you today to step back, look at your life and what Christ has done to set you free. Take a look at your responsibility to live sold-out to GOD and the commitment you made at the altar of repentance. Get your act together so you may discover the victory that comes through following closely to Christ.

Your Battles Belong to the Lord!

The band, “PETRA,” released a song back in the late 80’s entitled, The Battle Belongs to the Lord. The second verse reads this way:

The power of darkness comes in like a flood
The battle belongs to the Lord
He’s raised up a standard, the power of His blood
The battle belongs to the Lord.

As believers, we must recognize that evil forces and the powers of darkness are inevitable. I’m probably not telling you anything new. But, have you recognized that the battle is not yours. You don’t have to go it alone. Victory is decisive when we understand that the battle belongs to the Lord and we hand it over to Him.

I’m reminded of a an incident recorded in 2 Chronicles 18. King Jehoshaphat was engaged in a battle he could not win. Verse 31 reveals how his victory came: “When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, ‘This is the king of Israel.’ So they turned to attack him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him. God drew them away from him.” The Scripture reveals Jehoshaphat cried out to the Lord and the Lord delivered him.

Today, if you are facing insurmountable odds in your life; you have been battered about and you are ready to wave the white flag of defeat, don’t do it! Don’t give up…cry out to GOD for deliverance. Trust Him! Your battle belongs to the Lord!

Victory Through Obedience!

Perhaps one of the more difficult challenges believers face is finding victory and deliverance from the everyday struggles Satan throws our way. This is nothing new. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.“ Notice he doesn’t say “if you struggle.” His implication is clear — we will struggle or battle against the rulers of darkness.

With that in mind, let’s discover how we gain the victory. GOD has not left us to struggle on our own. Rather, Paul tells us: “be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength“ (Ephesians 6:10). So, we discover quickly that victory is found through our LORD and His strength. The battle is not waged in our power but in His. Next, we find we are to: “Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

With all of this in mind, we discover we can rest in the power and strength of GOD. We have no reason to be discouraged or overcome in the ensuing battles as GOD is our Protector. The battle is His. We simply need to remain prepared at all times with what He has already provided. Simply put, victory is found through obedience to His instruction.

Consider the words of the Psalmist: “How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path of sinners, or join a group of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers” (Psalm 1:1-3). Strength like a tree belongs to those who know GOD’s Word and follow it as the path for their life.

Certainly 2016 will be filled with struggles. Overcoming them and finding victory comes through obedience to GOD’s Word’s of instruction and guidance.

God-Sized Plans for Your New Year!

New Years is a time of new beginnings for many. Resolutions of multiple changes are made. New ideas and paths are formulated for personal enhancement and growth. However, most of these end in failure within the next month or two.

Then I see, hear and read so-called ministers declaring this to be “Your year of prosperity! GOD wants to bless you and yours in wealth and worldly riches! New cars, a new home, anything you want is yours!” Just rub the genie-bottle and watch your genie-god jump into action for you. People flock to hear and receive these blessings declared over them by these false preachers and teachers. 

GOD certainly does have plans to prosper you; but, not in the way these liars are declaring. Prosperity for you, in GOD’s mind, is you fulfilling your mission that GOD has called you to. Prosperity for you, in GOD’s eyes, will come in eternal, heavenly-treasures based wholly upon your faithfulness to GOD and His divine purpose and plan for you.

With that in mind, let me declare that GOD has GOD-SIZED plans for your New Year! He is simply looking for faithful, obedient servants who are eagerly anticipating their place in the field of the LORD. GOD-sized plans require a GOD-sized vision.

Consider King Jehoash’s encounter with the Prophet Elisha: “Then Elisha said, ‘Take the arrows!’ So he took them, and he said to the king of Israel, ‘Strike the ground!’ So he struck the ground three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, ‘You should have struck the ground five or six times. Then you would have struck down Aram until you had put an end to them, but now you will only strike down Aram three times'” (2 Kings 13:18-19).

King Jehoash failed to develop a GOD-sized vision for the future of Israel which resulted in the ultimate failure and demise of the nation. His limited outlook on GOD’s abilities ultimately resulted in limited victory followed by total failure.

As you make plans for your New Year, don’t look at your own abilities or lack of abilities. Look at your GOD! Look at what He has done and what He yet desires to do. Make yourself available to His plans and purpose for you. Instead of wasting money on a pleasure trip this year, plan a family ministry trip. Find a way to introduce yourself and your family to a mission’s opportunity that builds up the Kingdom. Discover a local ministry opportunity that you can serve at regularly.

GOD-SIZED plans are developed by a GOD-SIZED vision! Don’t stop short as Jehoash did; rather, step out in the power of GOD and make GOD-sized happenings through your availability and obedience to GOD.

MAY GOD GRANT YOU A HAPPY, BLESSED, PROSPEROUS 2016!