Just a thought...

4 Keys to Unlocking the blueprint of your life. Jeremiah 29:11

 

 I am a machinist. For those of you that don't know what a machinist is, it is someone that has the ability to operate a variety of steel working machines, read blue prints, use measuring tools and in the end, turn a piece of steel into its' intended purpose.

That's what I do.

I get such great satisfaction of looking at a blueprint, making a plan of action and watching that round piece of metal begin to take shape. It really is amazing.

I am also a bodybuilding enthusiast. One of my degrees is in the field of health and kinesiology or the study of the movement of the human body. I am also a certified strength trainer through the Kenneth Cooper Aerobic Institute.  

I love training the body and I love watching the body transform when placed under the right stresses and pressure. If anyone has ever lost weight using an exercise program, then you know what I mean. The feeling is incredible with such a sense of accomplishment! Especially when you can see the effects in the mirror.

I want to ask you, what are the plans, the "blueprints" for your life. Are they being written as you go along or are you following the tried and true plans that God has given you.  

Jeremiah 1:5 (Amplified Bible) says this:

⁵Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart...

Now, God was talking to Jeremiah in this verse; however, it is safe to say that we are included in this.

From a young age, I knew that God had a purpose for my life; however, as I got older, I allowed the enemy to weigh me down in various areas of my life.

As I gave more weight to my new perspective of these areas, my understanding of my purpose began to cloud and ultimately, confusion begin to set in.

I spent much of my young adult years going in circles of living right and not living so right.  Emotionally, I was a wreck and made some very bad choices when it came to relationships.  I had developed my set of blueprints for my life and I struggled to make sense of them. 

The internal struggle of who I thought I was and what I wanted and who God wanted me to be finally got the better of me. Only a few people knew of the struggle I was having, however, I refused to listen to them because I thought I was in control. I was deceiving myself and it nearly cost me everything I had. 

     In Jeremiah 29:11 God clearly states that He has a plan for our lives.

¹¹For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.  

What a relief! I thought I was going to have to do this by myself. God is taking responsibility for your outcome even as we speak.

 Are you tired of trying to decide what is best for you and your life?

If so, then I encourage you to get out of the way and let God do something with it!

Actually, it is easier said than done.  But I feel that with a few guidelines anyone can get on board and begin to see some changes.

1: Recognize that God loves you and has a plan for you.

2: Admit you are on a destructive path with your life and you need Gods help.

3: Ask God to show you the weaknesses and the wrong choices you have made for your life.

4: Allow the Holy Spirit in to heal those areas that have you traveling in the wrong direction.

It's not always pleasant to have God reveal the junk, but neither is going to the doctor and having him or her tell you that you have health problems. You can't ignore it. That is, if you really want to be who God wants you to be and have what he wants for you. Otherwise it would be business as usual. But you have to ask yourself, is this all there is?? Isn't there more of a purpose for my life?

Ephesians 4:22-24 instructs us to do the following:

²²Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion;

    ²³And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude],

    ²⁴And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.

I encourage you to seek after the purpose of your life, ask God to unfold the blueprints of you life and trust me, one by one, the mysteries of life will begin to open up.

Out of my Control? Matthew 6

This week while I was in the middle of one of my many faith confessions, I realized something.

Now,I say that I realized something but, I really believe that the Holy Spirit just jabbed me.  I am believing God for a lot of things. I am believing God for His intervention in our business. I want more business to come in. I want to hire people and give people jobs. In short, I want to see things happen!

Isn't that all of us?

We are praying and believing for a lot things to happen only to over look the little things- the little blessings from God. 

We forget the phone call from a friend on the way to work who is just checking on us or telling us that we are being prayed for and thought about or even missed.  What a blessing that is!  God is always working on our behalf isn't He? Sometimes we miss the blessing on the right because we are too busy looking at the left. Pay attention! God may answer your prayer another way.

Consider what Jesus says in the book of Matthew 6:25-30(Amplified Bible)

²⁵Therefore I tell you, stop being perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater [in quality] than food, and the body [far above and more excellent] than clothing?

    ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?

    ²⁷And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the span of his life?

    ²⁸And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.

    ²⁹Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his magnificence (excellence, dignity, and grace) was not arrayed like one of these. [I Kings 10:4-7.]

    ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith?

    ³¹Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, What are we going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to drink? or, What are we going to have to wear?

    ³²For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all.

    ³³But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.

    ³⁴So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.

It pretty much says everything doesn't it?

God wants to be control. But it is based on yours and my faith in Him alone. 

Side note: God bless our government officials, I honestly believe they think they are doing right and they want us to trust them.

What would happen to our society if we had a bunch of Spirit filled Christian men and women who got down on their face every day and asked God for wisdom before walking up to the steps of the US capitol. And what if there was a joint prayer session between the republicans and the democrats and the speaker of the house led it? Talk about a blessed nation! Don't you know that God is just waiting for someone to ask Him for help? God would tell them what to do. His Holy Spirit would lead them and guide them in every decision made. 

 I got  little off the topic here and need to bring it back on course. What I am saying is this. Keep believeing for the things your believing for but let's not forget the small blessings as well. 

I encourage you, don't forget to be thankful for what God is doing even when it isn't what you are praying for. 

Remembering a broadcasting pioneer, Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey(1918-2009)

I think it is fitting that I write my first piece in honor of a man that I think I could call a mentor even though I have never met him nor did he ever meet me. But I did know him in a way, my own personal way.

My earliest memory goes all the way back to my grade school days. I remember vividly getting up about 7am every morning to get ready for school and by 7:30 my sister and I would be in the kitchen eating our waffles or cereal. My dad had a small transistor radio that sat on top of the refridgerator that was tuned to the local station KRHD 1350 AM. (It would be station that I would go on to work at during my college years and early married life.)

Each morning the announcer would proclaim "And now, Paul Harvey news and comment".

It captured my attention then and continued to do so through out my adult life. His was a voice that could weave a tapestry of words that brought such imagery to the mind and at the end of the newscast always left me with a positive outlook and encouraged me to not give up on myself, mankind and America.To me, he was like a family member, I could always count on him to be there whenever I flipped on the radio at noon or on the drive home when he would tell me " Hello America you know what the news is, now it's time for the rest of the story...." There he would divulge to me the secret little known histories and secrets of people long gone or perhaps still with us.

Paul Harvey met me every day at noon time during my college years while I was studying to become a master of the microphone working towards a degree in broadcast communications. His delivery of the events of the day encouraged me to hold fast and not give up on my dream of being a radio broadcaster. It worked. I have taken that same mind set to everything I have ever put my hands to and I have yet to give up. 

You know, I believe that 90 years ago God looked down at a raw, struggling America and said "There are million stories to be told and I have just the man for the job, his name will be Paul Harvey.

May God bless Paul Harvey. I look forward to shaking your hand one day.