What Are You Waiting For?

Ecclesiastes 11:4,6 - He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favorable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hands, for you know not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Have you ever waited for the perfect time to do something, but the perfect time never comes? The perfect time to have kids? The perfect time to move? The perfect time to go on that trip.... take that loved one? The perfect time to launch out and start that business? The perfect time to treat your parents to something really special.... just to say thank you for all they've done over the years? The perfect time. Does the perfect time ever come?

I had great plans... great ideas. My mind had planned out this great trip....I was going to bring a special family member. It was going to be such a memorable experience and this would have truly been a "Life Highlight" for this family member. Tyler and I waited. There were several times when we "could have" ... it would've worked out. But, we continued to wait for the "perfect time." In our pursuit to wait, this very special family member died.  My perfect trip, with the perfect memories & the perfect surprise never came to be because I was waiting for the perfect time.

What are you waiting for? Like Ecclesiastes says... are you observing the wind? Are you waiting for ALL conditions to be favorable before you sow? Before you step out in faith. Are you observing the clouds? It looks like it might rain, so you don't launch out with that new business. The economy looks like it's taking a turn for the worse, I'm just going to stay at my job. Ooooh.... they are doing cutbacks.... let's just not have kids now. Let's wait a few more years.

The Holy Spirit does know best in each and every situation. But....maybe now IS the time. It may not be perfect. "ALL" things may not be favorable. Last I checked, we please our Father by our faith! Maybe now is YOUR time to do what you have been waiting for. Maybe now is YOUR perfect time to take the plunge! Have kids! Move! Buy that house! Go on the trip! Start a business! Make the decision to go "ALL-IN" with your current business and MAKE IT GROW!

What are YOU waiting for? Maybe now is YOUR TIME!

 

#27 - Proverbs 31 - The "HOW TO"

Buenos dias! Como estas? Todo bien en Columbia, SC. :)


HI! Well, this morning is going to be a bit different of a post. This morning is going to be a "HOW TO." HOW TO become this Proverbs 31 woman. The purpose of this "devotional" in your life. Your responsibility outside of this devotion. Like the "wise saying" answering the question: "How do you eat an elephant?" - Answer: One bite at a time. 


This morning we are going to discuss the "one bite at a time" in becoming this woman. As you have studied Proverbs 31, have you at times felt overwhelmed? Have you, like me, thought, "Man, she is literally like super-human. She is everything. Is she just an idea? She is perfect. She is good at everything. Ahhhhh!" When you read through her qualities, characteristics, strengths, accomplishments.... truly it can be a bit overwhelming. Like a, "I'll just quit while I'm ahead".... "I'll just stop before I even start."


HOW TO USE THIS DAILY DEVOTION:
The purpose of this devotion, this study through Proverbs and the Proverbs 31 woman is to take you deeper. One verse at a time, to help you see real life examples. Since each blog-post covers only ONE verse about the Proverbs 31 woman, the goal is to take you deeper on the topic. Take you deeper on that verse. Maybe give you different insight, allow you to see Hebrew text & meanings, see cross reference scripture of other parts of the Bible. Why are the cross-references good? Because the Bible ALL is one, WHOLE book. The Bible is ALL true. NO verse contradicts another. The Bible works together as a whole to deliver one package and message. True, within it, within the inspired Words written thousands of years ago, we find many messages, many areas in which we can learn or work on but all working together. One package. One book of truth. The cross-referencing just brings more validity to what we study about this Ultimate Woman, this Proverbs 31 Woman. The cross-reverencing brings more depth or insight into who she is. 


The purpose of this devotion is to take you deeper. Give you a deeper look. 


HOW TO BECOME THIS PROVERBS 31 WOMAN:
When you just read Proverbs 31, it can be a bit overwhelming. It could be easy to give up before you even start, but I encourage you, KEEP GOING! There are obvious areas that may jump out at you that you know are strengths of yours, then maybe some obvious areas that may be areas of weakness. What is our goal? One quality, one characteristic at a time, to work on that area and make it part of your life. To make it a strength. We are not trying to be the WHOLE PACKAGE TODAY! We are working towards the whole package. This is MOST DEFINITELY a JOURNEY! A journey that may very well take a life-time, but most likely will take years and years. Will we ever "arrive"? I'm not sure, but I DO think that we can get to the point where we ARE operating in all of these strengths! I believe "SHE" is innate in "US"! I believe God made us to BECOME this Woman of God! I believe deep down, in each of us, THERE she is! She is there! Our job now is to just mold, develop, kneed these areas until they are thriving in our lives. Let's look at some REAL examples and some real ACTION steps!


ACTION STEP #1:  MEDITATE & CHOOSE  
Read Proverbs 31:10-31, daily. As you read, truly read, open your ears and listen as the Words go through your mind. As you are reading and listening, you will feel a JUMP in your spirit... or for me, in my mind it is often as if I see a RED FLAG go up, the red flag saying, "Look at ME! Look at ME! Here I am! Work on ME!" Sometimes when the "flag" goes up, that's all the further I read. I know that that specific verse is what I am suppose to work on, to meditate on, to begin establishing that quality or characteristic in my life. Let's look at a real life example...

Proverbs 31:17 - She girds herself with strength [spiritual, mental, and physical fitness for her God-given task] and makes her arms strong and firm.

 - I currently work out four days a week. Usually Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I do not work out on my DOR (Day of Rest - which is usually, but not always, on Wednesday). And, on the weekends, we usually may go on a walk with the boy, talk... we are "moving". We may walk around our block which is a mile. WELL, to make sure I am always working on this verse, what do I do??? On the days that I work out, I always incorporate an arm exercise. Something to make my arms strong and firm. It is something easy that I can incorporate into my work-out. I can do it daily. And because I am doing it on a regular basis, before long, my arms WILL BE very strong & very firm. Say, "SO long to arm jiggle! So long to arm flab!" I have incorporated maybe 1 minute of push-ups, 1 minute of curls, 1 minute of lat-pull downs. This is not in a gym, it is right outside my house using a "Green Band". I believe you can get them at Dicks Sporting Goods, maybe even somewhere like a Wal-Mart. But, the great thing about it... if I am doing curls, I can step on the band in a spot which is "higher up" and give myself a harder resistance. So, you don't need to have an expensive gym membership to get firm arms or become this part of the "Proverbs 31" woman. 

Now that I am regularly working on the "firm arms"... I am past the point of "thinking about it." Or past the point of it really being a struggle to incorporate into my life, I am doing it regularly without even thinking about it. It is now part of my routine. Once past getting that into my routine, I move on to ACTION STEP #2.


ACTION STEP #2:  BUILD UPON EACH OTHER  
So, once you have ONE verse that you feel like you have under your belt pretty good.... ADD another one. Go back to ACTION STEP #1. Read through it daily until something jumps out at your spirit. When something does, ADD that as an area to work towards. For example...

- Waking up early has always been a struggle? But, you see in Proverbs 31:15- "She rises while it is yet night and gets [spiritual] food for her household..." - As you read through Proverbs 31:10-31, that verse just continues to jump out at you, pricking you, pricking your heart. You KNOW that you need to get up early. You know that you need to be getting in the Word before the day starts and begins to get busy. So, finally, against what your flesh wants to do, you decide to work on this area. To finally CONQUER this area that has been a weakness for so long. Begin. Just begin. Set your alarm clock a little bit earlier. You usually wake up at 6:30, set it for 6:00. Decide by the time you "wake-up" and get into "position" it will be 6:10... so you will have 20 minutes to get in the Word, pray, etc, before you need to start getting ready for work. 

ACTION STEP #3:  PREPARE YOURSELF FOR SLIPS  
You are not perfect. Will you have those mornings where you sleep in? You sleep through your alarm clock. You hit snooze 3 times instead of getting up. YES. You may have those mornings. That is why we are only choosing ONE VERSE at a time to work on. Start again tomorrow. Begin again. Every day, begin again. Until, eventually, you will surprise yourself. As you continue waking up, you will find you are REALLY enjoying this intimate time with your Father. You are really starting to look forward to it. You wake up hungry. Hungry for the Word. Before you know it, you are awake 5 minutes before your alarm goes off. Then you start waking up a little bit earlier because you are finding that when your time comes to an end each morning, you just want more. You just want more time. You have accomplished this verse.... now, it's time to go back to ACTION STEP #2 - Build upon this verse and ADD another one to your arsenal. 


Can you see how doing this you are "EATING THE ELEPHANT ONE BITE AT A TIME." You are not overwhelming yourself to be the WHOLE PACKAGE today or tomorrow. You are BEGINNING. You are doing the Slight Edge: Those things that are easy to do, but equally as easy not to do. You are establishing habits. You are building Proverbs 31 habits. One upon the next upon the next. You are on the path to REALLY becoming the Proverbs 31 woman, not just thinking or talking about it! You have an ACTION PLAN in place! You REALLY are working towards an end result! 


BEGIN:
In closing.... I encourage you to begin. You will be surprised on this journey, not only will you feel great about accomplishment, but as you are pursuing the things of God, He may very well just drop "witty inventions" in your mind. As you are working on these areas, he may just drop ideas in your mind of something to create. Something the market needs. Where, as you are on your journey to be the woman God wants you to become, you find success & joy. You find that truly wealth and riches ARE in your house, you just had to unlock it. Million dollar ideas. The ability to do what you love and get paid for it. Living out your dream. Living out your passion. Impacting the Kingdom. It almost seems wrong because you LOVE it so much! You no longer will work a day in your life because walking in your calling is not work. You were BORN to do this very thing. I would bet, on your journey to become this Proverbs 31 woman, you may very well find or begin doing what you love to do. At least that is my prayer for you. More people need to be living and walking in their calling, not just working for a dollar bill just to get by. There is so much more than just getting by. It begins with beginning. 


Enjoy this journey as you are becoming....

                                             The Ultimate Woman.

#18 - Steady Wins the Race

The boy is just being a little "chatty Cathy" up in his bed. It is so funny to hear him. I can hear the jingle of him grabbing a toy now and then and can just tell he is shaking it. :) Then....silence. It's like he plays then takes a quick snooze. So...I guess that's my cue to get to it! :) The clock is a tickin'! :)

Proverbs 17:3 - The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tries the hearts.

Proverbs 31:25 - Strength and dignity are her clothing and her position is strong and secure; she rejoices over the future [the latter day or time to come, knowing that she and her family are in readiness for it]!

Proverbs 17 was filled with nuggets! That is exactly why you can really do this EVERY month, keep going over Proverbs & Proverbs 31, because there is SOOO much good stuff that it's as if you will never be able to dive into it fully.... there is always more. Like the rabbit hole keeps going deeper! Well, this morning we will dive into the rabbit hole and see where it takes us. As always, it will be good because OUR GOD & HIS WORD does not disappoint!


Before beginning, let's look into a bit of the language, the history.... the original Hebrew text and meanings. I believe that will shed further light as we study. The root word for refining pot goes back to the word, tsaraph. Tsaraph means to test, to prove true, to refine, to be refined. And the word furnace come from our root word kuwr. Kuwr means to bore, pierce, dig, hew, smelting furnace or pot. When we look at tries, it is a similar. Pretty interesting.... bachan means to prove, to try, to examine, to test, to scrutinize, to try of gold, to be tried. Strength in the Hebrew refers to: material, physical, personal, social, or political. 


With that foundation...how does this apply to us? What are we called to do here? We see our Proverbs 31 woman. She is strong, in every sense of the word. She is physically strong, she has material possessions that show strength, she is personally strong - mentally & spiritually, she is socially strong - she has ties to the public, to the people, she has rapport because of her steadfastness, because of her character & integrity, and yes, our Proverbs 31 friend is even politically strong, she knows what is going on in politics. She is supportive, she has an opinion which is based off the Word, she is wise in the realm of what is going on with her country. She is not just a "bystander" who knows nothing. She makes herself wise, in "the-know". She knows who to support & why and it all boils down to WHO is following the direction laid out in the Word. 


As we tie the two together I am reminded of the story that we all know of the tortoise & the hare. Who won the race? What is the common phrase? "Slow & steady wins the race." It's not the radical, quick decisions that make someone win, it is the decisions based in strength. It is the good decision backed by good decision that ultimately wins in the end. I am reminded of different people I have seen in life be "RADICAL"... they seemingly came out of no where. They reminded me of the hare. They ran REALLY fast! They sprinted. They seemed radical. But, do you know what happened to them? They also burnt out. They quit the race before it was over. They lost. They are completely off the radar now. They burnt out. In their race to be radical, they missed the STEADY. Our Proverbs 31 woman has not done that. She has built upon herself. She has built quality characteristics. She has built her house upon the rock, not upon the sand. She has become STEADY. Personally, she has become steadfast. The cares of this world are not stripping her away from what is most important. She is not flighty. She is not excited about the Lord one day and then a week later you would have thought she had forgotten. She is steady. And in the end, she wins the race! 


It doesn't take the radical, it takes the steady. 


Let's take the signers of the Declaration of Independence for example. Yes, these men were radical. But they were first of all steady in their beliefs. They knew what they believed and they stood behind it daily. Your steady stand may eventually lead to radical decisions. I believe our Proverbs 31 woman would have been standing amongst people like these men. She would have stood for what she believed & she wouldn't have forgotten her beliefs because of the "car pool line", or "golf lessons". Not that these things are bad, but they are bad when it causes you to forget. When it causes you to allow your time to neglect the most important. I believe she KNEW what the most important thing was and continued to be led because of what was most important. It boiled down to our Proverbs 31 friend knowing who she was in Christ & making a steady, daily decision to follow Him, to seek Him, to know Him. 


In closing... you may never have to make a radical decision like those of our Founding Fathers. But, if you are EVER in a position that you must, it will take the steady standing to even know the answer to the radical decision. To know what side you stand on. Let's take a look at some radicals. Are you steady enough in the Word, in your Walk with Christ to know? These men were tested. They were tried. They were scrutinized. They were some radicals who did indeed change history:

Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence..... Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the revolutionary army, another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the revolutionary war. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.....They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot of what happened in the revolutionary war. We didn't just fight the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! (www.truthorfiction.com) 

Steady wins the race. Steady may lead to radical. As an American, for us, steady led to freedom. 


In what areas to you need to firm up your "steady"? Is it your walk with the Lord? Do you get excited & then get burnt out? Do you start, but don't continue?  If I could make a suggestion.... don't try to set unrealistic expectations on yourself. Start small. Start with something. Start with 5 minutes. Just start. It may be one verse or one chapter. Just start. Begin the journey to spend time with the Lord daily. So when you look back you can say, "Wow...I have been GROWING in my walk with the Lord for 15 years now." You can look and see that it has been a progressive realization. You are daily progressing. Start small, but start. Don't grow to busy that when you crawl into bed at night, exhausted it's then that you realize..."Oh, dang it... the whole day went by and I didn't spend any time with the Lord. I didn't spend any time in the Word. I guess I'll try tomorrow." I plead with you... in 10 years when you look back, don't just look at a life of busyness, a life of minimal or no spiritual growth, a life where you are still a baby drinking milk from the bottle....a life where you haven't graduated to the meat, to the solid food.  


Start today. Commit today. Commit to grow. Slow & steady win the race. The Lord may have radical, exciting things in store for you. Will you be ready? Will you have been steady?