Success Formula!

Proverbs 16:3 (amp) - Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.

What an exciting verse... one that may take some time to actually fully do. Roll YOUR Works! Roll your job, your kids, your business, your book, your crafts, your projects, your inventions, your finances, your dreams.... ROLL THEM onto the Lord. Commit & trust them WHOLLY to HIM. Once we've rolled our works and our cares over to the Lord, then it's time to TRUST Him with them. Trust that His goal and desire for us IS for us to accomplish the God-given dreams and desires that we have! How exciting! He will cause YOUR THOUGHTS to become agreeable to His will. Probably my 2nd favorite part of this verse. When we cast our works upon the Lord... when we cast our business, our job, our dreams upon the Lord and trust him with it, THEN begins the work of OUR THOUGHTS coming into line and into agreement with God's! Now that is good stuff! Once our thoughts come into line with God's THEN He will cause OUR plans to be established and SUCCEED! 


Who wants SUCCESS?!? I do! By turning our works over to the Lord, trusting Him with them, He begins to transform our mind. Thoughts, ideas, plans, specific activities, the 'how-to', comes into clarity and focus. THEN because we have honored God with our "works", He causes them to SUCCEED!

So... Formula for success?

Roll your Work/Care/Dream onto the Lord + Trust GOD with that Work/Care/Dream = Our Thoughts Line up with God's thoughts (plans, ideas, ways to do things just "pop" into our heads) = (ultimately leading to) SUCCESS 

 

 

 

#197 - Thoughts Matter

Good morning! It already feels like a warm day here in Columbia, we may have to hit up the pool for a bit. Well, let's get started in to the Word.

Proverbs 21:5 - The thoughts of the [steadily] diligent tend only to plenteousness, but everyone who is impatient and hasty hastens only to want.

Proverbs 31:27 - She looks well to how things go in her household, and the bread of idleness (gossip, discontent, and self-pity) she will not eat.

As I sat reading in my journal and reading through today's Proverbs, I couldn't escape the concept that "Your Thoughts Matter." Yesterday as I sat, listening to what I felt the Holy Spirit was telling me, here were some of the things I got from it:

• You are not subject to your circumstances. When you do things God's way, your circumstances are subject to YOU!
• Your expectation and believe DOES matter!
• People SEE your beliefs by how you live. 

Then as I sat down this morning, I felt like with the theme of "A Journey of Belief" or "A Journey of Faith." Have you ever felt like you were on a journey in your spiritual walk? One day you believe, another day you may be a bit down, the next day is better... and on and on the cycle goes. Ultimately you want to be rooted in faith and rooted in belief, unlike the person in James chapter 1 who is like a wave, tossed to and fro in the sea, wavering, unstable in all his ways.  Thankfully, being in the Word on a consistent basis has a way of keeping one grounded. Keeping one emotionally stable and headed in the right direction, though my question yesterday was this: How does someone steer clear from doubt or discouragement? 


The gist of the answer was something like this: Have a clear vision. Have the stories of faith and victory, a plan, the vision, the pieces of the puzzle INGRAINED in your mind and on your heart. Have it SO ingrained there that you know it like the back of your hand. So ingrained that every bit of it is real to you. Continue to RENEW your mind to THAT story, that vision!

This is where your thoughts come in. Your daily thoughts matter. Down to the minute, those things that you allow your mind to dwell on really matter! One thought can lead you down the path of doubt & discouragement, or one thought can lead you down the path of faith, belief, victory and favor. One thought! The Bible does not say that "doubt" won't come. For a believer, it most likely WILL come. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy (Jn 10:10), and if he can steal your faith and belief, he has won! As believers, we need to be PREPARED when the enemy comes, when he tries to plant thoughts in our mind. We need to know HOW and WHAT we are going to do when that happens. It's not a matter of IF it will happen, it's a matter of WHEN it will happen. How are you going to stay on the path to hope, faith & belief? How are you going to keep from getting discouraged? The vision, needs to be there, firmly. We need to be able to QUICKLY look to something, an idea, story, vision, plan, promise, scripture, whatever it is for you, but we need to be able to IMMEDIATELY access those thoughts and dwell on them. When the enemy comes, we need to be able to take EVERY thought captive and put it under the obedience of Christ Jesus. BUT, with the thought that Satan tries to plant, we need to be able to replace it with something else. Replace it with a thought of victory. Replace it with the picture or idea, the story of victory that we've ingrained on our minds and heart. If we are scrambling for that vision, unclear of how or what to think on, we are headed down a road of doubt and disbelief.

Thoughts matter. Today, take the time to PLAN your thoughts. Be ready when the enemy comes. KNOW what your thoughts are going to be! Know what you are going to think on . Philippians 4:8 reminds us to,  Think on THESE things, "... whatever is pure, lovely, of good report....meditate on these things." 


Your thoughts matter.

#133 -FREE FROM DOUBT!

Good morning! :) I pray that you are having a blessed morning and week so far! It's kind of like a Monday to me since I had my Day or Rest yesterday. Praise God for a day to rest! To get rejuvenated, refreshed, a time to reflect even take a nap! Love it!


We're going to veer off the normal "schedule" today... primarily because I'm going to share a big revelation that I received this weekend. A revelation that has set me free. A revelation which has released me to now go BE who I was created to be! What amazing FREEDOM!!!!

James 1:6-8 - But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

2 Cor. 10:4-5 - The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

OK... are you ready? Buckle in for this! Buckle in! For some, this may ROCK your world! For some, maybe it will just be like another "good Word", or "devotion".... but, I do believe that this revelation can & will set some other people free like it did me! 


We had a life-changing night Thursday. Our "special invite" to a special meeting really rocked our world... but Friday morning as I was reviewing some notes, Tyler and I started talking and I just started bawling. I was bawling like a baby! My sobs were making my body shake.  It was quite pathetic really. And sad. I told Tyler of some of the revelations I had received, but the one thing that I felt that was left lingering in my heart was "doubt." I knew God had created me to do really really great things... but I was crying because I didn't know how to get rid of the doubt that I was experiencing in my heart. The doubt that said, "You aren't capable." The doubt that said, "You can't help people." The doubt that said, "You will reach your goal one day.... but that one day was no where in sight." The doubt that every day, for the last eight years kept me in a place of bondage. Sure, I've done good things, and made some strides along the way... but I was prisoner to doubt. After my bawling episode... maybe 30 minutes.... I had to move on with the morning and get the boy ready to go to the babysitter for our leadership meeting that we would be attending downtown. 


I went the series of leadership meetings looking for one thing, looking for the CLICK that I needed to really become the ME that God created me to be. To become the me that was ROCK SOLID! The me that wasn't scared. The me that could confidently help people. The me that could pursue my FULL calling with reckless abandon. I was expectant. I didn't know what the 'click' would be, but I was expectant! As I sat, soaking in all that I was hearing, writing page after page of notes... my mind was being renewed.... and then, there it was. The click. The missing piece to the puzzle. The revelation that I had been needing and waiting for. James 1:6-8 ~ If you DOUBT, you are unstable, like a wave tossed to and fro in the sea! If you DOUBT, because of that doubt, you can not even expect ANYTHING from the Lord!!! ANYTHING! If you have doubt in your heart, don't expect to receive from the Lord! WHAT?! WHAT?! So... here I had had this doubt in my heart for 8 years! You mean because of that doubt, I can not expect anything from the Lord?! In the past, I had recognized it a little bit... more just as fear or insecurity, but I had known it was there all along. But THIS, THIS was different!!! Before, I would do what the man in the Bible did when he doubted, he said, "Lord, please help me with my unbelief." I had done that a lot. But this time it was different. Immediately in my spirit I knew exactly what to do with doubt. Tyler and I do it ALL the time with other things! If you were a fly on our wall, you would hear it randomly come out of our mouths, "I take that thought captive and put it under the obedience of Christ Jesus!" Maybe we had a thought of fear or lust, or temptation. So you will often hear us saying that verse out-loud. If we are in public, we still say it out-loud, maybe just a little under our breath. 


So... what did I do? I FINALLY recognized what was happening. The enemy had planted a seed. That seed had been holding me captive because I listened to the subtle comments and suggestions! The enemy, Satan, demons, whatever you want to call them, had been just ever so subtly sitting right behind my ear and whenever I would think about or begin to pursue to help someone or do something in the direction of my calling he would talk to me, "Oh, don't even try it. You won't be able to help that person. Don't even pursue it." - "You've never helped anyone do that before, what makes you think you can do it this time?" And on and on they would go, until I caved in to the voices. At the time they were UN-RECOGNIZABLE by me, but the voice was that of the enemy. I didn't recognize it as the enemy. But I now know it WAS the enemy! 


NOW, guess what I KNOW to do?!?! I KNOW that when I recognize that fear or doubt, I only need to do ONE thing, TAKE THAT THOUGHT CAPTIVE AND PUT IT UNDER THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST JESUS! Put that NON-SENSE under my feet! Where it belongs. And then AGGRESSIVELY pursue it because I can EXPECT to receive from the Lord!!! And because I have taken the thought captive, thrown it down, the Lord will even show out even more because I have been obedient! I can expect the LORD to do the work through me AND it be a success! 


I HAVE NO FEAR! I AM FREE! DOUBT is no longer controlling my thoughts, emotions and actions! I know what to do, I take the thought captive and then LAUGH in the face of my enemy! I have FINALLY WON and the enemy has been caught! I recognize the subtle drops of doubt and fear, and because I finally recognize them for what they are, I can take authority of them because I AM A CHILD OF GOD AND I HAVE AUTHORITY! 

What is it for you? Have you been hearing subtle drops of doubt about starting a business? "You can't do it. You don't have the experience. You don't have the finances. You don't have the knowledge." Have you been caving in to that voice and putting aside what you really desire to do? Have you been hearing the voice saying, "You can't lose that weight. You've never done it before. It always comes back. Don't even try this time." 

BUT... THIS TIME could be THE TIME! "This time" could be the "the time" you have been waiting for. The time where you really experience the breakthrough once and for all! FREE YOURSELF from DOUBT! Take those thoughts captive and experience your breakthrough!




Have a blessed day! Receive what you need today!