God doesn’t intend for pain and adversity to overwhelm us. The God we serve is a Keeper! Psalm 121:5-6 testifies that, “The LORD is your Keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.” Psalm 121 helps us remember that God is an all-sufficient and caring God! He is with us in the good and bad times! It doesn’t matter what we are going through His love and provisions are incomparable! There is no one created that loves you more than the Creator. When David talks about God being the shade in his right hand, he is symbolically pointing out that God his only source of strength he can depend on. As you know, David experienced the sunshine of God’s blessings but, he also traveled through the nighttime of fiery trials and through it all, he learned never to take his eyes off of the LORD his Creator and Keeper! Here’s the even greater news, we who belong to God will also be kept steady by God in the light and the dark–God will help and enable us to persevere in Him every single moment of this life, under every sun and moon, day and night–from this time forth, until the day Jesus returns to take us home! Well then, if God was David’s keeper, He is my Keeper and He is also your Keeper. So, smile when you feel like crying, rejoice outwardly when you feel like dying inwardly, lift up your voice to praise even when you feel weighed down and lame, and pray to God even though words can’t effectively articulate the pain your enduring! We have tremendous hope, knowing that God is our Keeper. Take sometime and read Psalm 121, and ask the Lord to expose its scriptural truths and then apply those truths to your life today! James 1:22 reminds us not to be only hearers of the word of God but doers also less we deceive ourselves!
The battle to overcome your emotional struggles is a battle for your mind. If you are worrying, stressed out and depressed, it is because you are thinking things that are not true.
In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, Paul writes,
“…for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
It is not our flesh that we fight but rather our minds and what Satan tries to do to our minds. One of Satan’s favorite strategies is to plant his thoughts in your mind so completely that you come to believe they are your thoughts, so you will begin to act on these thoughts.
This strategy of Satan may get you to ask the question, “Well, how can I be blamed for acting on these thoughts if they are not mine?” Friend, you are not responsible for every thought that comes into your head. But you are responsible for how you act on it. This is why we are to take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
When a thought comes seeking to lure you deeper into worry, doubt, anger, hatred, shame or more, you have two choices. You can reject it, or you can adopt it and make it your own. When you reject these thoughts, you free yourself to focus on the Spirit.
If you will set your mind on the things of the Spirit, you will have both life and peace. You will also have purpose, meaning and joy. With the Holy Spirit governing your thoughts, external circumstances do not dictate your responses. If you want to overcome your emotional struggles, change your thoughts. If you seek to be set free from that which holds you hostage, then set your mind on God’s truth.
The basic definition of good is ‘well’ and the basic definition of great is ‘very well.’ The two are remarkably similar in context and meaning but both are competing rivals in many respects. Some settle on being good while others strive to be great. There is no wonder why there are so few people, companies, and organizations that share their place in the greatness circle. While good is ‘good,’ it is certainly not great.
For example, I live in Missouri City, a good suburb a few miles just outside of the city of Houston, which struggles to crossover into greatness because we lack essential Leadership, Engagement, Growth, and Stability or, in other words, LEGS. For some, living a good city, working for a good organization, or raising a good family is okay but to others, like me, and possibly you, we work tirelessly to overcome the paralytic and caustic sting of goodness in an effort to strive for greatness and are relentless in the pursuit of it. Leading a city is no different from leading your home, business, or non-profit organization because it requires individuals who are like pistols, hot-blooded people, not the mild manner conforming types, that will succumb to the awesome power of the existing culture. Culture is an umbrella term which encompasses social behaviors and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. Culture eats strategy for lunch every day because it is that rhythm that pulls people to the dancefloor or pushes them to the threshing floor because nobody likes dancing to noise and without LEGS, we are limited in movement, function, and sometimes, purpose. Why?
Well, leadership is an essential factor in moving from good to great because leadership properly engages people in ways that not only solicit their input but also empowers them to transform that input into reality. Without engagement, people perish. Everyone has an innate desire to be a part of something great. When people are informed and engaged and understand their role in the good-to-great conversion process, great things happen. Without growth, people freeze and don’t see a clear path to the next level. This is a major reason why some acquiesce or abdicate responsibilities and elect to travel the road of the least resistance. Without stability, people flee and when they leave, they take with them institutional knowledge that can adversely impact the trajectory of progress. You see, the secret of greatness is not achieved in some complicated algorithmic equation, prophecy from a person who we consider an expert in an industry, or from the leaf pages someone’s magnum opus. It is not even achieved by understanding what your competitors are doing or not doing but is laser-focused on what you are doing and who are the people who have subscribed to the notion that we can achieve increased success that shatters the norm. Great business, cities, organization, etc., focus on getting and hanging on the right people in the first place.
Level 5 leaders who are productively neurotic, those who are self-motivated and self-disciplined, those who wake up every day, compulsively driven to do the best they can because it is simply part of their deoxyribonucleic acid.
The reason why greatness eludes so many is because we sometimes invest a lot of time, money, and energy in “trueing-up” anecdotal things while omitting the more serious issues that lay inside themselves or inside the company or organization. I coin this phenomenon, the logic box, in that our individual or organizational collection of knowledge, skills, abilities, and habits limits perception and act as a restriction on objective thought and creative expression. Good is the enemy of great and nothing great has ever become great by just settling on being good. Jim Collins, author of the book, Good to Great, writes:
Picture an egg. Day after day, it sits there. No one pays attention to it. No one notices it. Certainly, no one takes a picture of it or puts it on the cover of a celebrity-focused business magazine. Then one day, the shell cracks and out jumps a chicken. All of a sudden, the major magazines and newspapers jump on the story: “Stunning Turnaround at Egg!” and “The Chick Who Led the Breakthrough at Egg!” From the outside, the story always reads like an overnight sensation—as if the egg had suddenly and radically altered itself into a chicken.
Now picture the egg from the chicken’s point of view. While the outside world was ignoring this seemingly dormant egg, the chicken within was evolving, growing, developing—changing. From the chicken’s point of view, the moment of breakthrough, of cracking the egg, was simply one more step in a long chain of steps that had led to that moment. Granted, it was a big step—but it was hardly the radical transformation that it looked like from the outside.
It is a silly egg-analogy, but then our conventional way of looking at change is no less silly. Everyone looks for the “miracle moment” when the conversion from good to great happens but if you ask some good-to-great executives from Walgreens to Facebook when change happened they cannot pinpoint a single key event that exemplified their successful transition. Transitioning from good to great takes some time but time is inconsequential when you keep your eyes on the prize, proverbially speaking. I live by a simple axiom…in God we trust, the rest show data. If we are ever to be great, we must confront the brutal facts and respond to these three questions that affect individual and organizations alike:
What do you do better than anyone in the world?
What drives your economic engine?
What are you are most passionate about?
After answering these questions, align your organizational or personal strategy around the responses, monitor your progress, confront your new reality, and celebrate your successes or opportunities for improvement. Remember this, the good will become great and the great can become awesome because steady, consistent progress leads to eventual breakthrough! #getatit
In recent years, domestic and racial tension is probably the highest than it’s ever been in our nation. Everywhere you scroll and, on every page, you read death, death, and more death. It’s difficult to consistently maintain a positive measure of encouragement when it’s persistently being drowned out by the billowing waves of discouragement. Thankfully, we serve a God that takes what the enemy meant for bad and turns it around for our good and his glory. I Corinthians 10:13 reminds us,” No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” Discouragement is a temptation that is “common to man”. And sometimes as deal with it we need tenderness and other times we need toughness. But either way discouragement is not to be tolerated, festered or wallowed in. It’s to be fought and not with human hands! Fact is, when we feel discouraged, we want comfort, which is right to feel. But the comfort we often turn to are more self-rewarding and self-gratifying. The recent senseless, untimely, and unnecessary death of George Floyd is yet another burning log thrown in the bonfire of social, racial, and ethnic inequality. When will these flames of injustice be finally extinguished? When will we as God children realize that hate cannot drive out hate? When we will look past skin tone and ethnic backgrounds and realize this a spiritual battle we are fighting!! People are not the enemy!!! Ephesians 6:12-13 clearly distinguishes this difference, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” At the end of the day and top of the morning, prayer is our weapon to win. I know some of you reading this may be saying, “How long shall we keep praying?” Well, the short answer is, “Until something happens.” God isn’t sleep! He sees, he knows, and he cares about the struggles and challenges we endure every day. God doesn’t want us to take matters into our own hands rather, he prefers that we take all matters and place them at the foot of the cross! I know it’s not easy but we can’t succumb to the hand of the enemy by tolerating discouragement to ‘rule the roost’. Yes, we all want to see justice served and this will happen in time but right now this family and our nation needs our prayers for comfort, peace, strength, and healing! My prayers are with Floyd’s family and a host of friends some of which I know personally that loved him dearly! Big Floyd you exhaled your last breath of carnality and instantaneously you inhaled your first breath of eternity in the arms of Jesus Christ and your beloved mother who was also there waiting for you to come home!
Lord God, thank you for being near to us especially during rough and uncertain times. Abba Father, thank you for being a present help—a sheltering help in our time of need. You’re our strength when we are weak and you’re our peace when we are confused, anxious, frustrated, angry, lonely, displaced, abandoned, and broken. With that said, Father God, I know that you see the hurt and pain your people are enduring. Deaths stemming from the Covid pandemic, domestic violence, and senseless violence are constantly on the rise. Nearly every time, I hear the news or read my timelines on social media someone is needing prayer due to some kind of unexpected a loss, a spouse is standing for their broken marriage, children and young adults are acting out and the list goes on and on. Unemployment have economically displaced many families and almost everyone has been financially impacted in 2020. Big and small business are struggling with complying to the CDC guidelines as they reopen at restricted capacity whilst church leaders struggle with displaying true faith with the doors of the church closed. Father God, as I stand in the gap but never in your way, I declare that we will survive! I declare that we will not grumble or complain as if You are not at work both to will and to do your great pleasure. I declare to the enemy in Jesus’ name that he and all the power of darkness is defeated by the blood that dripped from the Cross on Calvary’s Hill! I declare that we are more than conquers in Christ Jesus. I declare that grieving hearts will be comforted. I declare that every need will be provided in every household financially struggling during this season of testing. I declare that our nation will be restored. I declare that marriages are being restored. I declare that our local and national governments will harken and be acutely sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit in guiding us out of this valley of the shadow of death! I declare that we will be overwhelmed and inundated with peace that surpasses all human comprehension. I declare that every man, woman, and child be filled and replenished with your strength, power, wisdom, and love! I declare the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob is the same God of yesterday, today, and will be forever more! I declare according to 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory. I declare victory, victory, and victory in the fight of this invisible enemy! It doesn’t matter where it came from or who caused the spread. What matters today is that You O’God by and through your spirit reveal our path forward and our next step. I declare what the doctors and scientists can’t do, You can do and what’s impossible for man is possible for You! I declare that as we wait on You that our bodies will begin to supernaturally build up resistance and that the antibodies you designed in our bodies will increase in capacity, tenacity and immunity. Father God, we know sin separated us but it was the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that eternally reconciled us. Therefore, we confess our sins to you and seek your forgiveness and asked that you cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Father God, as I move from prayer to praise thank you for restoration, healing, comfort, peace, and strength! Hallelujah, a season of restoration is upon us and we will rejoice and be glad in it and as we wait diligently for it to come to pass we will continue to offer You the praise and glory that undoubtedly belongs to You. In Jesus name, I pray, with great expectations, amen amen, and amen!
Let’s be honest, it’s easy to be a critic. When the Israelites arrived at Kadesh Barnea, which bordered the Promise Land of Canaan, they sent 12 spies to survey the land and the people (Numbers 13:18-25). The 12 spies spent 40 days checking things out and upon their return, 10 of the 12 spies reported nothing but bad things. Numbers 13:31-33 records them saying, “We can’t attack these people; they are stronger than we are….all the people we saw were of giants….we seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes.” Talk about fake news!! Joshua and Caleb’s assessment of the land was quite different (Numbers 14:6-7). However, believing the reports from the 10 critics, the people lost heart and rebelled against God. Essentially, they flat out ignore the fact that just 40 days prior to hearing these reports from the 10 spies God delivered them from over 400 years of slavery!!! Talk about a slap in the face! So, what did they do? Of course, out of fear and disbelief they took the path of least resistance; they elected to reject God’s promise (Numbers 14:1-2). You already know God was hot! But, once again Moses interceded and turned away God’s wrath (Numbers 14:13-20). Yes, God forgave them and He decided the folks that griped, belly-ached, and complained wouldn’t see the promise land and they would wander in the wilderness an additional year for each day the 12 spies spent exploring the land He promised they would inherit. Go figure, what was only an 11 day journey expanded to 40 years all because the people chose to criticize and reject God’s promise based on sensationalized fake news! All we hear in the news today is COVID this and COVID that…but have you considered listening to what God is saying? God promised us victory over all kinds of illnesses. Isaiah 41:10 says, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” God will never lead us where His grace can’t provide for us or His power can’t protect us! Indeed, the Israelites witness the power of God move through the plagues and miracles of the Exodus but unfortunately (like many people today) they chose to walked by sight and not by faith. Let this not be so for you; don’t allow fear and disbelief to keep you from experiencing all of God’s promises in your life’s journey! “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory” (2 Cor 1:20).
Living a life of peace and calm starts in your thoughts. What you allow yourself to think on will have a direct impact on the level of peace you experience in your emotions. This truth is why Satan seeks to influence and infiltrate people’s thoughts through music, movies, social media and so many other ways. Whoever or whatever controls the thoughts controls the emotions.
I want to give you three solid steps you can apply which will set you on the right path toward full emotional freedom. If you will faithfully commit yourself to these three steps, you will begin to enjoy a greater sense of peace and calm in your life. The first step is to challenge your thoughts. Then, if any do not align with God’s Word, you will need to change your thoughts. In addition to these two steps, you also need to charge your thoughts. Let’s look at all three steps in more detail:
Challenge Your Thoughts. Don’t readily receive all thoughts in your mind as being life-producing or calm-inducing thoughts. Challenge your thoughts by holding them up against the standard of God’s Word. If and when your thoughts do not align with God’s promises in His Word or in obedience to His commands, you can identify those thoughts as contrary to His will for you. Allowing them to remain will lead only to greater emotional turmoil.
Change Your Thoughts. Once you’ve identified a particular thought that runs contrary to God’s truth, you can make the choice to change it. A thought can be changed either through releasing it and letting it go, or by seeking out more information and clarity on the subject—based on God’s Word. Change your thoughts so that they are in sync with the truth of God and His laws of love. That will point you in the direction of peace.
Charge Your Thoughts. Make spending time in God’s Word a regular occurrence. Meditate on His Word. Read His Word for a greater understanding. As you explore God’s truth and what His perspective is on a matter, it will charge your thoughts with life-giving hope. Just like a car battery needs to be charged in order for it to fulfill its function, our thoughts need to be charged with the energy of God’s truth in order for them to produce the peace and calm we crave in our emotional lives.
As you go through your day, thoughts will come and go. Seek to pay greater attention to the thoughts you experience. While you increase your awareness of your thoughts, you will be in a better position to challenge them, change them when necessary and offer them an ongoing charge of God’s perspective on a matter. These three things are certain to elevate the level of peace during life’s most challenging moments, including COVID-19!
What would your world look like if you woke up tomorrow morning and all you had is what you THANKED God for today? Turn your bibles to I Thessalonians 5:16-18. The commands in these passages of text says, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” We are commanded to give thanks, pray, and show gratitude in all circumstances. This literally should be a way of life for us as both of these beatitudes should naturally flow from our hearts and mouths. There are several biblical commands cited throughout scripture that instructs us to give thanks to God and most verses go on to list reasons why we should thank Him, such as “His love endures forever” (Psalm 136:3), “He is good” (Psalm 118:29), and “His mercy is everlasting” (Psalm 100:5). Thanksgiving and praise should be found at the core of our spiritual beings and they should always go hand-to-hand 🙌🏾!! We cannot adequately and fully live a purpose driven life without praising and worshipping God. Ok, some of you reading this message still can’t find at least one reason to thank and praise God. So what I want you to do is hold your breath as long as you can…..now exhale and then inhale….that breath you just inhaled was a gift and that is your reason to give God what He rightfully deserves. Y’all better stop living like your tomorrow is promised! Proverbs 27:1 admonition is clear, “Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.” Case and point, we should be thankful because God is worthy of our thanksgiving. It is only right to credit Him for “every good and perfect gift” He gives (James 1:17). When we are thankful and grateful, our focus shifts from our selfish desires and off the pain of our current circumstances. Expressing thankfulness and gratefulness helps us remember that God is in control and when we foster this mindset it helps us to see the bigger picture, that we belong to God, and that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). Truly, we have an abundant life (John 10:10), and gratefulness is only fitting. So let me ask you again; “What would your world look like if you woke up tomorrow morning and all you had is what you THANKED God for today?”
If God is all-powerful and God is all-loving why do suffering and evil exist? This is one difficult question to fully comprehend. The real dilemma in comprehending this paradoxical question is how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God. In short, my response is, the evil that exist does NOT eliminate God! In “The Problem of Pain,” C.S. Lewis explains his view point on suffering. “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” The painful truth is that God is more interested in our holiness than in our happiness. He is more interested in our character than in our comfort. Romans 5:3-5 reminds us that, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.” The reality is God doesn’t conquer inspite of the dark mystery of evil rather, His love conquers through the cruelest evil, pain, and suffering!” Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” God is the source of love and His love is not weak nor feeble. It is backed up by His limitless power and might. Look at it this way; when we said ‘yes’ to Jesus we were freed from the penalty of sin (instant salvation). As our relationship continues to flourish and we become more like Christ, we are freed from the power of sin (deliverance) and the really good news is that upon Jesus second coming (Hallelujah) we will be freed from the presence of sin (the evil we see)! Yes, God is all-powerful and He is all-loving! His very nature as an omnipotent, omni-benevolent, and omniscient being demands that evil will be eternally conquered in the time in which He decides! Until then remember that God has already addressed the evil around us! He sent His only Son into the world to die for the world and to defeat evil. Evil was defeated officially at Christ’s first coming through His death and resurrection (Colossians 2:14, Hebrews 2:14, Ephesians 4:7-12). Therefore, despite the evil around us we have victory over evil and sufferings through our love, faith, and hope in Christ Jesus!
