Image by hickory hardscrabble via Flickr
Dr. Myles Munroe
(from The Glory of Living)
Showing posts with label Divine Potential. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Divine Potential. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Today's Encouraging Word
Dr. Myles Munroe
(from The Glory of Living)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Today's Encouraging Word
Image via Wikipedia
Jim Graff
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Today's Encouraging Word
Image by A. Page via Flickr
Erwin Raphael McManus
(from Wide Awake)
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Today's Encouraging Word
Image by aloshbennett via Flickr
Frank Damazio
(from The Attitude of Faith)
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Today's Encouraging Word
Image via Wikipedia
You cannot triumph over the external world until you subdue and take dominion over you! You will have to wage war against every argument within you that challenges what God has said about you.
You have been taught by the world to see yourself as inferior to what God’s original plan was for you. Your years of conditioning and indoctrination will cause you to doubt what the Almighty said about you. You will find yourself struggling against what God has said. Doubt and unbelief will be unrelenting in their challenge to influence you to believe what God says cannot be true.
It will take some time to undo the conditioning of years of misinformation, but God’s Word is sure and powerful. If you continue hearing the Word of God over and over again, your thinking will become aligned with it and your mind will be renewed. Then, because of our persistent and diligent efforts, your life will be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Bishop Jim Lowe
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Today's Encouraging Word
Image by Unitopia via Flickr
Dr. Myles Munroe
(from Releasing Your Potential)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Wise Words for Today
It’s so easy to get distracted by all the things going on around you. If you resolve to live the life of your dreams, if you refuse to settle for a life other than the one God created you to live….you have to decide to focus and lock in on the direction God has called you to live your life.
The first step in getting focused could be described as concentration. Concentration is directing all of our energies and resources to a specific task, idea, and direction. So to focus, you have to make this adjustment – to concentrate all your energy and resources on where you are going. Set your eyes on where God is calling you and don’t look back (and certainly don’t look around).
Your potential becomes talent only when it is harnessed and developed. Your talents become strengths when they are focused and directed. It is here where you begin to discover who you are and the potential God has placed within you.
Without a destiny, you will diffuse your energy.
When you are focused, you are your most powerful.
A destiny is not something waiting but something within you.
When Jesus calls us to come, he is calling us out into a future we cannot walk without him….The power of focus brings not only the strength of concentration but also the power of convergence – it harnesses all your talent, gifting, skills, passions, intellect, experience, the whole of you and brings it all together to unleash your highest potential.
Irwin Raphael McManus
(from Wide Awake)
The first step in getting focused could be described as concentration. Concentration is directing all of our energies and resources to a specific task, idea, and direction. So to focus, you have to make this adjustment – to concentrate all your energy and resources on where you are going. Set your eyes on where God is calling you and don’t look back (and certainly don’t look around).
Your potential becomes talent only when it is harnessed and developed. Your talents become strengths when they are focused and directed. It is here where you begin to discover who you are and the potential God has placed within you.
Without a destiny, you will diffuse your energy.
When you are focused, you are your most powerful.
A destiny is not something waiting but something within you.
When Jesus calls us to come, he is calling us out into a future we cannot walk without him….The power of focus brings not only the strength of concentration but also the power of convergence – it harnesses all your talent, gifting, skills, passions, intellect, experience, the whole of you and brings it all together to unleash your highest potential.
Irwin Raphael McManus
(from Wide Awake)
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Today's Encouraging Word
When you set yourself in agreement with His command, God will work in you to assist you in accomplishing what He has commanded. Furthermore, He will command His angels to assist you in being successful. God, His universe, and everything He created in it work together to propel you toward a life of extreme fruitfulness and productivity. You have the seed of productivity in you. Allow it to take root and begin to produce fruit…..Decide today that you will make every effort to understand and speak the Word of God with regard to your life. Meditate and delight in it because His Word is your life. As He stated in Deuteronomy 32:47, His words are not idle. By them you will live long. So, stay close and serve God through obedience to what His Word says about you. You will be transformed into His image, and you will develop strength and courage to fulfill the mission He has set apart for you.
Bishop Jim Lowe
(from Achieving Your Divine Potential)
Bishop Jim Lowe
(from Achieving Your Divine Potential)
Friday, November 20, 2009
Spiritual Optimism and Personal Vision
L. Dwight Turner
A fundamental component of living a life of spiritual optimism is the birth, development, clarification, and realization of your personal vision. Solomon tells us in Proverbs that without vision, the people perish. The same principle is true for all of us. We may not physically die without having a personal vision to guide and direct our steps, but we will surely die spiritually. Without the motivating presence of our own vibrant, vitalizing, vision we surely cannot manifest the optimal version of ourselves.
A vision consists of our perception of our particular mission in life and more precisely, defines the specific framework within which we will carry out that mission. Vision gives us a sense of direction, acting like a compass when we lack certainty about our direction in life. In this sense, vision gives us a basis upon which we can make positive and effective choices among various options that might be available to us. A personal vision gives us hope and courage, especially when we are feeling overwhelmed or when we are confronted with difficulties or setbacks.
The concept of personal vision is intimately tied to at least four other significant factors in the life of a sincere spiritual aspirant: God, dreams, purpose, and optimism. Although space does not allow for a detailed discussion of these four critical connections, let’s take a brief look at how personal vision is tied to them.
It is imperative to understand that your personal vision is a Spirit-designed and Spirit-imparted phenomenon. Through my work with individuals and groups over the past 35 years I have come to the conclusion that the Holy Spirit imparts a specific, achievable, personal vision to each of us prior to our birth on this planet. Further, God not only gives us this vision, but also supplies us with all the talents and gifts we need in order to bring that vision to life and completion. We may have to work at honing and sharpening those Spirit-given talents but we should always keep in mind that those gifts come from a divine origin.
Our dreams are also connected to our vision. I am not talking about the kind of dreams we have when we sleep. Instead, I am talking about those dreams that we entertain as we imagine what we would like to do and what goals we would like to accomplish. The dreams I am speaking of here have to do with our imaginings of becoming the best that we can be and even more significant, making a positive contribution to the world. These dreams, like our personal vision, come from God. I am convinced that our dreams are one method the spiritual realm uses to communicate to us about our personal vision. We, therefore, should never discount our dreams, no matter how far-fetched they may initially seem.
In fact, there are many times that the most impossible dreams have their origins in the mind of God. Think about it. I believe Divine Intelligence desires that we always remain cognizant of the fact that we are ultimately dependent upon him for everything. With this truth in mind, it is very reasonable to assume that the Holy Spirit may indeed give us dreams that are impossible to fulfill without a vital connection to the Divine Source. Perhaps I evaluate a dream and feel inspired, but say to myself, “That’s something I could really get into and it meets a very real need. Still, there is no way I can ever do that by myself.” God, in response, may very well be saying, “No, you can’t. But we can.” The Bible clearly tells us that with God, all things are possible.
I suggest that over the next week or so you set aside some time to examine your dreams, both current and from the past that, for whatever reason, you did not allow to grow and develop. Study these dreams and ask for guidance in gaining insight into how these specific dreams may now be or may have been connected to your personal vision. Do you see any common themes in these dreams? If these dreams somehow were to become manifest in reality, what specific and beneficial purpose would they serve? This exercise may help you in your search to discover the exact nature of your personal vision.
How do I discover my vision? There is no one way to do this, but one thing is true: Start by discovering your personal purpose. Your vision should then flow out of that purpose. Discovery of our purpose (mission) is intimately tied up with our personal vision. One thing I have discovered over the years about uncovering purpose and vision is this: You have to be creative and think outside the box. At first, don’t discount any idea just because it seems impossible. Often, God gives us impossible things to do so that we can discover that we need him to do anything of last worth.
Art Sepulveda, Senior Pastor of the Word of Life Christian Center in Honolulu has written an excellent book entitled, Focus: What’s in Your Vision. In this book Pastor Sepulveda gives the following guidelines for envisioning your future:
Expand your horizons by stretching your imagination
Nurture new ideas
Vote for positive changes with a welcoming attitude
Imagine the impossible
Stay ahead of tomorrow
Invent the future
Operate expectantly
Notice unlimited opportunity
The pastor’s suggestions are first-rate and I would encourage anyone interested in kick-starting the process of discovering their person vision to implement his ideas. I think you will discover that developing vision is not nearly as difficult as you have imagined it to be. The reason for this is that you are not so much trying to invent something that doesn’t exist; instead, you are actually uncovering the outline of something placed in your heart by God before you took your first breath.
Finally, let’s see how your dreams, purpose, and vision connect with optimism. It is a connected as part of a process that begins with potential and ends with the glory of assisting in the realization of God’s kingdom on earth. Let’s take a look at a synopsis of this process – a process that can only lead to Christian optimism.
God has placed a unique potential within each and every one of us. The realization of that potential is part of our personal mission on this planet and exists within the context of God’s overall plan and purpose for humanity. When we marry our potential to our individual purpose, our potential is activated and we begin to move toward becoming all that we were designed to be. When our purpose is connected to a specific personal vision, our potential is further unfolded in the context of our purpose and vision. Further, this marriage of purpose and vision gives rise to passion. We become excited about bringing our vision into concrete manifestation. We arise each day with a feeling of optimistic energy and divine direction and we are enthusiastic about working toward realization of our personal vision.
As the process reaches fruition, we then realize our vision, our purpose, and our potential. In doing so, we manifest our glory. Our glory can be defined as becoming the best version of ourselves and claiming our already established identity “in Christ.” By manifesting our glory, we are able to fulfill our God-given role in the establishment of his Kingdom. The entire process is thus carried forward in the Kingdom Context. God planted his divine plan in us in the form of our unique potential. That potential, along with our subsequent purpose, personal vision, passion, and glory, had an overriding purpose and that purpose was the unfolding of God’s kingdom here on earth.
On a practical level, the kingdom context consists of the recognition that the primary reason Christ incarnated was to inaugurate the process of establishing his kingdom on earth. Our spiritual unfolding involves nothing less than having all of our actions flowing from the living awareness of our responsibility of carrying on the Lord’s kingdom mission.
The power that carries this entire process forward, from potential to glory, is faith. We accepted God’s blessing of cleansing and salvation, our justification, on faith. Now we are to go a step farther along the road of faith: we are to accept that God has given us even more grace in that he has provided, as Paul says, “every blessing in the spiritual realm.” Or, in the words of Peter:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in world by lust (2 Peter 1:2-5).
In the words we often use here at LifeBrook: God has provided for us all that we need in order to become the optimal versions of ourselves for the glory of God and the benefit of others.
In essence, what we are talking about here is the blessed reality that God, through his grace, love, and infinite wisdom, has seen to it that we have all that we will ever need to be successful in life. He has planted a divine potential in each and every one of us and tied that potential with a personal purpose or mission that we are to carry out. The specifics of that purpose or mission are found in our dreams and our vision, which is also God-given and easily discoverable.
It is upon these very principles, based upon the spiritual reality of God’s love, his character, his provision, and his faithfulness, that we can readily lay claim to spiritual optimism. Indeed, If God be for us, who can be against us?
© L.D. Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved
A fundamental component of living a life of spiritual optimism is the birth, development, clarification, and realization of your personal vision. Solomon tells us in Proverbs that without vision, the people perish. The same principle is true for all of us. We may not physically die without having a personal vision to guide and direct our steps, but we will surely die spiritually. Without the motivating presence of our own vibrant, vitalizing, vision we surely cannot manifest the optimal version of ourselves.
A vision consists of our perception of our particular mission in life and more precisely, defines the specific framework within which we will carry out that mission. Vision gives us a sense of direction, acting like a compass when we lack certainty about our direction in life. In this sense, vision gives us a basis upon which we can make positive and effective choices among various options that might be available to us. A personal vision gives us hope and courage, especially when we are feeling overwhelmed or when we are confronted with difficulties or setbacks.
The concept of personal vision is intimately tied to at least four other significant factors in the life of a sincere spiritual aspirant: God, dreams, purpose, and optimism. Although space does not allow for a detailed discussion of these four critical connections, let’s take a brief look at how personal vision is tied to them.
It is imperative to understand that your personal vision is a Spirit-designed and Spirit-imparted phenomenon. Through my work with individuals and groups over the past 35 years I have come to the conclusion that the Holy Spirit imparts a specific, achievable, personal vision to each of us prior to our birth on this planet. Further, God not only gives us this vision, but also supplies us with all the talents and gifts we need in order to bring that vision to life and completion. We may have to work at honing and sharpening those Spirit-given talents but we should always keep in mind that those gifts come from a divine origin.
Our dreams are also connected to our vision. I am not talking about the kind of dreams we have when we sleep. Instead, I am talking about those dreams that we entertain as we imagine what we would like to do and what goals we would like to accomplish. The dreams I am speaking of here have to do with our imaginings of becoming the best that we can be and even more significant, making a positive contribution to the world. These dreams, like our personal vision, come from God. I am convinced that our dreams are one method the spiritual realm uses to communicate to us about our personal vision. We, therefore, should never discount our dreams, no matter how far-fetched they may initially seem.
In fact, there are many times that the most impossible dreams have their origins in the mind of God. Think about it. I believe Divine Intelligence desires that we always remain cognizant of the fact that we are ultimately dependent upon him for everything. With this truth in mind, it is very reasonable to assume that the Holy Spirit may indeed give us dreams that are impossible to fulfill without a vital connection to the Divine Source. Perhaps I evaluate a dream and feel inspired, but say to myself, “That’s something I could really get into and it meets a very real need. Still, there is no way I can ever do that by myself.” God, in response, may very well be saying, “No, you can’t. But we can.” The Bible clearly tells us that with God, all things are possible.
I suggest that over the next week or so you set aside some time to examine your dreams, both current and from the past that, for whatever reason, you did not allow to grow and develop. Study these dreams and ask for guidance in gaining insight into how these specific dreams may now be or may have been connected to your personal vision. Do you see any common themes in these dreams? If these dreams somehow were to become manifest in reality, what specific and beneficial purpose would they serve? This exercise may help you in your search to discover the exact nature of your personal vision.
How do I discover my vision? There is no one way to do this, but one thing is true: Start by discovering your personal purpose. Your vision should then flow out of that purpose. Discovery of our purpose (mission) is intimately tied up with our personal vision. One thing I have discovered over the years about uncovering purpose and vision is this: You have to be creative and think outside the box. At first, don’t discount any idea just because it seems impossible. Often, God gives us impossible things to do so that we can discover that we need him to do anything of last worth.
Art Sepulveda, Senior Pastor of the Word of Life Christian Center in Honolulu has written an excellent book entitled, Focus: What’s in Your Vision. In this book Pastor Sepulveda gives the following guidelines for envisioning your future:
Expand your horizons by stretching your imagination
Nurture new ideas
Vote for positive changes with a welcoming attitude
Imagine the impossible
Stay ahead of tomorrow
Invent the future
Operate expectantly
Notice unlimited opportunity
The pastor’s suggestions are first-rate and I would encourage anyone interested in kick-starting the process of discovering their person vision to implement his ideas. I think you will discover that developing vision is not nearly as difficult as you have imagined it to be. The reason for this is that you are not so much trying to invent something that doesn’t exist; instead, you are actually uncovering the outline of something placed in your heart by God before you took your first breath.
Finally, let’s see how your dreams, purpose, and vision connect with optimism. It is a connected as part of a process that begins with potential and ends with the glory of assisting in the realization of God’s kingdom on earth. Let’s take a look at a synopsis of this process – a process that can only lead to Christian optimism.
God has placed a unique potential within each and every one of us. The realization of that potential is part of our personal mission on this planet and exists within the context of God’s overall plan and purpose for humanity. When we marry our potential to our individual purpose, our potential is activated and we begin to move toward becoming all that we were designed to be. When our purpose is connected to a specific personal vision, our potential is further unfolded in the context of our purpose and vision. Further, this marriage of purpose and vision gives rise to passion. We become excited about bringing our vision into concrete manifestation. We arise each day with a feeling of optimistic energy and divine direction and we are enthusiastic about working toward realization of our personal vision.
As the process reaches fruition, we then realize our vision, our purpose, and our potential. In doing so, we manifest our glory. Our glory can be defined as becoming the best version of ourselves and claiming our already established identity “in Christ.” By manifesting our glory, we are able to fulfill our God-given role in the establishment of his Kingdom. The entire process is thus carried forward in the Kingdom Context. God planted his divine plan in us in the form of our unique potential. That potential, along with our subsequent purpose, personal vision, passion, and glory, had an overriding purpose and that purpose was the unfolding of God’s kingdom here on earth.
On a practical level, the kingdom context consists of the recognition that the primary reason Christ incarnated was to inaugurate the process of establishing his kingdom on earth. Our spiritual unfolding involves nothing less than having all of our actions flowing from the living awareness of our responsibility of carrying on the Lord’s kingdom mission.
The power that carries this entire process forward, from potential to glory, is faith. We accepted God’s blessing of cleansing and salvation, our justification, on faith. Now we are to go a step farther along the road of faith: we are to accept that God has given us even more grace in that he has provided, as Paul says, “every blessing in the spiritual realm.” Or, in the words of Peter:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in world by lust (2 Peter 1:2-5).
In the words we often use here at LifeBrook: God has provided for us all that we need in order to become the optimal versions of ourselves for the glory of God and the benefit of others.
In essence, what we are talking about here is the blessed reality that God, through his grace, love, and infinite wisdom, has seen to it that we have all that we will ever need to be successful in life. He has planted a divine potential in each and every one of us and tied that potential with a personal purpose or mission that we are to carry out. The specifics of that purpose or mission are found in our dreams and our vision, which is also God-given and easily discoverable.
It is upon these very principles, based upon the spiritual reality of God’s love, his character, his provision, and his faithfulness, that we can readily lay claim to spiritual optimism. Indeed, If God be for us, who can be against us?
© L.D. Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Dreams Require Faith and Courage
L. Dwight Turner
I think it is imperative that all Christians realize that fear is one of the tools Satan uses most often to keep dreams bottled up inside of us. How many times have you felt that God wanted you to take a certain action on his behalf but you failed to follow through because of fear? I know that in my own life, this sort of thing has happened more than I would like to admit. And if you get right down to the brass tacks of the matter, even if it happens one time – that is one time too often.
After much trial and error and fits of starting and stopping due to fear, I finally came to realize several things that were of immense help in overcoming these purpose-aborting fears. First, I came to understand and accept that having such fears is a fairly normal process. The problem comes in when the enemy takes these fears and magnifies them in the mind. The problems associated with following your God-given dream seem larger than they actually are. Once I realized this, just having the awareness that Satan was most likely magnifying the fear broke the spell. I came to understand that what I often thought was a mountain was in reality a mole hill.
Second, I came to the understanding that God would never plant a dream in my heart that he would not equip me to realize. You can trust this fact above all others: God wants you to succeed and will provide you with everything you need to realize your dream, if indeed it is a dream he planted within you. Just as the Lord built his church upon Peter, the Rock, and the gates of Hell itself could not prevail against it, so too will those dark forces be unable to prevail against your God-given dream.
One of the basic principles built into creation is that of “harmony.” All things, when they are in alignment with God’s will, work together in perfect harmonic rhythm. We can see this on a macrocosmic level when we look at galaxies, the solar system, and the natural world around us. The same principle operates on a microcosmic level as well. We see this aspect of God’s harmonics when we see how efficient our bodies work and on an even smaller level, how perfectly composed a single cell is. God is an amazing craftsman, creating all things in perfect balance. This is not some New Age airy-fairy principle, but instead, is a fundamental law with universal application.
How does this apply to our dreams? The answer is simple. When our dreams are in what I like to call “harmonic consonance” with God’s purpose and plan, we can trust that God will assist us in the process of bringing those dreams to fruition. Our “kingdom dreams” have their origins in God and he wants us to be successful in manifesting those kingdom dreams right here on the physical realm. God will not do the work for us. That is our part of the equation. But don’t be surprised if God arranges things in ways that you could have never expected. In fact, I have found that more often than not, God will arrange things in was better than I could have ever expected.
This doesn’t mean we won’t encounter resistance. We will. Chances are if your dreams are from God and are in harmonic consonance with his plans and purpose, you can count on trouble from the enemy camp. This, too, can be expected because Satan’s goals are the opposite of God’s plan and purpose. Still, we can take heart because the Master has achieved victory over the enemy and has placed within you the same power that raised Christ from the dead. With the Holy Spirit as your ally, you are on solid footing, indeed.
So step out in faith, my friend. Like Peter, step out of the boat and start walking. Just keep in mind to keep your eye on the Master and not on the waves. When you move forward in vibrant faith to pursue your dream, keep your focus on God and not on any problems that may arise. If you stay focused on God, you will find that solutions will manifest in unexpected ways. Keep your eyes of discernment open and be ready to act at the right time. Maybe in the past you hesitated and even halted because of your fears, both real and imagined. Those days are over. Jesus demonstrated through his life and his miracles that the rules of the game have changed. Trust that the Master means exactly what he says when he promises that you can and will do even greater things.
(c) L.D. Turner
I think it is imperative that all Christians realize that fear is one of the tools Satan uses most often to keep dreams bottled up inside of us. How many times have you felt that God wanted you to take a certain action on his behalf but you failed to follow through because of fear? I know that in my own life, this sort of thing has happened more than I would like to admit. And if you get right down to the brass tacks of the matter, even if it happens one time – that is one time too often.
After much trial and error and fits of starting and stopping due to fear, I finally came to realize several things that were of immense help in overcoming these purpose-aborting fears. First, I came to understand and accept that having such fears is a fairly normal process. The problem comes in when the enemy takes these fears and magnifies them in the mind. The problems associated with following your God-given dream seem larger than they actually are. Once I realized this, just having the awareness that Satan was most likely magnifying the fear broke the spell. I came to understand that what I often thought was a mountain was in reality a mole hill.
Second, I came to the understanding that God would never plant a dream in my heart that he would not equip me to realize. You can trust this fact above all others: God wants you to succeed and will provide you with everything you need to realize your dream, if indeed it is a dream he planted within you. Just as the Lord built his church upon Peter, the Rock, and the gates of Hell itself could not prevail against it, so too will those dark forces be unable to prevail against your God-given dream.
One of the basic principles built into creation is that of “harmony.” All things, when they are in alignment with God’s will, work together in perfect harmonic rhythm. We can see this on a macrocosmic level when we look at galaxies, the solar system, and the natural world around us. The same principle operates on a microcosmic level as well. We see this aspect of God’s harmonics when we see how efficient our bodies work and on an even smaller level, how perfectly composed a single cell is. God is an amazing craftsman, creating all things in perfect balance. This is not some New Age airy-fairy principle, but instead, is a fundamental law with universal application.
How does this apply to our dreams? The answer is simple. When our dreams are in what I like to call “harmonic consonance” with God’s purpose and plan, we can trust that God will assist us in the process of bringing those dreams to fruition. Our “kingdom dreams” have their origins in God and he wants us to be successful in manifesting those kingdom dreams right here on the physical realm. God will not do the work for us. That is our part of the equation. But don’t be surprised if God arranges things in ways that you could have never expected. In fact, I have found that more often than not, God will arrange things in was better than I could have ever expected.
This doesn’t mean we won’t encounter resistance. We will. Chances are if your dreams are from God and are in harmonic consonance with his plans and purpose, you can count on trouble from the enemy camp. This, too, can be expected because Satan’s goals are the opposite of God’s plan and purpose. Still, we can take heart because the Master has achieved victory over the enemy and has placed within you the same power that raised Christ from the dead. With the Holy Spirit as your ally, you are on solid footing, indeed.
So step out in faith, my friend. Like Peter, step out of the boat and start walking. Just keep in mind to keep your eye on the Master and not on the waves. When you move forward in vibrant faith to pursue your dream, keep your focus on God and not on any problems that may arise. If you stay focused on God, you will find that solutions will manifest in unexpected ways. Keep your eyes of discernment open and be ready to act at the right time. Maybe in the past you hesitated and even halted because of your fears, both real and imagined. Those days are over. Jesus demonstrated through his life and his miracles that the rules of the game have changed. Trust that the Master means exactly what he says when he promises that you can and will do even greater things.
(c) L.D. Turner
Saturday, June 20, 2009
A Brief Reflection on Potential
L. Dwight Turner
It seems that the word “potential” carries negative connotations in some circles these days. Some experts seem to think labeling a person with having potential is unfair and places undue and excessive expectations on a person. I suspect these pundits have reasons for saying such things, but I, for one, feel they are a bit off base with all of this.
You see, I think that everyone has potential and not only that, it is a God-given and God-designed potential. Granted, singling out an individual and continually lamenting over how they fail to live up to their potential can be a negative thing. Sometimes this course of action ends up just frustrating the targeted individual more and makes them even less likely to seize their potential and move forward to a more productive life. I have found that rather than repeatedly pointing out where a person has failed to live up to their potential, it is more beneficial to assist the individual to find out what motivates them to make a firm and lasting commitment to becoming the best that they can be.
Finding what internal mechanism will turn the key of motivation for an individual is not always an easy task and, when you get right down to it, only that person can actually discover his or her personal motivator. If I am working as a coach with a person, what I normally do is ask the individual to spend quiet time with the Creator, seeking answers and direction. I have found without fail that this works, not always overnight, but with amazing consistency. This stems from the reality that it was God who placed this potential inside of the person, equipped that person with all they ever need to realize that potential, and is more than willing to provide motivation and direction in pursuit of that potential.
In my own case I have discovered that my “motivators” have changed over the years and sometimes change with amazing regularity. I have also found that this tends to keep me fresh in terms of my outlook and my overall approach to life. For example, a year or so back it dawned on me that whenever we fail to realize our God-given potential, we are not only hurting ourselves, and not only the world at large, but future generations as well. I had never thought of these issues from that angle before and, as I looked at my then three-year-old daughter I gained not only a new insight into the importance of realizing my potential, but a deeper sense of commitment and motivation.
A few weeks later, as is often the case, I was reading Dr. Myles Munroe’s excellent book, Releasing Your Potential, and discovered several passages that spoke directly to the issues of potential and future generations. These words by Dr. Munroe only served to strengthen my commitment to being the optimal version of myself for the sake of others, especially future generations. Here’s what Myles Munroe shared:
It is the awesome realization that if your potential is not released, it will affect this generation and all the generations of man yet to live. Even creation will testify against you. If you abort your potential, you will be robbing the world of the treasure you came to this planet to deliver. The fact that you were born is evidence that God knew earth needed the potential you are pregnant with. It is, therefore, imperative that you refuse to leave this planet without giving birth to those dreams, ideas, visions, and inventions you carry in the womb of your faith right now.
What lies behind you is history and what lies before you is future, but these are both tiny matters compared to what lies within you. You may not be able to change your past, and your future is yet unlived, but the present provides you with opportunities to maximize your life and the ability that lives within you. You must take responsibility for your ability….Are you living a stillbirth? Are you aborting your entire purpose for living? I encourage you to take responsibility right now for your ability. Determine to activate, release, and maximize your potential for the sake of the next generation. Leave your footprints in the sands of the history of your country. Live fully so you can die effectively. Let your life write the speech of your death and give your potential to the family of man for the glory of God. Remember “well done” is much better than “well said.” Don’t just talk about your potential dreams, visions, and ideas. Step out now and determine to do them. Dare to believe that you have already accomplished is but a minute percentage of what you can do.
In closing, let me encourage you to spend time reflecting on the issue of your personal potential and take your reflections, your thoughts, and especially your questions to God in prayer and mediation. Discuss these themes with a trusted spiritual friend and/or mentor. And don’t forget to especially focus on what motivates you to get moving into proactive pursuit of your God-given potential.
All in all, it will be time well spent.
© L. Dwight Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved
It seems that the word “potential” carries negative connotations in some circles these days. Some experts seem to think labeling a person with having potential is unfair and places undue and excessive expectations on a person. I suspect these pundits have reasons for saying such things, but I, for one, feel they are a bit off base with all of this.
You see, I think that everyone has potential and not only that, it is a God-given and God-designed potential. Granted, singling out an individual and continually lamenting over how they fail to live up to their potential can be a negative thing. Sometimes this course of action ends up just frustrating the targeted individual more and makes them even less likely to seize their potential and move forward to a more productive life. I have found that rather than repeatedly pointing out where a person has failed to live up to their potential, it is more beneficial to assist the individual to find out what motivates them to make a firm and lasting commitment to becoming the best that they can be.
Finding what internal mechanism will turn the key of motivation for an individual is not always an easy task and, when you get right down to it, only that person can actually discover his or her personal motivator. If I am working as a coach with a person, what I normally do is ask the individual to spend quiet time with the Creator, seeking answers and direction. I have found without fail that this works, not always overnight, but with amazing consistency. This stems from the reality that it was God who placed this potential inside of the person, equipped that person with all they ever need to realize that potential, and is more than willing to provide motivation and direction in pursuit of that potential.
In my own case I have discovered that my “motivators” have changed over the years and sometimes change with amazing regularity. I have also found that this tends to keep me fresh in terms of my outlook and my overall approach to life. For example, a year or so back it dawned on me that whenever we fail to realize our God-given potential, we are not only hurting ourselves, and not only the world at large, but future generations as well. I had never thought of these issues from that angle before and, as I looked at my then three-year-old daughter I gained not only a new insight into the importance of realizing my potential, but a deeper sense of commitment and motivation.
A few weeks later, as is often the case, I was reading Dr. Myles Munroe’s excellent book, Releasing Your Potential, and discovered several passages that spoke directly to the issues of potential and future generations. These words by Dr. Munroe only served to strengthen my commitment to being the optimal version of myself for the sake of others, especially future generations. Here’s what Myles Munroe shared:
It is the awesome realization that if your potential is not released, it will affect this generation and all the generations of man yet to live. Even creation will testify against you. If you abort your potential, you will be robbing the world of the treasure you came to this planet to deliver. The fact that you were born is evidence that God knew earth needed the potential you are pregnant with. It is, therefore, imperative that you refuse to leave this planet without giving birth to those dreams, ideas, visions, and inventions you carry in the womb of your faith right now.
What lies behind you is history and what lies before you is future, but these are both tiny matters compared to what lies within you. You may not be able to change your past, and your future is yet unlived, but the present provides you with opportunities to maximize your life and the ability that lives within you. You must take responsibility for your ability….Are you living a stillbirth? Are you aborting your entire purpose for living? I encourage you to take responsibility right now for your ability. Determine to activate, release, and maximize your potential for the sake of the next generation. Leave your footprints in the sands of the history of your country. Live fully so you can die effectively. Let your life write the speech of your death and give your potential to the family of man for the glory of God. Remember “well done” is much better than “well said.” Don’t just talk about your potential dreams, visions, and ideas. Step out now and determine to do them. Dare to believe that you have already accomplished is but a minute percentage of what you can do.
In closing, let me encourage you to spend time reflecting on the issue of your personal potential and take your reflections, your thoughts, and especially your questions to God in prayer and mediation. Discuss these themes with a trusted spiritual friend and/or mentor. And don’t forget to especially focus on what motivates you to get moving into proactive pursuit of your God-given potential.
All in all, it will be time well spent.
© L. Dwight Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Sing Your Sacred Song
L. Dwight Turner
The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life that never realized its full potential. You must decide today not to rob the world of the rich, valuable, potent, untapped resources locked away within you. It has been said that the wealthiest place on earth is not in bank vaults, Fort Knox, or underneath Bill Gates mattress. No, the wealthiest place on earth is the cemetery.
Beneath the gravestones lie so many dreams that went unfulfilled; so much potential that was never realized; so much purpose that was never discovered and manifested. I am reminded of the poignant verses of Tagore in the Gitangali:
The song that I came to sing remains
unsung to this day.
I have spent my days in stringing and in
unstringing my instrument.
I actually got goose bumps the first time I read Tagore’s words. I vowed at that moment that my song would not go unsung. Whatever contribution I was to make to this world would be made before I came to rest in that wealthy domain we spoke of earlier. I can also say that my song continues, with new lines, verses and melodies as my life unfolds. For this, I am ever grateful.
It is vital that every person understand that we are responsible for developing the potential stored within us. We must deepen our contact with our divine potential, which I call our Sacred Mind, and do all that we can to nurture, feed, and actualize our true potential. Further, we must recognize that as we move forward in developing our optimal potential, we can never afford to stop. In essence, when we travel the metaphysical journey, we are either moving forward or backward. There is truly no place to stand on the spiritual path.
Spiritual growth is a complex subject and we could waste much time and space exploring the more arcane aspects of personal unfolding. However, I choose instead to try to keep things as simple as feasible, especially in the context of a short article. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a topic that seems to cause many sincere seekers to go off the tracks and race down many unproductive rabbit holes. I am talking here about the subject of “purpose.” The issue of purpose is intimately connected with potential and it is often difficult to talk about one without delving into the other.
Many of us are so obsessed with “finding our purpose” that we ignore more important aspects of the spiritual journey. Granted, the Creator seems to have arranged things in such a way that each of us came to this planet with a unique mission. In spite of this, however, all of us share components of a more generalized, universal purpose. In my own journey, I have come to define a central aspect of this universal purpose shared by all believers as follows:
“I must become the optimal version of myself for the glory of God and the benefit of others.”
“Well, I can’t argue with that,” you might say. “But how do I pull it off?”
Good question. Space does not permit a detailed explanation of the complete methodology of becoming the best version of yourself and, besides, I believe that each of us must find our own personal way of unfolding our divine nature. Still, I think we can look at two practical things we can do: define and visualize.
Begin by spending time developing a definition of the best version of yourself. What qualities will your highest self possess? What kind of activities will be a central part of your life and your spiritual development? How will you earn your living? And most significantly, how will you be of service to others?
Once you have a workable definition, set aside a special time each day and see this best version of yourself in your mind’s eye. See yourself manifesting the qualities described in your definition, engaging in the activities you listed, and serving in your best capacity. This exercise of your imagination is a key component of making the best version of yourself a reality.
From the outset, you must learn to consistently see the best version of yourself and your life unfolding in your inner vision. The power of the mind’s eye is uncanny. It is through our capacity of thought and inner visualization that we are capable of taking something out of the realm of the unseen and making it a reality in the realm of the seen. This requires faith: faith in yourself and your abilities; and faith in the principles of optimal cognition. If you have a problem, see it resolved; if your have a business, see it succeeding; if you have a dream, see it unfolding according to your desire. Let this positive image become a part of yourself, sinking down into the subconscious mind and your inner spirit, the central core of yourself.
A fundamental principle of Positive Psychology states that whatever you keep before your mind’s eye will affect you, either for good or for bad. If you consistently focus on negativity and dwell on your problems, your mindset will become darker and your problems will worsen. If you focus on limitation, lack, failure, and defeat, that is the kind of life you are going to create. Instead, try focusing your mental energy on success, victory, health, abundance, peace, joy, and happiness. Our innermost spirit, which is one with the Divine Source, has as its purpose the unfolding of your greatest good. Don’t lose sight of that truth. In order to create the kind of life you want, you have to get your thoughts and your inner vision in alignment with the power and purpose of your innermost spirit, called by our Quaker brothers and sisters the “Inner Light.”
This visualization process is not a fantasy or an escape from reality. It is, instead, based on centuries of practical application and positive results and utilizes one of God’s greatest gifts: a spiritual imagination. When life presents you with problems, many times there is nothing you can do about it. However, you can have complete control over your response to any problem life sends your way. You can have greater peace of mind if you just choose to have the right kind of thoughts. Focus your entire being on finding solutions, rather than wallowing in the problems at hand. Work diligently to find your Inner Light, and when you do, continue to take proactive measures to deepen and maintain your contact with this sacred aspect of your being.
Be persistent and keep at it in a disciplined, optimistic manner. Before you know it, you will hear your song ringing up from your Sacred Mind. From that point forward your life will be more positive and meaningful. And when the day comes when you leave this world, you won’t be making a deposit in the Bank of Dead Dreams.
© L.D. Turner 2008/ All Rights Reserved
The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life that never realized its full potential. You must decide today not to rob the world of the rich, valuable, potent, untapped resources locked away within you. It has been said that the wealthiest place on earth is not in bank vaults, Fort Knox, or underneath Bill Gates mattress. No, the wealthiest place on earth is the cemetery.
Beneath the gravestones lie so many dreams that went unfulfilled; so much potential that was never realized; so much purpose that was never discovered and manifested. I am reminded of the poignant verses of Tagore in the Gitangali:
The song that I came to sing remains
unsung to this day.
I have spent my days in stringing and in
unstringing my instrument.
I actually got goose bumps the first time I read Tagore’s words. I vowed at that moment that my song would not go unsung. Whatever contribution I was to make to this world would be made before I came to rest in that wealthy domain we spoke of earlier. I can also say that my song continues, with new lines, verses and melodies as my life unfolds. For this, I am ever grateful.
It is vital that every person understand that we are responsible for developing the potential stored within us. We must deepen our contact with our divine potential, which I call our Sacred Mind, and do all that we can to nurture, feed, and actualize our true potential. Further, we must recognize that as we move forward in developing our optimal potential, we can never afford to stop. In essence, when we travel the metaphysical journey, we are either moving forward or backward. There is truly no place to stand on the spiritual path.
Spiritual growth is a complex subject and we could waste much time and space exploring the more arcane aspects of personal unfolding. However, I choose instead to try to keep things as simple as feasible, especially in the context of a short article. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a topic that seems to cause many sincere seekers to go off the tracks and race down many unproductive rabbit holes. I am talking here about the subject of “purpose.” The issue of purpose is intimately connected with potential and it is often difficult to talk about one without delving into the other.
Many of us are so obsessed with “finding our purpose” that we ignore more important aspects of the spiritual journey. Granted, the Creator seems to have arranged things in such a way that each of us came to this planet with a unique mission. In spite of this, however, all of us share components of a more generalized, universal purpose. In my own journey, I have come to define a central aspect of this universal purpose shared by all believers as follows:
“I must become the optimal version of myself for the glory of God and the benefit of others.”
“Well, I can’t argue with that,” you might say. “But how do I pull it off?”
Good question. Space does not permit a detailed explanation of the complete methodology of becoming the best version of yourself and, besides, I believe that each of us must find our own personal way of unfolding our divine nature. Still, I think we can look at two practical things we can do: define and visualize.
Begin by spending time developing a definition of the best version of yourself. What qualities will your highest self possess? What kind of activities will be a central part of your life and your spiritual development? How will you earn your living? And most significantly, how will you be of service to others?
Once you have a workable definition, set aside a special time each day and see this best version of yourself in your mind’s eye. See yourself manifesting the qualities described in your definition, engaging in the activities you listed, and serving in your best capacity. This exercise of your imagination is a key component of making the best version of yourself a reality.
From the outset, you must learn to consistently see the best version of yourself and your life unfolding in your inner vision. The power of the mind’s eye is uncanny. It is through our capacity of thought and inner visualization that we are capable of taking something out of the realm of the unseen and making it a reality in the realm of the seen. This requires faith: faith in yourself and your abilities; and faith in the principles of optimal cognition. If you have a problem, see it resolved; if your have a business, see it succeeding; if you have a dream, see it unfolding according to your desire. Let this positive image become a part of yourself, sinking down into the subconscious mind and your inner spirit, the central core of yourself.
A fundamental principle of Positive Psychology states that whatever you keep before your mind’s eye will affect you, either for good or for bad. If you consistently focus on negativity and dwell on your problems, your mindset will become darker and your problems will worsen. If you focus on limitation, lack, failure, and defeat, that is the kind of life you are going to create. Instead, try focusing your mental energy on success, victory, health, abundance, peace, joy, and happiness. Our innermost spirit, which is one with the Divine Source, has as its purpose the unfolding of your greatest good. Don’t lose sight of that truth. In order to create the kind of life you want, you have to get your thoughts and your inner vision in alignment with the power and purpose of your innermost spirit, called by our Quaker brothers and sisters the “Inner Light.”
This visualization process is not a fantasy or an escape from reality. It is, instead, based on centuries of practical application and positive results and utilizes one of God’s greatest gifts: a spiritual imagination. When life presents you with problems, many times there is nothing you can do about it. However, you can have complete control over your response to any problem life sends your way. You can have greater peace of mind if you just choose to have the right kind of thoughts. Focus your entire being on finding solutions, rather than wallowing in the problems at hand. Work diligently to find your Inner Light, and when you do, continue to take proactive measures to deepen and maintain your contact with this sacred aspect of your being.
Be persistent and keep at it in a disciplined, optimistic manner. Before you know it, you will hear your song ringing up from your Sacred Mind. From that point forward your life will be more positive and meaningful. And when the day comes when you leave this world, you won’t be making a deposit in the Bank of Dead Dreams.
© L.D. Turner 2008/ All Rights Reserved
Sunday, April 5, 2009
From Potential to Glory: Our Journey Into Spiritual Excellence
L. Dwight Turner
At Sacred Mind Ministries and LifeBrook International we have a corporate mission to provide programs and materials that assist individuals and organizations to become the optimal version of themselves for the benefit of others. This has been our mission since the founding of our ministry and we have never wavered in our pursuit of creating opportunities for people to grasp a real sense of who and what they are, what their God-given potential is, and that to which they are called. Once this happens, we feel a person is then ready to find a vital, living personal vision and, when this vision is fully realized, to walk in the full harvest of their personal glory.
Let’s take a little time a look at the how this flow normally takes place. Briefly, we can say that our growth into Christ-like character and into the optional version of ourselves moves through seven interrelated phases.
• Acknowledging and accepting our new identity “in Christ.”
• Understanding our “Seed Potential.”
• Discovering our “Call to Purpose”
• Living with “Vital Vision.”
• Our “Harvest of Glory.”
• Walking in “Spiritual Excellence.”
• Serving through Radical Compassion
Our New Identity in Christ
It begins with the acknowledgement that we are not functioning anywhere near our true potential and, at least initially, this stems from the fact that we believers have little idea of who and what we are “in Christ.” For many reason, the church has jettisoned the vital half of the gospel, choosing instead to focus on the blood and forgiveness at the expense of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
It is as if you own a house with an exquisite, one-of-a-kind door. You fell in love with this door and worship it so much that you never cross the threshold and go inside the house, which is even more beautiful. Likewise, many Christians become so immersed in Christ’s atoning work on the Cross and the cleansing of his blood they never grasp why he did this in the first place. He didn’t go through what he did so we could live life half-way, filled with doubt, inadequacy, and spiritual instability. Christ did not die just to get us into heaven my friend; he died in order to get heaven into us. Christ rose, met the disciples, breathed the Holy Spirit into them, gave them a Great Commission, and ascended into heaven, thus making the Pentecost possible.
In light of these realities, our first task is to understand and accept just what Christ accomplished with his death, resurrection, and ascension. We have a new identity and in the words of Paul, the old has passed away and the new has come. We are new creations in Christ and what’s more amazing, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Until we grasp the character and the ramifications of our new identity, we will only grow in fits and starts, if at all. It’s time to walk on through the door, grand as it is, and see what blessings have been placed inside.
Understanding Our Seed Potential
God has placed a potential on the inside of each of us and I am convinced this occurred before we were ever born. This seed has the fulfillment of our calling, purpose, and vision in its core, just as an acorn has a mighty oak hidden within its fibers. God-given potential is like a seed and, with the proper environment, that seed can develop, grow, and manifest those things hidden within its hull.
You potential is like a seed and, until you allow that seed to grow, your dream will remain just that – a dream. God gave you this potential and, with the right environment, that seed potential will grow and develop into something quite magnificent. Dr. Myles Munroe speaks of these issues cogently:
“The entire creation possesses this principle of potential. Everything has the natural instinct to release its ability. The plant and animal kingdoms abound with evidences of this fact. The Creator designed everything with this principle of potential, which can be simplified to the concept of a seed. The biblical document states that God created everything with ‘seed in it according to their kinds’ (Genesis 1:12). In essence, hidden within everything is the potential to fulfill itself and produce much more than we see.”
It is vital that every person understand that we are responsible for developing the potential stored within us. We must deepen our contact with our divine potential and do all that we can to nurture, feed, and actualize our true mission and purpose. Further, we must recognize that as we move forward in developing our optimal potential, we can never afford to stop. In essence, when we travel the spiritual journey, we are either moving forward or backward. There is truly no place to stand on the spiritual path.
Our journey of discovering and developing our divine potential must begin with a commitment to excellence – an agreement with our Creator that we will walk in cooperation with the Spirit to become the best version of ourselves.
Necessarily, this commitment will involve personal challenges and, at times, a degree of personal discomfort. Spiritual growth involves change and change always requires stepping out of our comfort zone. Still, the process of realizing and manifesting our divine potential is one of the greatest adventures we will ever undertake.
Discovering Our Call To Purpose
Three terms that are often heard when discussing our “purpose” in life are purpose, mission, and calling. These words often used interchangeably and can mean basically the same thing. I think the confusion comes in when an author or speaker uses these three expressions to mean different things. With that thought in mind, whenever I use these words, I take them to mean basically the same thing. Our mission, our purpose, and our calling refer to our God-given reason for being here on this planet at this time. In addition, I firmly believe that God has a highly specific calling for each of us that has three primary aspects:
• It is personal and specific to us;
• It is related to our spiritual gifts
• The realization and actualization of this mission is a major part of our spiritual formation and helps grow into the optimal version of ourselves.
In the next section we will talk about vision and it is important to understand how mission and vision are different. Our mission or purpose is far more general than our vision. Basically, you can say our vision is the specific way in which we will realize our mission.
We can say that your mission is your life calling, your reason for being here. It is not so much specific activities as it is the reason you perform those activities. Your mission gives your life meaning and gives you positive motivation to get out of bed each morning and, in positive faith, face the challenges that may come your way. Your true mission is a major motivator, something you enjoy doing, and something for which you have passion and enthusiasm.
Living With Vital Vision
As mentioned earlier, vision is intimately related to purpose but more specific. Put simply, vision is the method whereby you see yourself living out your mission to completion. Living with vital vision involves every area of your life and how those aspects of your life related to your personal mission. Your vision involves your family, friends, associates, and especially your choice of career. Ideally, all of these things come together in a harmonious orbit around the specific vision you develop for carrying forward your mission.
Arriving at your vision is a process, not an event. It requires much planning, organization, and flexibility. Most significantly, developing your vision involves deep, focused, and above all, consistent prayer. You cannot expect to discover what God wants you to do and the best way to do it without communing with Him on a regular basis. Pray that the Holy Spirit walks with you, guiding you, and challenging you to move forward with your vision, even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone. More than anywhere else in the process of growth into excellence, the phase of vital vision may require you to think out of the box.
A simple way to look at the relationship of vision and mission is as follows. Let’s suppose that three friends all have a mission to provide convenient, quality, fast-food to busy workers. One may decide to open a Burger King franchise, another a Pizza Hut. The third may have a vision of a Taco Bell. You see, the mission of quality fast-food is the same; the vision of each friend is different. I realize this example is overly simplistic, but I do think it serves our purposes of demonstrating how a vision is a specific plan for carrying forward a more general mission or calling.
Your Harvest of Glory
Your God-given potential began as a seed planted in you by the Creator before your birth. Further, he not only planted this great potential within you but also gave you all the talent you needed to discover this potential and, in concert with the Holy Spirit, connect your potential to a divine personal purpose – a call to a specific mission that was yours to carry forward. Once discovered, this mission hopefully gave you sufficient passion and motivation to develop and carry out a specific personal vision that allowed your talents and gifts to blossom and your personal vision to become a vital, living reality.
By realizing the manifestation of your mission you necessarily had to hone and develop your God-given talents and gifts and, in so doing, became more and more the optimal version of yourself. Now, walking in your personal excellence, creativity, and commitment, you are harvesting your personal glory.
We can see hints of this process in the Master’s great prayer in the 17th Chapter of John’s gospel when he expresses that as he is glorified, the Father is glorified. And the reality is my friends, when we walk in our excellence – when we manifest and live as the optimal version of who we are, we glorify the Master.
Walking in Spiritual Excellence
As a result of reaping our harvest, we are now able to manifest our true potential, realize our vital vision and in the process, become the optimal version of ourselves. We consistently walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh and in so doing, we are able to become more effective servants of the Light.
As you see, we move from our seed potential to walking in our manifest glory. We do this not to glorify ourselves, but to glorify our Master, our Father in heaven, and the Holy Spirit that has dwelled within us, walked along side us, empowered us, and made all this possible. When we come to walk in our personal glory, we are then able to be of true, selfless benefit to others while bringing glory to God.
This is our true aim and our ultimate calling – to be all that we can be; to give glory to our Creator; and to serve others with love. In the final analysis, we can ask for no greater destiny than this.
Serving With Radical Compassion
When the Master walked this earth, he did so as the prototype of a person who consistently walks in spiritual excellence. Jesus was the optimal version of who and what he was and it is to that goal we all aspire. Granted, we cannot walk as God’s Son walked – scripture tells us Jesus was the only one. However, we can walk as the optimal version of who we are.
Jesus gave himself completely to the Father so that he could do the Father’s will completely. And what was the ultimate will of the Father for his Son? The answer is simple: serve others!
Like Christ, we, too, are to give ourselves completely to God so that we can do His will completely. And what is God’s ultimate will for us? It should be obvious by now: we are to serve others.
Our service is the offspring of a heart of compassion, built upon our deep recognition of the pain and suffering inherent in this world and our interconnected unity with all people. You may not know it yet, but every man on this planet is your brother and every woman is your sister. You are made of the same combination of earth and divine breath. When one person suffers, at some level, we all suffer. This is not some New Age airy fairy fantasy; instead, it is scientific fact and theological truth.
From his opening salvo quoting Isaiah about bringing release to the captives and good news to the poor, to his dying plea of, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” Jesus exemplified a compassion far beyond what the world had seen before.
Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.
Jesus’ stories about the Prodigal, the Good Samaritan, and his treatment of the woman caught in adultery all point to the need for a compassion that transcends the normal boundaries defined by contemporary culture, then and now.
Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.
Friends, no matter what our station in life might be – no matter our race, our color, our culture, or our economic stature – we are called to the same.
Indeed, it is and will always be a radical compassion.
© L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved
At Sacred Mind Ministries and LifeBrook International we have a corporate mission to provide programs and materials that assist individuals and organizations to become the optimal version of themselves for the benefit of others. This has been our mission since the founding of our ministry and we have never wavered in our pursuit of creating opportunities for people to grasp a real sense of who and what they are, what their God-given potential is, and that to which they are called. Once this happens, we feel a person is then ready to find a vital, living personal vision and, when this vision is fully realized, to walk in the full harvest of their personal glory.
Let’s take a little time a look at the how this flow normally takes place. Briefly, we can say that our growth into Christ-like character and into the optional version of ourselves moves through seven interrelated phases.
• Acknowledging and accepting our new identity “in Christ.”
• Understanding our “Seed Potential.”
• Discovering our “Call to Purpose”
• Living with “Vital Vision.”
• Our “Harvest of Glory.”
• Walking in “Spiritual Excellence.”
• Serving through Radical Compassion
Our New Identity in Christ
It begins with the acknowledgement that we are not functioning anywhere near our true potential and, at least initially, this stems from the fact that we believers have little idea of who and what we are “in Christ.” For many reason, the church has jettisoned the vital half of the gospel, choosing instead to focus on the blood and forgiveness at the expense of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
It is as if you own a house with an exquisite, one-of-a-kind door. You fell in love with this door and worship it so much that you never cross the threshold and go inside the house, which is even more beautiful. Likewise, many Christians become so immersed in Christ’s atoning work on the Cross and the cleansing of his blood they never grasp why he did this in the first place. He didn’t go through what he did so we could live life half-way, filled with doubt, inadequacy, and spiritual instability. Christ did not die just to get us into heaven my friend; he died in order to get heaven into us. Christ rose, met the disciples, breathed the Holy Spirit into them, gave them a Great Commission, and ascended into heaven, thus making the Pentecost possible.
In light of these realities, our first task is to understand and accept just what Christ accomplished with his death, resurrection, and ascension. We have a new identity and in the words of Paul, the old has passed away and the new has come. We are new creations in Christ and what’s more amazing, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Until we grasp the character and the ramifications of our new identity, we will only grow in fits and starts, if at all. It’s time to walk on through the door, grand as it is, and see what blessings have been placed inside.
Understanding Our Seed Potential
God has placed a potential on the inside of each of us and I am convinced this occurred before we were ever born. This seed has the fulfillment of our calling, purpose, and vision in its core, just as an acorn has a mighty oak hidden within its fibers. God-given potential is like a seed and, with the proper environment, that seed can develop, grow, and manifest those things hidden within its hull.
You potential is like a seed and, until you allow that seed to grow, your dream will remain just that – a dream. God gave you this potential and, with the right environment, that seed potential will grow and develop into something quite magnificent. Dr. Myles Munroe speaks of these issues cogently:
“The entire creation possesses this principle of potential. Everything has the natural instinct to release its ability. The plant and animal kingdoms abound with evidences of this fact. The Creator designed everything with this principle of potential, which can be simplified to the concept of a seed. The biblical document states that God created everything with ‘seed in it according to their kinds’ (Genesis 1:12). In essence, hidden within everything is the potential to fulfill itself and produce much more than we see.”
It is vital that every person understand that we are responsible for developing the potential stored within us. We must deepen our contact with our divine potential and do all that we can to nurture, feed, and actualize our true mission and purpose. Further, we must recognize that as we move forward in developing our optimal potential, we can never afford to stop. In essence, when we travel the spiritual journey, we are either moving forward or backward. There is truly no place to stand on the spiritual path.
Our journey of discovering and developing our divine potential must begin with a commitment to excellence – an agreement with our Creator that we will walk in cooperation with the Spirit to become the best version of ourselves.
Necessarily, this commitment will involve personal challenges and, at times, a degree of personal discomfort. Spiritual growth involves change and change always requires stepping out of our comfort zone. Still, the process of realizing and manifesting our divine potential is one of the greatest adventures we will ever undertake.
Discovering Our Call To Purpose
Three terms that are often heard when discussing our “purpose” in life are purpose, mission, and calling. These words often used interchangeably and can mean basically the same thing. I think the confusion comes in when an author or speaker uses these three expressions to mean different things. With that thought in mind, whenever I use these words, I take them to mean basically the same thing. Our mission, our purpose, and our calling refer to our God-given reason for being here on this planet at this time. In addition, I firmly believe that God has a highly specific calling for each of us that has three primary aspects:
• It is personal and specific to us;
• It is related to our spiritual gifts
• The realization and actualization of this mission is a major part of our spiritual formation and helps grow into the optimal version of ourselves.
In the next section we will talk about vision and it is important to understand how mission and vision are different. Our mission or purpose is far more general than our vision. Basically, you can say our vision is the specific way in which we will realize our mission.
We can say that your mission is your life calling, your reason for being here. It is not so much specific activities as it is the reason you perform those activities. Your mission gives your life meaning and gives you positive motivation to get out of bed each morning and, in positive faith, face the challenges that may come your way. Your true mission is a major motivator, something you enjoy doing, and something for which you have passion and enthusiasm.
Living With Vital Vision
As mentioned earlier, vision is intimately related to purpose but more specific. Put simply, vision is the method whereby you see yourself living out your mission to completion. Living with vital vision involves every area of your life and how those aspects of your life related to your personal mission. Your vision involves your family, friends, associates, and especially your choice of career. Ideally, all of these things come together in a harmonious orbit around the specific vision you develop for carrying forward your mission.
Arriving at your vision is a process, not an event. It requires much planning, organization, and flexibility. Most significantly, developing your vision involves deep, focused, and above all, consistent prayer. You cannot expect to discover what God wants you to do and the best way to do it without communing with Him on a regular basis. Pray that the Holy Spirit walks with you, guiding you, and challenging you to move forward with your vision, even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone. More than anywhere else in the process of growth into excellence, the phase of vital vision may require you to think out of the box.
A simple way to look at the relationship of vision and mission is as follows. Let’s suppose that three friends all have a mission to provide convenient, quality, fast-food to busy workers. One may decide to open a Burger King franchise, another a Pizza Hut. The third may have a vision of a Taco Bell. You see, the mission of quality fast-food is the same; the vision of each friend is different. I realize this example is overly simplistic, but I do think it serves our purposes of demonstrating how a vision is a specific plan for carrying forward a more general mission or calling.
Your Harvest of Glory
Your God-given potential began as a seed planted in you by the Creator before your birth. Further, he not only planted this great potential within you but also gave you all the talent you needed to discover this potential and, in concert with the Holy Spirit, connect your potential to a divine personal purpose – a call to a specific mission that was yours to carry forward. Once discovered, this mission hopefully gave you sufficient passion and motivation to develop and carry out a specific personal vision that allowed your talents and gifts to blossom and your personal vision to become a vital, living reality.
By realizing the manifestation of your mission you necessarily had to hone and develop your God-given talents and gifts and, in so doing, became more and more the optimal version of yourself. Now, walking in your personal excellence, creativity, and commitment, you are harvesting your personal glory.
We can see hints of this process in the Master’s great prayer in the 17th Chapter of John’s gospel when he expresses that as he is glorified, the Father is glorified. And the reality is my friends, when we walk in our excellence – when we manifest and live as the optimal version of who we are, we glorify the Master.
Walking in Spiritual Excellence
As a result of reaping our harvest, we are now able to manifest our true potential, realize our vital vision and in the process, become the optimal version of ourselves. We consistently walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh and in so doing, we are able to become more effective servants of the Light.
As you see, we move from our seed potential to walking in our manifest glory. We do this not to glorify ourselves, but to glorify our Master, our Father in heaven, and the Holy Spirit that has dwelled within us, walked along side us, empowered us, and made all this possible. When we come to walk in our personal glory, we are then able to be of true, selfless benefit to others while bringing glory to God.
This is our true aim and our ultimate calling – to be all that we can be; to give glory to our Creator; and to serve others with love. In the final analysis, we can ask for no greater destiny than this.
Serving With Radical Compassion
When the Master walked this earth, he did so as the prototype of a person who consistently walks in spiritual excellence. Jesus was the optimal version of who and what he was and it is to that goal we all aspire. Granted, we cannot walk as God’s Son walked – scripture tells us Jesus was the only one. However, we can walk as the optimal version of who we are.
Jesus gave himself completely to the Father so that he could do the Father’s will completely. And what was the ultimate will of the Father for his Son? The answer is simple: serve others!
Like Christ, we, too, are to give ourselves completely to God so that we can do His will completely. And what is God’s ultimate will for us? It should be obvious by now: we are to serve others.
Our service is the offspring of a heart of compassion, built upon our deep recognition of the pain and suffering inherent in this world and our interconnected unity with all people. You may not know it yet, but every man on this planet is your brother and every woman is your sister. You are made of the same combination of earth and divine breath. When one person suffers, at some level, we all suffer. This is not some New Age airy fairy fantasy; instead, it is scientific fact and theological truth.
From his opening salvo quoting Isaiah about bringing release to the captives and good news to the poor, to his dying plea of, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” Jesus exemplified a compassion far beyond what the world had seen before.
Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.
Jesus’ stories about the Prodigal, the Good Samaritan, and his treatment of the woman caught in adultery all point to the need for a compassion that transcends the normal boundaries defined by contemporary culture, then and now.
Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.
Friends, no matter what our station in life might be – no matter our race, our color, our culture, or our economic stature – we are called to the same.
Indeed, it is and will always be a radical compassion.
© L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The Art of Conscious Living: Meditation and Mindfulness
L. Dwight Turner
At times the search for happiness can take on the character of a greased pig at a county fair. Running, dodging, weaving, the porker seems to elude your grasp with the uncanny skills of an old Kung Fu master. And then, just when you think you have the hog in your clutches, it looks at you with a wry grin and slithers away, leaving you with an arm full of air and Oleo.
Dogen once compared enlightenment to “moonlight in a dew drop, dripping from a duck’s beak.” Or, was it a crane’s beak? I suspect it is the same either way. In a very similar vein, a very wise and eccentric old Daoist teacher I met when I lived in China said that catching a glimpse of pristine reality, shimmering in that sublime and sacred space between our thoughts, was like capturing a tiger in the ass of a gnat.
Aside from the obvious lessons here, Dogen’s teaching and that of the old Daoist both point to the fact that both happiness and the wisdom of enlightenment are found by being present to what I like to call “the divine moment.” It is precisely here, in the “sacred now” that we discover that for which many of us seek so diligently. It is right here, right now, right before us that we discover that which was never really hidden.
I don’t know about you, but I often struggle with the mindfulness necessary to discover the blessed pearls of the present moment. My mind, as the enlightened tell us, is like a monkey, jumping here, flitting there, and forever raising a ruckus of sound and fury. If this is true, and it certainly is, then my mind is often like a monkey on steroids. It just refuses to accept the tether I seek to employ. My mind, indeed, has a mind of its own.
Still, I refuse to give up on such an important issue. I make every effort to improve in this area of my life. To my way of thinking, the more mindful of the moment I am, the better my chance of discovering the divine in the mundane reality of daily living; blessings that I didn’t even know existed; and perhaps most important, messages God may have for me. I firmly believe that we often miss divine guidance because we don’t have ears to hear and the reason we don’t have ears to hear is that we are too busy and too noisy.
I have found that mindfulness and mediation are inseparable practices. The process of meditation is, in reality, an exercise in establishing mindfulness in a specific place for a specific amount of time. The object of our meditation may vary – it could be the breath, a mantra, a prayer, a candle flame, or whatever. You see, to meditate is to be mindful and I have found that the more often and the more consistent my meditation practice is, the more I am able to be mindful when I am not meditating.
Some people complicate mediation way too much. They either turn it into some arcane practice from Inner Bhutan, complete with Tibetan chants and visualizations of everything from Indra’s Net to Shiva’s phallus. It doesn’t have to be this way, really. Countless sages from every spiritual tradition will tell you that counting the breath is enough.
Meditation also involves getting off your cushion, mat, zafu, or what have you and taking that pristine awareness into the world of your daily living. I love the following words by Jon Kabat-Zinn about the essence of meditation and mindfulness:
We need to develop and refine our minds and its capacities for seeing and knowing, for recognizing and transcending whatever motives and concepts and habits of unawareness may have generated or compounded the difficulties we find ourselves embroiled within, a mind that knows and sees in new ways is motivated differently. This is the same as saying we need to return to our original, untouched, unconditioned mind.
How can we do this? Precisely by taking a moment to get out of our own way, to get outside of the stream of thought and sit by the bank and rest for a while in things as they are underneath our thinking, or as Soen Sa Nim liked to say, “before thinking.” That means being with what is for a moment, and trusting what is deepest and best in yourself, even if it doesn’t make any sense to the thinking mind.
From Kabat-Zinn’s words we can see that there is nothing mysterious, esoteric, or bizarre about this process of mindfulness. More than anything else, it is a simple and straightforward effort toward self-mastery, which is an essential goal on the path of spiritual evolution. Although many people tout the virtues of the undisciplined life and, as some say, “going with the flow,” this is in contradiction of the real Zen life. If you happen to be fully enlightened and your karmic debts have been paid in full, then you might consider going with the flow. If you happen, however, to be like most of us, you will readily admit to seeing through a glass darkly and that your karmic spreadsheet still has plenty of red ink. For most of us, going with the flow will garner an experience that resembles more than anything else, the life of a log.
Again, I return to the words of Jon Kabat-Zinn, a man who lives his message of meditative mindfulness:
More than anything else, I have come to see meditation as an act of love, an inward gesture of benevolence and kindness toward ourselves and toward others, a gesture of the heart that recognizes our perfection even in our obvious imperfection, with all our shortcomings, our wounds, our attachments, our vexations, and our persistent habits of unawareness. It is a very brave gesture: to take one’s seat for a time and drop in on the present moment without adornment. In stopping, looking, and listening, in giving ourselves over to all our senses, including mind, in any moment, we are in that moment embodying what we hold most sacred in life. In making the gesture, which might include assuming a specific posture for formal meditation, but could also involve simply becoming more mindful or more forgiving of ourselves, immediately re-minds us and re-bodies us. In a sense, you could say it refreshes us, makes this moment fresh, timeless, free up, wide open. In such moments, we transcend who we think we are. We go beyond our stories and all our incessant thinking, however deep and important it sometimes is, and reside in seeing what is here to be seen and the direct, non-conceptual knowing of what is here to be known, which we don’t have to seek because it is already and always here…..In words, it may sound like an idealization. Experienced, it is merely what it is, life expressing itself, sentience quivering within infinity, with things just as they are.
From Kabat-Zinn’s description, it is obvious that coming to live in the present moment, to be mindfully attentive to what is happening in front of our eyes, is a spiritual experience of high significance. On rare occasions, we may be granted by grace a glimpse of this unadorned reality of “just what is” beyond our ideas about what is. These moments are personal epiphanies, always remembered and transformational in nature.
In essence, to meditate and become mindful in our comings, goings, risings, and fallings – in our successes and our failures and in our joys and our suffering – is indeed the experiential definition of a mainstay of the spiritual life: engagement.
To be engaged is to be truly alive, vital, involved, and useful. It is the foundation of all effective spiritual service. When we are mindful we can be engaged, and when we are engaged, really right there in our wholeness in the totality of the divine moment, we become part of the solution rather than the problem.
© L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved
At times the search for happiness can take on the character of a greased pig at a county fair. Running, dodging, weaving, the porker seems to elude your grasp with the uncanny skills of an old Kung Fu master. And then, just when you think you have the hog in your clutches, it looks at you with a wry grin and slithers away, leaving you with an arm full of air and Oleo.
Dogen once compared enlightenment to “moonlight in a dew drop, dripping from a duck’s beak.” Or, was it a crane’s beak? I suspect it is the same either way. In a very similar vein, a very wise and eccentric old Daoist teacher I met when I lived in China said that catching a glimpse of pristine reality, shimmering in that sublime and sacred space between our thoughts, was like capturing a tiger in the ass of a gnat.
Aside from the obvious lessons here, Dogen’s teaching and that of the old Daoist both point to the fact that both happiness and the wisdom of enlightenment are found by being present to what I like to call “the divine moment.” It is precisely here, in the “sacred now” that we discover that for which many of us seek so diligently. It is right here, right now, right before us that we discover that which was never really hidden.
I don’t know about you, but I often struggle with the mindfulness necessary to discover the blessed pearls of the present moment. My mind, as the enlightened tell us, is like a monkey, jumping here, flitting there, and forever raising a ruckus of sound and fury. If this is true, and it certainly is, then my mind is often like a monkey on steroids. It just refuses to accept the tether I seek to employ. My mind, indeed, has a mind of its own.
Still, I refuse to give up on such an important issue. I make every effort to improve in this area of my life. To my way of thinking, the more mindful of the moment I am, the better my chance of discovering the divine in the mundane reality of daily living; blessings that I didn’t even know existed; and perhaps most important, messages God may have for me. I firmly believe that we often miss divine guidance because we don’t have ears to hear and the reason we don’t have ears to hear is that we are too busy and too noisy.
I have found that mindfulness and mediation are inseparable practices. The process of meditation is, in reality, an exercise in establishing mindfulness in a specific place for a specific amount of time. The object of our meditation may vary – it could be the breath, a mantra, a prayer, a candle flame, or whatever. You see, to meditate is to be mindful and I have found that the more often and the more consistent my meditation practice is, the more I am able to be mindful when I am not meditating.
Some people complicate mediation way too much. They either turn it into some arcane practice from Inner Bhutan, complete with Tibetan chants and visualizations of everything from Indra’s Net to Shiva’s phallus. It doesn’t have to be this way, really. Countless sages from every spiritual tradition will tell you that counting the breath is enough.
Meditation also involves getting off your cushion, mat, zafu, or what have you and taking that pristine awareness into the world of your daily living. I love the following words by Jon Kabat-Zinn about the essence of meditation and mindfulness:
We need to develop and refine our minds and its capacities for seeing and knowing, for recognizing and transcending whatever motives and concepts and habits of unawareness may have generated or compounded the difficulties we find ourselves embroiled within, a mind that knows and sees in new ways is motivated differently. This is the same as saying we need to return to our original, untouched, unconditioned mind.
How can we do this? Precisely by taking a moment to get out of our own way, to get outside of the stream of thought and sit by the bank and rest for a while in things as they are underneath our thinking, or as Soen Sa Nim liked to say, “before thinking.” That means being with what is for a moment, and trusting what is deepest and best in yourself, even if it doesn’t make any sense to the thinking mind.
From Kabat-Zinn’s words we can see that there is nothing mysterious, esoteric, or bizarre about this process of mindfulness. More than anything else, it is a simple and straightforward effort toward self-mastery, which is an essential goal on the path of spiritual evolution. Although many people tout the virtues of the undisciplined life and, as some say, “going with the flow,” this is in contradiction of the real Zen life. If you happen to be fully enlightened and your karmic debts have been paid in full, then you might consider going with the flow. If you happen, however, to be like most of us, you will readily admit to seeing through a glass darkly and that your karmic spreadsheet still has plenty of red ink. For most of us, going with the flow will garner an experience that resembles more than anything else, the life of a log.
Again, I return to the words of Jon Kabat-Zinn, a man who lives his message of meditative mindfulness:
More than anything else, I have come to see meditation as an act of love, an inward gesture of benevolence and kindness toward ourselves and toward others, a gesture of the heart that recognizes our perfection even in our obvious imperfection, with all our shortcomings, our wounds, our attachments, our vexations, and our persistent habits of unawareness. It is a very brave gesture: to take one’s seat for a time and drop in on the present moment without adornment. In stopping, looking, and listening, in giving ourselves over to all our senses, including mind, in any moment, we are in that moment embodying what we hold most sacred in life. In making the gesture, which might include assuming a specific posture for formal meditation, but could also involve simply becoming more mindful or more forgiving of ourselves, immediately re-minds us and re-bodies us. In a sense, you could say it refreshes us, makes this moment fresh, timeless, free up, wide open. In such moments, we transcend who we think we are. We go beyond our stories and all our incessant thinking, however deep and important it sometimes is, and reside in seeing what is here to be seen and the direct, non-conceptual knowing of what is here to be known, which we don’t have to seek because it is already and always here…..In words, it may sound like an idealization. Experienced, it is merely what it is, life expressing itself, sentience quivering within infinity, with things just as they are.
From Kabat-Zinn’s description, it is obvious that coming to live in the present moment, to be mindfully attentive to what is happening in front of our eyes, is a spiritual experience of high significance. On rare occasions, we may be granted by grace a glimpse of this unadorned reality of “just what is” beyond our ideas about what is. These moments are personal epiphanies, always remembered and transformational in nature.
In essence, to meditate and become mindful in our comings, goings, risings, and fallings – in our successes and our failures and in our joys and our suffering – is indeed the experiential definition of a mainstay of the spiritual life: engagement.
To be engaged is to be truly alive, vital, involved, and useful. It is the foundation of all effective spiritual service. When we are mindful we can be engaged, and when we are engaged, really right there in our wholeness in the totality of the divine moment, we become part of the solution rather than the problem.
© L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Realizing Divine Potential and Purpose: A Fundamental Question (Part One)
L. Dwight Turner
The issue of realizing our divine potential gets quite a bit of ink these days, and rightly so. Each of us has been provided with a God-given purpose for our lives and we have also been gifted with the divine potential to realize that purpose – to make it manifest in the world in which we live. Yes, the current focus on discovering a realizing our potential is no doubt justified.
With that being said, I would like to spend a bit of time looking at a related issue, one that perhaps underlies all the popular hubbub about our purpose, potential, and spiritual mission. In fact, the issue I am thinking of relates to an important personal decision each of us has to make when we take on the mantle of “Christian” and further, what we do with that decision may well determine whether or not we actualize our potential and realize our purpose. Cutting right to the chase, the decision we all have to make is in answer to the following question:
How far am I willing to go in following the call of Christ upon my life?
I think there comes a time in the Christian walk of faith when individual believers make a choice to go no farther with Christ. Let’s face it, Christ has called for such a radical transformation of character and world view, to fully follow his teachings would be suicide, given the realities of our post-modern world.
“Taking up the cross and following Him is not the same now as it was back in the day,” a friend of mine once said. “If I really did what Jesus said to do, I would wind up the poorhouse along with my whole family. I love Jesus, but hey, I am not an idiot. All in all, I think He understands.”
There is really nothing wrong with this logic. The problem lies in the fact that once we begin to make this compromise, a dozen more usually follow in its wake. Listen, my friend, to follow Christ in our day and time is suicide. And guess what? That’s how it’s supposed to be.
What is suicide? In a very real sense it is a voluntary death. And what is it that Christ asks us to do? We are to take up our cross and die daily. Each day, we are to undergo a voluntary death. That doesn’t mean that we literally attempt to end our lives. Heaven forbid. No, it means that we place the demands of our ego, our lower self, our flesh, on the cross. They die with Christ so that we may be raised up in new life. It cost quite a bit to be a Christian and this faith is not for the weak of mind or faint of heart. It takes a real hero to be a true Christian.
The question before us, and the antidote to the complacency that like a leech, is sucking the very life out of the church, involves each of us on an intimately personal level.
The ultimate question facing Christians in this difficult but exciting age is a question each believer must answer individually. Will you take on the yoke of Christ in all its implications and allow him to live and fulfill his mission through you? Recognize that this question involves taking an assessment of the true costs of discipleship. Yes, God’s grace is freely given but real discipleship comes with a price. And in the end, my friend, that price is yourself. How each believer answers this ultimate question will determine how effective the church will be in its mission. Dallas Willard remarks:
So the great issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or by culture, are identified as “Christians” will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of Heaven into every corner of human existence. Will they break out of the churches to be his Church – to be, without human force or violence, his mighty force for good on earth, drawing the churches after them toward the eternal purpose of God?
If you think about it, the words of Willard are both motivational and frightening. Yes, most of us want to be true disciples of the Lord. We all want to learn from him and profess the willingness to do whatever he requires for the furtherance of his kingdom. However, do we really want that? Are we really willing to go to whatever lengths it requires of us? The question before each and every one of us is fairly simple to comprehend.
In my daily life, where the rubber meets the road, how far am I willing to go?
Each of us must settle this matter for ourselves. It is ultimately between the Lord and the individual believer when it comes to answering this vital question. However, our individual answers, taken collectively, largely determine the nature, the character, and the future of the church as a whole.
I am not trying to be fanatical here. I am not saying that unless you go all the way, you are not what God wants you to be. If that were really the case, I would be the first to admit that I would be toasted and toasted quickly. I think what Jesus is asking is, “How far will you go given your current circumstance?”
Also keep in mind, to avoid answering the question is to answer it. God, however, sometimes refuses to allow some of us to rest unless we answer this vital query. I know in my own life, whenever I avoid God for any length of time, particularly something he wants me to do that I don’t want to do, I can make Jonah look like a piker. Still, the Lord indeed comes after me and, in the final analysis, I am grateful.
The issue of realizing our divine potential gets quite a bit of ink these days, and rightly so. Each of us has been provided with a God-given purpose for our lives and we have also been gifted with the divine potential to realize that purpose – to make it manifest in the world in which we live. Yes, the current focus on discovering a realizing our potential is no doubt justified.
With that being said, I would like to spend a bit of time looking at a related issue, one that perhaps underlies all the popular hubbub about our purpose, potential, and spiritual mission. In fact, the issue I am thinking of relates to an important personal decision each of us has to make when we take on the mantle of “Christian” and further, what we do with that decision may well determine whether or not we actualize our potential and realize our purpose. Cutting right to the chase, the decision we all have to make is in answer to the following question:
How far am I willing to go in following the call of Christ upon my life?
I think there comes a time in the Christian walk of faith when individual believers make a choice to go no farther with Christ. Let’s face it, Christ has called for such a radical transformation of character and world view, to fully follow his teachings would be suicide, given the realities of our post-modern world.
“Taking up the cross and following Him is not the same now as it was back in the day,” a friend of mine once said. “If I really did what Jesus said to do, I would wind up the poorhouse along with my whole family. I love Jesus, but hey, I am not an idiot. All in all, I think He understands.”
There is really nothing wrong with this logic. The problem lies in the fact that once we begin to make this compromise, a dozen more usually follow in its wake. Listen, my friend, to follow Christ in our day and time is suicide. And guess what? That’s how it’s supposed to be.
What is suicide? In a very real sense it is a voluntary death. And what is it that Christ asks us to do? We are to take up our cross and die daily. Each day, we are to undergo a voluntary death. That doesn’t mean that we literally attempt to end our lives. Heaven forbid. No, it means that we place the demands of our ego, our lower self, our flesh, on the cross. They die with Christ so that we may be raised up in new life. It cost quite a bit to be a Christian and this faith is not for the weak of mind or faint of heart. It takes a real hero to be a true Christian.
The question before us, and the antidote to the complacency that like a leech, is sucking the very life out of the church, involves each of us on an intimately personal level.
The ultimate question facing Christians in this difficult but exciting age is a question each believer must answer individually. Will you take on the yoke of Christ in all its implications and allow him to live and fulfill his mission through you? Recognize that this question involves taking an assessment of the true costs of discipleship. Yes, God’s grace is freely given but real discipleship comes with a price. And in the end, my friend, that price is yourself. How each believer answers this ultimate question will determine how effective the church will be in its mission. Dallas Willard remarks:
So the great issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or by culture, are identified as “Christians” will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of Heaven into every corner of human existence. Will they break out of the churches to be his Church – to be, without human force or violence, his mighty force for good on earth, drawing the churches after them toward the eternal purpose of God?
If you think about it, the words of Willard are both motivational and frightening. Yes, most of us want to be true disciples of the Lord. We all want to learn from him and profess the willingness to do whatever he requires for the furtherance of his kingdom. However, do we really want that? Are we really willing to go to whatever lengths it requires of us? The question before each and every one of us is fairly simple to comprehend.
In my daily life, where the rubber meets the road, how far am I willing to go?
Each of us must settle this matter for ourselves. It is ultimately between the Lord and the individual believer when it comes to answering this vital question. However, our individual answers, taken collectively, largely determine the nature, the character, and the future of the church as a whole.
I am not trying to be fanatical here. I am not saying that unless you go all the way, you are not what God wants you to be. If that were really the case, I would be the first to admit that I would be toasted and toasted quickly. I think what Jesus is asking is, “How far will you go given your current circumstance?”
Also keep in mind, to avoid answering the question is to answer it. God, however, sometimes refuses to allow some of us to rest unless we answer this vital query. I know in my own life, whenever I avoid God for any length of time, particularly something he wants me to do that I don’t want to do, I can make Jonah look like a piker. Still, the Lord indeed comes after me and, in the final analysis, I am grateful.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Wisdom For Personal Application
Sadly, because many are not knowledgeable of their divine potential, they limit their growth and development and forfeit their covenant rights that have been granted to them by their faith in Christ. They deprive their families and communities of the wonderful benefits they could provide for them…..Just as God spoke to a nonexistent universe and it came into being, God has spoken words over you that have given you immense power – power to alter and control your environment, power to excel and not fail and power to do great exploits in the earth. We have a choice to either accept or deny what God has spoken over us……There are no worthless people in God’s creation. He has given everyone a divine potential to do supernatural exploits that bring glory to his name. When you fall short of this potential, you deprive yourself and your family of the optimum life-style that was planned for you and them. You also deprive your generation and the world of your unique gifts that were given by God to bless mankind. God has chose you and made you extraordinary and special. Therefore, you have tremendous value.
Jim Lowe
(from Achieving Your Divine Potential)
Jim Lowe
(from Achieving Your Divine Potential)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)