Month: May 2017

Everywhere you turn you see people hitched to their cell phone, talking, texting, surfing, or just playing games. Sit and observe people in a mall for a few minutes. Notice what happens when the plane lands. For many people the cell phone is an addiction, or a distraction, or even both. Notice how many people are sitting in a restaurant and focussed on their phone, rather than on the people sitting with them at the table. Governments have been forced to create distracted driving laws and make it illegal to text and drive, because people, for whatever reason do not have the ability to use common sense in regards to the use of their phones.

The internet has untold articles on cell phone manners and etiquette, but observation would suggest there are significant numbers of people who either don’t care about such things, or they have become victims of the radiation effects from the instruments they are addicted to. When someone asks me why did it take you so long to respond to my text message. My response is I am not tied to my phone. When I arrive home I put it down and may not pick it up until the next time I head out the door to go somewhere. If you need to get in touch with me call the land line, not the cell phone. My cell phone is not for your convenience, it is for mine when I am travelling. I am not interested in text messages, so don’t bother sending them to me. They are a distraction from what and who I am focussing on in the moment.

What does this have to do with anything of real importance? A lot actually. Beyond the fact a cell phone has great value in certain situations, it would be good to be aware of how this product has been marketed and the persuasion tactics used to change consumer attitudes in relation to it. Isn’t it interesting there is a group passion and desire for something where the health risks continue to be downplayed so people will continue to crave more of it. There seems to be a smoky aura about this situation, if you get my drift.

If everything is energy vibrating at different frequencies, it might be worthwhile to ask what is really going on? Because what we think, what we believe, what we say and the intentions of our heart, do matter. They impact our actions which create our outcomes. This is true in every area of our life, including the spiritual realm. Choose to be at cause in your life, rather than at effect. Be awake, alert and alive to what is happening around you. Seek to discern the source of what is continuously bombarding your heart, mind and senses every day.

Do not settle for just getting by, become the extraordinary person you were created to be. Persevere, demonstrate a quality of excellence. Do not let the world squeeze you into it’s mould (Romans 12:2). Choose to say YES to the relationship with Jesus and be the best version of you possible.

I first heard this story from Clifford Mee in an email. Most people know Henry Ford as the inventor of the Ford motor car. What most people don’t know is that a by-product of making the wooden interior of the Model T Ford was a substantial amount of wood cut offs. Henry Ford didn’t like the idea of waste. So, with some research, Henry Ford learned of a process that involved chipping wood into small pieces, charring them and adding a binder to make charcoal briquettes.

Henry Ford then co-founded a company (with a relative, E.G. Kingsford) calling it the Kingsford Charcoal Company. A charcoal plant was built to manufacture charcoal briquettes (primarily from the wooden cut offs from the interior manufacturing work of the early Ford motor cars). The Kingsford Charcoal Company was profitable right from the start. It still exists today, with annual sales in the region of 350 million dollars.

What under-utilized, “hidden” or unrealized assets do you have within you that could, with a bit of “repackaging” or “re-purposing,” yield you more success in your life?

Are there limiting subconscious lies about yourself you are believing, which are keeping you from being the best version of you possible? Mark 9: 23 records the words of Jesus who said, ‘Everything is possible to the one who believes.” What do you believe about the person who looks back at you in the mirror? It would be worth giving this some serious thought and reflection to this. Consider saying YES to improving your relationship with the one who you greet in that moment.

It is easy for many people to bog down and give up when it comes to taking the time to read through the Bible. I have lost track of the number of people over the years who have admitted to starting to read the Bible and who have not gotten very far before they quit. There are many reasons for this, but when you distill them down, most people disengaged because they do not understand what is written or are bored, or both.

They are also turned off by the idea they believe God is like a dictator ordering them what to do, or not do, regarding how they are to live their lives. We know how well that works, right? The automatic response is, no one is going to tell me what I can and cannot do! A significant number of people identify with the words crooned by Frank Sinatra many years ago, “I did it my way!”

Would it affect how you thought about the God and the Bible if you came to the realization God is a relationship restorer and not a law enforcer? Would it make a difference knowing God has your best interests at heart and wants to connect with you in a strong, healthy, relationship?

If you had the opportunity to learn not only the basics of living life to the full, but having access to the powerful mysteries and secrets behind this journey, would you be interested?

Saying YES to the relationship with Jesus is the beginning of this process. What has been perceived by people who don’t know what they don’t know, as confining and restrictive, is in actually, the path to life long freedom. What has been mistakenly interpreted as boring and irrelevant by the uninformed or misinformed, is liberating and exciting. The journey begins with a decision and is followed up with a commitment to go as far as you can see and when you get there continue on, because you will be able to see further. John 8:36 records the words of Jesus who said, “If the Son liberates you, you certainly will be free.”

Jesus potentially brought the reality and choice of freedom to a whole new transformational level. You can learn more by studying the guidebook which will show you the way. It is for those who will engage or re-engage in seeking to know Him better and live their lives fully committed to achieving the freedom He offers. It is God’s gift to those who will accept it.

I have no reason why, but yesterday I was thinking back to my college days and remembered I had my first experience of having a piece of writing published back in 1974. Our denomination chose a group of students from 12 of its colleges around the world to write a short inspirational article which it then published in the First Volume of a book titled, “Time Out.” I had not thought of this part of my life’s journey for many decades. Don Boyer speaks about the need to be a published author. Joel Bauer says you must have your own book. While I have been a published author in recent years, I had failed to follow up on what had been a reality in my life a long time ago.

My limiting thoughts and beliefs for many years had dismissed as impossible something that already was. If we do not remember what we knew, it is as if it never happened. If we do not use some skill we have learned we will lose it. To know and not to do is not to know. This is something to consider.

What did I write those many years ago? “‘When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.’ The other day I discovered a little bug had crawled up inside my pants leg and attached itself firmly to my leg. No amount of pushing or pulling could loosen its grip; it only dug in harder. If I had let it alone it would have eventually imbedded itself under the skin and festered. The only thing which could make this little bug detach itself from my leg was the heat of a match.

Some things, like that little bug, if we allow them, will attach themselves to our lives and go on to fester. When we allow the Holy Spirit to draw near to us and be in us, He will guide us into all truth. Under the purifying fire of His presence those things which would injure us spiritually will be removed.”

I am excited to report, while I may have forgotten I was a published author, I did not forget the value and benefits of being a seeker and follower of truth. Being lead by the Holy Spirit as a result of not only initially saying YES to the relationship with Jesus, but staying committed to that relationship down through the years was who I was. I am thankful and grateful for the freedom and blessings I have encountered in my life as a result. I would encourage you to take advantage of the same opportunities God offers to you.

We have been looking at the implications of the “Ten Commandments” as viewed from a relationship perspective. As we come to the last principle in the list, nothing has changed. Exodus 20:17 states, “Do not covet your neighbour’s house. Do not covet your neighbour’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”

Once again it is all about relationships. The word covet means “to yearn or desire to possess (something belonging to someone else).” This word conveys the idea of not just having something like someone else, but literally taking what was someone else’s so what they had has now become yours. Coveting exists in the heart and mind before ownership is even taken. It is an energetic intention which is connected to a person’s ego. Troy McClain defines “ego” as “exiting God out.”

Like lying, coveting has negative impact on relationships at the energetic level and involves many people beyond the one coveting and the one being coveted. It is interesting, the same Hebrew word is used for “neighbour” in both verses. “Strong’s Greek & Hebrew Dictionary” says this about the Hebrew word which is translated, “neighbour,” in Exodus 10:16 and 17, “an associate (more or less close) :- brother, companion, fellow, friend, husband, lover, neighbour.”

Remember, every one who comes into our life, even in a momentary encounter, becomes in that instant, a “neighbour,” and we are responsible and accountable for our relationship with that person.

This last principle instructs us to consider how we respond to others. When coveting is involved there is always a lose, win exchange happening in the relationship. God’s plan is for everyone to be involved in a win, win exchange. We are living in a constant, ongoing, reap what we sow exchange. When our focus is on building strong, healthy, relationships, we will chose to do the things consistent with creating that reality.

Jesus was opposed by the religious leaders of His day because He was demonstrating from His heart, He was a relationship restorer, rather than a law enforcer. His mission was to restore the true purpose of “torah” to teaching and instruction towards strong, healthy relationships, rather that legalistic do’s and don’t’s list which must be managed through enforced law keeping.

May you take another look at the intentions of God in the Scriptures in light of what I have shared about the relationship foundation of how God is looking for us to relate to Him and others. Say YES to the relationship with Jesus.