Power of the Mind! How Strong Is Yours?

The mind is a powerful tool that can inspire creativity and free will or invoke fear. Mind games and mental tactics are age old game that was and is used to create a sense of superiority over another. If you allow someone to take away that mental power and will, then a person is reduced to feelings of inferiority, self-doubt, and lack. When you've been reduce to such a basic level of vulnerability, then you believe anything, buy into anything and create a viscous cycle of waiting on another to put one foot in front of the other. 

As a man thinketh in his heart so is He! 

Never allow anyone to sell you a thought or idea about yourself that you know isn't true. Never allow anyone to make you feel inferior just because they talk a good game and walk a good fake walk. Sometimes it's about the other person's insecurity and void. Believe in yourself, speak life to yourself, inspire the inner king and queen that is readily waiting to emerge. 

Be resilient, Be courageous, Be persevering, and most of all Believe in yourself!

Forgiveness - The Key to Power, Grace, and Peace

Forgiveness helps us because it releases God to do His work in us. I'm happier and feel better physically when I'm not filled with the poison of unforgiveness. Serious diseases can develop as a result of the stress and pressure that bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness put on a person. 

The Father can't forgive our sins if we don't forgive other people. We reap what we sow. Sow mercy, and you'll reap mercy; sow judgment, and you'll reap judgment. You need to forgive, by the grace of God in your life, to leave the door of your heart open to the Lord. 

Beginnings and Endings

God is the Alpha and the Omega;  the author of beginnings and endings. As we rejoice in beginnings, we should remember that things must end in order for new beginnings to occur. 

For a new door to open sometimes an old door must shut. When a relationship, a season, or situation becomes fruitless or has no more purpose it might be God's nudge that it's the end and it's time to close the door of THAT situation.  

We are not a failure because a door closes or a situation ends. Winners also know when to quit at the right time and when their purpose is complete. 

Don't remain in a fruitless or purpose-less situation if God has declared the end. This only delays our next blessing and next pitstop on our journey.

Endings do not denote failure, they just push us closer to our divine purpose and destiny. 

Look from the Place Where You Are

Look from the Place Where You Are 

It seems that life always has its ways of bringing us to a place where we need to make a fresh start. 

In the Bible, Abram found himself in that very place when his nephew Lot chose the best land in the area, leaving Abram with the less desirable land. But God didn't abandon Abram. Instead He showed up and gave Abram a bold new vision. 

I like what the Lord told Abram after he and Lot parted ways. He told him, 'Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are.' 

It's that phrase, "look from the place where you are," that stirs me. That's the point of a fresh start, a new beginning. God Himself will bring us to that point occasionally. 

You might be there right now. Maybe you want to break a bad habit or revive a lost dream. Maybe you want to get a handle on your finances, start your own business, write a book, whatever it is, God could be telling you to get started right now. This could be your new beginning! 

After God told Abram to look from that place, the next thing He told him was, 'Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you' (Genesis 13:17 NKJV). 

God could be telling you right now to get up and get on with your dream or vision, your assignment, your life, because He is giving it to you. Your part is to walk it out. 

Do what you need to do. It may not be easy. It might take some time. But trust God and go for whatever it is. Look from the place where you are right now - and go! 

Prayer Starter: God, regardless of what's happened in the past, help me to look up from where I am now. I thank You for Your new beginning for me. I will boldly step into it and walk out Your calling for me.

~ Joyce Meyer

Leadership: Nature or Nurture

There are several arguments concerning the development of leaders and whether leaders are born or made; I argue that effective leaders are products of both nature and nurture. 

Successful leaders are born with a high emotional capacity and several strong dispositions. On the other hand, situational factors and life experiences cultivate these traits and provide opportunities for people to emerge as leaders when necessary. The theory that closest resembles my view of leadership is Fiedler’s Contingency Model, which contends that leader orientation and situation favorability are essential for successful leadership.

 

I personally define a leader as a person who values relationships and uses communication to provide direction, alignment, and inspiration to a group of people as they undergo or experience change. Good leaders have the ability to use strong informal relationships to communicate a vision and allow followers to contribute their ideas while “growing professionally”.

 

 

To Thrive!

Envy, bitterness, broken relationships, jealousy, and unresolved pain are all toxic seeds that can suffocate our growth and prevent us from thriving. The environment in which we are planted and sometimes the lack of being planted can also rob us of the oxygen that is needed to have peace, cultivate growth, and produce good fruit.  

If you feel as though you are stagnant and are not reaching your full potential, take a moment to reflect on your actions, thoughts, habits, and environment; and I guarantee that you will experience some sort of breakthrough or realization. The key to thriving and flourishing is to first be honest with self and to accept the good, bad, and indifferent that lies within!!!

The art of letting go

Sometimes the Uni-verse will ask you to let go of the things you cherish most, not to punish you, but because there is something even better for you on the horizon. The art of letting go isn't necessarily a negative act. Letting go is essential for creating room to receive the new and greater. If we change our mental framework and meaning of 'letting go', we can then receive meaning of this act as a graceful and positive process. Similar to the adage that you cannot receive with a clinched or closed fist, we must learn to let go. What old thing, person, or idea are you clinging on to? Consider how positively 'letting go', may actually serve as the needed catalyst for receiving what you desire. -Biron