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In "Don't Do It" Part 1 I told you not to write your goals until you read my blog on the subject. I talked about how our thoughts play a big part in our ability to set and reach goals. I mentioned we need to align our thinking to the process of achieving goals. The following are the steps I suggested we take before we set our goals and I briefly shared my thoughts on step one.

1. Find out what the plans are for our life.

2. Make it our spiritual, mental and emotional focus.

3. Set our life goals around the plans.

Today I will focus on step two.

When we…  ( Click for more )

Stop!

Wait!

Put that pen down!

Don't do it!

Do not write your goals down. At least not until you have read this blog.

I've gone through this for to many years. Setting goals for the new year and failing at them. Here is how I now look at goals and goal setting. (Short version)

Every thing that man has done, invented or created began with a thought. When Cain killed Abel it began with a thought. When the first horse carriage was created, it began with a thought. When we get up in the morning to get our coffee, tea or soda, it begins with a thought. All we do…  ( Click for more )

Twas the night before Christ was born and all through the barn, all the creatures were stirring wondering who these two were. Mary was frightened and Joseph unsure of what the heck God was doing. It seemed like a blur. They had to leave home to give birth in a barn. It didn't make a bit of sense. The Redeemer born in a barn! And it was anything but silent. The person who wrote "Silent Night Holy Night" apparently didn't have kids. With restless animals and Mary in labor it was not silent. Joseph had to be on edge and unsure what to do. And who…  ( Click for more )

The title was "10 Things You Can Do to Finish Strong, and Focus Forward" by Brian Holmes. (http://www.brianholmes.com/065) Brian Holmes is one of my favorite bloggers and he always has something good to say. He gives practical information blended with his faith and I always come away with something good from his blogs and podcast.

What struck me most about the 10 things he listed, though all were good, was number 4. It states as follows. Be ruthless with unbelief and negativity. Personally I believe this should be number 1. It is the beginning of what it will take to…  ( Click for more )

Twas the night before Christ was born

and all through the barn,

all the creatures were stirring

wondering who these two were.

Mary was frightened and Joseph unsure,

It seemed like a blur.

They had to leave home to give birth in a barn. It didn't make a bit of sense. The Redeemer born in a barn. And it was anything but silent. The person who wrote "Silent Night Holy Night" apparently didn't have kids. With restless animals and Mary in labor it was not silent. Joseph had to be on edge and unsure what to do. And who delivered the baby? Did neighboring…  ( Click for more )

Recently the season of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s started to invade my mind I had to wonder about value of the spirit of the holidays.

It seems that Thanksgiving has turned into a starting line for an Olympic sprint for the rest of the season.

The advertisers start to tease us with the great deals that are coming up, loudly proclaiming, "On your mark"!

The ads continues through Thanksgiving week adding, "get set"!

And at the very moment at our Thanksgiving dinner, when we put the final bite of pumpkin pie in our mouth,…  ( Click for more )

The heart beats faster with every gaze into the eyes of your love. Your hands sweat and it's harder to breath. The excitement level is near maximum capacity and you wonder how you could ever live another year, day or moment without the love. It's beyond passion and purpose. It's what you were made for. It's internal and eternal. It's consuming and it's more than desirable. To live without your love is to die daily and it's to wade in the deepest darkness of the shallow waters of an empty and directionless life. Yet we dodge our love daily for fear of rejection and we lay aside the…  ( Click for more )

Am I hearing the sound of applause?

Do I hear the sound of victory?

Do I ever hear the sound of praise for a good days work?

Does my heart ever shout out loud simply because I took action toward my purpose in life?

Does my heart ever give me a standing ovation because I did something courageous.

These are the questions I've started to ask myself.

Why is this important?

We all want to be praised, noticed or acknowledge. Whether it's for the work we do or the sacrifice we made or the clothes we wear. All we have to do is look at Facebook. We see all the selfies…  ( Click for more )

It's true. I see dead people.

It's not a daily occurrence but, on average, every couple of weeks or so. I have to wonder why I am privileged to see them. I didn't ask for this, and I certainly didn't expect it to happen. When it first happened, I was quite shocked and moved emotionally. …  ( Click for more )

It was the same pattern as before. Subtle, stealth and snipe are the staple words for how He works. It’s His modus operandi to apply maximum damage with little visibility.

Who is this guy?

He is God.

But not just any god, He is the God of army angels. In the beginning He spoke the stars, moon, sun and earth into existence. But when it came to mankind, the reflection of Himself, He took special attention. Silently He molded the future of the earth’s existence, keeping the fallen, in anxious terror.

It was a stealth move.

We see it from time to time…  ( Click for more )

Two men were escaping from their enemy. At one point they made a small make shift raft in a river so it would help pull them down stream. It was working pretty well until they realized there was a waterfall not to far in front of them. They suddenly panicked as the water current got stronger and was pulling them faster and faster to the edge of the deadly waterfall. With the sound of the waterfall haunting them they narrowly escaped as they desperately struggled to swim to the rivers edge.

This is how life is concerning self-development.

Let's clarify the meaning of self-development.…  ( Click for more )

I recently read a very interesting article about people who live in, “The City of The Dead”. The City of the Dead is a four-mile stretch of tombs and mausoleums in Cairo, Egypt. The article states that tens of thousands live in the tombs without water or electricity. Yet they have a satellite dish and a television because it’s free. What a contrast of living and dying.

In the book of Mark, chapter 5:2-5, it describes a man who lived amongst the tombs.

1. He was under the power of an unclean spirit

2. He continually lived among the tombs

3.…  ( Click for more )

Jeremiah 18:3-4

3Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was working at the wheel.

4And the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it over, reworking it into another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to make it.

I am intrigued with these scriptures. They are very telling of Gods authority and great love.

In context, God is talking about Israel. But I’m thinking of Job. Job is described in Job 1:1 (Amp) as a man that was blameless and upright, and one who [reverently] feared God and abstained…  ( Click for more )

1Lord, HOW they are increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. 2Many are saying of me, There is no help for him in God. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! 3But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. Psalm 3

"When it rains it pours" is how the old saying goes.

The scripture above has a sense of this saying weaved in it.

I'm sure you, as I have, experience this when you go through a difficult time in your life. It seems as if more problems heap on top of others.

But it's not just the problems…  ( Click for more )

"If this be treason, make the most of it."

Treason: Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.

It was His willful act and purposeful violation to wage war against the sovereign religious force on the earth. The religious powers had to be taken down for the freedom for those freedoms were chained to the grave by the mindset and ideology of the religious elite. It was given them the laws of God in times past but through coaxing…  ( Click for more )

He must have seen the glory beaming out of the one named Adam. He had to see the sunrise and sunset, creativity and passion, strength and love in the muddy mixture. He must have seen the majesty of untold greatness and the beauty of wholeness in this unfamiliar work of creation. Lucifer, in all his anger, resentment and bitterness must have seen Adam as a reflection of Almighty God. He must have shook in fear as he watched the Creator from a distance form, mold and shape the mud into man. Questions and worry must have invaded his mind as God etched away all imperfections to create…  ( Click for more )

The greatest tragedy is not death but a life without purpose. Rick Warren

For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and…  ( Click for more )

Genesis 19:26 But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

This is a crazy scripture to me. Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt all because she looked back at the city of Sodom. My question has been what was so terrible about looking back? Why the strong punishment of death?

Read Genisis 19, and you will see Lot and his family were being taken out of the city by angels to save them. God was going to destroy the city by brimstone and fire out of the heavens. It was a very urgent matter.

Remember:

* Our future is never behind…  ( Click for more )

There is this gravely false notion that once we commit ourselves to following Christ, life will just be better as a whole in a short period of time. This is not true. Once a decision has been made to make a change in our life for the good, whether we are followers of Christ or not, life will get more difficult just as sure as the sun rises every morning. God, the creator of all that is, has set in motion a natural order of things. And one natural order is the very decision and act to make an improvement in our lives requires us to go through a series of difficulties to prepare us…  ( Click for more )

2Corinthians10:5 AMP…and we lead every thought and purpose away captive…

Next level thinking will cause you to check your every thought and take it captive until you clear it with a very high set of standards. This can be exhausting at times but very rewarding.

Some things that change as you learn to take every thought through your set of standards. 1. You notice change in yourself 2. You see the world differently 3. You notice more negative and unproductive language in yourself and society.

The bible is clear that the Lords…  ( Click for more )

I love Hot Dogs! I know they’re not good for me but I don’t care. They taste great and they bring back good memories of my parents taking me and my brother to a local drive through hot dog joint. It was the best place in town to get a dog with chili, cheese, pickles, onions and mustard.

OMG, I loved those dogs.

A great thing about hot dogs is the vast variety of ways to prepare them.

With a little online research I found several ways to eat dogs. Here are a few worth mentioning:

- Killer Bacon-Cheese Dogs (I can’t wait to try this one.)

- Twinkie…  ( Click for more )

James 1:4 AMP

But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

The best long distance runners not only need to be physically tough but also mentally tough. They must be patient or have much patience to get to the finish line. What does patience mean? This is how the dictionary defines patience: The quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or…  ( Click for more )

Shane Krider from Polaris Global Marketing wrote: "In general, people way underestimate that they could change if they just believed they could. There seems to be a learned fear of taking control. There seems to be a general agreement that there is safety in numbers. People seem to be looking for anyone who is willing to stand up and lead the way. People seem to be quite satisfied to follow someone they really don't agree with just to avoid leading themselves."

To me this is an alarming truth. Leadership, in my estimation, is in part the goal in life. Leadership encompasses…  ( Click for more )

But he knows not that the shades of the dead are there [specters haunting the scene of past transgressions], and that her invited guests are [already sunk] in the depths of Sheol (the lower world, Hades, the place of the dead). - (Proverbs 9:18)

This scripture sounds like a scene from an old horror flick. I see it as a warning; there is an evil that is subtle as a ghost. The definition of ghost in this particular scripture is: a returning or haunting memory or image.

Our Christian life can be a living dichotomy. We have this lingering ghost that follows us and his name is…  ( Click for more )