Tag : PositiveChristianity.org

19Sep

POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON – Success Through God’s Help

POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON - Success Through God's Help

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NEW VIDEO TODAY – see below

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In all circumstances, you are comforted and reassured by the tender, loving presence of God. God’s love for you is unfailing and eternal. Nothing can separate you from the love of God.

A man went into a tailor shop to buy a new suit. The tailor thought, “Aha! I’ve got an easy mark here! I’ve got a suit in the back room I’ve been wanting to get rid of for a long time.” He went back, got the suit, and asked the man to try it on.

The man put it on, looked at himself in the mirror and said, “I like the suit, but it hangs down a little too far.”

The tailor said, “That’s no problem. What you do is you scoot it up like this and put your chin over here.”

The man said, “Well, there’s another problem. One of the pant legs is about three inches shorter than the other.”

The tailor said, “That’s no problem. Just pull it up here and put your knees together.”

The man looked in the mirror and said, “Wow! What a great looking suit.” He bought the suit, walked out and headed down the road.

People said of the man, “What a great looking suit, but what a shame he has so many physical difficulties.”

That is the way it is with many of us. We may think we are fooling people. We may think we are dressing up. We think we’re putting on a show, but there is no way, not really, we can hide our challenges.

As Emerson said, “What we are speaks so loudly that others can hardly hear our words.”

Sometimes, our past failures affect us at the core of our being. We don’t know how to go forward. We use the power of the mind in the wrong way. We give over all of our God-given gifts of mind to human pessimism. We might say to ourselves, “Oh well, I’ve done that before. I didn’t have any success at it, and I would never ever do that again. I’m too smart for that.”

Helen Keller had every reason in the world to be a pessimist. Deaf and blind from infancy, Helen Keller played a leading role in most of the significant political, social, and cultural movements of the 20th century. Throughout her lifetime (1880-1968) she worked unceasingly to improve the lives of people who were blind and deaf. Helen’s own approach to life can be summed up by her advice to a five-year-old blind child in 1932: “Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face.” Here’s what she said about pessimism: “No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened the new heaven to the human spirit.”

Today, we are asking God’s blessing for successful living. This is not a generic teaching. This is a success truth about God working in our lives, giving us new success.

I’m going to give you a definition of success that may somewhat surprise you: Success may elude you because you haven’t failed enough. People who are willing to risk failure and learn from the loss have the best chance at succeeding. The people who are a success today if you were to read their whole story, you would find that they failed, time and time again, and that they were able to make course corrections and then go forward into their success. Failure sometimes humbles us enough to ask God for help, leading us to our greatest lifelong success.

Failure is merely the cost of succeeding. It is the cost of seeking new challenges in our lives. I’m going to give you ten steps to overcome the failure you have had in your life. I am talking to you directly on this. You know we have all had failures because we are alive. We are in this church because we have overcome that failure. We are breathing in and out, we are thinking positively again, we are holding on to God, and we are here for a reason, seeking God’s blessing, because we do not want to remain the same, not even the same as yesterday. We want to become new, and better than yesterday.

There are steps to climb over that hill of past failure. Sometimes, even though we continue to breathe, we remain in consciousness of that failure from the past.

We must stop using the word failure. In my study of people over the years, I have found that successful people never talk about their failures. They say, “Well, I had a glitch back then … ” or “I had a bump in the road back then … ” Now, these glitches, these bumps in the road, might have destroyed an ordinary man or woman, but they had something else. They had a drive that said, “You know, I’ve got the power with me and within me from God. I’m going to go on. I’m going to make something out of myself.” And they do. Anybody who had that ingrained in the very fiber of their belief system can go on and become all that they want to become.

I want to tell you the story of the man you saw on TV years ago in countless commercials, holding up the Remington shaver, saying, “I like this so much I bought the company.” Well, here is what you don’t know about him. Forty-six years ago, Victor Kiam had a friend come to him with an idea. Victor wavered on the idea. He didn’t know if he really had it in him to take the idea, run with it and make it a big success. So, he told his friend to find someone else. That new product that Victor turned down was Velcro. It has become a billion dollar industry – bigger than Remington.

In his book “Live To Win”, Victor said, “I just look at that as another bump on the road.” But he also said, “If I would have allowed it, it would have destroyed me and my life. I had a choice. I had to make that choice. I realized this for several weeks, even months. I allowed it to depress me deeply. I couldn’t even get out of bed. Then I decided to use the wisdom from that to make a course correction in my life. I decided to look at it seriously, and ask myself the question, ‘Why?'” you ask this question, not as a victim, but instead as a person that is truly ready for self-examination. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.

Number #1. Have confidence in yourself. Next time – and friends there is always a next time – have the confidence to take the action that you need at the given time. When Remington came along, Victor had the confidence to buy the company and make it a success. If you want to stand out, don’t be different; be outstanding.

Number #2. Don’t take failure personally.

This is probably the most important step of all because we usually do take failure personally. One person had a failure in his life and he said, “Well, that’s it. I’m a loser. I’m just no good. I’ve had this failure and, if the truth were known, I’ve had 16,000 failures, one after another, after another. I’m just a loser. I’ll never be anything but a loser.”

A loser connected to a winner can be a loser for long. That’s precisely the time to reconnect with the ultimate winner – God.

Do not take failure in a personal way. For instance, if you are unemployed, do you think about it all the time? Do you think that because you went out to look for a job, today, without success, that you will never find a job. Do you label yourself as unemployed? What you call yourself will become a powerful reality in your life. I like to share with people that they are people with lots of open options, lots of ways to go. Always, God, has an open door for you waiting for you to find and accept its new way.

Isaiah 60:11 states, “Your gates shall be open continually … they shall not be shut.”

New doors of opportunity are always open – a door somewhere is always opening. God is holding the door for you.

Ask yourself every day: “What if I had to buy my thoughts?” Imagine if we had to actually go down to the convenience store, reach into our pocket and say, “Well, I’ll take a little worry, about sixty-five cents of depression, and I would like to have $1.30 of crippling anxiety.”

We wouldn’t do that; you know we wouldn’t. We would go in there and ask for the good stuff. We would decide to do that, even if the thoughts were very cheap, because we were actually making the purchase.

Well, we are making the purchase. Every day, we go to the “convenience mind” inside of us, and we decide what we’re going to purchase and what we’re not going to purchase. My goodness, thoughts can become very, very expensive. Our attitude towards life determines life’s attitude towards us.

Once, when he was a little boy, the famous American Ben Franklin had a birthday party. His family and friends gave him six pennies. Well, the pennies just burned a hole in his pocket. He had to go and spend the pennies, so he went to the store and saw a toy whistle. Of course, the clerk sold it to him for the six pennies – much more than it was worth. He went home and made so much noise with his toy whistle that he drove everyone crazy. His parents, friends, and family asked what he paid for the toy whistle. He said, “I paid six pennies.”

They said, “You paid four times too much!”

As a little boy, that changed his life. Through that course correction, he remembered that lesson all through his days. Even into his old age, when men and women were spouting different philosophies and talking about anxiety and fear, Ben Franklin would say of them, “They paid too much for their whistle.”

I have a question to ask you: What is the one thing you want to achieve?

Now, I have a second question for you: What has been your greatest disappointment, or discouragement toward that goal?

Now I have a truth for you. You are not that discouragement. Even if you were, even if it was totally your fault, you are brand new, today. Every day, you are new. It is part of the Grace of God that we do not have to remain the same. We become better human beings because we become better receivers of God. That is true of everyone; it is especially true of you who are sitting in this room.

Number #3. Use your defects. You say, “I am just laden with defects. This is the reason I cannot get past failure.” Listen to this: we succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess; but we excel in those in which we also make use of our defects.

A very famous radio announcer, who is now a minister, once admitted, “I have something called a lazy larynx. It is very difficult for me to speak. I found this out when I was in broadcasting. I would slur certain words then, and I still do to this day if I do not have enough air behind each word. The funny thing about what happened in Nashville was that once I learned that, I started to suck in air and put power behind each word. At first my style was a bit choppy. Then the strangest thing happened – advertisers started to seek this man out because people could hear every word.”

Use your defects. Use everything because what seems like a defect to you may be the answer to your whole career. It may be uniqueness that comes out. It may be the specialness that is you. You are a fingerprint on the universe – individual, special, and unique. People love you for your defects more than they do for your perfection. They love your little quirks, the little special things you do. Use them to your advantage.

Number #4. You will get another chance. If there were a tattoo artist in this room, right now, I would have this tattooed on everyone who was willing: I WILL GET ANOTHER CHANCE!

You will get another chance if you can accept it. You have to accept the chance. You have to be willing to see the chance, go after it, and accept new ideas.

Listen to this: God is continually on the birthing bed. God never rests. God is continually birthing in you new ideas – for you, your life, and your career that can transform your life and everything you’re doing in your life.

Number #5. God is with you, not to commiserate, but to co-create. God is your help in every need.

There was a man on Long Island who bought a barometer around the turn of the century. He had wanted this barometer for a long, long time and paid good money for it, from a mail order house in New York City. When the barometer was delivered to his home on the east coast, he noticed the needle was pointing toward “hurricane.” He looked outside and it looked fine. He shook the barometer, and the needle appeared to be stuck pointing to hurricane. Well, the man went into a tirade. He paced up and down. He wrote a scorching letter to the company saying, “Everything I buy is defective … ” The next day when he traveled into town, he mailed the letter to the company. (That’s why we know this story.) Later on that afternoon, the barometer was missing, and so was his house. The hurricane had hit.

You have a “barometer” inside of you, too. The needle is stuck and here is what the needle is stuck on: God is with you.

A lot of times you will shake it and say, “My life is so out of order. I can’t believe God could possibly be with me.” You are shaking it but the needle stays right there and will not move. It never will because God is with you every moment of every day.

Number #6. With God at your side, be brave. Take an honest new look at an old problem. Here is how you do this. First of all you might say, as one man did, “It’s not easy taking my problems one at a time, because they refuse to stand in line.” Whatever position they are in, look at them, one at a time, and examine them, not with human consciousness, but with God’s eyes. Ask God for illumination, guidance, inspiration, and understanding in solving the individual problem. Then, on one piece of paper, write down exactly what the problem is. Define it. On another piece of paper, write down, “What do I think about this problem? What is its cause?” On a third sheet of paper, write down, “What are my feelings about this problem?” Then, on the fourth sheet of paper, go into the following steps you will take to solve the problem:

With God at your side agree to stop worrying, fretting, blaming, or feeling guilty, angry, or afraid.

With God at your side re-establish joy, excitement, and faith in your life.

With God at your side discuss a plan of action with positive people who support you.

With God at your side, you are a positive person for others. If you want to be a friend to somebody, support somebody, unconditionally. Be with them. Listen. Pray with them. If you don’t have someone like this, find someone and make that person very valuable in your life. You will become very valuable in their life, too.

With God at your side: Write: “I will go into action in the following ways,” and then wait in the silence of prayer for God to give you ideas.

God will never let you down – ever. God will give you ideas. They will pour forth. You will be blessed by God. You won’t be able to contain the ideas on the page.

Then, give thanks to God for the perfect answer that is already there. Tell yourself, That’s no hill for a climber; that’s no step for a stepper because I am blessed by God.

Number #7. Don’t just wonder what your purpose in life is. Ask yourself, “What do I love in life.”

What do you love in life? What do you have a passion for in life? There’s a huge difference between just living and having the passion for life. Here is the difference. It is like a song that makes you dance in comparison to a song you dance to. Do you see the difference? So often we are compelled to do things, and then if we find our passion and our love, we just flow. We can’t contain ourselves because so much good is happening through us.

God can only give to you what God can get through you. Don’t quit on God. A man and his wife said they used to get into the back seat of their car, sit back, relax, cross their legs, and say, “Okay, God, if you love us you will drive me to California.” Here they are, in the back seat of their car, waiting for God to get into the car, take the wheel, and drive them to California.

God, who is waiting to give, who is so willing to inspire, just shrugs. God finally says to the back seat drivers, “I can only give to you what I can get through you. If you’ll get in the front seat, if you’ll take the wheel in faith, I will give you the ways to go to California. I will give you the motivation to go to California. I will give you the means to go to California. If you start to move, I will tell you where to turn, how fast to go, and when to stop.” We have to get out of the back seat.

In faith, we must take the wheel.

Number #8. Have lasting power. Some of you who are fans of auto racing remember the name Mickey Thompson. He created the fastest cars ever created. In the twenty-nine races he started, he had the fastest car. The car immediately went to the front of the line, but he never finished a race. The cars always broke down. Something always happened to the cars. The fastest car did not have the lasting power. You have to be willing to finish the race. God will inspire, through you, if you do not quit on God. You see, we say all the time, “Oh God, why did You quit on me?” when, if the truth were known, it is the reverse. We have to finish our course, finish our race and believe.

Number #9. You have only one product to sell, one product to improve, and that product is yourself. Always market a new self. I’ve said many times that what you are looking at today is the best (your name) that has ever been, but it’s nothing like what is coming out in this fall. The 2014 model is coming out. It’s going to have a new grill, a new dashboard, etc. It’s not even going to look like the old (your name).

In every part of your life, become that which you want to be. You have to believe it. You have to become that which you are seeking. Then, like a magnet, it is already drawn to you. It is going from the back seat to the front seat, taking the wheel, and saying, “Okay, God. I believe in You and I know You ARE with me in my life.”

Number #10. Become the success.

We live according to our self-image, the pattern we create daily, and we project it into tomorrow. Most of us imagine ourselves to be less than we are. The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge – but imagination. Imagine yourself as successful and become that – and it will become you. You have the blessing of God.

Remember:

#1. Stop using the word failure.
#2. Don’t take failure personally.
#3. Use your defects.
#4. Accept new ideas.
#5. Accept the fact that God is with you, your help in every need.
#6. Be brave; really brave. With God, take a new look at the old problem.
#7. Do what you have a passion for doing.
#8. Have a lasting power in doing it.
#9. Market a brand-new you.
#10. Be the success you seek.

God bless you!

PRAYER / MEDITATION_______________________

What an opportunity we share, to go to God and to know God on a personal basis. Right now, you are drifting away from past thoughts and opinions of who you think you are. You are drifting in spiritual consciousness into the light of truth, the truth that God speaks to you about you and for you. You are drifting away from past limitations that you have placed upon yourself.

You are directly blessed by God.

Jesus Christ is here in our midst, raising us up.

Rest in the silence of prayer …

With God, you are going beyond the failures you have had in your lifetime, and you are receiving a spiritual course correction. In prayer, you receive the illumination and the guidance, along with the incredible comfort of God.

In reassurance of resting in the power of God in the silence of prayer …

Jesus said, “You are a child of the living God. You have, within you, the all-creating power of the Christ. This power of the Christ radiates from you and blesses all you contact. We are connected in prayer. And in that connection, we are both agreeing to God’s will and God’s good.

Your life is God-given life and abundant living. Your life is made up of God’s strength. And your life is made up of new God-given courage because you know, without a doubt, that God is with you. You are patient. As you pray this day, you rest in God. You are not anxious about anything. You realize that God is working; you let go and you let God. God is magnificent. “How great Thou art!”

You are blessed by God.

Rest in the silence of prayer …

There is a peace inside of you that passes human understanding. It is at the core of your being. It is a well-being. You decree in prayer, in Jesus Christ’s name, that this feeling of well-being will stay with you, all the hours and minutes of this week.

You have a power inside of you to rise above past failures, to realize that it is nothing at all for a God connected spiritual person. And you are a spiritual victor because there is that within you that is helping you now and going higher.

In the silence of prayer you are agreeing with God …

Dear God, I wish to go up higher than I have ever gone before. I have realized Your presence, many times, in my life. I consent now to realizing it more. Dear God, I consent this day to realizing God in a new profound way. I know, dear God, that You are always fresh, new, and exciting. I pray that You are all those and more inside of me, this morning. I give thanks for Your presence.

Rest now, once more, for a holy moment, in the silence of prayer …

The grace of God is working in your life. The grace of God is alive. The grace of God is your assurance of all good things.

You are blessed by God.

In Jesus Christ’s name, we give thanks … Amen.

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GOD BLESS YOU,
Christopher Ian Chenoweth

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19Sep

Positive Daily Inspiration – September 19, 2022 – ABUNDANT BLESSINGS

Positive Daily Inspiration - September 19, 2022 - ABUNDANT BLESSINGS

NEW VIDEO TODAY – see below

“God brought me to the banqueting house, and God’s banner over me was love.”
Song of Solomon 2:4

Perhaps you feel that only through great effort will you attain truly abundant living. You may believe that because of something you have done or said, you are being denied health, security, or companionship. Such negative beliefs can cause you to turn your back to your good.

You turn towards your good as you recognize that God is the Creator and your source of unlimited good.

God loves you.

God’s unqualified love for you is a powerful force that manifests bountiful good in your life. You are – right now – abundantly blessed by God’s love, so today, ask for and accept your blessings from God with thanksgiving.

God’s Divine love brings you bountiful good in your life, and you cooperate with God by being a grateful receiver. A lot of people are not good receivers, and they block their own good. Today, you are a grateful receiver as you align your life with the goodness of God. With an aligned life you enjoy health of mind, body, and emotions. In all ways, you are abundantly blessed.

Abundance in your life is founded on a prosperous state of mind. Through the activity of the Holy Spirit, you know that you are rich in Spirit. You know that your good comes from God. You feel secure, for you have the inner resources to meet any need.

Most of God’s blessings do not cost money. I was in Canada last week for a few heavenly hours next to Niagara Falls. I walked for about three miles exploring, with a perfect temperature and a light breeze. It was breathtaking in its beauty, and it was all for free for me to enjoy as God’s child.

Psalms 1:3 states, “In all that he does, he prospers.”

As God ministers to you, you develop an abundant state of mind. Become still in prayer and immerse yourself in the beauty that God has given. As you meditate and pray on abundance, it opens the way for outer manifestations of your inner riches.

The greatest abundance that you have as a child of God, is being immersed in God’s love. As you become aware of this and accept it, you have harmony and happiness in your personal relationships. You attain the experience, education, and skills for right and steady employment. You have whatever you need to ensure success in any area you choose to explore. When you continually accept that you are blessed by God, you cannot help but demonstrate this truth in your life.

You know that God is the source of your abundance, and you accept the good that is yours to enjoy. You are open to all ways and opportunities through which God’s riches will flow to you.

POSITIVE DAILY PRAYER:

A Prayer for The Children of Our World as they start another school year:

God’s wonderful Presence is now
blessing all the children of the world.
Each one is now held safely in the arms of God
who guides and protects them all through the day and night.
All parents everywhere are now being filled
with loving-kindness, patience, and wisdom.
All the resources necessary to raise a healthy, happy, and successful child
are now being drawn into their lives.
There are more than enough resources in the
Universe to care for all the children of the world and even now
the leaders and citizens of every country and nation are being
Divinely guided and supported to care for the health, educational,
spiritual, financial, and emotional needs of the worlds youth.
Every school, park, playground, and home is protected and
held perfectly in the hands of God.
Here and now, I give God my hands, my feet, and my voice
to be used to make the world a safer and more
wonderful place for all children to grow and thrive in.
I allow myself to be used in the service of helping
to raise up a society of healthy and happy adults.
I send out my loving thoughts now as a beacon of light
which shines outward into every street of the world,
blanketing the globe with God’s love and safety.
We are all healed together.
The family, whatever form it takes, is restored
by Divine Love this very day.
I thank You Lord for hearing my prayer and for the
manifestations of good which now follow –
I release this prayer to You now in full faith knowing that it is done
by Your Holy Spirit for the highest good of all concerned.

And so, it is.

In Jesus Christ’s name … Amen

POSITIVE DAILY AFFIRMATION: I have faith that God’s loving understanding Spirit is now dissolving all blocks and establishing opportunity and right conditions in my life.

POSITIVE DAILY QUOTE: “If you are not failing regularly, you are living so far below your potential, you’re failing anyway.”
Gregg Levoy

_____

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GOD BLESS YOU,
Christopher Ian Chenoweth

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18Sep

Positive Daily Inspiration – September 18, 2022 – Sunday Funnies

Positive Daily Inspiration - September 18, 2022 - Sunday Funnies

(Submitted with our great thanks)

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:25

My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned. Couldn’t concentrate.

Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the ax.

After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn’t suited for it. Mainly because it was a so-so job.

Next, I tried working in a muffler factory but that was exhausting.

I wanted to be a barber, but I just couldn’t cut it.

Then I tried to be a chef. I figured it would add a little spice to my life but I just didn’t have the thyme.

I studied a long time to become a doctor, but I didn’t have any patients.

I became a professional fisherman but discovered that I couldn’t live on my net income.

I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining.

So, then I got a job in a gymnasium, but they said I wasn’t fit for the job.

Next, I found being an electrician interesting, but the work was shocking.

After many years of trying to find steady work, I finally got a job as a historian until I realized there was no future in it.

My last job was working at Starbucks, but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind.

_____

After much careful research, it has been discovered that the artist Vincent Van Gogh had many relatives. Among them were:
His dizzy aunt … Verti Gogh
The brother who ate prunes … Gotta Gogh
The brother who worked at a convenience store … Stopn Gogh
The grandfather from Yugoslavia … U Gogh
The cousin from Illinois … Chica Gogh
His magician uncle … Wherediddy Gogh
His Spanish cousin … Amee Gogh
The Spanish cousin’s American half brother … Grin Gogh
The ballroom dancing aunt … Tan Gogh
A sister who loved disco … Go Gogh
The nephew who drove a stage coach … Wellsfar Gogh
His arrogant uncle … E Gogh
An aunt who taught positive thinking … Wayto Gogh
The little bouncy nephew … Poe Gogh
And his niece who travels the country in a van … Winnie BayGogh

_____

The math teacher saw that little Johnny wasn’t paying attention in class. She called on him and said, “Johnny!?

What are 2, 4, 8 and 10?” Little Johnny quickly replied, “NBC, CBS, ABC, and the Cartoon Network!”

_____

A man walks out to the street and catches a taxi just passing by. He gets into the taxi and the driver says, “Perfect timing. You’re just like Frank.”

Passenger: “Who?”
Cabbie: “Frank. Frank Feldman. He’s a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Frank every single time.”

Passenger: “There are always a few clouds over everybody.”
Cabbie: “Not Frank. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the Grand-slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano. He was an amazing guy.”

Passenger: “Sounds like he was something really special.”

Cabbie: “There’s more. He had a memory like a computer. He remembered everybody’s birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to use. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out. But Frank could do everything right.”

Passenger: “Wow, some guy then.”

Cabbie: “He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good. He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong. And his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too. He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank Feldman.”

Passenger: “An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?”

Cabbie: “Well, I never actually met Frank. He died and I married his wife.”

POSITIVE DAILY PRAYER:

Dear God, I am so thankful that You fill me with Your light and show me the way. You gently guide me so that I am sure and steady. You lead me to a place where I can be most helpful, and You remind me to be confident and stand firm once I am there. You direct my thoughts so that I am enriched by Divine ideas. Dear God, here are my hands, my heart, my whole being. I want to be Your light and love in action. I am ready to spread goodwill wherever I am.

In Jesus Christ name … Amen

POSITIVE DAILY AFFIRMATION: I applied my efforts with God. God’s joy is established in me and in my life. God’s joy governs me in all that I do!

POSITIVE DAILY QUOTE: “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”
Woodrow Wilson

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17Sep

Positive Daily Inspiration – September 17, 2022 – Saturday Inspiration

Positive Daily Inspiration - September 17, 2022 - Saturday Inspiration

(Submitted with our great thanks)

“The kingdom of God is among you.” Luke 17:21

THE WEATHERED OLD BARN

A stranger came by the other day, with an offer that set me to thinking. He wanted to buy the old barn that sits out by the highway. I told him, right off, he was crazy. He was a city type; you could tell by his clothes, his car, his hands, and the way he talked. He said he was driving by and saw that beautiful barn sitting out in the tall grass, and wanted to know if it was for sale. I told him he had a funny idea of beauty.

Sure, it was a handsome building, in its day. But then, there’s been a lot of winters pass with their snow and ice and howling wind. The summer suns beat down on that old barn ’til all the paint’s gone, and the wood has turned silver, gray. Now the old building leans a good deal, looking kind of tired. Yet, that fellow called it beautiful.

That set me to thinking. I walked out to the field and just stood there, gazing at that old barn. The stranger said he planned to use the lumber to line the walls of his den, in a new country home he’s building down the road. He said you couldn’t get paint that beautiful. Only years of standing in the weather, bearing the storms, and scorching sun, only that can produce beautiful barn wood.

It came to me then. We’re a lot like that, you and I. Only it’s on the inside that the beauty grows with us. Sure, we turn silver, gray too … and lean a bit more than we did when we were young and full of sap. But the good Lord knows what God’s doing. And as the years pass, God is busy using the hard wealth of our lives, the dry spells, and the stormy seasons, to do a job of beautifying our souls that nothing else can produce. And to think how often folks holler because they want life easy!

They took the old barn down, today, and hauled it away to beautify a rich man’s house.

And I reckon, someday, you and I’ll be hauled off to Heaven to take on whatever chores the good Lord has for us on the Great Sky Ranch.

And I suspect we’ll be more beautiful than for the seasons we’ve been through here … and just maybe even add a bit of beauty to God’s house.

___________

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS in modern language.

1) I will look ONLY to God for the source of my good.

2) I will not think my life is lacking of anything. God gives all I need.

3) I will not speak the words of lack or limitation.

4) I will let go and let God do it.

5) I will deal honorably with God and all people. God’s good is in all people and all things.

6) I will not have harmful thoughts toward anybody or anything.

7) I will use my God-given, spiritual power for good only.

8) I will not seek something for nothing.

9) I will be honest with God and myself.

10) I will not limit myself by wanting that which is another’s. With God’s help, through prayer, I will create my own.

POSITIVE DAILY PRAYER:

Dear God, in faith I know there is always a way.
As I place my faith in You my faith grows by leaps and bounds.
I ask You to help me to open the door to new good and new blessings.

Thank You God. In Jesus Christ’s name … Amen

POSITIVE DAILY AFFIRMATION: I seek God and God answers!

POSITIVE DAILY QUOTE: “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” Robert Louis Stevenson

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16Sep

Positive Daily Inspiration – September 16, 2022 – STEADFASTNESS

Positive Daily Inspiration - September 16, 2022 - STEADFASTNESS

“Let steadfastness have its full effect.”
James 1:4

Steadfastness is a powerful asset to any human life. Awareness of the presence of God will strengthen and fortify you. Knowing that your life is one with God and God’s love, you are able to surmount difficulties with courage and to rise above setbacks and obstacles.

You rejoice and give thanks for the progress that you are making in your spiritual growth. From each successive achievement, you are further inspired to go forward to better and greater things. You consider impediments or roadblocks to be challenges to merrily spur you on to become the person you want to be. You realize such blocks to progress serve as valued opportunities for self-examination and as a means of strengthening your aims. With God, you rise above discouragement. If one way does not work, you try another, and another. Nothing stops the forward action of you and God.

Continued contact with God, in prayer, gives you resourcefulness, confidence and lasting steadfastness. No person, condition, situation, or attitude can keep you from fulfilling your goals. As Jesus said, you are one with God. God guides you into the true expression of your particular abilities and talents.

All of life changes when you come to know that God made the world and everyone in it. God created humans in God’s spiritual image. The true nature of every human is love. It is easy to be steadfast when we realize that we are going from one expression of love to another. Is it unrealistic to think this way? No! It is true that many are not yet expressing from this high spiritual point – but you can. You can be steadfast in kindness and in love, and light the path for others to follow.

Once you awaken to this realization, then no matter what anyone may express, you will hold steadfastly to the truth that the other person’s true nature is love. You will find people reacting differently to you, for they cannot help but express what you know to be true about them.

No longer would you hold adverse thoughts concerning anyone. Instead, you will be steadfast in knowing that love is the reality of their being. No longer would you feel apart from any person or group. You will not think that someone does not like you. You will take it for granted that all people like you, because they, too, are created out of God’s love. Knowing this, you will feel in harmony and in accord with everyone.

In Romans 8:31-35 our Bible states, “If God is for us, who is against us? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

So, instead of stopping, you decide to keep steadfast, empowered by God, determined to seek after and manifest your God-given good.

POSITIVE DAILY PRAYER:

You will your on your ear starting work right now Dear God, in prayer, I enter consciously into an awareness of Your presence. I lift my thoughts, my voice to You in prayer, and my body responds with new surges of healing activity. I am continually being healed as Your spirit renews my body. Thank You for enlivening me with new life. Your spirit is at the core of my body in wondrous expression. Dear God, my prayer is that I remain aware of Your presence, Your life living out through me.

In Jesus Christ’s name … Amen

POSITIVE DAILY AFFIRMATION The strength and vitality of God are now manifest in me.

POSITIVE DAILY QUOTE: “Every second you spend looking for something outside yourself is another second you spend away from your true self.”
Jeffreys

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Christopher Ian Chenoweth

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15Sep

Positive Daily Inspiration – September 15, 2022 – Breakthroughs

Positive Daily Inspiration - September 15, 2022 - Breakthroughs

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
Isaiah 43:19

There is an ancient drawing depicting what a human being is like. The ancient drawing has a person riding on two horses: one foot is on one horse, one foot is on the other horse, and the person holds a steady rein and balances between them. Truly, that is what each one of you is doing: you are riding on two horses.

One horse represents the human, and the other horse represents the Divine. How well do you balance? If you concentrate on riding one horse, and just putting your foot on the other one, you will stay on, but, if you go from human to the Divine, Divine to human, you will probably fail. You are human, but you are also a child of God. Balance is the key.

You have to remember that there is not one of you, but two of you. When you get to the end of your rope, the end of your bridge, the end of your way – remember – that you are not alone! Even though the human horse had a failure, there is something else, around you, and within you – with you this moment–that cannot fail, and knows the perfect way to the next avenue of life. It is a way that can make your trip an incredible, blissful journey in spite of your past human mistakes.

Remember not to look too much behind, especially if it has been a painful past.

We must look forward and move towards our future with great resolve.

The past may have had some human breakdowns, but with God, the future holds Divine breakthroughs.

Beyond your hat and your boots there lies much to discover. There are two selves with great power: two selves that have all possibilities. The oneself by itself will continue to stumble and fall. There is another self-connected to the Divine. You have spiritual DNA within you.

When you combine the two, you have a force in the world to do great things. Jesus urged you to do great things, but the lower human self, working alone, is often locked into self-images of limitation.

The best way to develop self-confidence and to make a new start is to realize that you are not alone. Realize that you do not have to do it by yourself. God is with you. God knows the way. God knows the words to say. God knows the thoughts and has the wisdom to think through your mind.

God is the God of breakthroughs.

If you have had a breakdown in your life, realize that it can be a breakthrough if you allow God to break through you, to act through you, to use you, and move through you.

How well you cope with a negative event determines the kind of person you will become. With God your future can be a wonderful time for you if you are willing to let go of the bad and accept the good. Know that God goes ahead of you on your path to make it an exciting adventure. The point to remember here is this: the way to cope with failure is to realize that the failure is NOT final. It is just a redirection in your life toward success.

POSITIVE DAILY PRAYER:

A Church in the Heart

Surely the Lord is in this place.
This is none other but the house of God.
Who builds the church within their heart
And takes it with them everywhere
Is wholly by far than those whose church
Is but a one day house of prayer.
(Based on Genesis 28:16)

POSITIVE DAILY AFFIRMATION: God will see me through any change and on to a new beginning.

POSITIVE DAILY QUOTE: “Say not, I have found the truth, but rather, I have found a truth. Say not, I have found the path of the soul, Say rather, I have met the soul walking upon my path. For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.” Kahlil Gibran

_____

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GOD BLESS YOU,
Christopher Ian Chenoweth

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15Sep

Positive Daily Inspiration – September 14, 2022 – TRUST IN GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART

Positive Daily Inspiration - September 14, 2022 - TRUST IN GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart … In all your ways acknowledge God, and God will make straight your paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6

Faith in God is a deep inner knowing that the good that you are seeking is already seeking you. When Jesus was praying, he always gave thanks in advance because he knew, without a doubt, that the good that He was seeking was already His.

Faith contains within itself tremendous power to heal, to bless, and to bring good into manifestation in your life.

When you establish yourself on the firm foundation of faith in God, you experience life as something to be lived, happily and harmoniously. Faith in God strengthens spiritual qualities within you. You build upon this new strength, rather than leaning on previous, limited understanding.

You trust in God with all your heart and in all your ways acknowledge God. You look for and find the good in ALL things. You no longer doubt or have distrust. You no longer have worry or fear. You no longer criticize or condemn. Every time you give love, it returns multiplied. Praise God, who gives you an understanding heart. You utilize the talents and abilities that you have; you become more involved with life and have more enthusiasm for living. You know that to function with the firm foundation of faith is to still the troubled waters and to make the crooked places straight.

You trust in God so much that you do not allow other people to bring you down.

If you find yourself reacting negatively to the opinions of others, you become still, in prayer, and know that God is in this situation; you let God’s love fill your heart with goodwill and understanding. Trusting in God with all your heart, you rise above human hurt feelings.

You neither condemn nor feel condemned. Jesus says, in Luke 6:37, “Condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

You respect the right of others to choose the direction of their lives, and you bless them as they continue in the way they have chosen. You give thanks for God-given tolerance and understanding, as you trust God in all your heart to bring about good in others’ lives.

There are times when you need to make an effort towards reconciliation for the sake of another who has misunderstood your motives and seemed to misjudge you. These actions can be made in love and with sincerity, since the love of God continually infills you.

Today, you are established on a firm foundation of trust in God. How much happiness comes into your life when you fully trust in God and look for the good that is coming into your life, with faith and hope.

POSITIVE DAILY PRAYER:

As I concentrate on God, everything in my life falls into place.
As I concentrate on success, as I concentrate on forgiveness, as I concentrate
on plenty, as I concentrate on Divine love, as I concentrate on the best
in myself, as I concentrate on loving myself, as I concentrate on loving
my neighbor, everything in my life falls into place. And it falls in a way
that I can truly enjoy it.

Thank You God for helping my concentration.

POSITIVE DAILY AFFIRMATION: I am concentrated on becoming a better person by serving God in new ways.

POSITIVE DAILY QUOTE: Deciding not to choose is still making a choice.

_____

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GOD BLESS YOU,
Christopher Ian Chenoweth

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13Sep

Positive Daily Inspiration – September 13, 2022 – Tuesday Prayer and Meditation

Positive Daily Inspiration - September 13, 2022 - Tuesday Prayer and Meditation

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory. For the sake of Thy steadfast love and Thy faithfulness”
Psalms 115:1

I ask you to get comfortable in your quiet place, your place of being alone with God. Relax every muscle and let those words of the Psalmist occupy your mind. You are the writer of those words; they are your prayer. Close your eyes and ears to every outer circumstance and allow thankfulness to permeate your entire being. Realize your oneness with God, your neighbors, your foes, your rivals. You are one with all humans. Your heart swells as you realize your kinship with all life, all are one with God as you are one with God.

Rest in the silence of prayer …

There is a unity in the universe. In the mood of wonder, joy, and love, contemplate the words a phrase at a time.

“Not to us, Oh Lord.” We get no credit. All good comes from You, God. We listen, act, and receive the benefits. Benefits we often haven’t earned, but that fact doesn’t shame us. It makes us even more thankful for Your love.

“Not to us, … but to Thy name give glory.” We remember that “name” means “nature.” We are giving glory to God’s nature, God’s compassion, God’s forgiveness. Our love for You, God, overwhelms us. All this and heaven too, the whole of the idea floods us with Your love. We are able to love our enemies living in Your nature.

Rest in the silence of prayer …

I ask you to pause and think of something that you have against someone. As you contemplate this, you will see the insignificance of your complaint. This is the time to allow the love of God to come through you.

You forgive all parties to the incidents, including yourself. We have no enemies, only brothers and sisters.

Rest in the silence of prayer …

This is the time not only to think of God’s love, but to allow the love of God to come in and through you, forgiving all those who you hold anything against. You will do so as we listen to the words of the old hymn Rock of Ages.

Rock of ages,
Truth divine,
Strong foundation, ever mine.
Safe, secure, I here remain,
In the peace God doth ordain.
Living ever in the fight,
Pure and perfect in God’s sight.

On the rock of Truth I stand,
Destiny at my command.
Filled with peace and power of God,
Boundless good, eternal love,
Safe with Truth, so firm and strong,
Praising in triumphant song.
For the asking I attain
Every height in Truth’s domain,
Every wish within my heart;
For no blessing can depart.
All of good is ever mine,
On the rock of Truth divine.

Rest in the silence of prayer …

God’s love gives us the ability to do good even to those who have spitefully used us. For the sake of Thy steadfast love and Thy faithfulness, we are only repaying in a small way what we have received.

God has forgiven us so many times. We try to emulate God’s goodness. We forgive as we have been forgiven, with no reservations, and with no exceptions.

Dear God, this morning we say with the Psalmist, “Not to us.” Use us in bringing to pass the good you want to give us all. We are open and receptive.

We thank You through the name and nature of Jesus Christ, Amen.

POSITIVE DAILY AFFIRMATION: Thank You, God, for blessing me with Your many gifts.

POSITIVE DAILY QUOTE: “The smallest, good deed is better than the grandest good intention.” Duguet

_____

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GOD BLESS YOU,
Christopher Ian Chenoweth

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12Sep

POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON – Renewed Rest

POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON - Renewed Rest

Time Sensitivity: none

A FREE GIFT FOR CLERGY

Positive Written Sermons is a FREE service of Positive Christianity to those ACTIVE IN CLERGY MINISTRY to ease your burdens in ministry. Each positive sermon is non-denominational; feel free to tailor to your denominational needs, or personal style. We consider our sermons to be 90% complete; they await your personal stories and anecdotes.

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NEW VIDEO TODAY – see below

(Have a candle – hold sideways – have wick uncovered on both ends.)

Right now, I am lighting a candle with wicks on both ends. The problem is that this candle is very representative of a lot of our lives. We are burning the candle at both ends. We are working, night and day. Many of us are exhausted.

A lot of people are experiencing overwhelming stress and burn-out in their physical body. Are you?

We are designed by God to work then rest. God wants us to renew.

A great number of women are experiencing a juggling of their careers, their homes, and their children. Men also, who sometimes are working two and three jobs in this economy, and retired people who find they are giving more and more to family and they do not have anything left for themselves. Over time, these people find they are like an empty cup, and people are still asking them to give more, but they do not have anything to give. They are drained and depleted, and they do not have anything left to give to themselves or to anyone else.

When you have the candle burning on both ends, burn-out can come very quickly.

However, it is very interesting — if you blow out one side, the candle will last much longer. You do not have human energy to keep it burning on both sides for long. With God’s light of God’s full help you are burning with a full flame, a higher flame, a brighter flame. But you are being recharged at the same time, and you are continually causing the flame to glow and grow.

It never burns out. God creates the perpetual flame.

We have to ask the question when we are going through the stress in our lives, “Who am I? Why am I here? Here I am, a human body, but exactly what am I?” If I am in burnout, or if I have stress that is overwhelming in my life, I look into the mirror, and I am just a bundle of negative energy working against myself. I dread each morning because I know I am not at my best anymore. I wonder how in the world I am ever going to get my full power back again.

God gives full power again.

You may wonder when you look into the mirror, who exactly am I? Am I more than hair, eyes, nose, and mouth? Am I just a bundle of things inside of myself that I do not know? Am I fear, anger, and distress? Am I feeling old? Am I feeling depleted? Every time someone asks you to do something for them, do you feel you hardly have anything to give because you are empty?

We have all felt this way. When you go to school, sometimes you work so much (night and day) that you feel depleted. You wonder, “How am I going to go through another day? How am I going to have the wisdom in me to pass that test?”

God knows of your emptiness.

God CAN turn it around.

Everyone knows someone that is going through this right now. Even though this lesson might not be for you personally, it will help to equip you to understand what family members or friends may be facing.

What do you live for? Do you remember when we were teenagers what we lived for? We lived for joy. Every second of every day was for joy. We know this. We see this again when we watch our children or grandchildren. The major thing in their lives, everything they do in every moment, is for joy. They are constantly searching and looking with their eyes and their whole being for things to do to infill their lives with joy.

But something happens to us over time.

We become a young man or young woman, and we go to work. We go to work with great excitement because we say to ourselves, “You know, this is going to give me more money so I can have more fun with my life. I will be able to do those things that I have always wanted to do. I can take those trips. I can buy all those things. I can do all the things I have dreamed of.”

Early on, we choose our work to improve the quality of our lives. Early on, we work so we can have more joy. But then something happens; we work so we can have more work. Our work becomes an all-encompassing thing in our lives. We work so we will receive our rewards from others at work, so we might be promoted. And if we work hard, we get the reward – and of more work. Suddenly, we see that the joy we once had is gone. We are just working.

God can give you profound renewal.

If we notice that the candle is burning at both ends, and we are tired. Suddenly, we wonder: “What in the world is going on? Where did the fun of life go? What happened to the joy I used to feel? Why am I feeling so depleted?”

Again, I repeat, this can happen at any stage in life. Sometimes, we feel more tired in retirement, or when we become a caregiver for another adult. We just wonder where more needed energy is going to come from.

We notice other people. Some people seem invigorated by life. They seem directed by God, daily. Some people live life with so much fun and their lives seem to be a continuous playground in God’s kingdom. They are invigorated and become more productive as the years go by. They are not working alone, God is working through them, and God is doing most of the work. God brings Divine ideas into the human mind, Divine direction into career path and constant inspiration. God is the creator of energy and life.

Yet, we see people who wander aimlessly; drained like a discharged battery, almost out of energy. We wonder why? If we are wondering about ourselves, if that other person staring at us in the mirror – is us, we ask “How can I turn it around?”

There is no better time or place to do this than on Labor Day weekend. This is the whole reason for this holiday – to rest from our labors and to renew; to reflect on God and to have that cleansing and renewing of the Divine come through us in a very special and holy way.

Everything can change with prayer. We can find new energy, we can find new hope, and we can find a new career path if we need one.

There are three stages to the discharge of the battery that is called you – stress, brownout, and burnout. I want to share with you these three stages.

Stage #1 burnout – Stress: You feel physical and emotional exhaustion. You sleep all night long, but you wake up feeling exhausted. You do not know why, but you do.

This may also involve the development of a negative self-attitude. You begin to look in the mirror, and you do not think you are as special as you used to be. You do not know why, but something has changed.

This carries over into every aspect of your life. You may have a negative job attitude. You may have a loss of concern for others. You may have a feeling of being locked-in by your job routine. And you may have a growing state of fatigue.

Inside of yourself, you may have a churning anger and increased irritability. You may have a loss of enthusiasm and zest for living. Your need for a ten-minute nap after work may have turned into a need for a two-hour sleep.

If and when you fall asleep at night, you may toss and turn. Getting up in the morning is exhausting. Even choosing clothes for the day becomes a major, problem-solving situation.

Those that are in this stage, look into the mirror, the cycle seems unbreakable. They do not know how to get out of this feeling. In time, there is this attitude: “So, who cares anyway? I am going to be this way, and that is just the way it is. Who cares?”

Physically, they may have persistent headaches, stomach upsets, body aches, even skin disorders. They have a growing feeling of incompetence, fragmentation, and alienation. They try to overcome by pushing harder and longer.

At this time, this is all they know. All they know is the rewards of work. They have forgotten the rewards of joy. Therefore, they push harder and longer, depleting whatever energy they have left. If you relate to stage I, ask for God’s help.

Stage #2 burnout (brownout): This is the time we may become silent. Even when our opinions are sought by others, we appear sullen and angry, at all times. We use all our energies to resist the psychological and emotional overloads. The feelings inside of us are of overwhelming fear, but we do not know what we are afraid of. We have anxiety. We feel helpless.

Many find when they are in stage #2 burnout that it is hard or impossible to ask for help. They do not want to admit to anyone else that they are feeling this way.

Our feelings lead to doubt, paranoia, and inadequacy. Giving the best to the work now almost seems like a joke. Your original motives for entering your career cannot be remembered. They become very hazy or even questionable.

If you relate to stage II, ask for God’s help.

Stage #3 burnout: The energy to deal with the demands of a job and home life has been depleted. A person in this stage has a great cynicism about their work, their career, and everything else about their lives. They experience alienation, withdrawal, and defeat.

Social contacts take an exorbitant amount of energy which is also not available on the job or at home. They feel resigned to the fact that they are just not good enough anymore. Something has happened, and they want to escape.

Have you ever heard about people who just come into work one day and quit? They do not tell anybody about it.

They leave a good job and a good career. They have been in a decline for a while, and they do not know why. They do not talk to anybody about it, and when you least expect it, they are gone.

This also happens in relationships, family and friendships. Have you ever heard about marriages where all of a sudden, he or she comes home and the spouse is gone? Stage #3 burnout is a very possible reason for this occurrence.

Our human minds and bodies are like batteries. If we give and give and give, and then find we do not have any power left, we are like the person who is being held under water, fighting for air. Or we are like the cornered animal which has to fight its way out for its life. Reasoning does not come in at the point of stage #3 burnout. The person is going to run and do anything he or she can (without consideration of others) to find his or her life again.

When we are in this situation, (and, hopefully, before we reach stage #3), how do we turn it around? What can we do? Stress, brownout, and burnout are preventable in the first place. You can prevent this.

Stress is caused by resistance.

Let’s imagine that this lectern is some event in our lives. The first thing we do when we see the event is view the event within our minds and decide about it. We call the event good, or we call it bad.

If we call it bad, immediately there is a response that comes inside of us that mentally builds stress. Stress has its source in how we interpret the event. If we interpret it as bad, then our response will be resistance, and stress will be produced.

If Jesus was here, what would He say? He would say, “If you want to get out of burnout, resist not evil. Turn the other cheek. Go the second mile. Love your enemies.”

He told us to love, forgive, bless, and pray. We thought He was just talking about people, but He was also talking about the event or whatever causes us stress in our lives.

If something causes us stress, we have allowed that inside of ourselves. How much better to resist NOT the evil or the error, mentally? How much better to love it where it is and let it be? How much better it is to go into our situations, whatever they may be, with love inside of us instead of a resistance that is tearing us apart at the core of our beings.

When I tell you to love, forgive, bless, and pray, I am not teaching you to become a doormat, and I am not teaching peace at any price. I am simply saying to not mentally fight something.

If you go into a situation that you do not like, or something is happening that you do not like, the main thing is that it is going to stay there. The important thing is how you handle it in your mind.

Do not allow it to affect you, or it will have total power over you.

How much better it is to go to God and say, “God, help me to flow with this situation. God, help me to have power over this situation, and help me to flow with the event.”

You have heard this before – Here are two rules to follow:
#1. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
#2. It’s all small stuff.

When an event enters our lives, we can choose how we relate to it.

Allow me to share a story with you.

This is a true story about a couple who was driving in the high mountains. They were driving, talking to one another, and all of a sudden, the driver missed the curve. They went over the side of a cliff at 55 miles per hour.

When you go over a cliff at 55 miles per hour, that is about as bad as life can get. You know, in your rational thinking, that this is the end – you are not going to get through this.

As their car was sailing down, the woman said that as they silently said their prayers, a great peace overcame them. They decided they were going to enjoy this – what a view there is from there! They were sailing down at hundreds of miles per hour and they were at peace. They just knew that everything was going to come out okay.

As the car approached the ground, it landed on a beaver’s dam which broke the fall. After the car had come to a stop, the couple looked at each other and realized they did not have a bruise or a scratch on them. The opened the doors of the car (which was slowly sinking as the beaver’s dam was sinking) and climbed onto the roof of the car. They smiled and laughed with each other.

At that point, someone was driving by and noticed the skid marks going off the cliff. They parked their car, looked down, and saw the couple laughing and smiling, sitting on top of their car. This person called a tow truck which came and towed the car out of the beaver pond. The car did not have a scratch on it, and it started up immediately. Locals who had been by that way hundreds of times said, “The interesting thing is that we have never seen a beaver pond here before.”

Flow with life. Here are some suggestions you may want to consider if you are in this type of a situation.

1. Make a list of things that are stressing you. What are the stressors in your life? Make a list, and then put it in two columns. Be very honest with yourself.

Title column #1: The Changeable Things and list the stresses you can change with God’s help.

Title column #2: Unchangeable Things. Under this heading list the things you cannot change.

If you look up in the sky, tonight and say, “I cannot stand that moon; it stresses me,” realize that for things you put in the unchangeable column you are going to have to change your opinion about them. The moon is not going to change. But there are changes you could make.

Make a contract with yourself to change at least one thing a month from your “Changeable” column with God’s help.

Make a contract with yourself to change your opinion of about one thing per month in your unchangeable column with God’s help.

2. Physical exercise releases the energy that is held within you so tightly. Unless the energy is released, it will remain, and it will work against you.

3. Remember, if you are in Stage #3 burnout, you may be like a caged animal. You are going to react to everything. You are fighting for air. Instead of a react, have a “me-act.” This is something you do for yourself. Give yourself permission to play again. This is not as easy as it sounds, because the last thing you will want to do is play and relax. One woman gave herself permission to go to the movies once a week; a man started to play golf again. Both people had to pray to God for the energy to play again.

Jesus said, did He not, to become like a little child again? Say to yourself, “God, I value myself highly enough to play.” Second, do not make any goals for yourself during a me-act. This is not a time to be driven; rather it is a time to relax.

A man said that for his me-act, he was going to play more by jogging. He never had time to jog, but he loved to jog. Within a week or so, he was saying, “Today, I am going to jog 2 1/2 miles. Next week, I am going to jog four miles. Then, when he did not meet his goals, it caused more building of stress within him. Make sure you do not turn play into work.

Third, do only what you want to do. A me-act is not going over to your sister’s house and fixing her door because you have not had time to do it. This is something done by you and for you. Give yourself permission to play.

Take God home with you from church; take God to your work. If you have a watch with a timer or a cell phone, set it so that it will silently vibrate on the hour every hour. This is your signal to pray silently for one minute to increase your awareness of your help in every need. The more aware you are that God is working by your side, and God is working in and through you, the more you will dissipate human stress.

It is all about spiritual balance in our lives. When we are looking at our lives, we must put them back in balance again if something is out of kilter. Putting all your eggs in one basket and expecting to come out whole and healthy is irrational, and it is dangerous thinking that leads to an unbalanced, unhappy human.

We all need to perceive a world larger than the small world of our work. We must nurture our private selves, as well as our professional selves.

And last, we have to increase (ten-fold) our prayer time.

Prayer is the ultimate labor-saving device.

We have to give ourselves permission to continuously tap our every accessible energy source.

Doing this, you will speed out of burnout. You will release stress and you will become a new person–made whole again in the image of God.

The most misunderstood animal in the world is the ostrich. People think the ostrich puts his head in the sand to hide. But actually, the ostrich is hard of hearing and puts his head in the sand to tune into the vibrations of what is happening around him.

When we go apart for a while to pray, we are not putting our heads in the sand to hide. We are tuning into the vibratory force of God that will come through us, renew us, and recharge us, giving us ideas and helping us to go about our daily living, fully alive.

Let us pray:

Dear God, I have been running on my own energy way too long. I have been, at times, drained, I have been depleted. God, I ask for a Divine intervention in my life this moment, believing and knowing that as You come through me, there will be a Divine recharge. You will help me to regroup and renew.

God, I give you my mind and my body. I ask that You cleanse it of all fear, anger, and hidden anxiety within me. I pray that I will be made new this weekend. I pray that I will have the motivation and give myself the permission to play. I pray You will show me how to bring permanent lasting balance into my life again.

I agree that I will go toward the goal of 50% work and 50% play. I will, again, live for joy, happiness, and gladness. And I will rediscover You, moment-by-moment, as You live me living my new life.

In Jesus Christ’s name I give thanks for this … Amen.

PRAYER / MEDITATION________________________________

In this moment we pray with and become a part of God’s renewing life and energy.

This moment I ask you to give your prayer consciousness wholly and completely to consenting to the power of God working through you. We know that God is our help in every need–not just the big things, but everything.

Rest for a moment in the silence of prayer …

Dear God, we consent to You, right now. I pause from the outer activities of the day and concentrate on the inner, restful activity of God. There is, within me, a power greater than any problem or situation I may be facing. It is the power of God – all-knowing, all-providing, all-encompassing. The power of God is helping me meet each challenge with confidence, assurance, and peace.

In the stillness of prayer, I feel close to God, for I am aware only of Divine light, life, and love. I open my mind and heart to God. I let go of any anxiety and feel the inner peace that comes from knowing that I am Divinely empowered. This peace, strong and sure within me, stays with me through every moment.

Rest for a moment in the silence of prayer …

With a peaceful heart, I think only of God. God is always with me as my peace, my poise, my quiet power. In this peaceful awareness of God and the good that is mine, I silently affirm: Divine peaceful power permeates my life. I live in serenity.

My heart is peacefully centered in God. In this blessed state of awareness, I recognize the many wonderful ways in which I am guided through the challenges and decisions of life.

I am free from the darkness of doubt or indecision, for I have an inner light that shows me the illumined path. God is the light that shines through me. I allow this light to shine. I feel its radiance, its special glow within me and within the situations of my life.

Rest for a moment in the silence of prayer …

If you have a decision to make, you stop for a moment and turn your full attention to the light of God. This illumining power guides you and inspires you with ideas that you use to help yourself and others. You have a warm feeling of being loved, for you know that the light of God is always shining brightly within, helping you to do what is right.

Through the power of the spoken word, I decree: God’s Divine light shines through me right now. I make wise choices with God’s help.

Dear God, I am one with Your Divine life. This life flows within my mind and body as a steady stream of healing energy and strengthening power.

Your Divine life is doing its perfect work within my body. I know that there is no condition which Your Divine life cannot heal. There is now an abundant flow of healing life and energy within every atom, cell, tissue, and organ of my body.

Right now, dear God, I give thanks for healing life that flows within me. I know that it is greater than any illness I may be concerned about. I have thoughts inside my human mind of strength and wholeness. These thoughts help the healing process by enabling me to be positive and to think of life and only life. The healing life of You, God, is always at work within me. I bless my body with prayer affirmations of health and strength.

Rest for a moment in the silence of prayer …

With a positive faith that healing is taking place in me now, in prayer I silently affirm: The life of God flows through me, right now. I radiate God’s health and energy.

God, I give thanks for peace, wisdom, and health that are mine through You. Clothed in Your Divine ideas, I feel very prosperous. Your bountiful goodness comes to me as love. It is always with me, surrounding me and filling my life with abundance for every need. I recognize it; I accept it; I give thanks for it.

With joy and appreciation, I open my mind and heart, completely, to Your Divine love and the power it has to bless me. I am centered in Your presence, God. I see the prospering power at work in my life. I no longer worry about the daily supply for my needs. Your love is my security, my prosperity, my success.

I affirm that abundant supply is now mine through Your prospering love. I am grateful. I trust You, God, to continually meet my needs. Divine love enriches me. My life is teeming with abundance.

Rest in the silence of prayer and accept the good that God has already prepared for you …

During this precious time of prayer, we have released our concerns and have felt the presence of God’s Divine peace, life, light, and love. As you move on to the activities of this day, we keep our thoughts centered on You, God, in the faith that unlimited good is now coming forth.

In Jesus Christ’s name we pray … Amen.

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12Sep

Positive Daily Inspiration – September 12, 2022 – The Journey of Your Life

Positive Daily Inspiration - September 12, 2022 - The Journey of Your Life

NEW VIDEO TODAY – see below

“Look after each other so that not one of you will fail to find God’s best blessings. Watch out that no bitterness takes root among you, for as it springs up it causes deep trouble, hurting many in their spiritual lives.”
Hebrews 12:15

You cannot have a happy ending to a miserable journey. Focus on bringing joy to your journey and you will find the secret to happiness.

True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess. Life is a journey, travel in faith with God. When your life is viewed as a journey, it helps you understand the twists and turns. When you view your life as a journey, you can look back with new understanding. Those turns and detours, that at one time seemed SO unnecessary, actually moved you to where you need to be today. Looking forward, you know that the road you take, today, leads you to a brand-new future – realize that you do not walk alone. This spiritual journey is like an upward spiral. We all know that our advances do not shoot straight up like a rocket, but rather slowly spirals upward. We may face something again, but we will not face it exactly in the same way, for we have been lifted up in our perception, and are viewing it from a higher vantage point.

M. Scott Peck said, “The great awareness comes slowly, piece by piece. The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning. The experience of spiritual power is basically a joyful one.”

Enjoy the journey of your life which God has given you – cooperate with God by having faith in God’s Presence on your path. God walks beside you, and ahead of you, on your path, holding steadfast love for you.

Travel on your journey in total faithfulness to God. God is by your side every day.

You will meet new people on your path and share the journey with them. Perhaps the greatest gift of all, is someone to share your life with. May God bring a new smile to your face every day. May God use this spiritual time to build up a deep reserve of soul relaxation, and joy in you, so every day, and long after, you enjoy your journey, ever aware of God’s indescribable gift. God is our tour guide, preparing a journey of a lifetime filled with joy. We share in the wonder of God celebrating discoveries together.

No one else can speak the words on your lips. Drench yourself in words unspoken. Live your life with arms wide open. Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten.

POSITIVE DAILY PRAYER:

God Bless The journey of my life.

This is God’s life the Creator gave to me to live. I live the harmless life neither giving or receiving offense in all my journeying. God’s hand guides my way. God’s wisdom chooses the way. God’s law of order and right adjustment is manifest in every area of my life now, and in the future. No fear alarms me for God’s presence blesses me continually with the spirit of peace. I am an emissary of God’s love. God’s wisdom inspires in me alertness, good judgment, and quick decision. God’s patience gives me time and courtesy. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and directs me in all my ways.

In Jesus Christ’s name. Thank You, God.

Amen.

POSITIVE DAILY AFFIRMATION: I do not travel alone; God is by my side.

POSITIVE DAILY QUOTE: “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
Meister Eckhart

_____

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