What Would You Leave Unfinished?

In the second chapter of Maximizing Your Potential, Myle Monroe asks a question that can be troubling if you really step back and think about it. He asks, "If you died tomorrow, what would be left unfinished?" For me, it would be three books that are not in print - but finished. It occurred to me that although it is a wonderful accomplishment that I have been able to write a couple more books - two of which are novels which were major breakthroughs in my life - of what consequence would it be if I died and they were never published? Although God delivered me of procrastination some years back, I still tend to use excuses for not getting things done in a timely manner. The fact is, if in my heart, I really believe that God has given me a gift that will improve the lives of others and impart insight that will be a blessing, I need to treat the offspring of that gift as the sacred treasure that it is. In other words, inside of me is a divine treasure that once released and shared can touch and multiply tremendously.

If you died tomorrow, what would be left undone? It is a powerful thing to think about and reflect upon. If nothing would be left undone because you have done nothing worthwhile with your life, that's one thing. Its a whole other thing if you have gifts that would bless the world and have started things but not finished them.

Maximizing Your Potential by Myles Monroe

I tend to be very careful about the books that I recommend, but this one is a keeper!!!! And, it has an excellent workbook in the back of it so that you can begin immediately to reflect and strategize about using the information right away. I've been telling anybody who will listen to purchase this book. I'd like to do a synopsis of each chapter in my weekly blog for those of you who are too lazy to go out and purchase the book and apply its principles to your life. The title of the first chapter is Why Maximize? Here is the subscript that introduces this chapter, "Nothing is more irritating, guilt-producing, and incriminating than an unfinished book; live to your last chapter."

In this chapter, Monroe shares that while traveling in Europe a friend invited him to take a drive on the autobahn. As you know, travelers are allowed to drive as fast as they want on the autobahn. His host in Germany invited him to go as fast as he wanted to with the only limitation being he would not be able to go any further than what the car was built to travel. Hold on to that point, we'll come back to it in a moment. As Monroe opened up the power of his vehicle, he found himself initially trapped by his conditioning of limitations. As his host kept challenging, he was able to get past that internal mechanisms that probably told him it was illegal to go so fast. When he got to 120 mph, he says a Mercedes Benz cruised past him at 150 mph. That is when his host turned to him and said, "So you see, you are not traveling as fast as you can, but only as fast as you will." Get the point? Once we get past our sense of limitations and what we can't do and how we aren't cut out to accomplish certain objectives, then we must deal with the fact that no matter what you have accomplished, it probably was not as much as you could have willed it to be. Finally, the only limitations you really have are the ones that God placed in you when he built you. Think about that for a week, and join me for the second chapter entitled, "How to Become Your Potential."

Dreaming in Technicolor

For many years I have wanted to start my own clothing line, but my friends kept telling me to finish my Ph.d. Well, guess what? I don't want a Ph.d! I want to start a clothing line. The issue has never been proving that I can do a Ph.d, the issue is whether another degree would serve my life in a way that is meaningful and contributes to who I am now as a woman. When was the last time you stopped to take stock of the activities you are involved in right now that are not even in line with what you really want in life? How did you get there? You may have gotten there because there was a time when you wanted what you are pursuing - but somewhere along the way you lost your passion for it. You may have gotten there because someone in authority in your life, prophesied that this was what they saw in your future. Problem is, in your heart of hearts, you never saw it, but because you placed so much faith in their ability to see, you swallowed their dream for your life.

It's time to stop, take a hard look at the season of life you are currently in, and make a decision to change course, or move full throttle ahead. As you take stock, let me ask you a question. What would you do if you could see into the future and could see that you not only had the wherewithal to get it done - but that it succeeded? What I want you to do is dream in technicolor. That means giving it life and letting it renew a spark in your soul. Starting my own clothing line - at my age (over 50) has been exhilarating and exciting. It is something I have always wanted to do and is totally illogical in terms of my background and training. But it is a dream that now has color, texture, and life!

Not By Chance

In one of my reflective moments just recently, I shuddered to think that I had almost missed God's will for my life. I looked back and wondered to myself what would have happened if I had failed to do something which was connected to something else which was connected to yet something else. Each thing in the chain was so critical to the moment of my life that I now found myself in, that I had a really bad moment as the understanding came to me that life is really very tenuous and vulnerable, and we can miss out on God's best by one bad decision. It was one of those things that I couldn't let go of and I needed the Lord to help me put things in perspective. You know what I mean? If it is true that success in life hangs by the thread of one bad or good decision, how could I ever know I was truly walking in divine purpose at any time in my life. The Lord spoke something to me at that moment that blessed me powerfully and that I want to share with you. I queried him, "Lord, what if I had made the wrong decision a year ago. What would it have cost me now?" The Lord answered, "You couldn't have made the wrong decision a year ago, because it wasn't your idea - it was mine." In other words, when we love the Lord and we truly want to do his will even when it feels like we are feeling around in the dark, his promises are true that he will never leave us or forsake us, and he will establish our going out as well as our coming in. His word also says that everything works out for the good for those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. Wow - that means I never have to be afraid of missing God's will for my life - when we walk in him and we allow him to walk in us, his very thoughts become ours.

Spoken Word Curses

As a deliverance minister, I am always surprised to learn that many people live their lives with an invisible chain around their necks. It usually takes the form of a spoken word curse inflicted by someone in authority. This individual could have been a parent, teacher, spouse, boss, even a pastor. (You'd be surprised how many pastors curse their own sheep.)

Spoken word curses are easily broken in the Name that is above every name - Jesus. When you break that curse over your life, believe the Word of God which says, "the curse causeless shall not stand." Don't get it twisted! Just because somebody speaks a curse forcefully and with a good dash of spookiness, doesn't make their theatrical show of intimidation potent. A curse can't stick to a child of God unless you put your trust in the power of that curse.

You must recognize a spoken word curse for what it is and decide that this day ends its destruction in your life! Then, declare the blessings of the Lord over your life. You must verbally do this and you must believe in your heart that the same God who wakes you up every day and who has said that he loves you with an everlasting love, would never side with destruction and death against, you, his beloved. The devil is not more powerful than God, folks - He is the one that created the devil!

One of my former leaders once tried to curse me for leaving her ministry. Can you imagine? I thought she had lost her mind. I have taught in the area of deliverance ministry and dealing with demonic spirits for years. She had sat under some of those same teachings. I recognized a curse when I heard one and couldn't believe she had the audacity to attempt to speak one over my life. After I got unmad, I declared her spoken word curse of no effect over my life. I was born in the night but not last night, and nobody gets to curse me and get away with it. I decided a long time ago that only God's Word is allowed to have the final authority in my life!

Whenever somebody tries to use their authority or headship over you to intimidate you or manipulate you into doing something they want, that is witchcraft pure and simple. Know what your rights are in Christ Jesus and refuse to tolerate it. If you let it take root in your life, one day it will be a tree and bear fruit in your life. Words have life and if you allow a spoken word curse to stand unchallenged in your life, you consent to it and walk in agreement with it. Break it now and do it verbally and with conviction.

What's On Your Mind?

All kinds of thoughts bombard the human mind on a moment to moment basis. Not all of these thoughts are good thoughts - even in the mind of a good person. So many of these thoughts are self-defeating, negative thoughts that can become self-fulfilling prophecies if allowed to develop a root system.

This train of self-defeating self-doubting, self criticism and harassing self-condemnation is deadly in that there is no one else besides you who can challenge its reign of terror in your mind. In other words, nobody can defend you against your own harassing self-thoughts. This mental beat down of your own self is secret, mostly brutal, and is hidden to the light and truth of day. Besides being mostly untrue, this private self harassment is also impossible to defend against because when we are angry at ourselves for foolish choices, we seldom consider both sides of the balance sheet in our judgement of ourselves.

So...what are YOU thinking about all of the time? What do you think of yourself? Take a daily check of the kinds of private thoughts that you think about yourself. It is one thing to correct yourself mentally for inappropriate behavior or bad decisions. It is a whole different matter to routinely nourish an unhealthy habit of nailing yourself to the cross in secret. To walk out the purpose on your life in purity and in strength, you must learn to embrace your own vulnerability and humanity. And, you must also learn to put self deprecating thoughts into balance and perspective! Yes it is a good thing to do self-reflection and to evaluate the way you responded to something or the mistakes you made with respect to a failed choice. No it is not a good thing to berate and harangue yourself for something that is in the past. Forgive yourself, rebuke yourself, laugh at yourself, hold yourself accountable, love yourself, celebrate yourself, be gentle with yourself...and keep growing and stretching!

Baby Steps

The Word of God says that "we should be careful for nothing..." - that means that we should not be anxious about anything - no matter how bad it looks. I am convinced that this is only hard to do if you tell yourself that it is. I have found great comfort in quieting myself before the Lord, reading a portion of scripture that speaks to my dilemma, and then prayerfully and quietly placing the matter into God's hands. The fact of the matter is that anxiety is nothing more than fear - and wherever there is fear, there is lack of trust and confidence.

The safest place in the whole wide world is the very center of God's way and will. In order to find it, you must search out his ways and then yield. I wonder sometimes if all of the worrying and fretting we do is not really fighting...that is, fighting against yielding. If you fight against yielding - you are really fighting against submission to God's decision. Why not make a decision to stop fighting against God's decision about a thing and just quietly yield. An old gospel hymn says..."oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, and it's all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."