Don't Live Your Life Insecure

Insecurity:
1. Not sure or certain; doubtful:

2. Inadequately guarded or protected; unsafe:

3. Not firm or fixed; unsteady:

4.Lacking stability; troubled:
5.Lacking self-confidence; plagued by anxiety:

There is nothing about this word that I like. Who wants to be unsure, doubtful, unsafe, inadequately guarded or protected, never fixed or firm in life, unsteady, lacking stability, plagued by anxiety, troubled and lacking self-confidence?

What a miserable life, and yet it is a lifestyle that many partake of every day. They get up to these attributes every morning and lay down with them every night. This is not the kind of life that God intended us to live.

God wants us to lie down in peace. He was us to rise to the dawning of every sunrise with these words on our lips, "This is the day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it."

People who live in insecurity do not know the character of God. God is Love and desires that you live your life total security. Psalms 91 is a excellent descriptive truth of the security that comes from a right life with God.


Psalms 91
1 ¶ He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9 ¶ Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.



Job 11:18 says:
...thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.


God wants us to know that there is both hope and help in Him. He wants us to understand a life of safety and confidence; one without fears or cares.

Insecurity comes to stop you from fulfilling your purpose in life, but there is a life of security through Christ Jesus. He came to give you life and that more abundantly.

To live insecure is to live with a defensive attitude. Insecure people seem to think when anyone does not totally agree with them are against them, or they put themselves down as being incompetent. When in reality, that is not truth, that is just being able to work together for an overall good.

A person who is insecure can display nervousness and social withdrawal, but can also express themselves through arrogance and aggression. Either way the person is moving in what they perceive to be threat to them . And for the insecure, most everything is a threat. They can even become paranoid. At this state they think everyone is against them.

Insecure people are most comfortable in an atmosphere where they are alone or have someone to cling to that is a 'yes man' so to speak. This person lets them always have their own way all the time. However, this is very unhealthy for both parties. A relationship that is built one sided is usual of a co dependent nature.

Here is the good knows YOU can OVERCOME insecurity. YOU can be FREE! You CAN live your life: sure; steady; stable; confident and free of worry and strife. But it will take you making adjustments. You have to change the way you think about things. You have to build a new belief system.

God's Foundational Truth Will Set You Free

1. Read the Word concerning who God has created you to be.
2. Make daily confessions concerning your value
3. Refuse to become to defensive ... and if you are a runner who withdraws refuse to run
4. Hold fast to your confessions of faith concerning the truth
5. Pray for boldness that is laced with grace


To overcome insecurity, a person must begin to value and respect themselves. Respecting yourself is not being arrogant and unteachable. It is not placing yourself higher than others, and it is not self promoting. Respecting yourself is to respect God and others and to see yourself as an equal.

If you want to be free from insecurity you must learn to stand on your own two feet and be able to look in the mirror an know what kind of man or woman you truly are. You have to be willing to change and be transformed daily to the better you. To be free from insecurity you will have to separate from codependent living, and learn how to work with people not use people for your personal promotion or benefit.

You can be free of insecurity!
But You must be willing to face reality.

Unless you are willing to admit to your insecure life without blaming someone or something else for all of your emotional dysfunction. You will remain the same. But if you will look in the mirror and say, Okay it is time for change. I am not living my life like this anymore. It is time for me to be able to move forward on my own two feet. If I fall I will get up, but I will get up on my feet, not on the crutches of another persons vision.

God never intended you to live in the shadow of someone other than Him. You are meant to cast your own shadow! But insecurity will keep you under others insomuch that your shadow will seem to be lost. Refuse to allow the enemy of insecurity to keep you from living the good life!

A Dramatic Moment

Have you every had one of those clean slate days. A day when nothing seemed to inspire you, nothing seemed to be written on your wall so to speak? Just a blank page, but a page that just kept staring at you saying "create!"

What do you do with this kind of day? Where do you find the inspiration; the motivation to put pen to paper, brush to canvas and walk away leaving your mark? Inspiration and motivation seem to be such powerful words. Words that move people to action.

Have you ever wanted to ask these two companions where in the World are you? Where have you gone? Who are you with today, please come quickly and speak into my life!

Inspiration:
The agent of influence
The act of drawing air into the lungs

Come quickly my agent, and breath in me.

Motivation:
The condition of being.
A force that works with influence.

Join your force with influence and cause me to revive to good works!

Sounds dramatic doesn't it? Thus the title "A dramatic moment."
Yet, I say, "speak Lord, your servant is listening."
You assured that you would cause breath to enter, and then life would appear, so let the inspirational winds blow, as I wait on you. As I take in your sweet aroma, basking in your presence.

Connect me to your power, and connect me yet to those who are connected. Bring us together like leaves that have blown in the Autumn breezes until they bumped into one another on planet earth.

Open the heavens and give vision to something more; the greater part and the glorious realm. Drop in the inventions, yet to be spawned. Inspire the books yet to be written and songs yet sung. Cause imaginations to run like rivers through our minds, like painters with palette in hand.

Break into this day Lord, into this generation with all of You; with all of your passion, compassion, creativity, magnificence, power and awe. Visit this generation and those to come, light the darkness of those dull of hearing and dim of sight. Break forth!

Break forth like the morning. Rise like the sun!
Come down in power like lighting that streaks through the sky, like veins of the universe, come and run through us.

Cause health to sprung up like lilies in the Spring and strength to come in torrents like summer rains that pound the ground like horses pawing; raring to run the race and wear the garland of roses. Come!

Come, inspiration with companion motivation! I bid you come!

In quietness and confidence is our Strength ...

If you could have the spoils of war or the blessings of the Lord which would you choose? As for me and my house we choose the Blessings.

I suppose it would help if I offered you my perceptive of spoils of war vs. blessings of the Lord. When I think on the spoils of war, I understand that Gold, Silver and many precious things may reside in the midst of the rubble. Already a point made ... in the midst of the rubble, not to mention the shed blood and the stench of death.

Where life, health, peace, joy and love had once been; now broken homes, looted businesses, weeping, sorrow, heartache, and orphaned children. Although there is stuff in the debris, it is stuff that has lost value because of the effects of war, broken shards that were once crystal vases, fine linens and name brand clothing but they are stained and torn, food is there but may be contaminated. Have I begin to paint you a picture.

One of my favorite text in the bible is from Psalms 46 ..."He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder .... "

I am so exhausted with people who are always in some spiritual war zone. I choose peace. I choose blessing. I choose life. Life that was offered me through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

There was a war ... it did rage. But the war I am speaking of was not a flesh war, it was a war within the realms of principalities and powers. Ego had been put away in the Garden (personal will put aside for God's best life through the mortification of the lust of the flesh).

Blood was shed ONCE, and for ALL, if we ever find in our hearts to believe and receive it. Jesus, Himself, spoiled principalities and powers making a show of them openly; and for whosoever will ... has caused wars to cease.

The fight for those found in Christ is simply this, 'THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH.' And as many have said before me, 'it is a good fight, because it is a fight in which the outcome is sure.' Faith is always the Victory!

Faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen. I understand that we have an enemy, but we also have already been made over-comers in this life, and in the life to come. Our job is to hold fast our profession of faith without wavering. It is not to wage war ... the battle is over.

There is no peace in war. I am not saying peace can not come out of war. When Hitler was igniting his war against the Jews, and everyone that did not surrender under his hand of tyranny, war was inevitable, and once the enemy was defeated, peace came to many lands. But those are flesh wars ... brought on by Ego and the need for power.

That same struggle for power, causes a war to rage within the human soul. The need for position, attention, and control.

Many people are looking to be led by the Spirit, and yet dealing with fighting within and without. Fighting that drown out the still small voice, and keeping them from going out in peace, and going forth in joy. Don't you think it is time to quite ourselves as a weaned child and find strength in our quietness and confidence?

Quietness and confidence does not mean that we do no have a voice. But it is a voice that carries weight without wars. It is a voice of wisdom, knowledge and good understanding. It is a voice backed by a supernatural God who can and will back faith's integrity. It a a voice given to prayer ... it is a life given to meditation ... and feet given to action!

As Jesus walked with us revealing God and teaching us how to live the good life. His voice was powerful enough to quiet the power seeking religious of the day, as well as shut devils up and evict them from peoples lives. But I never once recall him raging a war with the religious or with governments.

When someone knows who they are and who their God is, they recognize the shoulders upon which the government rest. They understand their authority and power of their own voice.

The most angry we see Jesus, was in the temple putting out the money changers and those who were setting themselves up in the place of prayer for the nations. And yet his anger was without sin. His zeal was admirable.

Zeal ... interesting word isn't it?
Zeal: Eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something.

What are you zealous about?
Zealous enough to allow turn your swords to be beaten into plowshares, and spears into pruning hooks.

Are you zealous enough to clear a place of prayer for the nations? Would you rather war on and go through life covering over the dead? Do you want to keep breathing in the smoke, and kicking through the trash from effects of the battle?

Breaking fallow ground and learning to keep the tops of your harvest in check seems to be way more productive and godly than warring. Warring which leaves children orphaned, women widowed, families separated and poverty a place, all in the name of power.

Expectations in Balance

I have ready many books concerning expectation. I have also listened to many sermons on Faith's expectation. However, if expectation is not understood and kept in balance, people will become frustrated, and often forfeit their faith. Once faith is surrendered, flesh (ego) takes over, giving anger a seat and deferring hope. I might also add that if one gives a place to the flesh ego, it will rob them of their faith.

Am I against expectation, or faith expectation?
No, absolutely not.
I live my life within this vein, but there is a liberating balance.


Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.


What exactly does this mean?
Hope (expectation), that has been delayed (not came as you thought it should, when it should), is unhealthy. Yet, when the thing that you long for does come it is exciting and ignites you.

The thing about this text if studied out, we find that "hope"(expectation) that does not come when you want it to, as you want it to, makes the heart (intellect, will, feelings emotions) sick.

Your soul becomes imbalanced, and within that imbalance is mental anguish. Then comes emotional instability, broken will, physically illness and at times faith dismissed. This is not God's will for your life.

God's will for your life is Good.

Every good and perfect gift comes down form the Father of lights. In Him there is no shadow of turning. God wants you to delight in Him (truth, light and the life of love). God wants you to make room for the fulfillment of your heart's desires.

God's plan for you is a good plan, with a bright future. It is for you to prosper and be in health even AS your SOUL (mind, will, emotions) prospers.

So, what is one to do?
How can you walk in faith expectantly, and yet stay balanced?
The answer is to walk in the Spirit; to keep your flesh under; to live a life of Wisdom and good understanding; to staying open to the fresh winds (ideas, aide, people ...) that God brings your way.


Several Bible text speak to us about walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling the lust of the flesh.

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Romans 8:4
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Galatians 5:25
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.


If we would learn to flow with (in) the Spirit of God, that has been made available to us through the person of Jesus Christ, then we would be settled in the center of the will of God, and living out our purpose.

Jesus said when speaking of this wonderful born again (transformed) life in the Spirit:
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.


When one is living in the Spirit, they have sided with God.

• They learn to live every moment in the present.
• They have vision for tomorrow.
  
• They do not live in the realm of their past defeats or victories.
• They flow freely in the now.

This breed of people have great expectations, but they live so connect to the spirit, that they disconnect from the ego with it's flesh lust. Their expectations are in the realm of a balanced faith. They do not put dates, times and "must be this way's" on their programs. They have an agenda, but they are ready to flex (not compromise), but flex with the winds of the Spirit.


There is a difference in flexing and compromising. To compromise you disembark your morals and values.


To flex you are able to move within the realm of your morals and values.
You are open to change.


After all you are either being transformed daily or your not, and to be transformed daily is to live in the realm of change, not compromise.

Expectations are often a large part of transformation. It is part of the stirring up process (an agent to encouraging yourself toward your good future). But if your Expectations are out of balance, and if your faith is misguided, it can be a disastrous end.


Let me share a little story with you in which both expectation (unnecessarily was deferred and faith misguided).


The Big Flood
It had been raining for days and days, and a terrible flood had come over the land. The waters rose so high that one man was forced to climb onto the roof of his house.

As the waters rose higher and higher, a man in a rowboat appeared, and told him to get in. "No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me." So the man in the rowboat went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.

The waters rose higher and higher, and suddenly a speedboat appeared. "Climb in!" shouted a man in the boat. "No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me." So the man in the speedboat went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.

The waters continued to rise. A helicopter appeared and over the loudspeaker, the pilot announced he would lower a rope to the man on the roof. "No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me." So the helicopter went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.

The waters rose higher and higher, and eventually they rose so high that the man on the roof was washed away, and alas, the poor man drowned.

Upon arriving in heaven, the man marched straight over to God. "Heavenly Father," he said, "I had faith in you, I prayed to you to save me, and yet you did nothing. Why?" God gave him a puzzled look, and replied "I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more did you expect?"


This man appeared to have expectation (large faith expectation). However, his hope was deferred because he had no idea how to live in the realm of faith's expectation. Nor, had he learned to flow with the winds of the Spirit.

The winds of the Spirit had brought opportunity. Opportunity that the man passed up not once, or twice but three times. Thus, his hope was deferred, deferred, deferred, and it left this man in a death sentence.


God will offer us daily opportunities. He willingly chooses to give us heart desires as we 'delight' in Him ... not fight Him. We must learn how to leave ego far behind and flow with the winds of the Spirit.


God has a great plan for each of us. That plan will rise within us. And when it does, all of God's (already) supplied resources will show up. However, we must be willingly to get in the boat and board the chopper (to do our part, so to speak), so we can get to the other side.

Don't misplace your faith today by trying to be super spiritual. The Proverbs tell us that Wisdom is the principle thing ... and with all our getting of wisdom to get understanding.

Spirituality is not refusal to use intellect. It is intellect supercharged!

Richard Bach said,
"In order to win, you must expect to win."
And I will tag those words of wisdom with this:
To win, you must make wise choices in life, and move like the wind.

The EGO factor

I am not sure who first penned that Ego is actually Edging God Out, but I tip my hat to them. Ego does edge God out, and it leaves no room for growth or true success. Ego is also coupled with pride and insecurity, ending with a great fall.

Both pride and fear need be mastered if Ego is to decrease. A person who thinks of himself to highly or to shallow are both in the danger of Ego's deadly shadowing. Ego is not for the high and lofty minded alone, no, ego is out to throw it's dark shadow over anyone who does not truly know what manner of man (woman) they are.

Ego tends to cause one to set themselves apart as distinct from the world and everyone in it. They do not see themselves given to the world or as a part with others (members individually making up a whole). Ego also stands directly in opposition with humility and modesty, and is the third entity in the triangle of broken relationships.


It has been written that, "Ego is the biggest enemy of humans, while those who are soft spoken, truthful, and walk in humility can accomplish anything and are loved by all."


In the Proverbs we find these truths ...

• Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility.
• By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honor, and life.

Ego wants full attention and will lay marks to get it. People who are ego driven build their vision, mission and careers upon being seen and known.


The great Robert Schuller said this, "Goals should never be set by one's ego, but by problems that are crying out for solutions."


There is not a problem with being seen or known, both are fine in their own right. However, to be seen for the sake of being seen ... any idol statue can accomplish that. But to be seen and known for accomplishments, that have came from hearing the cry of those who need solutions; coming from truth that radiates divine vision, mission and service offered with a grateful heart ... that is greatness!

It is those who are grounded in God's unconditional love and promises that make lasting marks.
They are the ones who turn lemons into lemonade, and see adversity as opportunity. They are the ones who are willing to go through the fire for what they believe, with the awareness of the promotion that rest on the other side.

Ego must be confronted and mastered if we are to make the Big Difference here on planet earth.
And don't for a minute believe that Ego goes down quickly, for it does not.

Ego is a giant of sorts, but it can be taken down and beheaded. With this in mind one must understand that it is not just a problem for the novice, but also for the apprentice, journeyman, and master.

Ego shows up cloaked in many shades of darkness. Let me share some of them by placing them within the categories listed above.


For the Novice it normally shows up dressed in fears, prides and accessorized by lack of submission.

• Fear of failure
• Fear of looking bad (foolish)
• Positional pride
  
• Mental prides of intellect (think they know more than their teachers)
  
• Failure to trust others (especially mentors)

For the apprentice:

• Lack of patience and faith
• Not feeling adequate (fearing failure)
• Becoming discouraged when progress is slower than desired
• Loss of enthusiasm and motivation
• Loss of faith in leader (when their process slows)

For the journeyman it is fears stemming from success:

• Transitional fears
• Fear they are not skilled enough
• Fear of public exploitation
• Loss of Vision from tiring
• Fear of out growing their teach and the repercussions of such
  

For the Master:

• Complacency
• Becoming unteachable
• Failure to receive constructive criticism
• Becoming an Island
• Misuse of skills (power) ... using their knowledge in a self-serving arrogant way
  

From the foot of the ladder to the top rail ... Ego must be kept in check.

So what is the answer?

• Stay in the Light of God.
• Walk in the Truth.

Stay fully awake and aware of this enemy that crouches at the door to destroy all in it's wake, and take you down with it!

The amazing affect of a hug

Hugs.

Wonder where there first one every took place?

• Was it in the Garden with a friendly spiritual embrace from on High, after all we understand that the Lord doth embrace us with his loving right arm.
• Maybe it was it when Adam woke to his Eve in the Garden (the morning after)?
• And of course there is the scientific theory that it was a means of keeping warm in harsh elements of our early years.

I do not know the answer and I am not convinced that anyone this side of heaven does, but I do know they are great and I am glad they are available.

An unknown once penned:
A hug delights and warms and charms,
that must be why God gave us arms.

Webster defined Hugs as:

• to press tightly in the arms
• to hold fast
• to stay close to

Wikipedia says:
A hug is a form of physical intimacy, not necessarily sexual, that usually involves closing or holding the arms around another person or group of persons. The hug is one of the most common human signs of love and affection ...

Hugs may also be exchanged as a sign of support and comfort. A hug can be a demonstration of affection and emotional warmth, sometimes arising out of joy or happiness at meeting someone.

In India a hug is called a JHAPPI.

I define Hugs ~ as Love's wonderful healing embrace!

We all need social contact including touch. Take, for example, babies benefit from skin-to-skin contact with their mother.

An example was a study of Korean infants in an orphanage. Those who received an extra 15 minutes of a female voice, massage (touch/hugs) and eye-to-eye contact, five days a week for four weeks, gained more weight and had greater increases in body length and head circumferences after the four weeks and at 6 months of age than children without the extra stimulation.

Therapeutic touch has also been shown to reduce stress and pain among adults, and reduces symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. As well as release oxytocin and bring down blood pressure.

Recently I watched the movie Temple Grandin. The movie is based on the true story of Professor Grandins life with Autism.

Children with Autism often do not like to be touched or (hugged) by other humans, but the need for the touch/hug remains. As Temple begin to see the calming effects of cattle tightly fitted into mechanical devises used at the stockyards during vaccination called a squeeze shoot, she had a wonderful idea.

It seemed her thinking was, if that calms the cattle, then maybe something like this would help calm me during onsets of the hysteria of some of the symptoms of Autism. So she build, what is called in the movie "a squeeze ... or ... hug machine". She could climb into it, triggering boards to pull in close to her and squeeze her tightly. It worked.

Never knowing or being able to enjoy touch/hugs or the benefits, still there was something in that magnificent brain of hers that saw the value of hugs. Something that aided her and enabled her to move forward with her education and life.

The Power of a Hug!

Hugs also release serotonin and dopamine, both are what we call feel good chemicals. In other words, hugs can be our anti-pill form, of anti-depressants. It can be our happy outside of happy hour!

Leo Buscaglia once said, "Everybody needs a hug. It changes your metabolism."

Hugs are the universal medicine. ~Author Unknown

And I believe that Walter Anderson had something when he wrote, this in The Confidence Course ~ "If you're angry at a loved one, hug that person. And mean it. You may not want to hug - which is all the more reason to do so. It's hard to stay angry when someone shows they love you, and that's precisely what happens when we hug each other."




Grease the wheels of the World today ... Give yourself a hug, hug someone else ... even those whom you have odds with. When you do, stress will melt, anger subside, health increase, metabolism charge, smile appear and joy return. You just oiled the squeaky wheels. :)

XOXO

Your Life is Significant

I recently read a very short and colorful book by Andy Andrews entitled "The Butterfly Effect".
The book brings light to the significance of every life lived ... a significance that my go unnoticed by most, but never unnoticed. Many times things that seem to be the least important or least visible can be the very thing that creates a vortex of blessing.

According to Author Andy Andrews, Edward Lorenz presented a hypothesis in 1963 to the New York academy of Science. His theory was that a butterfly could flap it's wings and set molecules of air in motion, which would then move over other molecules of air, in turn moving more molecules of air ~ eventually capable of starting a hurricane on the other side of the planet.

Lorenz was a laughing stock. His theory seemed preposterous, and everyone seemed to want to market the idea, but at Lorenz's expense. People often sneer at and reject what they do not know or understand.

John Rohn made this statement, "walk away from the 97%." Mr. Rohn was speaking of 97% of people who never take charge of their lives. However, there were 3% who took charge of their lives through personal responsibility. As for me ... I choose to live my live in the 3 percentile, and trust that percentage will be changing with the upcoming generations.

On that same basic idea that Rohn had, Lorenz was in the 3% of those who choose to take a risk. A risk of failing. A risk of becoming a laughing stock. A risk of peril or loss. Yet in Lorenz's case ... he seemed to have failed and stood before other scientist of his day as their source of jesting. But the last laugh was yet to be heard. Lorenz was not as Fuzzle -minded as they thought.

Thirty years after all the jeering, Lorenz theory registered as authentic, accurate and viable. Today it is known as The Law of Sensitive Dependence Upon Initial Conditions.

The point I am making today as I blog, is that you and your choices matter. Your life is significant.

God has a plan and a purpose for you to pursue.

As you read the Bible notice the importance of each player. When you watch a sports game pay attention to the moves of each team member. Recognize the coach on the sideline and the announcer in the media box. Recall every person and historical event that you can imagine. Every person, every move, every sound has a significance. Every life matters.

Abraham Lincoln a well know member of U.S. History, was not born into royalty. He did not have everything handed to him on a silver platter. He was born in 1809 outside Hodgenville, Kentucky, not far from my own hometown. Lincoln lived in a small one room log cabin, with an uneducated father and a mother who soon died when he was nine years of age.

How could someone under these predicaments, make a difference? This is just one of the many questions people often ask themselves while viewing their lives from a negative stance.

Some other similar questions may be:

• How can I make a difference, just look at my life?
• How could someone like me make an impact in my city ... in the world?

What if Lincoln would have sat down and said, "I am just the son of the uneducated Thomas Lincoln who never took an interest in studies; so I don't see the point of reading."

But Abe Lincoln, unlike his father, was a 3% man. He read and studied even in the dimmest of lighting, and he was about to have a butterfly effect on a country. After many attempts and failures, he took the seat of the President. Later from this position, he put an end to legalized slavery. But it was his stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln, who had already fluttered her wings under young Abe. Sarah had encouraged his education and appetite for reading.

Most everyone recalls Abe Lincoln and his presidency, but not as many recall Thomas or Sarah Lincoln. But if Thomas had not married Sarah, she could not have encouraged Abe to read. If Abe had not read, he may have never ran for office. Are you getting the idea?

Every person has a purpose. Everyone has a significance.
You are valuable.

Maybe you are saying, "I am an unemployed husband/dad or unemployed wife/mother, what good is that?" Listen! Make the most of where you are! Do something productive! Take a risk!

Take charge of your life, don't just sit back and wallow. Wallowing is for the hogs, not for the significant.

You have choices. You can find a job. Maybe go back to school. You can function as a wonderful house manager until you know which way to go. But don't sit back in the 97% with those who choose to complain and cry till they die, while doing nothing.

Complainers and whiners do have an effect ... but the effect may be that your child grows up and tells the world, "I didn't want to be like my dad (or mom) who sat back and did nothing with their life." ~ Don't be that kind of life changing example.

Abe Lincoln grew close to his step mother who breathed positive winds under him, and further away from his father, who had a tendency to be negative. ~Don't be the negative flutter in life, but the positive one.

No matter where you are today, or what condition you are in, let the winds of life, love, adventure and purpose be your current.

Let positive winds set the sails; Let them empower your life, and the lives of others. And always remember winds cannot be seen ... just the effects. So don't be discouraged if you don't see your life making sudden positive impacts, just know that it is, and that evidence will show up.

Who says that you cannot or will not be a world changer?

The Caged Bird Sings

Today I saw bird in a cage, head all thrown back and singing. I was blessed by the melodious sound of the birds song, and very enamored by his beauty. Yet, I had a sinking feeling grasp me from within, as I knew the bird was held captive. And the sinking sensation made me think of those who are controlled and manipulated into all kinds of bondage.

Amazing how people justify their desire to control others. Just as some would say, "Oh, the bird is better off there, after all it is for it's protection that we have him caged,"
... this same deceptive language is also used as an attempt to manipulate or control people, caging them in too.

There may be a truth that the bird is in a cage and a cat rest at the base of the cage, but a higher truth is, the bird outside the cage can fly, and the cat cannot. Deceptive truth is used to keep the cat in the cage. Higher truth liberates.

People speak very loosely of truth. But Truth that comes from the higher source frees, while lesser truth imprisons.

John 8:32
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Joh 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Truth that comes from God sets people free. This Higher truth is a liberating lifestyle. It does not cage, bind, manipulate or control.

Higher truth offers opportunity to choose. For years people have used this statement, "If you love someone let them go, and if they love you they will return, if not they never did." Suggesting that love does not hold one against their will.

Higher truth offers people choice. Lesser truth controls and dictates.

Joh 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.


Jesus the Christ, is the very manifestation of the truth. The only way to the Father (the highest source of truth). Any other truth is a lesser truth. Any other light is a lesser light. Any other god is exactly that ... a lesser god. For there is only one true God ... who is the source of all others. King of kings and Lord of lords.

Just as there were so called wise men, magicians and sorcerers, in the days of Moses. Those who claimed to be wise, with all their enchantments. So it is today.

There are many claiming to be wise. They claim to have light and know truth. But be mindful of the higher light that is available to you in Christ.

There is a light that rules the day and one that rules the night. The night ruler is the lesser of the two. I speak to you from higher truth.

Those enchantments hold no light in comparison to the truth that is found through Christ Jesus. The power that comes from God, the light of the day, swallows that of the night. And although in it's wonder if is captivating, yet, it liberates!

Oh the song that the caged bird sings. Singing in spite of it's circumstance. That is the liberating picture of the higher truth. Truth that comes from within ...

Joh 14:17
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Truth that comes form within, never looses it's song. But those who have this kind of truth living within them are meant to fly! They are not meant to be confined to caged walls. They are meant to be free without, as well as within.

Jesus did not call disciples to box in or restricted them. He called them, to build them up on the highest faith and then send them out. Sending them into ALL THE WORLD!

He gave them wings (so to speak) and thrust them (empowered them) with spirit winds! Just as He said he would in John Chapters 14-16 and spoke of again in Luke Chapter 24.

Acts 2:1-4
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

So why sit in the lesser light and live by lesser truth?
Why not move into the True Light, Walk in the Higher Truth and be Free?
Why not live your life to the full and yes in the overflow?
Why not be free?

Why not break out of the bondage of deception and live Large and Fly High?
Think about it. Ask yourself why?

Why not move into the higher Light? Why not Live by the highest Truth?

We are all free to choose whether we live our life as the caged bird or the free one.

I fly with Jesus ... but it is my choice!