Many of us know and believe that God has a plan for our lives. A plan to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. But how many of us know that in verse 13 there is an awesome promise? “Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 Amplified

Notice that we are to require God “as a vital necessity.” In other words, the wonderful life Jesus died for us to have depends on our relationship with God. Just as we need food, water, and the air we breathe. How many of you realize that when you spend time with God, everyone knows. You handle conflict better, you are easier to get along with, you are less likely to make emotional decisions, your patience increases, wisdom is manifested through you, and even your creative abilities are in a heightened state of awareness because you are more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

If you want to create an environment that is enjoyable to work in, if you want more productivity from self and others, if we want to capitalize on innovation by creating a cooperative spirit filled with collaboration in the workplace, then search for God with all your heart and be the example that you want your employees to emulate.

As with any friend, the more time you spend with God, the more you become like Him. Be the example because everyone will know it. Make it a priority. Your life depends on it because He is your vital necessity.

Suggested Reading:

Lead by Example

John Baldoni. AMACOM 2008, Hardcover, 240 pages, $10.14

Leading with Kindness

William F. Baker. AMACOM 2008, Hardcover, 256 pages, $4.49

Do you ever wake up in the morning and regret that you don’t have one more hour of sleep? You get up and prepare for a day at work and lament that you haven’t gotten promoted after three years of dedicated diligence and an impeccable attendance record. You frown at seeing your superiors because you loathe his/her direction. And as you sit in morning rush hour contemplating on how dissatisfied you have become with your life, you become outraged with how slow the traffic is moving. This becomes the typical start of your Monday morning, a routine that has become so customary to you that you’ve grown to see nothing wrong with it.

You’ve accepted pity and grief as suitable emotions. Faith and gratefulness suffer lack. In the book of Job, a servant speaks of worrisome nights and days swifter than a weaver’s shuttle. He speaks of living without hope. He complains of Christ not being by his side and how his own life has become a burden to him. He speaks of choosing death over life. “Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.”(Job 7:11). He begins to question “And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. (Job 7:21). His view of life was one of great displeasure and criticism. The gift of life that God has given him is being disregarded. It is no longer considered a gift, but a burden. This is not any different than the way you may feel about your job, your home and finances, your relationship, or even your confidence about your personality or appearance.

What we as Christians must remember is that life is not meant to be easy. Your success is measured by your faith, your dedication to Christ, and your ability to share your testimony amongst others. A synopsis of what I just said would be to simply stop complaining. Stop expressing grief, discomfort, and discontent for all that your life has become or all that you possess in life.

It’s time to test your ability to thank God for what you have, and pray for more. “A faithful man shall abound with blessing; but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.”(Proverbs 28:20), it goes on to say; “He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.”(Proverbs 28:22). Testing your ability, tests your faithfulness to Jesus Christ. So I recommend starting your spiritual growth with him by initializing a spiritual fast.

Fasting can be defined as an act of denying something physical to glorify God and go deeper with him in the spirit. Biblically, fasting is abstaining from food, drink, sleep, or sex to focus on a period of spiritual growth. You choose to deny something of the flesh to glorify God, enhance your spirit, and go deeper in your prayer life. In this case, instead of abstaining from something physical, abstain from something mental to gain a little more self control.

Will Bowen, a Kansas City minister, challenged his congregation to go 21 days without complaining. I would like to challenge you the same. Thus, I call “The 21-day Fast from Complaining.” He challenged them to place a purple bracelet on their right arm, and every time they complained, they were to move the bracelet to the left arm and start from day zero.

Now lets define complain. According to dictionary.com, it means to express dissatisfaction, pain, uneasiness, censure, resentment, or grief; find fault. So basically, expressing negativity. Your goal is to refrain from expressing negativity. Jesus endured the most brutal death known to man for you. As they beat him over and over again with whips, place a thorned crown on his head, and nailed his hands and feet to the cross, he had your best interest in mind and he did not complain once. He knew no sin, spoke of no negativity, and suffered for your sins. So think before you complain. Tell yourself, if Jesus could make it through that tragedy, then I can make it through this tribulation. Gain a deeper relationship with him by renouncing from discontent and showing gratitude for his sacrifice.

So then on Monday morning, when your alarm goes off, jump out of bed and thank him for another day. And as you think about your well overdue promotion, you remember three years ago when you were unemployed and desperately seeking employment. You thank god for your job and pray for a promotion. And as you sit in morning rush hour, you thank God for giving you a vehicle to get back and forth to work.
Give God the glory, show appreciation for the gift that God gives you every morning, that gift is another day. Initiate your “21-day Fast from Complaining” to build a compelling relationship with God “…..Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. (Revelation 5:12)

Suggested Reading:

Fasting Journal

JENTEZEN FRANKLIN. Charisma House 2008, Hardcover, 128 pages, $8.38

Fasting

JENTEZEN FRANKLIN. Charisma House 2007, Hardcover, 256 pages, $8.98

When you are a young adult, you more than likely have not experienced many of life’s difficult trials but you can be assured that you will get your chance. Too many, when they are hit by these trials, seek some sort of quick fix. When the Christian is hit by life’s trials, he or she seeks help from God but many times seeks instantaneous help only to find that it does not happen that way. But the Christian should learn that God is not someone that you can punch a few buttons and hit some sort of jackpot. Christians need to ask God for the most important thing: Wisdom. Getting wisdom is the thing that God will give you when you ask for it and it is an important tool in dealing with life’s trials.

What is Wisdom?

Wisdom is the ability to make the right decision and because of discernment. It can also be equated with common sense. If you have the trait of wisdom as a filter for making decision you have something that is very valuable. God placed wisdom as something so valuable that an entire book of the Bible was written on it: The Book of Proverbs. It is the one trait that God will give you if you ask:

James 1:5 – If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Wisdom Gives you Discernment

I find that when I am faced with an impossible situation or I am trying to make a decision but not sure which way to go, wisdom helps me make a decision more quickly and be at more peace with it. Let’s put this in perspective a little.

For example, if I make a decision based on desperation, I end up not making the wisest choice but the first choice that comes along. This happens many times to those looking for someone to marry. They will choose the first person who comes along because of desperation instead of carefully analyzing if this person is right for you. Wisdom gives you the ability to discern what is right and wrong in choosing this person as a mate and to have thorough understanding of the potential consequences of your decision. Desperation does not produce this kind of discerning decision making.

So the next time you are faced with a difficult situation or decision, ask God to give you wisdom before anything else.

Suggested Reading:

The Leadership Wisdom of Jesus

Charles C Manz PH.D.. Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2005, Paperback, 190 pages, $4.77

God’s Wisdom For Your Every Need

Jack Countryman. Thomas Nelson 2009, Paperback, 272 pages, $1.96

As a Christian, attending church is more than likely very important to you. For many Christians, when they graduate from college and enter the work force, they may have to relocate to another city. After relocating, they will be faced with the challenge of finding a new church. But what should one look for when trying to find just the right church? Here are a few pointers.

Is Christ the Head of This Church?

You might reply, “Isn’t he the head of most churches?” The answer is, “You’d be surprised.” When you go into a new church and attend a few services, it will become apparent who is the head of it. The services (and in some cases the pastor) will exalt the pastor. Did I say, “Pastor exalts the pastor?” That’s what I said. It happens. Jesus Christ should be the one exalted in a church.

Is the Church Provided with Financial Reports?

Okay, I’m being a little direct here but you will find that there are basically two types of churches. There are churches where they truly care about people and are honest and open with them and there are churches were there seems to be hidden society operating within them along with an inner circle. The latter is usually the type of church where funds from member donations are not getting used properly and they usually never have a financial report disclosed to the general membership.

Does the Church help to improve its Community?

A good church should be a lighthouse to the community around it. That does not mean that the church tries to be like the community around it but it should be an organization that does things for others. There are churches that run donation programs to the local homeless shelter or provide assistance for families hit by disaster. Remember that we are supposed to be the salt of the earth as described in this scripture here:

Mathew 5:13 (KJV) – Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Does the Church help in a Christian’s Growth?

Too often you will find churches that are focused on getting in new converts and do little to help those new converts grow once they are in. Then, when the new converts quit attendance after a short time, they are quickly forgotten about and the church moves on to find more new coverts. This ought not to be. There should be programs in a church to help believers grow and become stronger Christians.

Your choice of a church is a very important decision. Take the time to evaluate everything.

Suggested Reading:

Finding a Church You Can Love and Loving the Church You’ve Found

Kevin G. Harney. Zondervan 2003, Paperback, 160 pages, $0.01

Living an Incredible life is much simpler than we all make it seem. An Incredible Life is a mindset, a state of mind, if you will. Very easily, you can take the lid off of your thinking and move from forgettable to Incredible! Once you start living out on the branch where the fruit of life is, you will notice that every day problems and obstacles no longer become hindrances or stumbling blocks that get in your way and keep you from fulfilling your Incredible life goals and dreams. In your personal or professional life, the keys to an Incredible life are simple:

1. Consult your higher source for everything you need, want, believe and dream. Make your source, (mine is the One and True Living God) your CEO. Give control over your destiny to Him, He will handle your dreams with care. He will line up relationships that are Incredible!

2. Evaluate and re-evaluate your associations – you become like the 5 people you spend your time with. Each quarter, I make a list of the people who are in my space and I re-evaluate their place in my life. If, when I think of them, I am inspired and believe that they are an Incredible part of my world, they get a +. If, when I think of them, I feel negativity or am perplexed at the thought of the value they add to my existence, they get a -. If I feel absolutely nothing one way of another, they get a /. I am sure that by now you’ve guessed it, + signs get to stay! – signs have to go and / signs have one more quarter to influence my life Incrediblly so that they can stay or they have to hit the road. Constantly evaluating your associations will help to ensure that the Incredible person you are becoming does not get jaded or crowded by Incredible snatchers – those people who only want to suck the Incredible out of you!

3.Make a Vision Board or Goal Poster. Habakkuk 2:2 in the Old Testament of the King James Bible says “write the vision and make it plain.” It goes on to say, “write it on tablets [goal poster].” Where are you going in this life? Ask yourself the following question, “What can I begin to do today to make my life Incredible?” Follow that question with this one: “If I could be doing anything in the world and money was not an object, what would I be doing?” Then write it down. From there, brainstorm and come up with more ideas that all lead back to that first question. An old business model says that “what gets attended to gets done”….You want to make sure that your 16×20 sized goal is back by a 16×20 sized POSTER or VISION BOARD. Don’t believe that you will remember it, write it down. In fact, get some post-it notes and stick smaller versions of your goals all over the place to serve as a constant reminder that you can achieve anything you put your mind to!

4. Do something everyday that gets you closer to the vision you have for an Incredible life. Daily activity creates habits and habits create consistency, consistency creates confidence and consistent confidence is the gateway to dreams realized!

5. Live with PACE

P- Plan with Purposeful Passion: For all that you do, ensure that it has purpose and your passion is fueled. Plan so that your goals are being realized with every plan made.
A – Achieve with Abundant Attitude: As you set goals, decide now to achieve them with an attitude of abundance. Keep in mind that abundance is not material; it is living above strife and contention.
C – Create with Consistent Confidence: As you think of your goals and dreams develop the confidence and belief that you can carry them out. Remember, you are exactly who or what you say that you are. More importantly, you are exactly who you think you are so have confidence that you can achieve your vision. Although life had highs and lows, develop a consistent approach for creating your vision. Start with what you do better than anyone else in the world, usually you will find your passion there!
E – Execute with Enthusiastic Expectation: There is no need to plan, achieve or create if you are not going to execute. But don’t just do it, do it well. Additionally, have an enthusiastic expectation that you will grow, learn and experience new things and do what you set out to do. Believe that the power lies within you to be Incredible.

Believe in yourself as I believe in you!

Get Inspired, Feel Incredible!

Always remember, if you can see the invisible, God can do the impossible so dream the INCREDIBLE!

The Incredible You

Shawndra Johnson (Editor). IOE Publications 2009, Paperback, 180 pages, $14.95