The time for our conference is just around the corner. There are many bright ideas that I have thought about and that has not been implemented. The problem is that I undertake too many things at one time. Another problem that I face is, since I'm the pastor of the church, thus the spiritual leader, I have great thoughts but I do not give them time to simmer with the right people getting involved. (I often force the concepts; instead of sharing the concepts, I try to muster people to go along with me - a leadership flaw that can be fixed.)
Often times I frustrate myself by the lack of foresight that I have. Sometimes I can be very wise about certain things, but there are other times that I fly by the seat of my pants. There are plenty of ideas that I have that can be life changing or even world-changing (and I don't say that to brag). God somehow infuses my mind with these incredible thoughts that I try to accomplish on my own. Sometimes I ask, "Why to me, Lord?" I don't know and don't begin to say I know but I do know this: I believe thoughts are the foundation for reality. It is the basis by which things in the real world exist. Even the earth itself with the surrounding universe and galaxies come from the Mind - all be it the mind of God - but God"s "mind" created it all by His spoken Word. So eventhough my plans don't always come to fruition, I must continue thinking great thoughts (and working on my areas of weakness).
So why should someone have great thoughts when most of these thoughts would go unfulfilled? And, why should we spend the time thinking great things so just to see time fly by and those things that we thought about fade as we get older? Why spend the time to explore the possibilities - even the impossibilities - if they'd never come to pass?
Why?
Because the mind is the lab by which the scientist create his greatest inventions. It is the ball field where pitches are thrown and where the batter swings for the fences. It is the lens by which the director sees the intriquiesies of his film. WHAT? What I mean is that the thoughts we think are genesis of all creation.
Yes, some of the things we think about to do not come to pass. Yes, there are numerous daydreams that we explore in our minds that will never happen. But, what if thought become action? What if thought is embraced by discipline? What if those things that we think about in our minds are plucked from the tree of obscurity and eaten by the mouth of activity? Could you imagine the minds of the men who worked at the Manhattan Project? What thoughts ran through their minds in search for the end of World War II? The concept of nuclear weaponery. The design of nuclear accelerators. The legacy of Einstein. The A-Bomb.
I guess we can go back to action! (Since that's where this blog seem to be heading.)
But before we scroll down and find the entry on action and rehearse the concepts explored in that blog, lets spend some time on thinking. The Bible admonishes as that we need to reason. That is, to think about the things at hand in the proper viewpoint. Many people fall hopeless because they have stopped thinking. OR, they are thinking on the wrong things! Paul admonished his readers in his letter to the Phillipians that there are better things to think about: Honesty, truth, purity, and innocence; whatever is acceptable and reputable; whatever produces excellence and is commendable - these are the things that we need to think about. The road that leads to hopelessness starts it's first few miles in our thoughts; we think we are defeated before we really are. So is the same for success, we are successful before we areally are. Thus it is the direction of our thoughts that should be of most concern.
A few days ago one of my coworkers heard me stating that I do my job well. Yes, I was the one that said it. And, if I'm correct, I think I even said that I do everything well. My coworker was impressed - to my surprise. Most people would consider that bragging. To her credit, she did not see it that way especially since it was not intended to be so. In fact, she approved of my self promotion. She stated, "I like that Lemuel (that's my first name). You are confident in what you're able to do." I, ofcourse, could not take all the credit. My dad once told me the positive concepts of self promotion: "No one will promote you greater that you. If you can't promote you, then who will?" What I got from him was that, I need to be the greatest promoter of myself. Why? Because I must learn how to speak the things (or the man) that I want to become. My thoughts about my person has got to be the best they can be and I have to speak those thoughts so that I can be the man that I want to be. So despite not being able to "do everything well", I say it anyway to "trick" my mind to produce excellence as supposed to mediocrity.
How does that relate?
It relates big time! Thoughts are creative reality waiting for activity. The direction of your thoughts is your forecast destiny.
Last words:
With the conference looming ever so near I know that I will approach this first conference as a lesson in what not to do. Next time (by God's grace), I will have a committee of people running the conference. I guess: Better thinking for a better tomorrow.
We bless you in Jesus Name!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Ready, Set, Action!
The Bible, in the book of James, declares that faith without works is dead! Wow. To those who have read the last blog I have news for us ... If we're not working then we are just daydreaming.
One of America's great founding fathers once said, "Well done is better than well said!" Two cheers for Mr. Franklin for coining that phrase 'cause what a phrase it is. One would be hard pressed to find someone that actually does not have anything to say. Almost everyone has an opinion or a thought or even an idea. Now, I have not surveyed all of humanity, but I can't imagine someone that has the ability to think not to have any desire to be something or to be someone in the future. I can imagine that even the worst thug desires to be the best in his field or at least be like someone else he admires in that field. Of course, there are less people that can articulate their desires and thoughts eloquently with precision and destiny. But there is a distinction between the man that can think and can speak, versus the man that can do what he thinks and what he speaks. The accomplishment of a deed is far better than the planning of the deed. To think and dream without action is to kill the thought and the dream.
In the worst of times, people can dream up of inventive ways to get through the hard times. Staring out onto space with your thoughts of rebounding from failure can bring some very innovative thoughts. Thoughts of buying and selling and profitering light up the mind. Even the thoughts of winning the elusive lottery, can spark the mind into hopeful daydreaming - which is shadow of faith. Our mind has the power to concieve the uninvented, the unchartered, and the beyond; but even playing the lottery requires a dollar, a few numbers, and the walk to a nearby store to put all those ingredients together if there is a chance of winning the jackpot. If the mind has the right numbers in its thought, without the activity of actually buying a ticket, one will never win.
What am I saying? Even if you have the faith to move mountains, if there is no action accompanying that faith, then your faith is dead. Faith alone cannot do it. Even in salvation man must believe - have faith - then he must confess, repent, accept, and obey. James states it this way (I'm paraphrasing here), "You can tell someone to be fed, but unless you feed him he won't be fed. You can tell a man he will be clothed, but unless you give him some clothes to put on he'd still be undressed."
Right!
You can't just believe for a recovery. We can't just believe that things will turn around. We can't just believe that we will get another job, have a new business, or we'll have more money. Well, I guess you can, but if you don't do anything about it, you're going to lose hope. True faith is like true love - it requires action. Jesus, our greatest example, hung on the cross after He said that God loved the world! Well done better than well said! John 3:16 is a great Bible verse but Luke 23:46 is better. Talking about ideas no matter how long the conversation lasts is not better than perfoming the ideas. You know why? Because doing is harder than talking so doing is a greater expression than speaking. It's easy talking about how wonderful a Ferrari looks and sounds and maybe even runs, it's another thing to be in the factory in Italy putting finely tuned pieces together making sure that all pieces fit properly, functioning according to specs, and all parts are engaging seemlessly.
Dreaming is easy. Saying that you have faith is easy - children speak of the impossible all the time -but acting out what one believes is hard. Why is that? Because there is no fear in dreams and faith. No one can fail at dreaming or expressing faith. Dreams and faith are immeasureable, but action is measurable. We cannot tell whether or not a dream is good or bad we can only make opinions about it; but when we act, we have the capacity to fail. There can be no failure in faith but there can be failure in action. Therefore the fear then is not in believing but in failing. I have heard over the years many people say that they have faith, but, like James stated in his epistle, show me your faith by your works.
What do I say to all of us?
Dream big! Have faith! Believe in the possibility of the impossible! But let's put our money where are mouth is - so to speak. Can you imagine if you have the next multimillion dollar idea and you don't pursue it? Did you know that we have the light today because Edison failed thousands of times before the invention of the filament? Did you know that there were 20 or so investors in front of Ray Croc when he pitched the idea of a franchise - namely McDonalds and less than a handful bought into the idea? Did you know that Colonel Sanders was almost a senior citizen when he finally stablished Kentucky Fried Chicken? You didn't know? Well, neither did they until they went out and did it. And did it again until they finally got it right!
Last words:
Action is faith visible.
One of America's great founding fathers once said, "Well done is better than well said!" Two cheers for Mr. Franklin for coining that phrase 'cause what a phrase it is. One would be hard pressed to find someone that actually does not have anything to say. Almost everyone has an opinion or a thought or even an idea. Now, I have not surveyed all of humanity, but I can't imagine someone that has the ability to think not to have any desire to be something or to be someone in the future. I can imagine that even the worst thug desires to be the best in his field or at least be like someone else he admires in that field. Of course, there are less people that can articulate their desires and thoughts eloquently with precision and destiny. But there is a distinction between the man that can think and can speak, versus the man that can do what he thinks and what he speaks. The accomplishment of a deed is far better than the planning of the deed. To think and dream without action is to kill the thought and the dream.
In the worst of times, people can dream up of inventive ways to get through the hard times. Staring out onto space with your thoughts of rebounding from failure can bring some very innovative thoughts. Thoughts of buying and selling and profitering light up the mind. Even the thoughts of winning the elusive lottery, can spark the mind into hopeful daydreaming - which is shadow of faith. Our mind has the power to concieve the uninvented, the unchartered, and the beyond; but even playing the lottery requires a dollar, a few numbers, and the walk to a nearby store to put all those ingredients together if there is a chance of winning the jackpot. If the mind has the right numbers in its thought, without the activity of actually buying a ticket, one will never win.
What am I saying? Even if you have the faith to move mountains, if there is no action accompanying that faith, then your faith is dead. Faith alone cannot do it. Even in salvation man must believe - have faith - then he must confess, repent, accept, and obey. James states it this way (I'm paraphrasing here), "You can tell someone to be fed, but unless you feed him he won't be fed. You can tell a man he will be clothed, but unless you give him some clothes to put on he'd still be undressed."
Right!
You can't just believe for a recovery. We can't just believe that things will turn around. We can't just believe that we will get another job, have a new business, or we'll have more money. Well, I guess you can, but if you don't do anything about it, you're going to lose hope. True faith is like true love - it requires action. Jesus, our greatest example, hung on the cross after He said that God loved the world! Well done better than well said! John 3:16 is a great Bible verse but Luke 23:46 is better. Talking about ideas no matter how long the conversation lasts is not better than perfoming the ideas. You know why? Because doing is harder than talking so doing is a greater expression than speaking. It's easy talking about how wonderful a Ferrari looks and sounds and maybe even runs, it's another thing to be in the factory in Italy putting finely tuned pieces together making sure that all pieces fit properly, functioning according to specs, and all parts are engaging seemlessly.
Dreaming is easy. Saying that you have faith is easy - children speak of the impossible all the time -but acting out what one believes is hard. Why is that? Because there is no fear in dreams and faith. No one can fail at dreaming or expressing faith. Dreams and faith are immeasureable, but action is measurable. We cannot tell whether or not a dream is good or bad we can only make opinions about it; but when we act, we have the capacity to fail. There can be no failure in faith but there can be failure in action. Therefore the fear then is not in believing but in failing. I have heard over the years many people say that they have faith, but, like James stated in his epistle, show me your faith by your works.
What do I say to all of us?
Dream big! Have faith! Believe in the possibility of the impossible! But let's put our money where are mouth is - so to speak. Can you imagine if you have the next multimillion dollar idea and you don't pursue it? Did you know that we have the light today because Edison failed thousands of times before the invention of the filament? Did you know that there were 20 or so investors in front of Ray Croc when he pitched the idea of a franchise - namely McDonalds and less than a handful bought into the idea? Did you know that Colonel Sanders was almost a senior citizen when he finally stablished Kentucky Fried Chicken? You didn't know? Well, neither did they until they went out and did it. And did it again until they finally got it right!
Last words:
Action is faith visible.
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