faith

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Same Thing = The Same Results (ST = SR)

Imagine purchasing a spin bike. You like its design and bright colors, take the time to put it together, and give it a place in your home. Weeks go by with you continuing to look at it, just as you looked at the picture on the internet when you were considering which model to buy. Making the decision to purchase was big for you, knowing that making the purchase meant you were ready to make a change...or were you?

You went online to purchase a gym membership. It was a good price, and the location was about three minutes away; perfect for traveling. You could quickly get there, get your class done, and quickly get back home. But there’s a problem: you never started.

And then your frustrated mind is hit with the same thought you usually get: If you keep doing the same thing, you’ll keep getting the same results.

“Nothing changes until you change. Everything changes once you change.” – Julian Lennon

There was a woman in the New Testament (don’t know her name) who was sick and had been for some twelve years. She was bleeding constantly, and though she went to doctors (some tried to help while others just took her money) she got worse as the years went by. She was financially ruined, using the usual solutions for getting well, but getting the same results, which for her came to zero. She heard about Jesus and that he was healing people and decided to make a change. She thought that if she could get to him and touch him, she would get well. Why not give it a try since nothing else was working after all these years? Long story short, she eventually got to Jesus, touched him, and he knew someone touched him though he did not know who. So, he asked the question. “Who touched me?” She was afraid to answer but eventually came forward, telling him her plight. Not only did he call her daughter but told her it was her faith that made her well. It is interesting Jesus did not say it was him that healed her, but her faith is what did it. And by the way, the bleeding stopped and she experienced healing.

Making the change to get on the bike and pedal is faith in action. Having the faith to get that wide rear end on that seat acknowledges you are willing to cause change in your life, though you may not instantly see a difference at first. Going to the gym and lifting weights proclaims you want to be stronger and leaner and doing something for your overall health. It is the faith you have in your abilities to bust a move by doing something different. It is replacing complacency (looking at the bike) with determination (riding the bike). It is getting in the car and driving to the gym and taking a class that starts the shift from never going to scheduling to go and actually doing it. I suppose the title of this post should be

Changes Yield Different Results

Why not try THAT for a change? For those what want to read about the woman with the issue of blood, it’s in the bible: Mark 5: 25-34.

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Architectural Design of Life

I watched a British renovation show. It was about transforming ugly houses to lovely, beautiful ones. The interior did not work well for the family, and though extensions had been built years ago, they needed to be demolished and redone, oftentimes in a new modern aesthetic. An architect was brought in, to create the plans to make the needed changes, and many times the family was not sure such a drastic change would work. Nevertheless, as the transformation took anywhere from weeks to months to complete, the end result presented itself as a fresh new environment for the family to enjoy, and the house was no longer called ugly, but lovely.

I think we need to draw up architectural plans for our lives, and what better time to think about doing something new than at the end of one year and the soon-to-start beginning of a new one.

How long are we to continue to think about change yet do nothing to implement it? Like the families of the television show who knew change was needed for their home but didn’t know how to go about it, we as individuals tend to do the same regarding life.

  • Wanting to get out of debt, but not sure how to construct a solution
  • Knowing change is needed for how to live life, but not sure how to make those changes
  • After continued failures of starting something yet not confident to continue, an internal power of boldness is needed to be successful, from starting a business to going back to school, to finding a different job

Dictionary meanings:

Architecturethe art of construction resulting from a conscious act
ReconstructRe-create or reimaging something
Renovateto restore to a former better state; to restore to life, revive
Designto conceive and plan out in the mind;
to have a purpose; intend
to devise for a specific function or end
BoldnessShowing or requiring a fearless daring spirit
adventurous
free

  • The family on the show hired an architect who drafted plans to make the needed changes, and the family had to approve it before moving on
  • The family had to step out of their comfort zone, because the architect’s design was modern, which changed the original design of the house
  • Many parts of the house were demolished and rebuilt as it was being revived, giving it newness in the design

What do you want to build, and how do you want to build it? What renovations do you want to make in your life? As we are about to embark on a new year, what would you like to reconstruct? What needs to be renovated and restored to a better state? Perhaps many of us need to get out pen and paper, writing down what went well in 2024, and what needs to be repurposed and redone in 2025, having an intention to couple it with a boldness that lacks fear, being daring in the process. How can we do that and be successful? I can only speak for myself, but I know there were times in 2024 that I admit I could have been bold but chose not to be. But with each new year I can say I’m blessed to have more time, but I also realize I am getting older, and I need to step out and bust a move through designing a better way of life.

How can I be successful this time? Consider the following:

Isaiah 43:19“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
Isaiah 41:10“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Hebrews 3:4For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

There is nothing wrong with having a restorative plan for change, but God must be involved.

Proverbs 16:3Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Proverbs 19:21Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’S purpose that prevails.
Proverbs 16:9In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

The family in the television show were excited and happy with the results of their home renovations.They relied on the creative advice of the architect, the builders, and all the workers. As we begin 2025, making plans is great, but get God’s approval. Look at what did and did not work before, and give it all over to God, the author and finisher of our faith, who (if we allow this to happen) will make the necessary revisions to make your life renovation successful. Through His power, you will obtain the boldness to implement what is needed, experience reconstruction revival, as you without fear begin your adventurous redesign of what we call the architectural design of your life.

Happy new year!

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Focusing on Who Matters

Everyone has gifts and talents, those things that give us a spark from within. I look at it as how it is not something I have developed, but it is something gifted by God. You know you have that “it” that you want to do, that you know you can do. But at the same time, there seems to be a problem with it. By that I mean the timing may be off for doing it, or it may be that others do not believe you have what it takes to be successful in doing it. But those same people have no problem believing in others and encouraging them. For me, this leads to frustration, particularly when being passed over keeps happening. Though I have volunteered or asked to do something, saying I am available for doing something, I am not asked. But here is the crazy thing about it all.

For example, I may do something, and I feel God’s presence through it all, and whatever it is I am doing goes over well. Those who are present are pleased with the efforts made. But there is no one there from my team who comes and experiences what happened. They decide to go to another site and not mine. When this happened recently, it made me feel alone. But after thinking, I have come up with some conclusions.

When it doesn’t appear that others are involved or would rather be somewhere else, there is someone who is involved and does care. That person is the one who is the most important. And He is not human, but He does approve of the effort. And because of that,

  1. I had to acknowledge who my focus should be on. If it is people, I have had enough experience to know that people let you down. If people are the focus, I will continue to be disappointed. But what if the focus came in the form of a question? God, were You pleased? When the focus shifts from people to God, and I ask Him the question, and His response is that He is happy, shouldn’t that be all I need to know at that point?
  2. I thought of all the ideas I had, getting them on paper, and presenting them. But God included more thoughts and helped me say them. When I did that, the responses from those who listened to those ideas were happy to hear them. Many said they were happy they came to hear what I had to say, it made them feel better. This in turn made me feel better, like all my effort was not in vain. I said things to the people who came to the bible study that were not written down. Thoughts linked up to bible verses I did not think of as they popped in my head and flowed through my speech, surprising me in the process. The flow of it all was great, and I thanked God for His involvement.
  3. As I sat in my car, I thought of all that happened in the past sixty minutes. I was in awe of how well the lesson I created went. But at the same time, I knew this was not me; I could not take credit for what occurred. I was happy God was pleased.

So, what does all this mean? I already know there will come another situation where something similar to this one will occur again. But when it happens, I must remember who is with me, and who is okay with me. It doesn’t matter that humans don’t approve or acknowledge what I have done. God knows, and He is all that matters in the scheme of things.

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Go Beyond Thinking

Many times, the easiest thing to do is to just think. Think about what could be if you did this. Think new ideas of how to do it later. While it’s a good thing to think these things, it doesn’t get you anywhere because there is a piece missing that prevents you from going forward. Just thinking is just that: thinking.

There was a woman who had been sick for twelve years. She continued to have a bleeding disorder, and while she went to doctors, her finances tanked because of her medical bills (Mark 5:25-34 records the story). But she had a thought, this idea:

“If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

She may have also thought she would have nothing to lose by checking Jesus out. She heard a lot about him healing people and decided to go to him. There is a lot in this story I want to point out.

  1. Though she was still sick and financially depleted, she did not lose hope that somewhere there was a solution to her plight. And because of that, she acted on her thought.
    • I believe this is where many get it wrong. This woman not only had the thought, but she also acted on it. I know for me I keep thinking but I don’t act. This woman, still sick and weak, made her way through the crowds of people to get to Jesus.
  2. Once the thought comes into our heads, do more than just think about the ‘what-if’ of it. If thought makes sense for you, the next step should be what to implement to make it happen. For example, if the thought is to go back to school or apply for a promotion at work, get the paperwork done to get the ball rolling. At least you will know that by doing so you are trying to respect the thought by making the attempt to make it reality.
    • The woman with the issue of blood made the attempt to make her sickness stop. Her hope was to do all she could to obtain the solution. We need to do the same.
  3. Jesus, realizing something happened as he felt power had left him, asked who touched him. Though she was scared, she admitted it was her who touched him as she told her story. Then Jesus said something interesting.
    • “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
      • Once God gives the thought, our faith process means we act on it. It should not be placed in our minds for safe keeping, but rather it should become an act of doing all we can to make it happen, like this woman did. Jesus recognized her faith was the fuel that gave her the energy to leave her home and make her way to him to get her answer. Jesus did not tell her she was the healer. He complimented her on her level of faith in obtaining her answer.
      • As a result of what she did, she was no longer frustrated, no longer depressed and worried of her sickness, no longer spending money on doctor bills. In fact, she received the blessing of the word immediately. The moment she touched him, immediately her bleeding stopped, and as Jesus felt in his body power had left him, she felt in her body that she was gifted with total healing.

So, here’s the challenge for all of us, me included. When a thought comes to mind, and it appears to be a good one that could solve something for you, it’s no problem thinking about it, but don’t let it stop there. If it keeps popping up in your brain, that may be God telling you action is needed. With God’s help, you very well may have the solution you have been searching for.

Stop just thinking about it. Have the faith to make it reality by doing it.

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Faith Muscle

When I go through what I consider a challenging time, I find myself wondering what to do next, desperately trying to find an answer. But listening to a sermon yesterday helped.

How to Handle A Setback by Pastor Daniel Floyd

The current challenging situation is plain and simple: I thought I was going to do one thing within a year, and one conversation has me revisiting that. However, the revisit has me in a quandary. So many questions and very few answers. The person I would like to discuss this with seems to be making sure to be unavailable, which doesn’t help. However, there is something about faith that from time-to-time needs a workout.

Pastor Daniel used as his text the story of Peter who, after James had been persecuted, found himself in prison, thinking he would be the next one to lose his life. But scripture says that though Peter was shackled in chains and had four guards round the clock watching him, he was able to get rest. Acts 12 describes Peter as sleeping while the church earnestly was in prayer for him.

It was the type of prayers that had the church pressing into the situation and not shrinking away from it. They did not just accept what Peter was going through. They were prayers that said to God that they would continue to pray to Him until they got a breakthrough.

Pastor Daniel: “The setback will cause you to either lean in or shrink away. For some of us we just accept the lot in life. If you are only expecting what your imagination can create, you are limiting God by the ability of your intellect. “

The question is when you do that, are you limiting God by what you expect is your lot in life? If you are a believer in God, then believe that God is an Ephesians 3:20 God, the One who is able to do exceeding abundantly above what you think or imagine.

Pastor Daniel: “Don’t go with what you see, go with what God said…I am gonna come in agreement with what God said about me.”

One evening, an angel touched Peter and told him to quickly get up and get his clothes and shoes on. The chains fell off Peter’s wrists, and he got his gear on and followed the angel out of prison. Once outside, the angel left him, and Peter made his way to Mary’s house. He knocked on the door and when someone heard his voice, she told the others that it was Peter outside; they didn’t believe her.

Whatever the situation, the challenge, wherever painful place you are, you may ask God why you are experiencing this.

Pastor Daniel: “I’d like to reframe the question to what is God doing for you? When we frame it wrong, we see it wrong.”

God is outside of time. He is with me today and tomorrow before tomorrow comes,and He already knows what will happen. God wants to grow something inside you. Character grows real good in pain.

Pastor Daniel: “Faith gets a muscle it never had when you are walking through something challenging.”

Could it be the challenging situation is being experienced by me as a setup for the blessing that is about to come? The challenge while going through a challenging situation is we want God to quickly get us to that victory answer; we don’t like the challenge of waiting while that faith muscle is being developed. In the meantime,

Have you ever felt stuck between two things? Life is never simple as we make it. Stuck between betrayal and forgiveness; stuck between lack of direction and friendships that are falling apart. How could Peter in chains and be asleep between guards while not knowing what would happen next?
Why can’t we react the same way? Perhaps worry creeps in instead of rest.

Pastor Daniel: “Why would I be awake at night worrying about tomorrow when God is already there? If He can be trusted in your today, He can be trusted in all your tomorrows.”

These quotes and the remainder of the sermon encouraged me to forge on, allowing God to give my faith the muscles it needs to live life not in my own thoughts, but in His knowledge, trusting Him through the setbacks and challenging times. My prayers have to be in agreement with Him, the alpha and omega of my faith.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,… Ephesians 3:20 NIV

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What to do when you don’t know what to do

So, there was a plan, which was to occur the end of 2024. Due to events beyond my control, that didn’t happen. All the while I thought it would not happen anyway, so the fact that it did not happen were not surprising. Possibly next year, but now I am not so sure of that either. The whole issue has me in a conundrum. I want whatever I do to be the right thing, but how do I discover it?

When I looked up conundrum, the dictionary defined the word as an intricate and difficult problem. I agree with that, because it does not only involve me. It involves family members. I want to be in their lives, but sometimes I am not so sure I will be to the extent I want to be. It’s appearing to be complicated.

The next definition said a question or problem having only a conjectural answer, and the word conjectural means a conclusion deduced by surmise or guesswork. But I don’t want to be in a conundrum created by conjecture based on guesswork. And that leads me to the title:

What do I do when I don’t know what to do?

From a faith perspective, the answer is [for now] simple: I am choosing not to make any definitive decisions for now, not this year, and maybe not for three or four years down the road. (Okay, maybe not four years; perhaps the next two to three years from now.) But what do I do in the meantime?

  1. Don’t rush things. I realized this week that I don’t have to make a decision, especially when there are other things that need tending to. For example, getting a handle on my finances and getting healthy are my top two concerns. There is nothing wrong with me doing all I can to get better with both.
  2. Pray, pray, pray. Rely on God to keep me stable while asking and discovering answers. Actually, I am making discoveries now, which is really good. That helps me know that all is not lost, I’m not a failure, and I have not run out of time. This gives me a level of peace, at least to some extent. But when the peace seems to dissipate, that is the time to pray and ask for help even more.
  3. Do what I can to locate the answers. Do research. Believe it or not, information that needs to be to be found is in the bible. What does the bible have to say on topics such as faith, trust, that God has a plan for you, and these next words…
  4. Be patient and wait. I never thought I would think this, but it’s a good thing to wait for things to unfold. I admit I am used to being the one to come up with quick answers, and the majority of time they weren’t good solutions, which meant I should have waited for something better. Because the decisions I want to discover are very important, I don’t want to screw this up. Not at this time in my life. I want to make wise decisions, and I want God to be involved.
  5. I am discovering that when something unfolds during this season of discovery, I am in awe. That is because I know the answers are not mine, but God’s. I can’t fully explain it, but I just know when something pops in my spirit it’s from Him. For me, this is a new way of doing life.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

God’s plans will prosper me and not give me harm; God’s plans provide hope and a future. All these things I want. Please God, help me not to screw this up…

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God Is In Control

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, wondering why things happen the way they do. I wonder why things get a critical point while wondering how and why I got there.

Perhaps there are some answers, many of which I have to admit are my fault.

Doing things the familiar but unsuccessful way. Why does this happen? It’s because of the familiarity of it, which leads to the ‘I’m used to doing things this way’ road that leads to a dead end. When one does life this way, there is nothing new to discover, no new paths to move from the same ol’ way to doing something new. What would that entail?

Here’s an example. Instead of trying to do math in your head, thinking you are keeping a mental record of what you have spent, how about writing everything down? Having a financial journal of what you have spent can really open your eyes to discovering why your bank account dwindled to next to nothing, because you forgot some items you spent. Next writing down how much to spend for groceries, gas for your car, and other things that you may not really need to spend. I was surprised that writing a grocery list and vowing not to go over an amount actually worked. It aided in keeping my bank account in the green and not in the red.

But here is something more on the spiritual level.

Doing things your way while not including God will lead to disaster. Just because you go to church and agree with what the minister says in the sermon doesn’t necessarily mean you are adhering to what is being said. It is like the words are going in one ear and out the other. Because once the service is over, you return to your way of doing life. For example, when God says to come to him and give him what is on your mind to the point of worry (which he says not to do if you read Matthew 6), but you don’t give it over to him because you try to fix it using your outdated methods, you are spinning in an endless cycle that yields results, but not good positive ones. The worry continues, the prayer (if you do that) bounces off the ceiling, as you continue to keep in control of your challenging situation. Which leads to another point.

Acknowledgement of what is really happening. This point is where the rubber meets the road. Admit you are trying to stay in control. Answer this question: How is staying in control working for you? I hope your answer will be an honest one, admitting it is getting you nowhere. And further admit you have been going nowhere for years, decades even, to no avail. What would happen if God took over the reins?

If you truly gave things over to God, the responsibility is off you and on Him. I may have written about this in another post, but as you can see, one has to keep being reminded to give it over to God. You see, it is not you that is in control, but God is. He has the resources to do an ‘immediately’, meaning he can give you the solution in a suddenly type of manner. But admit there are things you have to learn, and it may take a while for your mindset to switch from the way you do things, to accepting and allowing God to be in control and experiencing how God does things. Be patient; the way God does things oftentimes is not in a quick, microwave manner. Remember there are some things you have to relearn. Wait I say on the Lord.

Doing things in a new way from doing things in an old way for years will take time. But it will make life better, if you allow God to be in control.

Prayer:

Lord God, you are my Jehovah-Jireh. You promise that you are my shepherd, and I lack for nothing. Show me the new thing. Give me the strength to follow in your way, as I give up my unsuccessful ways of doing things. Let me give up control and wait on you.