Our actions are worth nothing, without follow through. As much as I’ve improved in my game, one of my biggest problems is not following through. My club will hit the ball, and almost immediately my momentum stops. If you know anything about golf, continuing to follow through is necessary for the ball to go the distance in which you initially sent it.
The same is true with anything we do, in life. We may start off strong or gain some great momentum along the way, but following our actions through to the end is what counts. Often, obstacles get in our way. If what was once started truly matters, those obstacles will strengthen us. Just like the follow through, in golf, provides the rest of the power to take your game where it needs to go, as we are strengthened through overcoming each obstacle, our overall ability increases and we come to realize that our potential is much greater than we ever imagined.
Is there an area of your life where you began something, something important and gave up along the way? Or have you achieved a certain level of success, in some part of your life, but then stopped reaching higher, stopped believing that you could do more?
Follow through, all the way. See all that you are capable of doing. Don’t slow down. Don’t settle. Don’t quit.
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Lately, I’ve gotten back into playing golf. I’m not saying that I’m all that good at it, but I do my best and I enjoy it very much. As I’ve been playing, life lessons have seemed to surround me. Even if you’re not into golf, these can apply to anyone.
Ability can only take you so far. Believability will get you where you need to go. Whether I’m hitting the ball, or my husband is, this has proven true. Whatever our ability is, it means nothing if we don’t believe we can do what we set out to do.
Don’t you find that true in life, too? Think about all of the people you may know, you may even be one of them, who have so much potential, but who doesn’t seem to achieve as much as those around them know they could. So much of what we accomplish in life starts in our own heads. We may know what we need to do, we may even know how to do what we need to do, but if we can’t envision ourselves at the end of the finish line, all of that ability and knowledge means nothing. But, when we can see ourselves crossing that finish line, even if you don’t end up coming in first, you begin to realize that anything is possible!
What have you been wanting to do, but you stop yourself before you even begin? What dream do you wish you could accomplish, but your past attempts have failed? As long as you have breath, and especially if you have the ability, you need to start believing and do it!
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This blog may be one of my longest ones to date. Over a long time, God has shown me to dream beyond my imagining to dreaming God sized dreams. I can remember a time, as a teenage girl, when my youth pastor encouraged us to pray for our future spouses. He wasn’t encouraging us to focus on looking for the one God might have for us. He was encouraging us to pray “for” that person now, not after he/she entered our lives. I can still remember him saying, “You never know if you are the only one praying for them.” Powerful words!
Well, as I prayed for the man who would later become my husband, God showed me the attributes that this man would and should have, if he was to marry me. They seemed way beyond what even other Christians were hoping for, but as I continued to study the Word, I saw that they lined up directly with God. Not only that, but focusing my eyes on who God would have for me, kept me from making some major mistakes. Years later, when I did meet my husband, I learned that he came to know the Lord during his teen years, in a powerful way! God only knows how much my prayers may have helped to shape him into the man he was and would become. Even more, my husband is all God wanted for me, not an impossible dream.
I can also remember the time when I had to decide which colleges to apply to, and though I’m not advocating applying to just one school (unless God makes that VERY CLEAR), I knew that I knew that I knew that I was meant to go to a specific state college. Others, especially family, thought I was nuts. How could I put all my eggs literally in one basket? This was my future, we were talking about!
To help provide a peace to my loved ones, I decided to apply for early acceptance, which meant I would know months before others if I was going there that fall, but most importantly, I would know ahead of having to submit more college applications, before the deadlines to other schools. Though I did fairly well through my school years, there was no logical reason why the school God wanted me to attend would send me an early acceptance.
As God would have it, I got early acceptance, and He did one even better. They offered me a good-sized scholarship. What had already been clear to me, became clear to others. What’s more is that I grew more spiritually in that place, than ever before, not because it is some special school, but because of daring to dream and trusting God for the results.
I can also tell you of the numerous times I would feel God showing me who He wanted me to be and what He wanted me to do, down the road. However, the location of where this would occur, was completely foreign to me. Then, many years later, as my husband and I were traveling from the airport, for his final pastoral interview and for my teacher interview, I couldn’t help but notice something. Outside the car windows, for miles and miles, I was looking right at the location of my dreams. As we arrived, and did some exploring, more of what God had shown me for so long, were now right before me, in living color and in some cases, in flesh and blood! I cried joyful tears, many times during that weekend.
I have long felt an affinity for Joshua, in the Old Testament. He was a man who clearly dreamed God sized dreams. As he was mentored by Moses, it spoke to me when I read, “Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Afterward Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, would remain behind in the Tent of Meeting,” in Exodus 33:11. Here was a man God was shaping to see the Promised Land before he would ever step into it. Twelve men had been sent to scout out the Promised Land and report back to Moses, Aaron and the rest of the Israelites. Ten of the twelve could only see what was in front of them, and they passed along their fears to the others that this was not of God, without consulting Him. However, in Numbers 14:5-9, we see Joshua and Caleb not only dreaming God’s way, but truly seeing His reality, before they entered into all God had for His people:
“Then Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground before the whole community of Israel. Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing. They said to all the people of Israel, ‘The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!”
That’s what’s so amazing about dreaming as God desires us to dream. We can’t always see what He places in our hearts and dreams. They don’t always make sense. Many times, they don’t, because they involve His intervention, rather than man’s, in order for them to come to fruition. But God tells us in Ephesians 3:20, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” That’s exciting! If we can think it, He is able to do even greater!!! That’s what He wants for us.
Even though that piece of Scripture was written many years after Joshua, Joshua knew the heart of God. This is probably why in Joshua 10, we see five kings send their united armies to fight against Joshua and the Israelites, out of fear for what they had seen God deliver them from, in prior battles. This would causes most people to run the other way. Yet, God had given Joshua big dreams, dreams of who He is and what He wanted for His people.
In Joshua 10:9-14 we read:
“Joshua traveled all night from Gilgal and took the Amorite armies by surprise. The Lord threw them into a panic, and the Israelites slaughtered great numbers of them at Gibeon. Then the Israelites chased the enemy along the road to Beth-horon, killing them all along the way to Azekah and Makkedah. As the Amorites retreated down the road from Beth-horon, the Lord destroyed them with a terrible hailstorm from heaven that continued until they reached Azekah. The hail killed more of the enemy than the Israelites killed with the sword.
On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel. He said, ‘Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.’
So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies.
Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day.There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day!”
Wow! How many of us would ask God to stop time, the revolution of the Earth around the sun, even stop time, very unnatural things, because His people needed more time, and Joshua knew that if he could think it, God could do greater, and God did! He allowed His people to get physically involved in the battle, and as if the sun standing still wasn’t enough to show them who was really at work here, God destroyed those who tried to escape, with a hailstorm. That’s the God we serve, a God who wants us to expect great things from Him.
Looking back at those who dared to dream God sized dreams in the Word, in the lives of others I have known or met, and in my own life, I couldn’t say this better than Paul did in Ephesians 1:3, when he stated, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.”
Did you catch that? He has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms! It isn’t future tense. He has already done it. All we have to do is enlarge our vision and dream as God wants us to, because He has already ensured us that He is able and has already made a way.
This is why the Dream Centers, which began in LA, came into being and spread world-wide. This is why the “National Community Church” in Washington, DC stands today and its pastoral staff and congregation continue to be testament to dreaming God’s way. This is why the Assemblies of God exists today. This is why Wayne Tesch, an ordinary man (like all of God’s big dreamers) began Royal Family Kids Camp, a camp for abused foster kids, which is now over 150 camps strong world-wide!
Are you getting it? God wants us to dream big enough for Him to do even bigger things! Jesus Himself told us in Matthew 13:23, “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” He wants to go WAY beyond whatever we dream.
So start dreaming, but keep God in the equation. Ask Him to enlarge your vision. Dream in accordance to who God is and who He says we are in Him, because we serve a BIG God. Dream, remembering that what is impossible in our eyes is VERY possible in His, and feel free to share with me and my readers about God’s big dreams and what He’s done since you dared to dream! Not only does it encourage all of us, but each testimony gives glory to God, the giver of great dreams.
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I admit. I enjoy talking. This wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who knows me. While I try to use my words for good, I’m human, and there are those times when I say something hurtful. I always regret those moments. I know that everyone does this, but I spend much of my day teaching, and a lot of the rest of my time is taken with family, friends and ministering. So, I’m around people a lot. I love interacting with others. There are those who even seek me out, to talk, which I love. So, the last thing I want to do is say something thoughtless.
There is an overwhelming number of verses warning us to watch what comes out of our mouths. Do you think God is trying to tell us something? Ephesians 4:29 tells us, “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”
Everything? Yes, the Word says, “everything”. Seems like an impossible task, but how much of that thought stems from a lack of self-control? Though I still have a long way to go in improving in this area, over the years, I have tried to think more before I speak. This is possible to do, more often than we would like to admit.
King Solomon was known for his wisdom, a wisdom he acquired through his obedience to God and a desire to live in His ways. King Solomon stated that there is “a time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak” in Ecclesiastes 3:7. Are there times when we want to say something, but shouldn’t? Absolutely.
Learning when to speak and when to be silent can only come from asking God for help. It isn’t something that comes naturally. We are told in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” If you’re struggling in this area, ask God to help you. Also, be real and ask those who are close to you to help keep you accountable, to help you when you’re not aware of these slip ups.
Too often, when we say words we shouldn’t, we follow it with, “Just saying. . .” We could all spend a little less time saying, and a little more time listening, a little less time providing our input and a little more time trying to understand others.
Imagine a world where the words we speak, write, text, type, and post were meant to edify those around us. Imagine a world where our words make a difference in the lives of others, by inspiring them to be all God means them to be. Imagine a world where we all spoke life.
Proverbs 18:21 reminds us, “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.” Imagine a world where we reap the consequences of thoughtful words to one another! Let’s do more than just imagine. Let’s speak life. Just saying.
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We’ve all been there. We’re in the midst of a situation, frustrated, trying to figure out what to do next. We begin to question ourselves. It can be a dark place.
I can still remember the night, after my first day of teaching. I had gone through my years at college, earned my degree and certifications. I had been prepared by others and life, with more than I could have ever hoped for. My first day, as an official teacher even went well.
So why did I drop to the floor of my bedroom, feeling completely overwhelmed? I found myself doing the only thing I knew to do. I cried, hiccuping, gasping cries, to the only One who I knew understood me better than myself, my God. I wasn’t upset that I didn’t feel equipped with knowledge on the subject I was teaching. I wasn’t uncomfortable working with my students. Yet, I felt inadequate.
Who was I to think I had something to teach the future of our country, young men and women, who would be molded partly by what I imparted to them?
So, what else could I do? I felt inadequate, because I am. All of a sudden, for at least 9-10 months, the lives of others were being entrusted to me. Many would come to me, expecting answers, and the responsibility suddenly felt too great.
But, as I cried out to my Heavenly Father, all was made right. He gently reminded me that I may not always know all the answers, but I know Someone who does. When those impressionable lives asked me for direction, I may not always know what to say, but I know Someone who does.
By the time I stood up, not much had changed around me, but something had definitely changed inside of me. I felt confident that no matter what lied before me, I could walk forward, knowing that my God would guide me.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” I was confident, knowing that not only did I not have all the answers, but I didn’t have to have all the answers.
Isn’t that where true wisdom comes from, acknowledging the One who is greater than ourselves? Why do we sometimes lack wisdom, in a situation? Sometimes it is just a matter of crying out to the One who can see the beginning and the end, and asking for His wisdom, which far surpasses our own.
Life isn’t always easy, but no matter what happens, know that God has a plan for you and your circumstances.
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Rachel's Reflections 