Faith

Be Still

Ok, many of you have heard the verse from the bible where God commands “Be Still and know that I am God”. It’s a message that’s been coming to me over and over since the end of last year. I confess though, it’s a message that I truly don’t understand how to apply in my life.

It’s meant to mean be at peace, trust in the infinite power of God to meet your need be it spiritual, financial, healing, whatever. It means don’t look at yourself or your ability to meet the need but know that you are nothing compared to the infinite awesomeness of God.

But…

How do you actually do it? You see, I’m a father and husband with two amazing women relying on me, not to mention workers, creditors and so forth. Now, when there’s no food on the table or diapers or rent is due, how do I sit there and tell my wife, my landlord or whoever and say, “Don’t worry, I’m being still. Relax”?

Ok, what I mean is from a practical point of view, what does it really mean to be still before God? Does it mean I don’t work? Does it mean I sit on my couch with my eyes closed in deep prayerful meditation while my world falls apart around me? Does it mean I don’t move?!

It’s a question that I’d like help from you my faithful readers, what does it mean to you to be still? How do you think we are meant to apply it practically? How has it worked for you?

I’d love to hear from you.

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I Believe

Have you ever asked yourself what would you have to believe in order to be the person of your dreams and to live the life you desire? I recently asked myself that question and I came up with this long list.

I believe I am worthy of success and wealth

I believe I a can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

I believe I can achieve all my dreams

I believe I am a great husband and father

I believe I that in every adversity or challenge is an equal or greater opportunity

I believe that in utmost Integrity

I believe I am made for greatness

I believe I am loved and appreciated

I believe I have incredible potential that I can never exhaust

I believe I am 100% responsible for my life

I believe I am a winner

I believe I am blessed and highly favored

I believe I can lead with greatness

I believe in serving others lies the key to lasting success

I believe in giving great value delivered with excellence

I believe the more I give of my self, time and resources, the more I get in return

I believe that there is greatness inside of everyone and I merely have to draw it out

I believe what I leave inside my children is more important than what I leave for them

I believe true love is more something I do than something I feel

I believe that the quality of my thoughts dictates the quality of my life

I believe my attitude is more important than my circumstance

I believe I am where I am today because of choices I made in the past.

I believe in doing what I do best and finding others to do what I do worst.

I believe in constant never ending improvement

I believe in reading and learning from others is vital to my growth

I believe I have all the intelligence I need to succeed beyond my wildest dreams

I believe I was created to house the Glory of God

I believe when I believe, anything is possible

I believe the words I speak have great power

I believe that living my dreams inspires others around me to do the same

I believe that I am blessed to be a blessing to others

I believe I can choose my response to any event or circumstance

I believe my thoughts affect my emotions which inturn affect my actions

I believe the people I most spend time with directly affect the quality of thinking and life I have

What would you have to believe?

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The Apprentice & The Family Man’s Creed

This is the Family mans Creed. It goes out to all the men out there, married or single, we are still charged to live to these standards.

With Gods help I will do my best to:

Praise and Honor God daily in my thoughts, my words and my deeds thus establishing the foundation for my success as a true family man.

Honor and Respect my Wife, loving her as Christ loves the church and faithfully demonstrating my life long commitment to providing for her needs.

Spiritually protect my Family, by consistently interceeding in prayer for their needs, establishing the Word of God as our homes final authority. Boldly declaring “As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord”

Emotionally protect my Family, by speaking words of blessings and encouragement, spending lots of time together and remembering to be slow to anger and quick to extend mercy.

Physically protect my family, through hardwork, preparedness and diligence, understanding that my call as a family man requires daily sacrifice.

Be faithful to my Family by ensuring regular weekly church attendance and faithful giving of my time and resources in addition to maintaining relationships with other Christian men for accountability and edification.

Ask the Lord daily for Wisdom and His empowerment that I may walk in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control

Allow no other activities to distract me from my number one priority which is to be assured that my family proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

Shalom

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The Apprentice: My Greatest Fear

A series of events over the past few days have left me feeling low spirited, frustrated and defeated. I feel like a fraud and a failure. I’m not the person living the life I know I should be.I’m not achieving my goals or following my dreams. To encourage myself I decided to rewrite one of my favorite poems by Marriane Williamson, “Our Greatest Fear” that I came across in my usual morning readings.

What is My Greatest Fear

My Greatest Fear Is n­ot that I am Inadequate,
My Greatest Fear Is That I am Powerful Beyond Measure,
That I can do and achieve beyond my wildest dreams
It is my Light, ­not my Darkness That Frightens Me,

I Ask Myself, who am I to be Brilliant and Wise?
Who am I to be Wealthy and Respected?
Who am I to be Handsome and Loved?
Who am I to be Talented and Fabulous?

But the real question is, Who Am I not To Be?
I am a Child Of God, a Prince in His Kingdom.
My playing small does ­not serve the World.

There is ­nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that others won’t feel insecure around Me.
I was born to manifest the Glory Of God within me.
It is n­ot just in some people out there; it is in Me too.

And, as I let my own Light shine,
I am consciously giving you permission to do the same.
As I am liberated from my own fear,
My presence automatically liberates You.

~The Apprentice~

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Discovering the Apprentice’s Core Values

A couple of months ago, I was speaking with the Rogue King, about what drives us to do the things we do and make the choices that we do. He suggested to me that perhaps we should look deeper, to our core values.

So what are our core values? Well simple put they are the things we believe in the most that direct what and how we think about our life. There are hundreds of values that we each hold but some hold more power over us than others. For example some peoples core value is love. For others it’s family or power, money, religion etc.

It is important for us to know and choose our core values are because they color everything we do in life. It’s like our constitution. A person whose core value is Family for example will make all decisions about what they do around their need for family. The career he chooses, the car he drives, the type of person he marries. It’s all connected.

I decided to look at my own core values and I thought I’d share with you what I have chosen to be my guiding values in order to achieve my dreams and life purpose.

Love

I live and give love to all around me including myself. I give love regardless of how I feel but as directed by Gods word.

Responsibility

I am 100% responsible for my life and the results I experience. Everything I am, have or experience is a result of the choices and actions I’ve made in the past. I always have the ability to choose my response in life.

Integrity

I live congruently with my beliefs and principles and do not compromise them. My word is my bond.

Positivity

I maintain a positive attitude at all times, always looking for the upside in every situation. I believe every problem is an opportunity disguised.

Faith

I put my complete trust in God and the gifts, skills and talents he has placed in me.

Teachability

I am a constant learner, always striving to get better each day, in every way.

Courage

I stand and face my fears each and every day to accomplish great things. I seek opportunity and not security.

Compassion

I extend kindness, compassion, understanding and grace to all who need it.

Giving

I am a generous giver of my money, time and resources for the highest good of all.

Self Discipline

I maintain strong control over my will, emotions, passions and thoughts at all times keeping them focused for my greater growth

Diligence

I work hard at everything I do with the utmost care, excellence and attention to detail.

Excellence

I hold myself to the highest standards in all  that I am and do. I do not live according to the worlds standard but to Gods

Health

I work diligently to ensure y body is in great physical condition through healthy lifestyle choices

Creativity

I believe in using all of my God given creativity to imbue my life, relationships, work and passions with fun, excellence and impact

Personal Growth

I constantly seek to improve on every area of my being through learning and application. The better I am, the better my life will be.

Vision

i always have a clear Godly vision for my life which i pursue daily.

Peace

I seek to live in peace with everyone in as much as it depends on me. I gaurd my inner peace and I’m guided by it.

I am still discovering more of myself and adjusting accordingly. Some values we have don’t benefit us and it’s imperative to identify them and remove them while picking out ones that pull us forward. I’d like to hear some of your core values so drop me a line.

Shalom

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The Apprentice & the 13 unbreakable laws of success

Today in my mail, I discovered a pleasant bonus in one of my weekly inspirational newsletters. The 13 absolutely unbreakable laws of success by Brian Tracy, one of my favorite motivational speakers. Here it is in simple and no nonsense breakdown of things you must learn to do to achieve great and lasting success in your life. I give you, the 13 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Success.

1. The Law of Control:

You feel good about yourself to the degree at which you feel you are in control of your own life.

2. The Law of Responsibility:

You are completely responsible for everything you are and for everything you become and achieve.

3. The Law of Direction:

Successful people have a clear sense of purpose and direction in every area of their lives.

4. The Law of Compensation:

You are always fully compensated for whatever you do, positive or negative.

5. The Law of Service:

Your rewards in life will always be in direct proportion to the value of your service to others.

6. The Law of Applied Effort:

All things are amenable to hard work.

7. The Law of Overcompensation:

If you always do more than you are paid for, you will always be paid more than you are getting now.

8. The Law of Preparation:

Effective performance is preceded by painstaking preparation.

9. The Law of Forced Efficiency:

The more things you have to do in a limited period of time, the more you will be forced to work on your most important tasks.

10. The Law of Decision:

Every great leap forward in life is preceded by a clear decision and a commitment to action.

11. The Law of Creativity:

Every advance in human life begins with an idea in the mind of a single person.

12. The Law of Flexibility:

Success is best achieved when you are clear about the goal but flexible about the process of getting there.

13. The Law of Persistence:

Your ability to persist in the face of setbacks and disappointments is your measure of your belief in yourself and your ability to succeed.

Shalom

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Be still… I know that I aint God!

Riiiiiiiiiigght!

For the last few days i’ve been in a completely bamboozled state of being. Interesting how we can make so many plans for our lives and meanwhile, Abba is up there shaking His Glorious head in bemusement. The All knowing God has majorly different plans for our lives but we’re not too bothered about that, now are we?

We think we can control everything. We’re not even interested in His plan for our lives. Oh sure, we all make a good show of it with each other, “oh i wish I knew Gods will for my life”. Lets be honest here…No your don’t! Cause we’re selfish and self driven and His will usually means self sacrifice and giving, not receiving and being pampered. We want what we want not what He wants us to have.

Anyways, I wanted so many different things for my life and I had this pretty good idea of how to get them, when to get them. To say that this year has proven me soooooooo wrong is the understatement of my 29 years. The Great Master has pulled move after move to show me that I am so incapable of being Him.

You see, I have a very analytical mind. I turn things over and over in my head. My wife calls it mental O.D. I need to figure everything out, see how all the pieces will fit together, all the possible outcomes, all the angles. This makes it very difficult for me to be still and let God handle the heavy lifting.

Don’t get me wrong. God is good; In fact He is super awesome. But you have to agree with me that His way of doing things not to mention His timing are usually quite…well…ridiculous, totally unexpected and most definately not the way we’d do it. Examples. Telling a 90year old geezer that he’s going to have a son. A starving widow to give up her sons last meal to feed a fugitive prophet, telling a coward to lead an army of only 300 men to defeat nations of hundreds of thousands, making a skinny little mulaalo the greatest king of Isreal and the most mindboggling and prepostrous of all examples, saving the world by shedding His Glory & splendour and becoming one of HIs creations, one of us, a Man.

Whats my point. My point is that this year has to have been the most curve ball, exciting, freaky, not exactly-according-to-plan time of my life. So much has happened to me that I honestly can’t say I’m ready to handle. I’m just no where near the man who I need to be to be handle all this stuff. Right now The Master has called me to something thats so ridiculously amazing and yet equally daunting & terrifying. I’m swinging between moments of Praise and Depression. Who needs drugs when you have life?

But this keeps me going:

2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” and Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Isn’t He great. He speaks to me even now as I write this. What a Glorious and Wonderful Master. He knows i need encouragement, He knows i’m scared and full of doubts and He doesn’t condemn or judge. He speaks with authority, love and firmness. He reminds me that He will never leave me nor forsake me. Though the rivers threaten to overflow, though the fires burn hotter, i shall not drown, I shall not even have a whiff of smoke on me. He Himself will lift me with His victorious right arm. And what do i need to do?

Be still and know that He is God, not me.

Shalom

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