Month: February 2012

Doing Things for the Right Reasons…

On By Papa TonyIn God, goodness, knowledge, love, spiritual, ThoughtLeave a comment

Have you ever wondered how you can tell if you are doing things for the right reasons?  Well, the easy answer is found in how you feel while you are doing what you are doing.  Actions that we take for the right reasons always leave us feeling satisfied, encouraged, and blessed.  Actions that we take for the wrong reasons leave us worse off for having done them.  We may be facing a situation that requires we take some action, but we can approach that action from different places.  We can do things from the love that’s in our hearts or we can do things for many other reasons like “expectations,” “compulsion,” “obligation,” fear,” or “bondage.”  Anything that you do because you have to do it leaves you feeling angry and despondent and eventually you will stop doing it, even if it’s a necessary thing to do.

It’s sad to say, but it seems like most people’s view of God is one based on fear and not on love.  I would surmise that fear comes from not understanding, but still it manifests as fear.   What do people do when they find themselves in a potentially threatening situation?  They start bargaining with God!  It’s as if they feel that any help and support from God comes only in response to their good behaviors, so if they can promise to be good in some area, maybe God will have pity on them and help them.  That would be called, “fear.”  A fear based paradigm always does what it does for the wrong reasons.  Hey folks, if the qualifying factor to receive God’s help in tough situations is good behavior, then we are in a “heap o’ trouble!”  So, the next time you find yourself in a tough spot, dispense with the righteous promises that you don’t really mean anyway and seek God’s help because you  know He loves you and desires to help you!

Religion is generally based on fear.  Religious people do all kinds of deeply religious acts because they are afraid; afraid that if they don’t do this or don’t do that, then God won’t be there to help them.  Nothing wrong with self-control.  Nothing wrong with wanting to do good things!  What becomes wrong with it is a motive that is based on fear or obligation and not on love.  If God has truly made me free because of Jesus Christ’s accomplishments, then I am truly free.  I am free to love; free to give; free to serve!  If I don’t love today, God still loves me anyway.  If I don’t give today, God still gives to me anyway.  If I don’t serve today, God still makes sure my needs are met in abundance so I can serve another day.  You see, free means free!  If I slip up today and do some rather sketchy, suspect activities and in so doing risk losing God’s favor in my life, again I’d be in a “heap o’ trouble!”  I think we can give God a little more credit than that!  If God made us free, then true freedom means we can choose what we are going to do without any fear or obligation.  If I do something because I’m afraid, I’m doing it for the wrong reason.  Whenever you are feeling obligated or serving/giving/helping out because you have to  ~ it will always suck for you!  You know something is wrong because you know that it sucks!  Trying to tell yourself it doesn’t suck is pointless!  So you have two choices:  change your mind/motive or stop doing what you are doing!  Why on earth would I ever want to serve God if it only ever sucked?  The real idea is that He blesses me and does kind, unexpected things for me, then in response to what He does, I want to give and serve!  That order never changes.

So you must ask yourself, “What things am I doing that I would rather not do?”  “What behaviors do I engage in out of obligation that offer no benefit to me?”  “What avenues am I pursuing because such and such said I should rather than what I want to pursue?”  And…stop doing those silly things!  Do things from your heart.  Do things because they bless both you and the recipient.  I have always said, if you want your kids to not love God and not want to learn about Him, make them do things in His name!  Don’t let ’em choose; make ’em go; make ’em read, make ’em pray!  (Haha) That way you can almost guarantee they won’t want to do it!  (He says facetiously)  I’m pretty sure you don’t want forced, obligated love from your kids either, right?  So how will the kiddies ever learn?  Well, you teach them just that.  Tell them about God’s care for their lives, despite their behavior.  Tell them how good God is no matter what they do!  Then, you won’t have to force anyone to do anything!

So, don’t be fooled my friends!  That lil’ voice condemning you ain’t from God!  God doesn’t need to scare you into doing anything for Him or for anyone else for that matter.  Free means free homie!  Love God, love your fellow-man, and do as you dang fool please!  Let the big ‘ol hidden vat of love welled up inside your heart, out!  Decide to do what you do out of love, not compulsion.  Love people just cuz… And, you will find that every action you take based on love, works!  And, while you are loving other people, you will find that you are loving yourself!

Be free!

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The Meaning of Life…

On By Papa TonyIn bible, God, goodness, knowledge, love, spiritual, Thought1 Comment

Have you ever taken the time to consider what “life” is all about?  So many opinions; a multitude of competing views; every kind of theory, idea, philosophy, tenet, and cliché all offering advice on what our lives should be and could be.  Thoughts range from the biological existence camp; those who have “scientifically” concluded that we are just a random form of higher animal species existing solely in accord with our built-in instincts and drives to the “spiritual” ideologists that claim we were always around in heaven waiting to be born, to live, then die and be born again into another form etc. etc. etc.  Then, there’s the negative camp that say how hard life is; it’s complicated, difficult, scary, it sucks, it’s a bitch and then you die!  (nice group?)  There’s karma that gets you if you got them and blesses you if you blessed them.  There’s religion that reports there is no evil and that all is good (though you are pretty sure there’s no good in what just happened) and there’s religion that claims that nothing is good, but all is evil and everything is sin and bad and wrath’s coming and you better get ready to meet your angry God!  So, how could you ever even fathom what life could be or should be with the great spaghetti bowl of ideas with which we are surrounded?  Your mom and dad learned this and taught you that.  Your dad couldn’t get a break (hmm what is a break exactly?) and your mom was born with a silver spoon in her mouth (hmm and what the heck is that?)  There are the “haves” and there are the “have-nots” and you are “fortunate” to be a member of the “have” club.  Lord, it’s no wonder people drink!  Lest I confuse you any further, why not indulge me and let me tell you a story.  You can decide if the story is true or not true, it is completely up to you.  So just sit on your blankey, relax and listen to my story…

Long. long, long ago there was a great spiritual being named God.  He had no beginning and has no ending.  (Caution: do not try to wrap your head around that one!)  He longed to have a relationship with someone wherein He could share His great love.  He could create anything He wanted and was unlimited in every way.  However, He did not want to create some robot beings that loved Him automatically.  He wanted to create human beings and then give them the power to decide by their own free-will whether they would believe in Him and whether they would love Him on their own.  Since He was a spiritual being He knew they would never find Him with their five-senses minds, so He decided to write them a Great Book and in that Book He would tell them Who He was and how to get to Him.  Oh, and He knew that one of the spirit beings He had created previously would oppose Him (by his own free-will) and become His great opponent and antagonist, yet He created him anyway as well, because after all, you can’t really have free-will if you only have one choice, right?  So, after having those that believed in Him write that Great Book, He also knew that His opponent would try his best to talk everyone out of believing in His Great Book.  His opponent was very wise and knew he could not dispute the truth of that Great Book, so he persuaded people to gnarl and twist the words of the Book.  He got them to invent new doctrines and new theories and ideas that directly opposed the words of that Great Book, and was able to make many, many, many people unhappy and miserable.  Many of them live that way up to this very day.

Despite the cunning wisdom of the opponent, God was always much wiser.  He knew He needed to get His Great Book back into the hearts of His people.  For He wanted them to know that He was the Author of life and that He invented life to be enjoyed to the fullest.  He was grieved in His heart though because He saw so many people suffering.  He didn’t want them to suffer and He knew that if they got back to Him He could restore their lives, if only they would believe Him.  Yet many did not believe Him and He wasn’t mad at them.  He knew that without His Great Book they would believe all kinds of things that aren’t true and after a while would get used to living that way.  He also knew that His opponent was always trying to separate them from Him and in their separation would afflict them with disease and death and misery and torture.

Yet God was still wiser than his opponent.  He knew that His opponent had so infiltrated the lives of His people with sin and error and wrong thinking, that He would need to do something for them that they could not do for themselves.  So, He came up with a brilliant plan.  He created soul-life in a woman that believed in Him fully and that life would have no sin or error born into him.  He called the man Jesus, for he would save God’s people from their sins.  He gave His man free-will, like all the rest, and let him choose whether or not he would believe Him fully and walk in all His ways.  This man Jesus was a special man.  He obeyed God like no-one else had ever done.  Then came the hardest part.  God asked His special man to be the payment for the errors of all His people and that payment would mean Jesus would have to die.  Well, since he always obeyed and believed God, like no-one else was able to do, He laid down his life by his own free-will and for that God exalted him above every name that was ever named.

When Jesus laid down his life for God’s people, the opponent thought he had finally defeated God once and for all.  Yet God was much wiser than His opponent.  Through the life of His special son, He could now restore the life of every person who wanted to believe.  He could release His people from the power of His opponent once and for all.  He could, if they would just believe in His Great Book, teach them about His power; His goodness; His love.  He could persuade them that He had the power to heal them from any sickness.  He could reveal to them the joy of living, the joy He had always intended for them.  He could help them to understand that fear did not come from Him and show them how to succeed in their every endeavor.  He could give them peace in their hearts, a peace that surpassed their understanding and that would guard them from every wrong.  He would show them that their lives had purpose, great purpose and that purpose was in fact the meaning of their lives!  This He would do because He loved them so; He had always loved them so…

He called His Great Book the Bible and despite His opponents attempts to discredit it; to make it sound weird and antiquated and foolish, He knew it would restore their lives unto them.  And He knew that when they would believe it, He could give them their hearts desires.  He could restore their connection to Him and make that connection permanent so that they would live forever with Him!  All this He did because He is love and could do nothing else!

That, my friends, is the meaning of life.  Life isn’t complicated, it is simple.  Error is complicated.  Life isn’t always easy for us because of the aforementioned opponent, but we can always win if we will just believe!  Oh I know the arguments…  “There are a million ways to get to Chicago and it doesn’t matter how you get to Chicago, as long as you get to Chicago!”  But, the reality is that there is only one great way to get to where you want to go and that way is found in the Great Book called the Bible.

I hope you liked my story…

What do you say to yourself…that no-one else can hear?

On By Papa TonyIn bible, God, goodness, knowledge, love, ThoughtLeave a comment

“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification,”  (I Corinthians 14:10)  says the Good Book, but perhaps none so important as the one that speaks softly within your own mind.  The words that you say to yourself, those words that no-one else can hear, shape you and make you the person that you are today!  If those words are harsh words; words of condemnation and self-hate; words of criticism and judgment, if those words are always negative; words that always beat you down, then who, my friends, who will lift you up?  You see, all of us think many, many thoughts in a day.  All the day long we are saying something to ourselves and we have the God-given privilege to determine what those words are going to be.  But, if those words are ever so unkind, so unloving, then how can we ever win?  Has it ever occurred to you that there is something behind that world of negativity that besieges you day by day?  The world around us and the forces that drive it, seek to defeat us and steal away the joy and blessing that life is.  The way it achieves success, in fact the only way it can achieve success, is to somehow garner our agreement.  And alas, when we choose to believe those lies and rehearse them to ourselves, we end up… defeated.

All of us folk that have donned human flesh; all of us have fallen short somewhere, somehow.  If the measure of success in life was determined by the number of mistakes we may have made, then none of us would ever gain success.  The whole ever-present consciousness of sin and error, the propensity to judge ourselves and our behaviors, is part of what makes us human.  But, if we are not even on our own side; if we are continually divided against our own selves, we cease to live and God wants us to live!  So, you aint gonna get much done with that defeated mind-set!  This is why God says:

Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.  Romans 3:22-24

The price has been paid in full for every silly thing that you and I ever did.  God made us who we are today.  God is the twinkle in our eye, the smile on our face, the joy that is in our hearts.  Instead of constantly expressing agreement with all that is wrong in life, why not get in agreement with all that is right?  The way to do so is to stop saying bad things to yourself.  Here’s another one:

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?  Romans 8:31

Well, who can be against us?  No-one can and that even includes yourself!  It doesn’t glorify God for us to walk around all downtrodden and defeated day after day.  In fact, it only glorifies the one behind the misery.  So why not stand up, throw your shoulders back and be the person God called you to be!  Speak to yourself as you would speak to someone who you love.  Be kind with yourself.  Be patient with yourself.  Give yourself a frikkin break!  Life aint all about what we do and don’t do, it’s all about the God who called us and gave us life.  So honor what He gave you by getting yourself in agreement with Him.  Stop analyzing yourself.  Stop critically examining yourself.  Stop judging yourself.  Stop doubting yourself.  This persuasion cometh not from Him that calleth you!  Instead, decide to speak new words to yourself.  (Joel O’Steen anyone?)

Folks, you have to be on your own side.  You have to at least be for you first, if anyone else is going to be for you.  That’s what it means to be confident, to have confidence.  If all you ever think is about is what’s wrong with her; what’s wrong with him; what’s wrong with me, you cannot triumph.  Decide that you (with God’s sweet and tender help) are right and walk out on it!  It must be better to find out you were wrong after you made a move than to never make a move because you might be wrong.  Haha  Make a decision!  Make a bold move!  Walk out on it! Stand for something!  Go get what you need and don’t let anyone (especially you) talk you out of it!

If it is true that what a man thinks in his heart, he is, then we would do ourselves some good by thinking some good thoughts (sounds like a great blog name).  Do not allow anyone, even yourself, to speak ill of you.  Be kind and loving with yourself and treat yourself as you would treat the very best of friends.  If you do this, if you carry a consistent good attitude about yourself and who God made you to be, you will find that it will start to leak over to other people.  Your good heart and your good words will start to warm someone else up and then your life will really start to heat up.

You may be surprised about the things that you are saying to yourself.  You may not even recognize how negative and critical you are being.  But, your heavy heart knows… The sadness that you feel; the frustrations that you live with; the lack of success that you may be experiencing, all stand as a testimony to what you think about the most.  Change your thoughts and change your life!

“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification,” so why not let your voice signify all that is good and wonderful in life?  As a man thinks in his heart, so is he…

The Right Now of Your Life…

On By Papa TonyIn God, knowledge, ThoughtLeave a comment

Why do I have to do this stupid analysis of a warehouse process?  This MBA schoolwork is absolutely pointless!  I just want to get it done and over with already!  What time is it?  Am I done yet? I think I’ll take another break…

I have often wondered why us humans seem to place our focus everywhere except the current scenario we find ourselves in.  We seem prone to go to some future time when we get a __________; finish our __________; finally have enough _________; when we move to___________; or find the right __________!  Sound familiar?  Always postponing to the future.  Everything is going to be just grand in the future.  Perhaps the most obvious problem with this logic is that the future never actually arrives, does it?  Oh sure, we plan for the future (the best we can) but what about all of those minutes in-between called, “the life we are actually living right now?”  Well, we sorta waste those minutes, don’t we?  We sit in our houses bored because we have nothing to do, because, after all, in the future when such and such happens things will be so much better!  Crazy, huh?

Personally, I like to write.  Okay, I might even love it!  So, when do I want to get really serious about writing?  In the future, of course.  When I have the perfect house, with the beautiful view, in my den that looks out on the serene surroundings.  Oh I won’t be writing in my spare time.  I will be writing full-time because I managed to get a book published and now that I actually made some money, I can spend unlimited amounts of quality time writing in my perfect haven, in my perfect house, at the perfect time!  Meanwhile, while the minutes of my life tick by, I can spend lots of time dreaming about how great that time will be.  Oh sure, I don’t use the time I’m presently blessed with because that glorious time of “writing nirvana” is still future  (nirvana- the state of being free from suffering).

I know you can relate to this…  It seems perfectly reasonable to make plans for the future, right?  But, once we have made those plans, shouldn’t we focus on the present moment?  Shouldn’t we do our very best to enjoy the moment we find ourselves in and while we are living fully in that moment, do everything that the present moment requires?  If I’m working on getting an MBA (future event) shouldn’t I settle into learning what I can learn right now, understanding that what I’m learning right now is going to lead to that future moment when I not only have my MBA but also even understand some of the concepts that led to it.  (haha)  So, our question remains.  What should I do with my “right now?”  I’m thinking that our “right now” should be fully developed and explored and enjoyed.  The reason that we get so “out of the moment” is that our focus is away on vacation, waiting for the fun and peace and love and blessings that are coming sometime later.  Why???  Because later isn’t scary, that’s why!  As long as it is coming; is on the way; is preparing to happen, then it still has the potential to happen.  There’s no fear of “what if it doesn’t happen?” because it is still future and can “still” happen.  Alas, we eventually find ourselves full of regret, disappointed, saddened about the life we could have lived.  “If only I would have _________ sooner!”  Wow, okay, now I’m sad…:-(

So, what’s the answer then?  The answer, irrespective of your present age, is to make your future life happen right now!  Write your book right now, while the TV is on, on the couch, in the home you need to sell, with the “so-so” view, in your spare time, in the evening…  Do the things you love, the things that get you up in the morning, the things that make your heart wake up, the things during which time stands still; do those things now!  Admit to yourself (me talking to me) that the reason you keep postponing to the future is because you are worried that it might not turn out how you planned.  And, do what you want/need to do now, now!  Hey, you may have to do a “less than favorable activity.”  Well, is that activity going to get you to the place you want to arrive at?  If the answer is yes, then do it now!  If the answer is no, then have a glass of wine and enjoy where you are at this very moment.  If we are really, really honest with ourselves, our ‘ideal’ conditions aren’t so far removed from where we are right now.  Just a little more, a little better, a little different.  I can remember when my wife and I first got married.  We got married in college (solemn piece of advice: don’t do that! :)).  We never had enough money.  When we got a little money, we went grocery shopping.  We spent about 40 bucks and you would have thought we hit the lottery.  I vividly remember staring into the cabinets marveling over the choices of things we had to eat.  Nowadays, we might spend 100 bucks just getting stuff for the Superbowl party.  What’s the difference?  Perspective, that’s what.  Back then we didn’t have and dreamed of when we would “have.”  Now that we “have” we dream of when we will “really have.”  Perspective, that’s all.

So, my dear friends, do not spend another precious moment wasting away your “today” wishing for some future, glorious event.  The future never arrives.  Instead, live your life today with all that you’ve got.  Love and appreciate where you are in this very moment.  Enjoy it, embrace it, revel in it.  Let the future do what it is going to do.   You make up your mind that the only time you can really influence is the time that you have right now.  And, if you do this, you will find that you will not only have the greatest possible time living right now, but that you will also achieve those things you set your heart upon!  You see, you cannot move forward to point B until you have completed the requirements of point A. If your journey requires 15 steps, you have to put your heart into step one, then step two, all the way to step fifteen.  But man oh man, step fifteen is going to be fantastic!

So, why do I have to learn about warehouse processes?  I have to learn about them to get my MBA and when I get my MBA, I’m going to be a pretty cool dude!  We’ve only got one life to live!  Live it to the fullest!

Motivated by love…or fear?

On By Papa TonyIn bible, God, goodness, knowledge, love, spiritual, ThoughtLeave a comment

My wife and I found ourselves in the “Animal ER” the other night after our dog accidentally (if you can call raiding the garbage, accidental) ingested some mouse poison.  After scaring ourselves to death Googling what happens if a dog eats the stuff, we had to go!  We discovered that some very odd characters also go to the Animal ER on Saturday evenings.  While we waited in the seats surrounded by that “dog pee just wiped up off the floor” smell, we noticed a police officer pulled up outside with his flashing lights on.  After reassuring ourselves that he hadn’t profiled us and was actually talking to a lady in the car outside, I witnessed a strange occurrence.  Next to me was a guy with shorts on with very scruffy hair under a “should have been discarded” hat and the distinct smell of too many beers.  He took this opportunity to talk with a young fella that was unfortunately, probably his son.  He proceeded to tell him that the cops outside were waiting for him because he had been a bad boy.  He was about four years old and failed to see any humor in the situation.  In fact, he had the look of terror.  Now most of us would have recognized that “face” and ended the ruse, but not this guy.  Despite the fact that his son was now crying, he said, “They are here to lock you up because you have been bad!”  Then gestured like he was going to turn him in.  The young boy, now frantic, was scared to death.  Then good ol’ Pops said, “Are you gonna be good?  Huh?  From now on are you gonna be good?”  His son, apparently to escape jail time, said, “Yes, I’ll be good Daddy!”  Well, that seemed to satisfy Mr. World’s Worst Parent and he let the boy escape.

Now let me ask you a question.  Does it seem in any way reasonable to scare your child into doing the right thing?  Does anyone really believe that if you can fill a child with fear, he will become a well-adjusted adult, content with following the rules and being obedient?  Oh you can be a big old bully and scare the bejesus out of your kids, but what do you suppose happens when you (Mr. Tough Guy/Ms. Tough Gal) aren’t around?  My guess is the child will do the exact opposite of what you tried to scare him/her into doing.  No-one on earth is successfully motivated by fear.  All fear does is “make” you comply out of pure obligation or fear of consequences.  In other words, your heart isn’t in it and when your heart isn’t in it, you are going to get a bad result.  It reminds me (I know, I know…I digress) of when Dad’s think the way to make their son the toughest kid on the block, is by calling him a “punk” or a “sissy” or a _____(you fill in the blank)!  Same kinda logic.  Maybe if I humiliate this boy or make him feel weak and convince him he isn’t acting like a man, when he grows up he will magically transform into a mans man overnight!  Ya think?  No…ummm here’s another flash of light; what he will be is scared, insecure and the opposite of what you had in mind.  How could he not be?  You want to make a man’s man?  (See my boys :-))  Then, love them and love them and love them and watch what happens!  Ever see Mr. Man’s Man NFL quarterback hug his Pops on TV and maybe even kiss him on the cheek?  Haha evidence of proper man’s man training!  Okay, where was I?  Oh yeah, fear!  Fear is the world’s worst teacher.  Oh you may have learned a vivid lesson, but that lesson when attached to dread isn’t optimum training.  Let’s say you learned that when you grab a snake it bites you.  Vivid lesson!  Now when you see a snake you run for the hills!  Hmm great training.  Seems like a better approach might be to love you through your apprehension and teach you what is really involved with snakes.

Now, love motivation is an entirely different animal.  Lessons learned out of love have no downside to them.  This, my friends, is how God teaches us.  All that, “you don’t want to end up in hell” stuff never came from God.  It came from that preacher who learned long ago that if you want to control people all you have to do is scare ’em to death!  Anytime you are doing something good out of fear, it is still wrong because fear is wrong…  Ending in – bad results!  Can you guess how God motivates us?

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance [a change of heart]? Romans 2:4

Said another way, God motivates us to do things how He says to do them by being so good and kind to us, that we respond.  No threats, no intimidation, no fear, just pure love motivation.  If we fall short, He loves us anyway.  If we go astray, He keeps loving us into coming back!

Do you want to raise a well-adjusted child that will be a happy, well-adjusted adult?  Then, just love them.  Love them and take time to teach them “why” and you’ll see what I mean.  And, while you are working on that, think to yourself, “am I doing what I’m doing based on love or am I doing it out of fear?”  What is your motive?  Anything that makes you feel afraid is not good for you.  Relationships built on fear are precarious.  Anything built on fear is precarious!

Do what you are going to do because of love.  There’s no force in the world stronger than love and nothing sweeter to your soul than love. Love really is what makes the world go round!  Really!

Oh and the world’s worst parent…I guess we have to love him too!

 

 

The Limitlessness of God…

On By Papa TonyIn bible, God, goodness, knowledge, love, spiritual, ThoughtLeave a comment

Do you remember when you were a kid and had that unrestrained enthusiasm for life?  You were full of hope for the future and excited about how things would turn out for you.  You believed that you had unlimited possibilities and could do or be whatever you wanted.  Then, you got a little older and got introduced to the real world where things don’t work out and many good-hearted people took it upon themselves to educate you about being “realistic” and not to “get your hopes up” and convinced you to settle for a life of mediocrity.  After all, who exactly do you think you are with your “pie in the sky” dreams?  Life is difficult and filled with unsolvable problems and there is nothing you can do about it.  Or, life is not fair and no-one gets out of it alive anyway.  Sound familiar?  I’m sure it does.  Well, here is another newsflash:  those people were wrong!  When you were young and didn’t know better (or supposedly didn’t know better) you didn’t put limits on things.  You enjoyed your life; you enjoyed playing and having fun; you didn’t worry about how your needs were going to be met, you just lived.  Then, somehow, somewhere, in some way, someone talked you out of your hopes and dreams assuming that, that was maturity because long ago they were talked out of their hopes and dreams…That isn’t maturity, that’s a life that sucks!  Sure we all grow up and have to take on responsibilities that we didn’t have when we were kids, but that doesn’t translate to an adult  life of misery.  If that were the case no-one should grow up, right?!

God intended for life to be a joy and full of blessings.  God says that He desires above all things that we should prosper and be in health.  Well, if he desires it then He certainly must be capable of carrying it out.  We can be reasonably sure (sarcasm intended) that there is no power greater than God’s power!  BUT…and that’s a big but, God is limited to what you and I expect and believe.   God gave us free will and part of that free will is being able to make decisions about what we are going to believe and accept vs. what we are going to refuse and reject. See what happened when you got all growed-up?  (country-speak)  You stopped believing in the unlimited and settled for the limited, the finite, the supposed “real.”  You got real smart and your real smart reasoning said “how can it be?”  You traded in your youthful enthusiasm for that “same-ol, same-ol” that you saw the rest of the adults living in.  In short, you got talked out of the truth that you unknowingly started life with.  Hmmm…okay you need some evidence?

At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 18:1-4

Children, little children, believe!  They are humble little creatures.  They don’t have 50 arguments against what you tell them (well, before they reach age 15 anyway), they just accept things as truth and keep on moving.  Now obviously there are limitations to the analogy because you can also easily talk them into giving you their lunch money (smile).  But, the point is children are fantastic, little believers.  They don’t put limits on things and because they don’t they are just happy.  If they have unmet needs they are relentless about getting those needs met.  They don’t settle for “that’s the way it is” or just move ahead unhappy and depressed.

So how about you and me?  When did we get so smart that we believed something was impossible; some disease incurable; some desire of our heart unattainable?  That ain’t smart folks!  Case in point:

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Matthew 19:26

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;  Psalms 103:3

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.  Psalms 20:4

Seems like the smart thing to do is to put your confidence in the limitlessness of God!  Let’s be honest here, what you have been doing ain’t working so well is it?  That whole figure it out yourself thing is exhausting at best.  Or how about that fear that besieges you day by day?  Fear of disease, fear of not having enough, fear of poverty, fear of responsibility, fear of death, fear of the future blah blah blah, blah blah blah… Exhausting!  God doesn’t want you to be worn out by life.  And, the reason you get worn out is because YOU ARE TRYING TO DO IT ALL BY YOURSELF!  (Yelling! 🙂 )  There is an easier way and that “way” you practiced freely when you were a youngster.  That way is found in believing in the limitlessness of God and learning how to receive what He has already made available to you.  That my friends is the only way…

So, why not make the decision to learn more about Him.  You will find that some of the silly stuff you have heard about Him simply ain’t true!  Our God is a God of abundance.  He is a God of love.  He is the originator of happy, peaceful, blessed, assured, successful, plenty and good times.  (Let the good times roll…)  He is quite capable of doing for you what you cannot do for yourself.  He can do the impossible!  He can heal, repair, restore or fix anything!  He will give you the desires of your heart.  He is God folks and He is pretty awesome!  (smile)

Decide right now that you will not spend another pitiful moment being a good, boring, dutiful, boring, almost dead adult.  (two borings don’t make an exciting) Live life man!  Experience life!  Expect good things.  Expect abundance no matter what the dum dum economists say!  Everything you excitedly thought about life when you were a kid is still true!  All you gotta do is get off the pedestal of “I already know” and humble yourself like the heart of a child.

May our wonderful, loving heavenly Father give you all the desires of your heart!

Hallelujah!  (haha)