I love the Bible!  I love the Bible because I have found it’s words to be true, accurate and always right on target!  The Bible knows where I am and where I need to be and instructs me on how to get there!  If I will take the time to read a little every day, I will always have a healthy supply of whatever I need to face whatever may come my way.  Don’t look at the Bible as a book of rules and regulations, instead look at it as a guide to the very best life possible.  When it tells you to do something – it is telling you to do it, because in so doing, you will discover blessing!  When it tells you not to do something – it tells you not to do it, because to cross that line will cost you more than you really want to pay!  The Bible is God speaking to you and me – listen and you will hear some amazing things!

In Philippians 4:8 the Scriptures tell us to focus on some things.  If we will shift our focus and put it on the right things, it will make an amazing difference in our lives!  We should focus on what is:

True not false – what good will a lie really do you?

Honorable not destructive -what good does it do anyone to tear down and apart?

Right not wrong -stop trying to make wrongs right, just admit there wrongs and get right!

Pure not impure – purity builds, blessed and binds us to God, while impurity destroys, discourages and defeats us!

Lovely not unlovely – if it’s not the good stuff of God – what do you want with it?

Good not bad – this is a no brain-er!

Excellent not mediocre – we should give our best for the best!

Praise worthy not gossip talk – Granny said it best:  “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all!”

This is really all about focusing on the positive!  God is a positive God!  His Word is a positive Word!  We His people should be a positive people!  Shift your focus and think in the positive things of God today!

What makes you happy?  According to the Bible – we are to rejoice in the Lord!  Does God make make you happy?  I mean really does He make you happy?  For most folks, if they were honest – the answer would be no!  God does not make us mad or sad, in fact we won’t allow God to make us anything.  We just tend to have God around as a fixture, safety net or crutch.  We need Him in our lives so that people will know that we are spiritual.  We need Him close by, just in case we get ourselves into something, we can’t get ourselves out of.  We need Him in our lives, so we will have someone to shift the blame toward!  God is so much more that most of us will allow Him to be!

God is real!  God cares about you and me!  God has a plan for our lives!  Stop trying to find happiness and allow happiness to find you!  Happiness will find you, when you realize that you can have a personal and meaningful relationship with the God that has always had you best blessing in mind and heart!  Take some time today to fix your relationship with God by making sure that you allow it to be all that He created and crafted it to be!  Happiness, real happiness comes through our relationship with Him.  Stop running, stop making excuses and start getting the real deal!

I have been in church most of my life!  I love the church, because God changed my life through the church!  It was at church that I learned things that make me who I am today!  I think most people go to church and never take advantage of the opportunity that it offers them to really experience change and growth!  I believe that the reason most people fail to experience growth at church is because most never really get focused.  We think about what we want, what we need and what we would like to have and be, but thinking is about as far as most of us ever really get!  If we are going to be the success that God has called, created and gifted each of us to be, then we must put forth an effort.  We must put forth an effort, if we are gong to experience God’s best!  God’s best does not happen by accident!

Listen to the things that God is speaking into your life and make an effort to work on those things!  When you start, God will succeed!  Take a few moments right now to think about some of the things that God has been trying to challenge you to work on!  What are they and what are you going to do about it?

Have you ever prayed and asked God to help you fail?  Of course not, that would be foolish!  Have you ever prayed and asked God to help you live a mediocre and hum-drum life?  Of course not, because who wants to live a hum-drum life?  We will not pray such prayers because God did not create us to pray such prayers.  God created us to desire something better.  God created us to achieve, grow and be blessed!  God created us and gifted us for success!  And if God created us for success, then we must set goals that drive us in the direction of our creation!

It is God’s desire for each and everyone of us to experience and live lives of success and blessing!  We just need to make sure that we have the right definition of success!  God has placed inside of each one of His special creations the potential to contribute to His glory and every-ones blessing.  God blesses us with success so that He can share His abundance.  When I succeed it benefits me and blesses others!

True success for the Christian is discovering God’s plan for your life and pursuing it with all of your strength and energy!  We will experience success when we figure out what God created us for, take the time to write out a plan and start to make the plan a reality!  Pray about goals you need to have in and as a part of your life.  Write your goals down and stay accountable!  Take some action everyday that will help you get closer to accomplishing these goals!  Go ahead and get started right now!  Don’t wait – you might miss a blessing!

Success is one of those words that many who call themselves Christians have tried to distance themselves from.  The result is that many of us have become mediocre in the process!  Success is not something that we should run from, it is something that we should run toward.  Success does not happen by accident, it is something that happens on purpose, because we make it happen.  Success is actually the creation of God.  He said:  “A man will reap what he sows!”

With that thought in mind – let me ask you a question:  What are you planting?  Whatever you are planting is what you will grow and whatever you are growing is what you will harvest!  If you want to harvest success, then you must plant seeds that will grow into success!  Success is different for everybody!  What does success look like for you, in your life, at this time?  Answer the question honestly and you are on your way!

Be honest – take some time and think about it – what does success mean to you and what will it look like in your life?

My goal as a pastor is to try and help people have the amazing life that I know that God wants each one of us to have!  It’s not about rules and regulations, it’s about relationship with a God that created us, loves us and desires to bless us!  Northwood is working hard to become the kinda place where you can discover and grow in this incredible and amazing relationship!

I have decided to take the blog in a new direction starting today!  I am going to try and blog everyday with the dual purpose of motivating and encouraging you that read and in keeping myself accountable to you!  I have things in my life that I need to work on and make better – areas that I can improve in, that would cause my life to be more enjoyable to me and others!  If we are all honest – we all have areas of our life that we need to work on!  Starting today I am challenging each of us to really start thinking about these areas for improvement!  I am serious – right now, make a commitment today to take 10 – 30 minutes to really think about your life and how it could be and should be better!  Think about what you can do to make it better!  Once you start thinking in the right direction – make a list of things that you will begin to work on!  Feel free to comment by clicking comment under the title up above and let me know where you are on your journey and how I might be able to help!

P.S.  A big thing that may seem small that I am working on this week is less carbonation- it really needs to be no carbonated drinks and a whole lot of water!  Did you know that we are supposed to take our body weight and divide it by two – to get the ounces of water that we need to drink?  So far, so good today – I am already floating!

I was born and raised in the South and I am proud of it!  I am not one bit ashamed to admit that I love Grits!  Being raised in the South has many advantages!  One of the greatest advantages is that we have words in our vocabulary that explain things with one word that takes folks from other parts of the country to explain with several!  While some of these words have never found their way into Mr. Webster’s fine, but limited volume, they have and continue to be of great importance to communicating life changing truth!

One of the words that you tend to hear a lot around the south is “y’all!”  The word “Y’all” is more than likely referring to more than one and is usually talking about a group of people that have something in common!  We might offer an invitation that says:  “Y’all come on over to the house and we will break out some Moon Pies and RC Cola!”  Which means:  More than one person is going to have a good afternoon!

I think Jesus may have been raised in the Southern part of Nazareth, because He had a lot to say about “y’all”!  He wanted everybody to be together, unified and as one!  Many of the instructions that Jesus gave have been translated as “you” (singular), but if you look at the original languages, many times you will find that He is giving instructions not to an individual, but to a group “you all” (plural).  The truth is Jesus was very much into us all coming together as y’all to be blessed by Him!

Just think what Jesus could do and would do if we became “y’all”!

If it is true that you can’t focus on everything and clearly this is true!  What do I need to focus on?  This is most likely different for every person, depending on where you are and what time of life you find yourself in.  I do think that there are some things worthy of our focus, no matter where we are or what time of life we happen to be living in.  We need to focus on finances, family and friends and faith!

Finances are important because the world we live in is driven by money.  This should not be the case, but it is and I see very little that will change that.  The truth is:  We will either fix our finances or our finances will fix us!  Much of the turmoil and frustration of life comes from a lack of finances.  You can’t live for very long on what you don’t have!  So, we must learn and discipline ourselves to live on what we do have!  I believe that it is God’s desire to bless each one of us and allow each one of us to live a life that blesses others!  Focus on your finances by knowing what is coming in and controlling what is going out!

Family And Friends!  The truth is:  “You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them!”  We all need to spend more time thinking about who we are and what we need to do to be a better family member and friend and less time thinking about what someone else needs to do.  Focus on yourself and the role that you need to fulfill and it might just amaze you at how much better your relationships will be.  Remember:  God has given us each other for a reason!

Faith!  Everything is built upon what you believe!  Belief is so much more important than most of us are willing to give it credit for!  What do you believe and what difference is your belief making in the way that you are living your life?   If we will take some time to focus on God and His will for our lives, we will experience some miracles that cannot be explained!

Fix your focus this week and enjoy God’s work!

You Can’t Focus On Everything!  If you stop and think about it for just a minute – it is not even possible, so why do we try?  Trying to focus on everything only causes us to get distracted.  And when we are distracted we tend to miss the main thing, the important thing, the thing that really matters!  The main thing is where our blessings flow, so we must be extra careful to make sure that we don’t miss out!  There are a lot of good things, but good is not good enough, when you are desiring God’s best!

You can’t focus on everything because you will fizzle out!  There is almost nothing that I can think of that I hate worse than a dead, without carbonation, stale soft drink.  God did not create us to focus on everything and when we try, we get out of His created purpose and mess ourselves up.  God gives each one of us gifts for focus.  We all have different gifts, so that when I use mine, it blesses me and you and when you use yours, it blesses you and me, and we get to take care of, minister to and grow each other!  When we each do our part – it all comes together to work for His glory and our blessing!  Remember a fractured focus leads to a fizzled and frustrated life!

You can’t focus on everything because you will miss opportunity!  God gives us beautiful and amazing opportunities to experience Him everyday.  It is these experiences that allow us the opportunity to join Him in doing the supernatural.  We tend to miss God, not because He isn’t working, but because we are not paying attention!  Focus please!