Do you ever find yourself fighting the same fight over and over again?  You know that same temptation just seems to keep on knocking at your door and even though you don’t want to, you keep on opening the door and inviting that baby in!  And then comes the guilt – you feel bad, you are disappointed in yourself and you can’t believe that you’ve done it again!

Through your relationship with Jesus Christ, you have the power to make the right choice and be victorious!  It is not always easy, but it is possible!  You don’t have to let sin trap you, discourage you and keep you from the awesome things that God has for you!  Remember:  The thought comes before the action!  This is where we have to learn to fight the fight – in the thought stage!

First, you need to know who you are in and thorough your relationship with Jesus Christ!  I Peter 2:9 says:  “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light!”  Knowing who you are in Jesus influences your thinking!  Get your thinking right and you can get your walk right!

Second, you need to answer the question:  “Who are you?”  This is a little bit different line of thinking from above, although it almost sounds the same!  Proverbs 23:7 tells us that “As you think in your heart so you are…”  It is the thoughts that we think today, that will produce tomorrow’s results!  Who we really are is a result of our thinking, which has been developed as a response to our circumstances.  Most of us are not living up to our potential!  We are not living in the power of who we really are and the great tragedy is:  “who we are is so much less than God has intended!”

Third, you need to start to exercise and grow your mind to think the right thoughts!  We do this by putting into practice Romans 12:2  “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  I like to think of this as “Catching The Right Train!”  At any moment you have multiple thoughts running in and out of your mind.  You are the one that will make the choice about which thought you are going to give your attention to.  We need to make sure that we give our attention to the right thoughts, God’s thoughts and let that be the train that we are riding!  If you want to change your destination, you have to change your train!

It’s your mind and you get to make the choice!  It is not easy, but it is possible – let’s do this thing that God is calling us to do!

I was siting here thinking about how many of us are “working for the weekend!”  A lot of my friends on Facebook or Twitter will put comments like TGIF = Thank God It’s Friday, Finally Friday or Woo Hoo – It’s Friday!  We love Fridays, because it means that we hopefully are going to get a break from the Monday through Friday routine!  What do you do with the Friday Evening through Sunday night time slots that causes you so look forward to it?  I want to suggest three steps to make it even more special in the days ahead!

Step One:  Let Go!  Before you embark on your weekend of rest, relaxation and rejuvenation, take a few moments to think about whatever challenges you are facing, make sure that you have done whatever you can do, to help make these things better and then, let them go.  Sure they may still be there on Monday, but on Monday you will have fresh eyes, a purer heart and a stronger Spirit to face them with!

Step Two:  Let God!  Make sure that as you enjoy being outside to take in all of God’s creation or inside working on some home improvement project or just enjoying some rest, that you take time to remind yourself of God’s goodness.  Whatever it is that you love and enjoy about the weekend – at it’s heart is the fact that God has given you a gift of being able to lay it all down for a few moments, so that you can just enjoy being yourself!

Step Three:  Worship!  When you really come to the place where you let go and let God, then you can’t help but to worship!  God is worthy and deserving of our worship.  We need to worship Him in private and in public!  We need to take time everyday, all throughout the day to lift God up as “Number One” in our lives.  And we need to come together with fellow Believers and remind ourselves of God and His goodness.  We need to take time to re-focus our lives on Him!  Don’t just go to church this Sunday – go to church with the right attitude, not an attitude of checking something off of your to-do list, but an attitude of wonder and worship as you appreciate your God, who loves you with an amazing love!

I hope that you enjoy the amazing weekend that God has blessed you with!

Good morning!  I am on the road, so I want be able to post a video until a little later today!  I will try and get something up this evening or tomorrow!

In Colossians 1:1 of The Message it says “I, Paul have been sent on special assignment by Christ as part of God’s master plan.”  This is a great description of what it is that you and I have been called to do by God, for this world!

We are on “special assignment!”  Wherever you are and whatever you are doing – if it is the place and the thing that God has called and gifted you to do, then you should be fulfilled and excited to be a part!

What is it that Christ has saved you for?  It is our relationship with Him that gives our life meaning and purpose!  What is your assignment from Him today?  Figure this out and get busy doing it and you will be amazed at what a difference it will make in your life as your life makes a difference in and for others!

No matter what – always remember this:  YOU ARE A PART OF GOD’S MASTER PLAN!  Wow – now that really is amazing!  Let’s get busy and really make this day count for God’s glory and everyone’s blessing!