Salesmen can be the most annoying animals on the planet – at least those salesman focused on getting their pay day. Successful salesmen know that selling requires two main components:
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1. Confidence in the product.
2. A genuine desire to help the customer meet his or her need.
Last night I had the blessing of talking with a pastor friend (or is that friend pastor) and sharing the struggles and opportunities that life has been presenting. The talk went around fear and faith and grace before landing on hope and love.
The church will never present an event, a service or music that will draw people into a relationship with Christ. The only way anyone comes to know Christ is by being drawn by the Holy Spirit. The fancy electronics, cool band or special speakers are all the gravy. The Holy Spirit is the only meat that matters to those who want to meet Christ.
This brings me back to the thoughts on salesmanship. People come to a church because they hear a buzz about something that is going on or they see a difference in the lives of the people that are attending. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is the calling card that will fill the pews of a church.
What kind of fruits do you present? Would you be willing to buy what you are selling?
The church needs to spend more time developing a knowledge of the Product and establishing that knowledge as Faith and Belief in their hearts. After the heart issue is resolved then there will be a genuine concern to help others instead of wondering about what is in it for me. That change of focus will pour out as love to others that venture near.
Once the fruit starts showing, there will be people that want to partake.
Tags: fruits, groing the church, Holy Spirit, love
“Dear Lord, if it be your will then please give me salvation.”
In all of my years in church I have never heard this prayer. Every denomination that I have ever experienced believes that salvation is a gift from God that is freely given to anyone who asks. The only obligation that a person has is to ASK for that gift.
It is simple.
It is the rest of the promises that we all seem to struggle with receiving. Every other promise that is offered in the book has been given a hitch, catch or an out (call it what you will).
You can be healed – if it is God’s will.
You can be blessed financially – if it is God’s will.
You can have a good marriage – if it is God’s will.
The list could go on. Those five little words get attached to almost every other prayer that is uttered.
My son is separating out clothes for laundry today. Every Thursday morning we do clothes laundry. Every Thursday morning he gets up and sorts his clothes. I wonder what my reaction would be if he walked over to me and said, “mom, if it is your will then I will sort the clothes.” Of course it is my will. We do it every Thursday.
Which brings me back to the prayer life that many of us may stumble into now and again. It is easy to pray something that we may have heard, but God calls us to pray what we know. That is why the salvation prayer is spoken absolutely instead of with a catch. We are taught about the salvation promise, we read and learnd about the salvation promise, and we accept the salvation promise.
It is time to get deeper into the promises of God. I want to know what He desires for my life. He has written down His promises. My job is to get to know Him so well that His promises become a reality in my life and not just a vague possibility.
Tags: power of prayer, promises of God
I was called to be peculiar – and I have been very successful at the attempt if you ask people that know me. My goal has never been to fit in or fade out – but to make a statement. Sometimes those statements are worth remembering and sometimes they NEED to be forgotten (can you say Princess Leia braids?).
The last several months I have been trying to find my place in this world of income and finances while balancing my gifts. The writing has pulled in enough for our family to survive most months, but focusing on the money made me lose the vision of my purpose.
Recent events reminded me that it is not about being liked. It is not about being right. It is not even about being wealthy. My walk has to be about living the truth through every aspect of my life. I have to do the things that I have been called to do and do them with boldness.
That is why I have decided to bring back the Peculiar in the title of this blog. Living the Proverbs life is a peculiar walk in the eyes of the world. Walking in peace and joy despite circumstances makes people look at you just a little oddly. Being bold enough to walk in faith and not fear will have people talking about just how strange you have become.
I want more people to experience the peculiar life. My hope and prayer and passion is to encourage others to step out into the possibilities and leave behind the problems the world requires us to focus on instead. It lifts me up to give others the wings to fly beyond what the world says must be reality and to reach the point of extraordinary.
Will you join me in this adventure to be peculiar through the principles found in Proverbs?
Tags: changes, peculiar living, proverbs life
“You need to learn how to speak words that are more uplifting.” The flesh in me bristled at the words that were being tossed at me. I had just come off speaking to a women’s conference about becoming an encourager. I had just agreed to write an eBook for a women to use as a giveaway for a fund raiser for Haiti about being encouraging.
The person on the other end of the line did not know me. That person had never been in a position to experience my heart, my passion or my walk. The words spoken that day were about one moment in time. But the words that came from that person grabbed hold of my flesh and I just could not seem to shack them.
“Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight.” – Proverbs 26:2
It never ceases to amaze me how God will put your answer in your heart long before you have need of that answer. Several weeks ago the verse about a curse without cause came up in our accountability group. I finally understood that it did not mean that curses would not come but that when I was doing what I know to do then the curse will not “alight” on me.
I have lots of sparrows that flitter around our back yard. Even when they come to the bird feeders, they never sit still. It is almost like they cannot find the perch that will make them comfortable.
“You need to learn how to speak words that are more uplifting.” I have not been able to loose that statement from my thoughts. It has followed me around all week and taunted me as I would try to sleep. Even as I provided research to a friend for “lifting up a fallen brother” and used my own writings, I still could hear those words echoing in my head.
Check Your Heart
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1. Words that stick may have some validity to them. I intend to spend the next few weeks in my own personal study time looking at the words that I have been speaking, writing and thinking. There is a reason that this “curse” has managed to alight.
2. Words that stick may be driving you deeper. My gut reaction is to know that I am a good, positive and uplifting person. But my heart wonders if maybe I have grown comfortable where I am in my life. Just because I do try to lift people up does not mean I need to stop growing in that endeavor.
3. Words that stick may be preparing you for what lies ahead. Opportunities are opening up in my life for my walk in the church, my writing and my speaking. This “curse” that has alighted in my heart may be a wakeup call that I need to go further up and further in. I will never change the words that were poured out or the person that poured out the words, but I can choose to use the moment to grow my own life and my own heart and to push closer to the purpose for which I was woven.
4. Words that stick to not have to remain stuck. There have been things said of me in the past that were hurtful. Releasing those words through my own growth in the Holy Spirit has been some of the most refreshing acts I have ever experienced.
Do I need to work on being more uplifting with my words, thoughts and actions? The simple truth is that I do need to continue in my quest to live the good, positive and uplifting in every aspect of my life.
Have you checked your heart lately?
