Month: December 2017

Categories
Communication

Does God Have Goals for My Life?

young casual black man wearing blue tshirt on white background

Writer:  Geovona Matamoros
 
Goal: the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

Goal-setting is a great way to have a clear vision for the life you want, but did you know there are goals that are set for us in the Bible?
 
There are biblical goals that every Christian should have. I think we all can agree that we should always be moving towards some sort of goal; maybe it’s to graduate, to lose 50 pounds or even take a trip to Disney World. Recently, I attended a webinar hosted by Michael Hyatt where he encouraged us to write a list of 7 to 10 goals you’ll pursue in the coming year. Proudly, I sat down with my new 2018 notebook, multi- colored pens and proceeded to write out my goals. However, as I was reviewing my goals, I recognized how self-centered they were.
Now don’t get me wrong they are mine and they should be focused on me but this led me to think, does God have goals for my life? As a mother, I realized I have goals for my kiddo. They aren’t intense like she has to become the next Serena Williams or even graduate from Harvard, but they are more spiritual like: live in her calling, be kind, and grow in knowledge and wisdom.
 
Since God is a good father, wouldn’t he have some goals for His sons and daughters? I started searching the Bible and I was led to these five commands from God, which can also be translated as goals we should aspire to attain. If there are any goals that speak to your heart put them in the comments below and let’s discuss.
 

#1. Love
God is love. That’s not something He just does, it is who He is. 1 John 4:8 (NIV) says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
 
We are commanded in the book of Matthew to love God, love ourselves then love others.
 
Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV) says, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
 
In a seminar by Dr. Myles Munroe titled, “Keys to Self-Love” he states: “To love God is to pursue and focus on God’s qualities, nature and character. Get to know God. ‘As yourself’ means to the same degree or measure. You can only love others to the degree or measure in which you love yourself. Loving God should result in self-love which qualifies you to love everyone else.  The prerequisite to loving others is to love ourselves.” If the two greatest commandments include love we should probably learn to love God, ourselves and everyone else.
 
#2. Seek God’s Will

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”- Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
 
God has a plan for your life and one of our goals should be to find out what that is. It is good to set long and short term goals, as long as we leave room for God to change them. His goals take precedence over ours. When we position ourselves to seek what our heavenly Father desires for us we will be able to see the success we desired all along.
 
#3. Be Holy
 “You are to be my holy people…”- Exodus 22:31 (NIV)
 
Strong’s Concordance defines Holy as: set apart by (or for) God, holy, sacred.
 
We are to reflect His divine likeness. The great thing about God is he doesn’t just let us figure it out on our own, He gave us an example we can relate to: Jesus. He is 100% human and 100% God, and he’s our perfect example on how to live and be holy here on Earth.
 
#4. To Prosper Us
Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. – 3 John 1:2 (NASB)

We have established God is a love. Our relationship with God is not based on our actions, but on our connection to Jesus and his finished work on the cross. Wouldn’t you agree that a God who loves us also wants us to prosper? The theme here is trust.

God keeps His promises in His time. He is faithful and has provided all that we needed in the past. Check your history. God’s way to prosper you is to prosper your soul first through the Word of God. Trust Him to prosper you in such abundance you will be a blessing to others.
 
#5. Be Strong and Courageous

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. – Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

Too often we forget that God is on our side and he wants what’s best for us. No matter what fear you are facing today, God is encouraging us to remember He is always with us, therefore we have every reason to operate in strength and courage. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Now is the time for strength and courage!
 
I encourage you to take your goals for 2018 and see if they align with the goals set forth in the Bible for us. Consider what your highest biblical goals should be. The best way to get clarity is to get under the Lord’s authority and to see what he lays on your heart.
 
Definition from Dictionary.com

Categories
Communication

3 Tools to Cope During Your Season of Transition

cheerful couple packing for new house

Writer: Nathanael Sauce
This year has been a lot of things for me. It has been walking blindly by faith into the unknown. It has been stepping onto a step that seemed to be invisible. It was a year of transition, filled with moments of trepidation and frustration. What it has not been, though, is a failure. My wife and I celebrated our first anniversary this past September, and while this was an incredible time of learning more about each other, this is not the only transition I have experienced this year.
 
Earlier this year, my wife and I felt the moving of the Holy Spirit upon our lives to step down from the position of “Youth Pastor”, to which I had been entrusted for around four and a half years.  We promptly obeyed, and after speaking to my pastor and informing him of this unction, we stepped down.
 
The months that followed were a bit confusing. If you have ever been in a season of transition, you know exactly to what I am referring. You spend hours of questioning, “God, am I where I need to be? Did I hear you correctly? How will I know when to take the next step?” These are all questions that are completely human, but in a sense, utterly flawed. Each of these questions emerge from a lack of security, or a shallow depth of roots.
 
After listening to a few people who had done what I’m doing in life, I started to open up my mind to the fact that my journey with God is more than a single moment of finality, but rather a series of victories that are laced through this glorious process called life. Just over a month ago, the position of “Missions Pastor” was offered to my wife and I. This is not a position that in the past I would have seen myself fulfilling. Through this transitional season, God has reshaped my focus and given me some clarity on my future. In certain ways, we are definitely still in a season of transition, but I have found peace in the midst of the craziness.
 
Please allow me to lend some wisdom to you from my year of experiencing transition. There are a few things that I have learned are most important when handling a transient season.
 
You are not your rock. GOD is your rock. He is the same God who commanded light to shine from the darkness, who has shown in your heart through the revelation of Jesus Christ, according to 2 Corinthians 4:6. He is immovable, unshakeable, and relentless in His pursuit of you.
 
The revelation of your royal sonship or daughterhood should be where you find your anchor. When you realize that your place in the family of God is “sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise”, (Eph. 1:13), you no longer have to worry about having a performance-driven life. You find that you have more than just goals, hopes, dreams, and visions for which to live. You have LOVE. Love to give, and love to receive, because you are in the divine family of God.
 
You are not the first, and you certainly will not be the last. One of the main devices of the enemy is to make you feel singled out. As soon as he can cut you off from your connection to others, frustration and feelings of failure ensue. When you are in-between major seasons of life, whether that be a relationship breakup, a job lost, a business started, a child born, or a season of engagement, it is primetime for lies of the enemy to line the bottom of your soul.
 
“Maybe there were things I could have done in the last season that wouldn’t have brought me here? “Maybe we shouldn’t get married? Why have I not had a boyfriend/girlfriend in a while? Am I just undateable?” These types of questions can be toxic to your in-between season. In those moments of loneliness and heartache, remember that you are connected to a much bigger picture. The bigger picture definitely involves the dreams of your heart coming into fruition. With that in mind, if your hope is in those dreams, and not the Dream-Maker, you will enter your next season sorely underprepared and disappointed.
 
You are to let your roots run deep, not worry about the fruit. If God has you in a season of transition, it is for a reason. The reason is for you to refocus your thoughts towards Him, and prepare for the next season. If you are so worried about the fruit of your past season, or the possible fruit of your future seasons, you have no time to be enveloped and engrossed by the heart of God for you. Take time during this season to shift your focus from performing for God, to passionately pursuing his heart.
 
When you pursue his heart, you will see that the season of triumph and victory is not just in front of you, it is in you. The only reason that fruit appears in the proper season is because the roots were well maintained in previous seasons to prevent death and decay. The only reason King David had the faith to take down Goliath on the battlefield, was because he correctly handled his season of preparation on the shepherd’s field.
 
Maybe you have been in this “transitional season” for weeks, months, years, or even decades. The timing of the season is not in your hand, but the perspective you choose to take is your choice. God has plans for you. He has big, wild, crazy, incredible dreams for you. If you submit all your dreams, hopes, and visions to Him, you will find that your greatest moments have nothing to do with the season you are in, but rather the One to whom you are connected.

Categories
Communication

8 Actions to Close Out 2017 and Be the Best You for 2018

Writer: Contessa D.
As we all know, 2017 did not come to play with any of us and it sure did not give concern to any of our feelings. This year was the year of the edge, where edges were being snatched, the edge of seats were being sat on, and many of us felt like our lives were on the edge of a really crazy cliffhanger. 2017 was the struggle that was all the way real and it didn’t fail to stretch, tug, and pull us all in our processes for what’s about to emerge for us in 2018.
 
I can say that personally for me I felt like I was every bit of the old school toy favorite, Stretch Armstrong. I was being stretched in areas that I never really knew could be stretched, and the fact that they even needed to be was a challenge. It became a regular occurrence of me asking God, “What are you doing?”
 
You know the saying, “the devil’s throwing everything and the kitchen sink at you?” Transparent moment y’all, there were moments where I felt that I was a kitchen sink away from giving up on my process and throwing the whole of 2017 away. I was ready to quit. I felt every bit of alone (even though I knew I wasn’t), my business wasn’t taking off the way I wanted or expected, I was lacking a great deal of confidence in myself, and relationships seemed to become increasingly questionable.
 
Everything just seemed so…dry, like “desert sand mixed with baby powder” dry. I looked at my problems all year and with each one I was missing the point that they were opportunities to teach me to rise. My perspective was in a poor view simply because I was merely looking at my problems from a worldly perspective and not from the high view from where God seated me–in heavenly places.
 
There’s this quote that I often hear a wise influential leader say, “live above and not below.” Too often as believers we live our lives too closely to the ground when we overlook the promise that we were seated high and in heavenly places with Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:6 NIV). Well, I say it’s time to change your view from ground level to aerial. There’s nowhere to go but up from here, I mean nothing should stop you if you’re all the way up.
 
Here are some things to check off your list to make sure you aim high and stay high:
 

  • Be Reflective – Take the time to go over your year. Where in your challenges did you fail to rise? Keep it real with yourself and with God. If you can’t see it for yourself then ask for help, ask the Holy Spirit to bring to light situations where you had a poor perspective of a situation and how you should’ve responded.

 

  • Forgive – This is key for just about everyone. To go high, you need to forgive. Forgive yourself for where you may have failed to respond the right way in challenging situations. Often, we are the ones to inflict the most pain on ourselves— holding our own mistakes against us. Forgive yourself for everything you’ve held against yourself and be sure to forgive those who’ve also hurt and come against you.

 

  • Rise – Nothing takes you higher and keeps you higher like rising to an occasion where others would normally retreat or operate out of a lowly choice. Choose to go high and stay there by shifting your perspective to view difficult situations as your potential opportunities.

 

  • Build – Take the time to check out what it is that you are building. Over the course of this year have you managed to build community, healthy relationships, or even a business? If your answer is no, then you may want to reflect on why you missed out on the building process and what caused you to. Whatever we build is meant to further carry us up. If your relationships and community aren’t doing that then it’s time to reevaluate who and what should not be coming with you in the coming year.

 

  • Be Transparent – Keep it real with God about where you are and where you want to be. Be sure to tell Him all that is on your heart, He knows it anyway so why not be open about it. God desires for you to become open with Him and just tell Him the truth. That is what will help you to build your relationship with Him. If you’ve been wounded this past year, I assure you that He desires to heal you if you let Him.

 

  • Recover – This year may have given you quite a bit of loss. Well, now it’s time for your restoration to take full effect. With everything that was stolen, dried up, and lost, it’s now time to recover it all. In other words, GO. GET. IT. Don’t make the mistake of believing you can sit still to get all that was lost— no, go put in some work. Believe God, but also do what you can do so that He can do what He can do. You must get in alignment and agree with what God has for you and do your part in tilling the ground to see its fruit. If all that you tried before didn’t work, He is calling you to try it again and remain faithful that this time, it will work.

 

  • Let it fall off – Simply put, everything and everyone that’s not meant to elevate with you shouldn’t. Let it all fall off as you ascend into new atmospheres. If you find yourself trying to carry the extra stuff, such as fear, anxiety, and some relationships then you will find yourself unable to go as high as needed to truly soar.

 
Take off – Five… four… three… two… one…. It’s time to go high. Nothing can stop you, you’re all the way up.
 
With these 8 steps you will be well on your way to not only achieving great heights in your life, but remaining on top. The year 2017 tried all that it could—putting you under pressure— but you didn’t break. You were being refined and built. You are ready to soar and I have a feeling that 2018 will be ready for you to fly. Keep aiming higher and never settle for lower.

Categories
Communication

Why You Shouldn’t Make A New Year’s Resolution

Friendly african american executive business woman brainstorming using green adhesive notes in a modern white office

Writer: Briana Whiteside
As we near the end of 2017, many are preparing their New Year’s Resolutions. For some this may include getting in shape for summer 2018 and for others it may mean leaving a long-term situationship. Whatever the case may be, the end of the year generally brings a sense of reflection. If we’re honest, some of the resolutions we made at the beginning of the year didn’t quite make it to the end of the year. Why? Why didn’t we follow through with everything that we set out to do at the top of the year?
 
If you’re anything like me, you probably set big goals for yourself. In your mind, you believe that you can accomplish anything, but fail to consider the cost of the dream. You may holdfast to Philippians 4:13 which reminds us that you “can do all things through Christ who strengthens,” without accounting for your flesh that threatens to stop you every step of the way. Now this is not to discourage you in any form, but to reveal a possibility as to why many of us are not finishing the year as strongly as we could.
 
This is why I stopped making resolutions and started making decisions with strategies for them. I was tired of setting huge goals at the beginning of the year only to lay them down by June and reason that “there’s too much on my plate.” Even more, I was irritated with the constant reminder that I let myself down…again.
 
When we get caught up in the hype of the New Year, sometimes we forget that we are bringing our old selves along for the journey. This is where it gets tricky because while we have the intentions to do better, we have not changed our mindset. In essence, you cannot change your situation without altering, or even abandoning, the former ways in which you’ve perceived it. You cannot continue to flirt with the mentality that hindered you this year or in previous years. With this in mind, perhaps you should abandon your resolution and decide to strategize towards your goal.
 
Here are a few tips:
 

  1. Write the goal— Ok now, this may seem like a no brainer but it’s really essential in the process of decision making. Sometimes seeing something on paper brings a new, more concrete, awareness to it.

 

  1. Ask the hard question (why?)— I have previously set goals for myself that I thought I really wanted to accomplish. However, it wasn’t until I started asking myself “why” that I realized—more times than not— I wanted to accomplish the goal because someone else had done it. You can probably assume that I never successfully achieved these goals because the foundation on which they were constructed was not authentic. So, ask yourself “why” this goal is important to you with the hope of not only reaching a more realistic understanding, but gauging your positioning with it.

 

  1. Write the first step—After you’ve written the goal, you should now engage with it. Ask yourself, “What is the first thing that needs to be done to help me get to the end?” I find that if you write the first step then you’ll more than likely begin to understand what is required of you in order to reach it.

 

  1. Bring it into community—This may require a little more thinking. When I’m determined to accomplish something, I bring others in on the journey. This means that I ask people to hold me accountable for my actions or lack thereof. Attention: the friends you choose to help you in this process should not have a history of pacifying your dysfunction, but they should be as invested in your growth as you are.

 

  1. Do research—Knowledge is your best friend when you’re trying to do something that you’ve never done before. As an active researcher, I’ve learned the power of information gathering and vetting. While not all material is helpful, if you’re intentional, you can find what works for you.

 

  1. Apply the knowledge—The common misconception is that knowledge is power. That’s just like telling someone who eats fast food every night that it’s causing them to gain weight and they do it anyway. Does this mean that they don’t have the information? No. It simply means that they aren’t applying it to their lives. While they are equipped with the power to change, if they don’t make the decision to do so then the information is in vain. Therefore, you must apply the knowledge.

 
Ultimately, when we are thinking about change in any situation, we must first plan to succeed. This may require us to ditch the resolution and start choosing better goals accompanied by strategies.