Pursuing Excellence

So, I am pondering and pursuing the Spirit of Excellence in the LORD, and I asked for prayer today and I desire to be of an excellent spirit, because I respect and appreciate and admire those that operate in and do things in an excellent way. And so I was thinking what exactly is Excellence? What makes excellence excellent? God is so good and quick to hear my thoughts. Such a good teacher. He said "Righteousness" through "obedience" is what makes up Excellence. There is a right way to do something and a wrong way and doing something incompletely isn't excellent. Also doing something half-heartedly is not excellent- the Bible says Obedience is better than sacrifice. (1 Sam.15:22) Cutting corners then trying to make up for it by adding to it is not right, either. For the Word also says God loves it when we weigh things out right (Correctly). (Proverbs 11:1) And He shows no favoritism ( if we obey him we are blessed, if we disobey we are in trouble. )
I think also that one of the paths to Righteousness (in God through Jesus Christ) is the way of patience. Doing something right takes time. It takes effort and it takes diligence.

I think faith is what drives my desire for Excellence. I have seen other people, great people, do great things. Why am I (or you) any different? We do not have to settle for less.
One of my good friends said to me once, "Why be good when you can be great?!" That is a very inspirational quote, and it makes me want to strive to be my best. I think excellence comes from faith and I also think our faith can be renewed by excellence- because if you are anything like me you have probably been to a place in your faith or in your prayers when you felt like your faith wasn't enough, like you can't "believe" enough to make something change- but that is when we can explore our own heart more and the heart of God more- like the man who said to Jesus "help my unbelief", (Some people might have just stopped in their doubt, but he pressed on and admitted he needed more faith)- and the Word in Hebrews 10:38 says, "The just shall live by his faith". We can't let a seed of doubt stop us from our destinies, from our callings, from our very best that we each have to give for Him. The LORD is faithful, when we call out to Him, he is faithful to answers us. Call on Him from a pure heart and see what he answers you. He will answer you. And truly we have to be willing to listen to what He has to say...
Press on- pursue excellence- pursue peace - pursue whatever it is the Holy Spirit is telling you to pursue and have faith that God the LORD is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him in all they do!

We can be everything we want to Be in Christ Jesus the LORD and what's more than that is we can be everything HE wants us to be in HIM and in All His Beautiful Glory!
Have faith & believe~
~ God is So Good~

Hillsong United - From the inside out (Everlasting)

In the Truth

God does not save us so that we can sit around and have everything we want. I see people in church who are happy and content ("comfortable") comes to mind- in their lives. And, I think those things are all good but I think if we are really serious we need to realize that the Church is supposed to be a gathering place for disciples of the Lord, Jesus Christ, to come together to worship, and figure out how to do the works that he showed us (his disciples) how to do. He makes it plain and clear- he said "Go and make disciples", and he also said we will do greater works than what HE did. And his works here on earth were and will always be - Amazing! He turned water into wine, he caused blind men to receive their vision, he raised the dead, he himself came back to life, he showed people how to love the unloveable, he showed people how to share and have faith, he did so many things. He showed us the way to God. He said we- You and me, and everyone that is His- he says We are supposed to keep his commandment: Love each other- go make disciples, do the works that I have shown you I do. He came so that we might be saved- so he is telling us- Go and Save!
People need to be saved!!! We are supposed to be "the hands and feet"- but I see church people having their church parties, how long does the church need to be ministered to before they have enough??? When will the church get enough of it's fill before the people in it realize that the whole world is waiting outside to come in. The world needs a Guide, the lost need a leader, the broken need a Redeemer, The hurting and the sick needs a healer.
Jesus cured sicknesses- and he gave crazy people their sanity.
Get this: He said we will do GREATER things than this! If we are called and told we will do MORE than the things that He did, doesn't that then qualify also THE things that He did here on earth??? We should not "fear" - we should believe Him and obey him faithfully. The power comes from within - and it is from Him!

There are people everywhere- at your work, at the convenience stores and the traffic lights and the offices and the schools and in your neighborhoods and also at the churches- people need Truth. People need Freedom. People need Love. People need peace.
I have had so many instances of "Divine Providence" in my life that I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that God sends us on the paths that he wants us o go, and that along His paths we meet people that will either minister to us, or need to be ministered to by us. And I don't mean "minister" like some put on show- I mean there is something inside of you that they need to know. OR maybe they see something in you and they have the answer and are put on your path to provide that love and light and truth that can save your life.

There are so many stories these days about horrible things people do- and I only think, you know, what if Jesus walked up on that person's path before they did those things- what if the Lord sent you or I on somebody's path that needed to hear that they are special, or to be understood if they are hurting emotionally, or maybe they need to feel loved and cared for- just because you go to church and are well provided for doesn;t mean it should end there- you only got there because other people were willing to step out and reach out to you and bring you up to where you're at.
We need to "Pay it Forward". And keep paying it forward to the next generation and the ones after that- That is the only way we have the Truth in our lives today- We can't let it stop with us because we're happy with our lives. God did not say, ok, I saved you, now, enjoy your own life while the world outside is dying for the life you have.
No- He said go and make disciples- Show them the Way. Show them the Way to Love. Show them the Way to Life. Show them the Way to Peace. Show them the Way to Truth. Show them the Way to Mercy. Show them the Way to Healing.
Give and it shall be given back to you.
You reap what you sow.
If we keep His commandment we are no longer servants, but His friend.

People, we are not saved for our own selfish gain, but we are saved so that we can lead others to Him.
What kind of people does God, The Very LORD want? What does He want? What kind of Church does He want? What kind of world does He want? What kind of people does He want?




He wants us to Love Him, and each other.

LET GOD USE YOU

Sigma/ Shin /Shaddai

The other day I was outside with my daughter and it was about 5 or 6pm. I was watering the garden and the sun was going down. There was a space on the grass where the sunlight was shining (I was in total shade ) so I told her to go stand in the sunlight, and I walked her over there and then she wanted me to throw the ball for the dog. I threw it once then twice and the 2nd time I threw it, my eyes went up to the sun and I closed my eyes because it was bright- and when I closed my eyes I saw an image - a symbol - and so I closed my eyes to see what I was "seeing" in the back of my eyelids, and it looked just like something I have seen before but I wasn;t sure what it was. It looked like the greek letter e. Like an uppercase E with pointy edges. So I went and drew what I saw and then I went inside to look up what a greek letter e looks like and also, what does it mean.
Som when I looked up the Sigma, (which is what the letter stands for in Greek), it was exactly what I saw when I had closed my eyes after looking into the sun. I did a little research and all I found was that the symbol - the greek E Sigma means "sum" (in mathematics). So, I was kindof dissappointed it didn't mean something more.
It has been a few days about a week since that happened and I gave up my search. but then today I started a search for "the names of God", because I have a friend who is researching that topic intently. When I typed it in I switched the results over to the image results and as I was looking I came across the Hebrew letters and I realized that greek comes from Hebrew, so I figured out that that greek letter E was first a Hebrew letter called "Sin" or "Shin" - and it makes the "S" sound. Now, I personally do not know why there letter is called sin, but they made that up I did not (you can research it for yourself). Anyways, It has much more meaning in the Hebrew than the Greek. And the meaning is valuable.

According to a wikipedia article on the letter "Shin", the old Israelites used to place a scroll on there doorposts with a blessing for their house written on it. And then this scroll with the blessing was sealed with a symbol (they used the letter representing Shin), because Shin also means Shaddai. And Shaddai means Most High. (I used to have an info guide that said El Shaddai means The God Most High, and I know El means God).
So.... to "sum" all of this up :) When I was a young child, there was a night when I was laying in bed and I asked God that if He was real, would he please show me a sign.
At that time I saw in my mind's eye a scroll rolled up by a window... Now I have my answer.

God is Great.
Amen