The Rebirth of Ideas and Concepts?

Image by Mixed Nuts

I have been on, perhaps, one of the deepest soul searching journeys of my life.  I feel as if I am in that Yellow Wood, obstacles in clear view - the well traveled road beckoning me to carry on.  I wait at the mouth of that yellow wood.  I wait for the Lord to tell me which is the path to fulfill His Will for me.  I muse within myself whether or not to release that well trodden road, that comfortable well planned place.  But that place carries with it much pain.  It also carries with it a sense of duty and responsibility.  The other path has much uncertainty and lack of financial support.  Dare I, at this place in my life, dare I take this untrodden, unexplored, uncertain path?  I see so many on the intersections with their signs, "Hungry."  "Please, spare some change."  "Help me."  Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread.  Are these hungry, spent souls not righteous?  Who's gonna be bold enough to judge their paths?

Don't we need some help and "spare change" sometimes?  The Just shall live by faith.  But would it be radical faith, or radical foolishness for me to forsake that comfortable road now?  "Don't leave without another job!"  "Why would you leave something like that that you prayed and fasted to be blessed with?"  Ah...the rub.  I DO NOT desire to be out of my Lord's Will...but where I am has become a toxic and painful place; and all at once noble, and heroic, and socially/morally responsible.  "Suffer the children to come unto Me, and forbid them not..."  If we expect to reign with Him, we must also suffer with Him.  Yes I have thought upon, and heard, and do consider all of those things, "But you have paid your dues."  

Oh. Really?  Have I?  

Indeed, I have been payingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingandpayingand... now what's next?  

I stand.  I keep creating, for God is creative, and He made me to create.

I keep working until that which He has given me is seen by all those He has given me to see what He has given me to create.  I had believed, once, that whatever I touch fails.  That's a lie...I just need to keep going in boldness and strength.  Oh. I have let you in on a little secret - Yes, I feel as if I have been an epic failure.

But the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but in she that endures....

Two Powerful Views About Money, Power, and Wealth: Becoming My Own Philip

Image from sixnotes.com

Thinking about the Book of Acts, Chapter 8 today, and understood this to be two views of wealth, and what to do (or not to do) with it. 

First, There is the view of Simon.

This man possessed a power so magical and dazzling that he amassed loads of groupies who utilized the Social Media of their day to decree that Simon had the "Power of God" ...until the Apostles Peter and John came to town.

Simon immediately started to hang out with them, watching as they laid hands on the people so that they might receive the Spirit of the Lord.  Simon was so dazzled at this Power, that he offered some cash to Peter and John so he could get in on it too.  Peter said to Simon, "You and your money should both be destroyed, because you thought you could buy God's gift with money."

Then, there's the story of Queen Candace of Ethiopia's CFO.   While coming back from church, the CFO was reading the book of Isaiah out loud, and wanted to know more about the Man, whom Isaiah was talking about in his book.  

Enter Philip, sent by God to walk alongside the CFO's chariot, who asked the officer if he understood the words that were coming out of that book.  The officer said he needed it to be explained, and offered for Philip to sit next to him in his chariot and break it down to him.  After a while, the officer was so dazzled that he wanted to get baptized immediately.  The two found a creek or something nearby, and in it, Philip baptized the CFO.  When he came up out of the water, he found Philip had vanished, God having sent Philip elsewhere to do something.

Wow.  Two views of wealth and power.

Simon tried to buy it and couldn't, treating God's Power and Wealth as a commodity.  The CFO recognized an opportunity to receive true Power and Wealth by seizing that God-sent moment with Philip: and he received it all. 

I am in the process of setting my life in order to align with God's plan and purpose for my life...thus, I am on a quest for being a good steward of "Godly Wealth," such as is taught by George B. Thompson, which emanates from the Holy Spirit rather than "things," and is given to me by the grace of God.  In a word, I am becoming my own Philip: I am leading myself to a place of recognizing and seizing the opportunity to do  something (or not do something) with True Power, and True Wealth.  I recognize today, that:

• To change my outer landscape, I must renew my inner landscape going forward...and it is truly a serious fight with my "self." 

• Transformation is a moment by moment yielding and commitment. 

• Transformation is the formation of new habits not taught in childhood that, when consistently and wholly applied, will change my life.

• It all starts with my THOUGHTS, and the true Will To Do/Will To Succeed ...and recognizing the power of what to do (or what not to do) with a moment. 

Reinvesting in your most important asset - YOU, is a continuous process loop of Renewing the mind.  Here, I have developed the Continuous Process Loop of Godly Self Transformation, or (Renewal = R³).

1. Refocus on the Lord through prayer and thanksgiving.
2. Realign yourself with His precepts and principles.
3. Respect the process, not the content, to invest and reinvest in God's Plan.

Image and Concept  by Colette (Coco) Street © 2013 All Rights Reserved.

The other day, I had a great discussion with my Mentor, Dr. David Blake Willis, about the scholar/practitioner and life journey I am on.  In the midst of that conversation, I had one of those realizations that I was experiencing a moment to seize, that will change the rest of my time left on earth...

...to be continued.