Spot On With The Word

An inspired life is a life filled with joy! Pastor Scott continues by asking us to evaluate our lives. Identify and invest in our inspiration! What brings us joy? Life is filled with obligations. How often do we recognize that we have been empowered to choose our environment? We can choose our work and our hobbies. We choose music, decor and fashion. We make choices constantly about the way we spend our free time. If we are uninspired, perhaps it is time for us to make different choices. Life is precious. Time is precious. In the presence of God we find true joy. Sharon and Peggy talk about where they have found inspiration and joy in their own lives. You are encouraged to make your life a masterpiece. Imagine no limits on what you can be, have or do!

Pastor Scott continues his teaching on this very important word. Inspiration. Life is too short, and your contribution is too valuable. Your inspiration must be protected. There are so many challenges we face in life. If we are not thoughtful and intentional, we can fall into a pattern of just going through the motions. Life becomes dull. We become listless and before long, we can lose all enthusiasm for living. John chapter 10 talks about the thief that comes to steal, kill and destroy. The good news is that Jesus came to give us an abundant life. Sharon and Peggy further discuss Scott's point that we not only have a right, but a responsibility to choose an inspired life. God had something very special in mind when He created us. He has invested far to much of Himself within us, for us to waste our lives being unfulfilled and uninspired!

Inspiration literally means, " to breathe life into". Are you existing, or are you living an inspired life? Do you believe that you deserve to live an inspired life? In the first three devotionals, Pastor Scott, along with Sharon and Peggy, will explore what that really means. Where does your inspiration come from? How do you tap into it? Why is it so important to ask yourself these questions? You are valuable and unique. Don't be lulled into living a life that is less than fulfilling because you were afraid to choose what inspires you.

Relationships are one of the hardest things in life to navigate. You will rise and fall to the level of your relationships. There is no rhyme or reason for how people react or respond to others. Absalom and Solomon were two sons of King David, as we read in the Old Testament. Two sons from the same father. Absalom had no honor where his father was concerned. In contrast, Solomon had honor for David. Jesus ministered over a period of three years, with twelve disciples. One disciple was known as “John the Beloved”, the other was Judas the betrayer. Both men heard the same messages. They lived with him for three and a half years. It is how they responded that revealed what they gained from Him. Not every relationship should have equal rank or equal value. Who adds value to your life? Who is irreplaceable? When you do not know who you truly are, then the opinion of anyone will suffice. If you are totally confused by everything, it may be possible that you are listening to everybody with the same degree of intent. Do not give every voice equal voice! It is important to recognize the limitations of certain relationships. There are things everyone may know about you because they are obvious to the naked eye. For instance, your hair color, gender, size, and skin color They are outwardly discernable observations. Internal attributes such as your personal fears, desires, financial status, may not be clear to just anybody. For example, a coach may see your athletic potential or how you may naturally hear melodies. You may have the heart, mind, and skill of a musician. It may be very apparent that you are a natural born leader. Do not surround yourself with people who cannot see the gifts that God has placed inside of you. Relationships have the potential to either raise you up or pull you down. Are there people in your inner circle who only evaluate you based on your past mistakes or who you used to be? Perhaps you might consider limiting their access to you. Choose those individuals who are willing to get to know the real you. They will look beneath the surface and see that you are worth getting to know!

Scripture teaches us that, “To as many as believed in Him, to them He gave the power to become the sons (daughters) of God.” If we honestly believed that, it would remove all self-imposed doubts or limitations. Today, we are going to talk about emotional limitations Life can be difficult. It can be extremely hard, but it does not have to harden you. You cannot change your starting line. You cannot stop “stuff” from happening to you. How you choose to handle your struggle, your tragedy, or your pain, will ultimately determine the trajectory of your life. It does not take strength to handle emotional hurt, but it does take courage. Life is too short to be angry, bitter, or resentful. You may become justifiably angered but staying angry will be up to you. Change is inevitable but growth is a choice. The key to removing this limitation is forgiveness. It is not a feeling. It is a choice. It is a decision to give up resentment and the need for revenge. You must be willing to let go of the willingness to seek revenge against those who have wronged you. Someone once said, “Let your haters be your motivators!” That only works until you just feel the need to rehearse the pain. Whatever you choose to rehearse and nurse emotionally, will ultimately be fed. Consequently, whatever you choose to feed, will grow. If you feed your pain, it will eventually devour your potential. Likewise, if you feed your fear, it will devour your faith. Practice letting go of emotional limitations. Let the wounds heal. Even if it leaves a scar. Let it tell a story of how you were healed. Do not let yesterday’s hurt determine today’s participation. Never let it devour tomorrow’s potential. The price is too great!

We are continuing our discussion about circumstantial limitations. It is dangerous to make permanent decisions based on temporary circumstances. Do not take your “now moment” and make it a “forever moment.” You must learn to live through the challenges and learn from them. Whatever mistakes you have made in your life, you need to OWN THEM. If you do not own it, you will not learn from it and you will probably repeat it. If you live with a constant rescue mentality, you will more than likely continue to travel the same roads and repeat the same behaviors. You need rational answers and solutions to serious and legitimate problems. If you are broke financially, then OWN your mismanagement of money. If you are lonely, you may have to own your mismanagement of friendship. Likewise, you will have to responsibly own your management of time, your heart, emotions, as well as your parenting or communication skills. The lack you may be experiencing in any area of your life is not necessarily everyone else’s fault, so get over it! Do not let what someone did victimize your present and your future by constantly replaying the same hurtful memories over and over in your mind. Once you “own it” you can learn from the pain and then let it go. Do not let negative occurrences in your life become permanent limitations for you. You have a destiny. Believe it and receive it, so that you can achieve it. This is the Good news of The Gospel!

Anything that prohibits you from becoming everything you were created to be, must be viewed as an adversary. How do you see yourself? Your self-appraisal is critical! Do you believe that you are worth the investment of others in your life? Aside from that, there are circumstantial limitations that are evident in everyone’s life to a certain extent Scripture teaches us that it rains on the just and the unjust. There is a danger in perceiving current events in your life as permanent limitations. This pressure may motivate you to make long term decisions based on short term situations. People hurt people. That is part of life. If you internalize and hold onto the pain, you may choose to live your life in isolation. Do not allow anyone to define you as a failure for the rest of your life. If you let the pain of your situation carve away at your potential, then the enemy wins. The enemy of our soul comes to devour. He nips away little by little. Whatever has happened, you can still be an overcomer. Nelson Mandela said,” I never lose. I either win or I learn.” Do not let the short-term circumstance become a lifelong limitation for you!

What are some of the limitations that have kept you from achieving and becoming all that you were destined to become? There are some that you may have to live with. Even those, God can use as stepping stoes toward greatness. Others are self-imposed. What you believed growing up could be an outward wall, and may become a self perpetuating, inward prison. We serve a God who has no boundaries or limits. We can choose to have a faith that connects us with a God that does not require us to live with the mountain we see before us. He says, we can say to our mountains, "Be removed, and be cast into the sea!" The first limitation to overcome is your negative self-appraisal. How much value do you place on yourself? If you do not give much value to yourself, others certainly will not. If you do not see yourself as worth the investment, others won't either. They will take advantage of you and you will become the victim. How you see yourself is just as important as how you see God. This is not about your salvation experience. It is about your day to day Kingdom experience. How you view yourself determines your participation and expectations from life.

In the Old Testament, there were spies that were sent in to scope out the land of promise. Two said we are well able to take the territory that God had promised to give them. The others saw giants and were terrified. Their point of reference was the strength they saw only in their own capabilities. Do not view yourself any less than God Himself views you. He knows that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, full of potential and born with a destiny. Go out today in His strength. You are more than a conqueror!

We are living in a time where everything is volatile. We are in a tipping point economically, politically, racially, in almost every way. We are dealing with so much friction around us. Everything that once was, no longer is. This may be a good thing if we choose to do what God has instructed us to do... Forgetting those things that are behind. Knowing what to let go of. Remember not the former things, because I want to do something new. It is hard to let go of our hurt, our pain, our problems. For some of us, our hurt has defined us for so long, that if we let go of our hurt, we wouldn’t have any idea who we were. If we let go of our cause, we let go of the only thing that drives us. It is likewise hard to let go of somethings that God did for us. That is equally as hard because it was so special and so sacred. God does not even want us to hold onto the good things that He did in the past. If all we know of Him is The God who once did something for us, we will never experience the God who wants to do a new thing. God’s changing His instruction is not based on God changing His mind. He is the God who changes not. Often, however, instruction is age appropriate. He tells us some things at a younger age, because He speaks to us on the level of our maturity. When we come up higher, He gives different instruction and He doesn’t want us to hold onto what is now no longer applicable. It is a sign of growth. We let go of what was, in order to embrace what is possible. Don’t let frustration and worry paralyze you so that you are unable to move forward. We have an opportunity to pioneer something new in the earth. If we were born for such a time as this, we must be solution oriented and not just problem oriented. If we are indeed new creatures in Christ, old things have passed away and behold all things have become new. Run toward the new! Move away from racial divide. Move away from bigotry. Move away from ignorance. God wants to do a new thing!

Isaiah 43..Pioneers blaze trails..settlers..cultivate and citizens protect. There is nothing wrong with protecting what is yours, until God tells you it is time to move forward. It is hard to let go of what God did, because it was so special to us. Let’s be honest. It is hard to let go of certain memories or events. There are certain things that you want to carry with you, but if you are not careful, you can actually spend time protecting and preserving things like pain..hurt..disappointment..you want it to be healed and resolved so much, that it is hard to just walk away from it. One of the things about pain that is important to realize is that you must leave it behind. Death.. person..business..relationship..walk away from it...God says I want you to walk away from it, because I am creating for you something that is new. God’s spirit is often compared to water. He is like the waves of the ocean . A wave comes in and then it moves out. When a new wave comes in, it is met by resistance from the old one. The new is resistant to the old. If God wants to introduce something fresh, we must be willing to embrace it while we recognize the resistance. What is fighting my new? Could it me my now? Is it my comfort zone? Am I resisting what God wants to do? That is why you can’t take the old with you. Grab the spirit of the pioneer. You and I were born for such a time as this.