“If only I had gone to College”, “if only I had listened to my parents”, “if only I had taken that other job”, “if only I had married someone else”, etc.

Sometimes the blame is placed on other people rather than ourselves, but at the end of the day it is still up to us to find a solution to the problem.

Laying blame, making excuses or running away from the problem will not accomplish anything.  Even if we get advice from friends or family or seek professional counselling, we must still take the initiative to make the change, to actually do something about resolving the issue.

Being proactive makes you a better person.  It helps to build self confidence and self esteem, it even draws you closer to God.

When problems get out of hand, God is your final lifeline.  When you feel hopeless, when it seems as there is no solution whatsoever, God is there to help.  But you must call on Him.  You must take that stand and reach out to Him and everything will be alright in the end.

Always remember that, and problem solving, no matter how difficult the issue is, will become a breeze.

“Give all your worries and cares to God for He cares about what happens to you.”  I Peter 5:7

Sometimes we are not even aware that we are holding back something from God because the attitude is so ingrained in us that it becomes second nature. It may be something simple as laziness, selfishness or pride.  Or, it may be a grudge against someone that is very hard to forgive.

Our spiritual life will not be made perfect if we keep certain aspects of it closed to God.  There is no other person in the entire world who understands us more than God.  If we don’t strive to get rid of bad habits and attitudes then it can totally destroy our lives.

This is what happened to King Solomon.  Solomon built a successful and thriving Kingdom.  In the beginning he was totally committed to God and built a beautiful temple to honour Him.  But Solomon’s greatest weakness was women.  He had a very large harem which included a large number of foreign women.  These women continued to practice their pagan religions and encouraged Solomon to do the same.  As a result the Kingdom he built was divided after his death.  (See Kings chapter 11).

It is a fact that we all have weaknesses and sometimes we don’t want to it out in the open.  We may successfully hide from others, but God knows what’s in our heart.  We need to confess and open up to Him if we are to effectively deal with those weaknesses.  It is imperative that we do so if we are to continue on the road to righteous living as smoothly as possible.

At first, you will make mistakes as it is not possible to get things perfect at once. After a while, you will get better until you are a pro.  Then you are no longer a student, but have reached the level when you can now teach others.

It takes time to develop any skill or talent and as each year passes by you will notice how much you have progressed from the year before.  For some people, the learning years are not easy.  There is frustration, boredom, monotony and sometimes even depression.  To give up might seem the only solution, but these emotions are only natural as this is all part of the learning process, and also a part of life.  If everything came easy then there will be no experience to learn from, no building of character.  If everything was easy then life will certainly be boring and less challenging.  Each year we progress, lifts us to a higher a plane, to a higher level of achievement and satisfaction.

In this life we are in training for a higher purpose.  There will be times of frustration yes, but a lot more times of accomplishments and success.  We must keep an eye on the goal and that goal is to be with God in His Kingdom.

The Apostle Paul put it nicely as he came to the end of his journey of life:

“As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God… I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.  And now the prize awaits me – the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous Judge will give me on that great day of his return.  And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to His glorious return.” 2 Timothy 4:7

Make this year the one you get closer to the prize – the crown of righteousness.

Life Mapping: A Vision of Success

In the Christian life this is especially true.   Once you have made a commitment to serve God and leave behind a life of sin, that commitment is for a lifetime.  You can’t go back to your former life.  To do so means death – especially spiritual death.

Lot’s Wife Looked Back

The best example of this is Lot’s wife.  You will find the story in Genesis 19.

The Lord was about to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their atrocious sins.  The Lord decided to save Lot and his family because of his righteousness.  The angel of the Lord told Lot to take his wife and daughters and flee the city immediately.  He also told them to not look back otherwise they will die (verse 17).  However, Lot’s wife could not help herself; she looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt (verse 26).

You see, by looking back essentially she was saying, “I will miss this place despite all the wrong acts it committed.”

Change for the Better

The Christian life means change for the better.  A life filled with blessings and accomplishments.  In Proverbs it states:  “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”  (Proverbs 26:11)

Don’t be a fool and keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again, but keep working to improve your life and you will reap the rewards.

Road not Easy, but Rewarding

A Christian life may not be easy as you will not always get the things you want when you want it, as well as face persecution from those who are against your beliefs.  But despite the trials, it is a much better life than one lived apart from Jesus.  The bible teaches that:

“There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.  These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure… So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world”. I Peter 1:6-7

Your trials help you to build faith and not to mention the great reward you will receive when Jesus Christ returns.  If you give up, you will lose.

Keep looking at the road and ahead and at no time look back, because God is at the end of the road.

When you involve yourself in gossping and slandering another person, this can impact negatively on your spiritual life.  You spend so much time minding other people’s business, you don’t have time for your own.

I have had the experience of people taking an interest in my personal life.  You see, I am a very reserved person.  In my workplace, I keep to myself and hardly really mingle with others.  This is not to say I am ’stuck up’ as some people think, it is I just prefer to be on my own than get involved in matters that does not concern me – office politics for one, and gossiping of other coworkers being the other.

Because I am such quiet person, people tend to take an unsettling  interest in me and ask questions of my closest friend which really does not concern them – am I married; does my husband work; where does he work; who is the father of my baby (when I was last pregnant);  etc, etc. 

I would tell her that because they don’t have a life of their own, that’s why they are so interested in mine.  Then there is the other aspect where they say nasty things about me because they don’t know anything about me.  Sometimes it just takes one person to say something and someone else expands on it and then it becomes so nasty and degrading you really wonder how some people could be so malicious.

I don’t take them on though.  I do what I have to in terms of my work and I make sure that all my conversations to others are about work and nothing more.  I think that is one of the reasons I happen to keep so young and happy.  I don’t worry unnecessarily and concern myself with only what concerns me.

If I am in the company of others and the topic happens to gravitate to gossiping about another person, I just excuse myself and go somewhere else, or just listen and have nothing to say.  I don’t like it for myself so I won’t do it someone else.

The bible says:

“Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own”.  Proverbs 26:17

What happens when you seize a dog by the ears?  It is likely to bite you.  When you meddle in matters that does not concern you, you are likely to be bitten.  This can happen by:

1. you getting hurt physically;
2. you worrying unnecessarily about something that has nothing to do with you;
3. you end up holding a grudge against someone because they refuse to take your advice;
4. you are so concerned about someone else’s problems your own life with its own problems are neglected.

Jesus Christ commanded that we love one another.  When you love, you do your best to see the good in everybody.  Don’t join in gossiping about others and don’t involve yourself in matters that don’t concern you directly.

We must all look at the positive side to any matter and pray for someone in a difficult situation for this is the only way we can truly help them.

I have always yearned to gain more knowledge about the bible and the few bible correspondence courses I have taken have given some knowledge and insight about God and the Christian faith. 

Recently I have been borrowing Christian and Spiritual books from our local library and I realized that there is still so much I have to learn about God, the bible and the history of Christianity altogether.  I have always asked God to open my mind and he has done so, albeit little by little.

One day I decided I wanted to do a Theology course as I realized that this is the best way for me to really know more about the bible.  I browsed the internet and came across this site providing free courses in Theology.  They’ve got Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate courses as well.  The other great thing about it is you can access these courses online.  This is just what I needed.  With a full time job and a family it would be difficult to actually go to classes. 

So I decided to sign up and now I am on my way to earning a Bachelors Degree in Theology.  I am so excited! and grateful. 

The bible says “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).  I have always tried to live my life according to God’s Will.  Of course I am no angel, I have done things I know were not pleasing to Him, but I have asked for forgiveness and strived to improve my life for the better every time. 

God has continued to bless me, undeserving as I may be.  But I am thankful and I will use this new opportunity to continue what I have started – to spread the word and help others (as well as myself) to live a spiritual life.

If you wish to learn more about the bible you can visit http://www.TrinityTheology.org and take advantage of their free courses.

Paul and Barnabas

One of the roles of a Christian is to spread the word of God.  There are many ways to do this and it will vary from individual to individual.

Some people wait for a dramatic experience to happen to them before they can start witnessing to others.  Maybe they think something of what happened to Paul would happen to them.

The Apostle Paul was an avid persecutor of the early church, but when Jesus appeared to him in a vision, his life turned completely around and he became the apostle who took the gospel to the Gentiles.

Now, if we wait around to see visions or hear voices before we can do God’s work, then we will just wait forever.  You can only do God’s work if you really make up your mind to do it.

If you want to change your life – just do it!

If you want to do God’s work – just do it!

Don’t sit around waiting for miracles, just do what is necessary to be a witness.

Once you’ve made a start then the right help will come along.  Pray and ask God for guidance and then He would put everything in place for you to succeed.

“Draw close to God and He will draw close to you.”  James 4:8

Reflection in Water

What you think in your heart is what is reflected on the outside.  To change your outlook on life you must change how you think.  The type of life that you live is dependent on what you think and believe.

“As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects a person.”  Proverbs 27:19

To change your life to something better and more positive, you must change your thoughts.  No-one is responsible for your life but you.

What is your destiny?  Only you can decide.  Do not blame others for your failures or lack of accomplishments.  You are in control of your own life.  Your ideal life can be attained by constant positive thoughts and beliefs.  You should not change them to suit your circumstances, but build a positive, spiritual life by entertaining positive, spiritual thoughts everyday.

If you wish to change then you must build a relationship with Christ and as with any other relationship it takes commitment, patience and communication (prayer) to be successful.  Once you do this, it will be the best relationship you will ever have, and not to mention a life filled with happiness, joy and contentment.

“Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere” – Glenn Turner

Worrying really gets you nowhere.  As a matter of fact there are two things you can do to stop worrying:

1. Don’t put yourself in a position to worry, and
2. Find a solution to your problem.

Let’s look at the first point.

What is the most common thing that most people worry about –  Money.

A lot of people spend more than they earn.  They borrow to get what they want quickly.  This causes debt and debt makes them worry about their finances.   Of course sometimes there is no choice to borrow money, but there must be proper planning, and proper planning is the key to living a successful life.

Then there are those who prefer to sit and worry about situations instead of finding solutions.  There is a solution to every problem.  Let’s use finances as an example.

You are in debt.  You are having diffulty paying your bills, and that has you worried.  The best thing to do is find a way to get out of debt.  Talk to your creditors, together you all can work out something.  When you have gotton rid of your debt, start saving and don’t put yourself in a position to be in debt again.

Then there are situations we have no control over.  Maybe you or someone you know has been diagnosed with a terminal illness such as cancer.  Worrying about death and your family is certainly understandable.  But the whole point of living a spiritual life is to be able to cope with life in general.  You will be able to face any situation that life brings in a confident and faith filled manner.

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.”  1 Peter 5:7

And then there are chronic worriers, those who worry about things that are not worth worrying over at all.  It is something that on their own they have no control over, but there is help, there always is.

Matthew 6:31-33 states that we should not worry about things such as clothes and food, that God knows all our needs and He will give us everything we need once we seek His Kingdom first.

Whatever the problem in your life, there is help.  Worrying will not solve it, but prayer and faith in Jesus Christ certainly will.