IGNITE YOUR SOUL - (Inspirationz Motivational Video)

THE SIMPLE TRUTH ABOUT LIFE!!!

SUCCESSFUL LIFE

Give yourself time to think ... to think about your life, about your Future... What are your DREAMS? What are your PLANS? What are your GOALS? What are your VALUES? What do YOU want to achieve? ...

For every one to to be successful in life must discover his/her gift & talent in life....

INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO

Friends you need the video...

WHY STILL COMPLAINING?

FRIENDS IF YOU COMPLAIN? WHAT SHOULD THIS PEOPLE DO?

WHEN YOU ARE TIRED OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE, WHAT WILL THEY DO?

GIVE THANKS TO GOD FRIENDS AND PRAY FOR THEM...THEY NEED GOD'S INTERVENTION.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?.....
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS.

YOU ARE!!!

Life Is A Journey!!!

Everything Happens For a Reason

WALK WITH FAITH IN YOUR HEART....

THANK YOU GOD

GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD.....

GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER - ANNE MURRAY

Love, Hiding in Your Heart?

Those of you who know me personally know that I’m a person soft-spoken when it comes to consideration for others. My spirit told me so many times, “Just cut to the chase! You will walk 5 miles around something to keep from just saying what’s really on your heart!” And the spirit is right…the “diplomatic me” has such a hard time even speaking the truth in love. The reason I’m better at writing than speaking is that I have time to more carefully choose my words. It’s a gift and a hindrance all in one.

God has created as diverse a palate of personalities as He has variations in the colors of our skin, for reasons far above our understanding. Not all of us would make good trial lawyers or drill sergeants…thank heavens I am neither! 

Still, when pondering the above Scripture today, I thought of families and the need for expressed love. Most of us have at least one parent or grandparent from whom words of love trickled rather than flowed. It’s just not easy for some people to say those “three little big words.” Grandma was very, very open in her feelings. 

She praised hard but when circumstances called for it, she could come down hard on you like a hammer…but she did both from a heart abounding in love! Grandpa was the strong, silent type who was better at action love than spoken love; but he loved strongly and we all felt it without question. When he did actually say he loved you, it really meant something special. My parents were both the same way, Mom being more open and Dad being more reserved. Another lesson in itself, and I think that certain ministers like Bishop T.D. Jakes have such a high calling in teaching men how to open up and be more expressively loving toward their spouses and children.

The most tragic young people (who often grow up to be adults with emotional issues) I know of are ones who honestly don’t know either way, through word or deed, that they’re loved. They may get open criticism on a daily or even hourly basis; but no underlying affection to let them know the rebuke is spoken for their good -- and not just as a weapon to beat down their spirits. Still other kids wind up with every conceivable toy, gadget, or privilege to do whatever they wish, but wonder in their hearts whether it’s just a means to keep them “out of their parents’ hair.” They’re left without the security of knowing that love has built safe boundaries around them.

Remember, how we as parents treat our children establishes in them some mindset—good or bad—of how they perceive their Heavenly Father. As a matter of fact, as child abuse and neglect go, the cruelest thing that can be done to injure one of God’s little ones is simply not to love him or her…or to love in secret without ever giving that child the satisfaction of feeling and knowing that love in a tangible way. Conversely, there are also many young people and adults who withhold affection from their parents for one reason or another, waiting instead to utter a delayed “I love you” over an open casket or to a stone memorial with a name and date on it. Lack of love accounts for nearly every sin in the Bible, if you get right down it. How fractured we can be...how much we need Jesus to get it right! 

"Open criticism is better than unexpressed love." - Proverbs 27:5 (God’s Word translation)

What do you think? Please give us your opinion
............(C) 2012....LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES INC. (LXP INC)

A Spirit of Thankfulness

One of the times that a believer has to remain on his or her most diligent guard is at the end of a hard trial, rather than right in the middle of it. I say this from experience, because if we’re not careful, we can become calloused to the blessings of God when at last we stand under the spout.


Our modern culture is one of a feeling of entitlement. You hear it in our conversations, in our commercials, and sadly now, in our kids: “I DESERVE to be, to have, to do…. It’s my RIGHT to be, to have, to do….” The real test we must pass is not whether we can get through the hard times, but whether we will remain thankful and dependent upon God once He allows us to arrive in the place of plenty.

In a recent self-examination in my prayer time, the mirror of God revealed to me that the unidentifiable odor in my own life was the beginnings of a spirit of unthankfulness, threatening to mildew everything I’m blessed to call my own. It happens sometimes. We go from a really difficult season of adversity, where we’ve had to stay on our knees, to a time of quiet goodness, an oasis if you will…only to find discontentment in “the new normal.”

Manna was the new normal for the Israelites as they journeyed toward the Promised Land. God rained bread from the heavens, yet they mourned for the leeks and garlic they left behind in the place of bondage. And then, when the consistency of a daily provision began to bore their lust for variety, God gave them what they asked for—quail—till it literally came out their noses. And they dared complain again because the taste of the quail soon got old too!

Does our insolence perhaps kindle God’s anger against us too, as we complain “while the meat is yet in our mouths?” Are we ever satisfied?!!!

I’m ashamed to admit, my own attitude at times emulates the Israelites’. God cautioned them, when they would finally reach the place of prosperity, not to forget from where He brought them. He warned them not to make idols for themselves right in the place of His blessing! 

If what comes out of your mouth begins to smack of ingratitude, then a caution light is flashing that your spirit of thankfulness is running low.

Apostle Paul tells us to examine ourselves in 2 Corinthians 13:5. We ask God to change us, when in fact, He expects some of this changing to come from our own application of His Word. Jesus, faced with death itself, may have asked at first for an alternate route, but quickly put his own desires to the side and concluded his prayer with, “nevertheless, not my will, but Yours.” This shows us that even when our flesh begs us to compromise, we do have the power to surrender to God’s will!

I don’t want to anger God with my whining, my complaining, or even my silent discontentment in the little things—ESPECIALLY in a season of Divine provision. So today, digging through the refrigerator of my heart, I pulled out that mysterious stinky thing wrapped in aluminum foil that caused me to wrinkle my nose in disgust when I opened up the door. I toss my attitude into the dumpster of repentance, fall on my face, and give thanks for the many blessings of the Lord Who always looks out for my best interest, sees around every corner, and never slumbers or sleeps as He watches over His Word to perform it.

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

...........(C) 2012....LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES INC. (LXP INC)  

Nothing but Your Faith; Nobody but God!!!!

In Matthew 17:20, Jesus tells his disciples if they had faith as a grain of mustard seed, they could say to this mountain be removed from here to there, and it would move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.  Some of us are and have been facing some impossible situations.

We have tried to make those lifestyle changes that would move us closer to God, but we can’t just seem to get there.

For every one step forward, there’s a challenge which tries to push you two steps back. If this is you, you are in a situation where the only thing between you and defeat, is your faith in God Nothing but your faith, and nobody but God.  Nothing but your faith can keep you seeing the glass half full instead of half empty.Nobody but God can give you the glass to put the water in.Our faith is the foundation of the fundamental element pertaining to our survival.  You lose your faith, you’ve lost the battle.  You lose your faith; you’ve lost your will to live, to win, and to stay in the battle.

Gideon, the youngest son of Joash, led the Israelites in one of their continuing battles against the Midianites. 

Gideon was chosen by God as Gideon was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the wheat from the Midianites.  Judges 6:11 tells us an angel of the Lord came and sat under an oak tree at Ophrah. 

The angel of the Lord appeared unto Gideon and said, “A mighty hero the Lord is with you.”  

Gideon replied, “Sir if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?  And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about?  Didn’t they say, ‘the Lord brought us up out of Egypt?’  But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

Gideon goes on to doubt himself, doubt his ability, doubt what God was trying to do in him.  Gideon says, “How can I rescue Israel?  My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family?

By this time, the Midianites had been attacking at will the Israelites for about 7 years.  Given the length of time of the pressure, the stress, the duress, the press, Gideon has questioned God.

Sometimes, we allow the length of time we are in our situation and circumstance, to dull our senses as to who we are and whose we are.  God was with us before we went into the challenge; God is with us in the midst of the challenge.  God sees the potential in us even when we can’t even see the reason for going on. It is at this point that nothing but your faith and nobody but God can help. It is when the bad times seem like they’ll never end, that you’ve got to believe that nothing but your faith and nobody but God.

Despite his doubt, despite disbelief, Gideon needed a sign.  God gave him a sign, and then God went on to show Gideon that in order to win, it’s nothing but your faith, and nobody but God. God took Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 300.  In other words it doesn’t take a whole lot of folk to start a new life with new beginnings.  It only takes one asking for a clean heart and a right spirit. Nothing but your faith, and nobody but God.

“Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” - Matthew 17:20

...........(C) 2012....LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES INC. (LXP INC) 

Trust and You Won’t Be Crushed!!!!

By Thy Faith Lord.

This Day:

It was just at the edge of dusk, 6 months ago this evening, when I woke up to find that I was lying flat on my back on the cold pavement. I remembered seeing the dog run out in front of our motorcycle, and I remembered us bracing and hitting it, then it was like being tumbled in a dark clothes dryer. 

There hadn't even been time to be scared, much less avoid the impact. How long had I been unconscious? Someone had already stood up our motorcycle, and a couple of men were looking through the tour pack for some ID. I could see out the corner of my eye that Dana was lying about 10 feet away from me, but I couldn't hear him speak and I couldn't see if he was moving. People standing over us were saying things that indicated to me that we were both bad off. 

At first I couldn't even talk, and it was so hard to breathe--I suppose from having had the wind knocked out of me. My helmet was shattered. Later I would find that I had a basal skull fracture and a fractured bone in my neck. I vaguely remember a woman holding my helmet and talking about how messed up it was. Someone commented that my head was bleeding. I wanted to go to Dana but I couldn't get up, and they were trying to keep me still so they could put me on a backboard. My arm was twisted over my head and I thought it was dislocated, but was told later that the shoulder was broken in two places.

In the midst of the confusion and the excruciating pain, for a brief moment it was as if the noise was muffled enough to hear, quite clearly, the Lord whisper just one word to me..."COVENANT." And in that moment, I knew exactly what He meant. I began to cry and say, "Thank you, God, for rebuking the devourer for our sakes!" A peace I can't even begin to describe rested on me, one that would get me through the longest night of my life.

We were airlifted, one at a time, from Williamson Memorial to St. Mary's. My stepson Coby held my hand and coached me to breathe in sync with him while they repositioned my broken shoulder. Then as I lay on a gurney in the hallway, a doctor came up and with no expression whatsoever, told me, "Your husband is unconscious and has a brain bleed. His brain has begun to swell. We'll do what we can." With that, she turned and left. I had to make up my mind right then and there...am I going to trust God or am I going to collapse under a weight of fear? I chose to trust God, and that's what I said out loud to her back as she was walking away.

For just a little while, they wheeled me into a holding room with Dana. He was lying there, eyes closed, not moving. I reached my fingers through the bars on our gurneys, gripped his hand, and prayed for him. Looking back now, I wonder whether the doctors might have thought he was going to die, and they were giving me a chance to say goodbye. But I spoke to him this Scripture which came to my remembrance, before they wheeled us in two different directions, "(You) shall live and not die, to declare the works of the Lord." (Psalm 118:17)

There are those times when we have to choose to believe, or be crushed under the weight of despair. And there are times when we can't just think it or hope it...we have to hear ourselves say it.

Dana spent 82 days in 3 hospitals, couldn't even swallow an ice chip for the first 43 days. He lay in the ICU trauma ward for 17 days comatose and running an insanely high fever. He had multiple fractures and a brain injury, but when Satan tried to take him out, God drew the line and said, "No."

Though it's been a physically and emotionally exhausting 6 months for both Dana and me, we have not lost our joy and we have not lost our love for life and one another. God has been so good to us. I'm telling you, friends, you need Jesus. You need Him, your marriage needs Him, your family needs Him to carry you through times like this. Covenant relationship with God doesn't mean you'll never face difficulty. It can, however, mean the difference between you surviving or being mowed down by the enemy.

Sooner or later, we all have to face the most difficult time of our lives. Are you prepared? God can keep you from falling apart. I can say that because, six months later, Dana and I are still held together by the duct tape of God's wonderful, saving grace. Even these fractured pieces form something beautiful...like a prism of glass that scatters light in every direction, testifying that truly, love never fails.

"But the Lord God keeps me from being disgraced. So I refuse to give up, because I know God will never let me down." - Isaiah 50:7 (CEV)

AN “IN-SPITE-OF” KIND OF LIFE

Some of us still have the notion that true blessing exists only if there are no problems. As a matter of fact, many people come to Christ thinking that salvation exes out any future potential for trouble, only to be disappointed and disillusioned. Some depart from the faith when they perceive that God has chosen not to come through for them in a crisis, in the manner which they'd hoped. And still others live in a topsy-turvy, “one-day chicken, next-day feathers” kind of mindset. Today I say I'm blessed, tomorrow I say I'm not blessed, on and on. So what DOES our Lord really mean when He uses the phrase "abundant life?"

I believe the answer in part lies in the fact that He mentioned His provision and the attack of the enemy in the same passage. It's as if there's a huge "HOWEVER" that links the two. He isn't offering abundant life in place of our suffering...He's offering this gift IN SPITE OF it.

So for the person who says, "If my life isn't going to be without trouble as a believer, what's the use in believing at all?"  Well, friend, believer or not, you're not going to escape trouble in some capacity. As believers, though, we can through prayer and the Word indeed ward off many disasters before they ever get a chance to come to fruition in our lives. 

Sowing and reaping good is one such way of avoiding some hardships. Making life decisions based on God's wise Word also keeps us from many seasons of regret and heartbreak as well. For the remainder of the troubles we face in life, those things we can't altogether avoid, comes the assurance Jesus gave in John 10:10. "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."  You can't afford to live without the One who assures a simultaneous outpouring of abundant, full life even in times when you're being pummeled by the enemy's strategy against you. 

How is it that we can simultaneously have joy while all hell is breaking loose? That is the miracle...NOT that we have no trouble to start with!  Instead, the true miracle lies in the fact that we can be battling sickness, financial trouble, problems with our kids, aggravation on the job; and at the same time have a calm, navigating peace that we can neither deny nor explain. 

As Paul named off a laundry list of potential unpleasantries in life, he countered all these things with the huge weight of the love of God.

Scripture Of The Day: "Who shall ever separate us from Christ's love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword? Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us. For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  - Romans 8:35-39 (AMP)

TIME-LAPSED BLESSING

Have you ever watched a clip of time-lapse photography as a flower blooms, a sun rises and sets, or inhabitants of a city swarm, frenzied, like busy ants in a colony?  It takes only a few seconds to see the painstaking, micro-movements of activity, when in fact the process took hours, or days, to unfold.

Sometimes the blessings of our lives occur so subtly, so gradually, that we fail to acknowledge them until after-the-fact, when we are able to view the whole picture from start to finish.

Some of you are experiencing an extremely slowed down pace right now, and it is an uncomfortable, even painful switch from the life you’re used to.  A loved one has gotten ill (or maybe even yourself); a work adjustment such as a layoff or forced retirement has shaken your long-term goals; an empty nest just got full again; or God has perhaps led you into a place you thought would be teeming with production…only instead of what you expected, now your steps have ground down to a near halt.  If you’re used to running a marathon, it’s just plain difficult to wade knee-deep in the mud of transition.  You may even find yourself asking, “Lord, are You SURE this is what You ordered for me?”

Change is hard sometimes; it just is…especially for those of us who thrive on structure.  We’re so sure, when we’re slammed by any unexpected turn that throws our schedule off, that it HAS to be an attack of the enemy to sabotage our happiness, peace, and progress.  Certainly, that is the case sometimes.  But know this:  God is not at all taken by surprise at your circumstances; in fact, the very event that threatens to delay your blessing’s arrival by years could well be a Divine setup for a time-lapse blessing.  Don’t disdain the season you’re in!

I once made a statement that the Lord expects us to bear fruit in every season of our lives; and in one sense, that may be true.  However, this morning as I meditated on the Lord’s goodness while peering out at the changing, falling leaves, God brought that statement back to my memory and corrected me.   He spoke to me, so clearly, that regeneration doesn’t occur without a dying off first.  Oh, the tree itself is not dying when the amber and crimson leaves break free from their security and drift to the ground.  Instead, the tree is undergoing a necessary process in order that life may continue and that it may produce fruit in another season. 

As you dig your heels in and patience has her perfect work in you, be assured that you aren’t washed-up, and you’re no has-been.  God is not narrowing your borders or putting you out to pasture!  He has a far greater plan than you might realize.  Embrace the falling of the leaves and enjoy ambling through avenues of transition…for though the crisp bite of winter’s chill seems to threaten to stay forever, as surely as spring will come and buds will break forth again, you too will burst with new growth in HIS INFINITELY PERFECT TIMING.  You’ll look back at your time-lapsed blessing, having come away with so much more for having had to wait, and you’ll breathe the incredulous words, “Wow. You knew what You were doing the whole time!”

Scripture of the Day: “And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.”  (Galations 6:9 AMP)

IT IS UP TO YOU

The ONLY WAY to get Faith is by hearing The Word of God. That means that you have to literally hear The Word of God and the preaching and teaching of The Word of God to get Faith!

Now, I want you to notice something in Romans 10:17.  God did NOT say Faith comes by what you hear one time. God did NOT say Faith comes by what you hear one time a week.  He did NOT say Faith will come when you hear The Word once a month or just the one time you heard the Good News when you got saved. NO!  Faith comes by HEARING AND HEARING!  “Hearing” is present tense!  The Word Hearing is a continual and ongoing word!  You cannot live by Faith on what you only heard last Sunday or last month!  Faith comes by hearing and still hearing and again hearing The Word of God!  You must be reading

The Word DAILY!  Why?  Because the Times and the Last Days that we are living in, you will use all the Faith you received that morning by reading The Word of God by the end of your day!
When you read your Bible, read it out loud so that you can hear it with your ears.  When you are in your car, listen to the preaching and teaching of The Word.  When you are house cleaning, have the Word going in your ears through the radio or TV.  When you are doing work outside, cutting the grass, getting ready for work . . . find ways to get The Word IN YOUR EARS!  Read Christian articles and publications that will help you grow up in your Faith!  Reading devotionals and Daily Teachings just like this and even reading it out loud will increase your Faith!

How do we not only keep OURSELVES from going under in our minds, but help OTHERS FROM GOING UNDER in these wearisome times? The answer is that we have to keep ourselves in a place and mind set of Faith!  We have to maintain a LEVEL OF FAITH that is requiring us to go deeper and yet higher in God and in His Word!  Our Faith Levels must increase as the darkness, heaviness and weight of the enemy increases in these Last Days!  We have got to have such a Level of Faith in us that we will not lose hope, that we will not go into the despair that the enemy is trying to bring!  Our Level of Faith must be High, so that we can see the things that we are having Faith for come to past!  The devil wants you and I to not have Faith.  He wants to STEAL your Faith and when he steals that, he takes your HOPE, and then he’s took your Faith in what you were once CERTAIN of. (Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being SURE of what we hope for and CERTAIN of what we do not see.”)  And when the enemy has stolen all of this,he just made you stop waiting and having Faith for what God said you could have!

Yes, Bride of Christ YOU Are Responsible For Your Faith, The LEVEL Of Your Faith and The Power Of 
Life and Death You Bring Forth From Your Tongue!  Decide today to increase your Faith!  Determine today to raise your Faith Level!  For, in these Last Days your Faith Level MUST be on a higher plane for not just you, but for you and those around you!  And only you, Church, can do this!  Only you, His Righteous, can decide to go higher and carry out the Will of The Father and to Live by Faith!  Church, renew your minds, for the level of faith that you live on IS UP TO YOU!
Scripture of the Day: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” - Romans 10:17 (KJV)

What do you think? Please give us your opinion
............(C) 2012....LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES INC. (LXP INC)

THE SNEAKY SIN OF GOSSIP

My great value personality in the world.....I've joked for years that if no one sees you eat that piece of candy, the calories don't count!  Well, many pounds later, I'd have to say my theory doesn’t work!  Proverbs 18:8 says, "The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts."  So, if you're thinking that the calories of that juicy little tidbit someone slipped you today don't count, step up on the scales, my friend.

Gossip has no place in the life of a believer, and especially if you are in leadership or aspire to be! We pray for power as a church and as an individual, but often find ourselves powerless, because of the little things we allow in our lives.  If you feel like you're not getting prayers through, or are discouraged in your Christian walk, do a heart check.  If gossip is an area you're weak in (and it requires some real self-honesty here), then get it out of your life now...immediately...this minute!

Gossip is like a tiny tear in the fabric of the Body of Christ, which gets bigger every time someone begins with the line, "Don't tell anybody I told you this, BUT..."  Well, guess what? You've got the right to nip it in the bud before the next line comes out by saying, "Stop! Don't wanna hear it!" Gossip's not juicy, friends; it's just plain sin.  You have no idea how damaging it is to your credibility, your integrity, and your trustworthiness to have it said of you, "You won't believe what ______(your name) just told me!"  Could you even have family members who now won't go to church, because they’ve heard you tell tales about the pastor and church members right at your Sunday dinner table?  How many people now have a cynical, bitter attitude toward faith in Jesus Christ because they’ve seen your example, and feel it's all a farce?

Gossip's one of those things no one wants to admit, but that anyone can get caught up in if we allow it. It starts by coming in through our ears and then it gets in our hearts…and then, from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks! I don't want an abundance of junk in my heart, piling up, building up pressure like Old Faithful, ready to spew out of my mouth.  Have I repeated things that hurt others before?  To my great shame, yes I have.

Gossip's become an accepted and even favored communication in today's society. Our TV shows are infested with it. The magazine racks at the checkout are full of garbage, today's latest lie about this one or that one. If we learn to love gossip about perfect strangers, would we hesitate to make it a part of our life involving the people that we know? Inquiring minds want to know, so they say (smile)...well, I don't want to know! When I see people on the street, or at a family get-together, or worshiping with me in church, I don't want the lowdown on their personal lives. I don't feel privileged if I have the "dirt" on you...or on anyone else!

If nothing else scares you about the danger of talebearing, read Romans 1. The Apostle Paul names off a long list of detestable sins, and GOSSIP is among them.  Then he concludes by saying that those who do these things are worthy of death!   What a harsh sentence; but what a damaging thing we do when we verbally assassinate our fellow man.  Kind of reminds us how important it is to our Father that we treat one another well, doesn't it?  Yeah, it's that important.

Scripture of the Day: "People who think they are religious but say things they should not say are just fooling themselves. Their "religion" is worth nothing." - James 1:26 (NCV)

THE CALLING JOURNEY TO YOUR DESTINY DISCOVER

Has the path to your calling taken some unexpected twists and turns? The Calling Journey can help you understand how the road you're traveling will get you to your calling in life. Using stories from contemporary and biblical leaders, The Calling Journey lets you create a timeline that explains the stages and transitions all leaders tend to go through as they move toward their destiny.

Leaders often arrive at a stage in life where inevitable questions arise: Why is this happening to me? Where is my life going? And, how can this ever fit with what God called me to? In The Calling Journey, Ademola Davids addresses these questions with a model of the process of stages and transitions God moves us through on the road to our calling. And this is vital information for the coach: Ademola shows how coaching life purpose looks radically different depending on the season of life the coaches is in.

The book begins with the unveiling of a universal timeline that maps the common stages and transitions leaders experience on the calling journey. As you read the in-depth examples from the lives of biblical characters and contemporary leaders, you’ll soon see how these concepts apply to your life, and even create your own personalized map of the journey—your Calling Timeline. Once you’ve identified the stage you are in, the many stories about leaders from all walks of life will show you how to meet God where you are at and what your future holds. Comparing your story with others offers amazing insight into the different events God leverages to develop you into the leader you are calling to be.

The focus of the book is not just on life stages, but what God is doing in each stage to prepare you for your call. You’ll learn what God’s growth agenda is for each stage, common pitfalls and temptations, and how to lean into what God is doing in you even when it seems counter-intuitive. The timeline model explains four main developmental stages and three transitional “valleys”:

• Natural Promotion
• The Valley of Dependence
• The Preparation Stage
• The Valley of Wholeness
• The Releasing Stage
• The Valley of Identity
• The Fulfillment Stage

As you digest each of these themes you’ll discover how God makes every circumstance in your life “work together for good” to bring you to your destiny. In the process, the author shows how to identify the “Life Messages” that form the heart of your call, offers an innovative paradigm for understanding call in being terms, and adds a section on coaching others on the journey.

A LEADERS LIFE PURPOSE

One of our deepest desires is to live a worthwhile life. What a joy to hear the words, "Well done!" pronounced over our lives by the only judge who really matters—God himself!If you want to be a great steward of the life you've been given, you need to be intentional about finding and following your unique life purpose.

                                                          

Take your sense of destiny to a new level with the Christian Life Coaching Handbook and A Leader's Life Purpose Workbook by Tony Stoltzfus. This exceptionally practical guide gives you powerful tools to figure out what you were made to do and be in life, and to coach others on that journey.

                                   

If you yearn to go beyond a general sense of God's purpose to a concrete understanding of your design, mission and message, these are the tools that can take you there.

A Leader's Life Purpose is actually three great destiny resources created by a top Christian life coach. The Workbook uses over sixty coaching exercises to walk you through the five areas of purpose: Allegiance, Design, Passion, Preparation and Calling. Designed for self-study, small groups, classes or when working with a coach, this book. The Handbook is a Christian coach's guide to life purpose: an in-depth reference manual of tools and techniques professional coaches use to work at destiny discovery. Filled with sample dialogs, question examples and real-life stories, the Handbook will give you a window into how professional coaches work with life purpose discovery..








The third resource in the set, The Calling Journey, lays out an innovative timeline model of how a Christian leader grows into his or her calling over a lifetime. These five stages of calling, based on the lives of biblical leaders, bring a new sense of purpose to every seasons of life--including the crashes, long seasons of underground preparation and other poorly-understood ways God develops leaders. We've even created an on-line Timeline Builder where you can create your calling timeline and begin learning what it means.

A lot of what's being written about destiny seems to be focused on having a good life in the here-and-now.




                                      

Tony takes you much deeper, by going back to the lives of biblical leaders to discover how all of life--hardship and suffering as well as victory and blessing--are part of God's master plan of preparation.The book also examines

common misconceptions and obstacles that stand in our way. You'll learn about:

• Progressive revelation of call as well as calling events
• Common patterns of finding destiny in experiences of suffering
• Life messages, and how to state your purpose in being as well as doing terms
• How to discover, catalog and use your values
• How God dynamically reshapes purpose throughout life in response to our choices
• Inventorying your strengths and identifying your personality type
• What energizes and de-energizes you

And there's a whole lot more! If you want to discover your own God-given destiny or help others find their's, A Leader's Life Purpose offers the tools Christian leaders need to make life count.

SELF EDUCATION

 

Notes on Self-Education

Some History

Man has always been able to educate himself without instructors. In third world countries, there are limited education opportunities —  self-education is the only way to acquire skills. Up until about 1960, a job applicant with self-education skills was desirable. Chuck Yeager was the first man to fly faster than sound, yet his formal education was limited to high school. His skills helped us learn how to put man in space. When the first astronauts were chosen, Chuck Yeager, the man who showed us how, was disqualified because he did not have a college education. From this time on, self-educated people were not recognized on employment application forms. In the last 40 years, self-education has gone underground. It is still active, but is not recognized by society.

Th
e Panama Canal

The Panama Canal Commission has always adapted advancing technology as soon as it was available. This may be tradition from the construction days. Because of the demand for skilled employees in advancing technology and lack of formal training opportunity, the Commission has to rely on the self-educated. This was especially true during the construction days when most of the workers came from Jamaica with almost no formal education.

Mr. John F. Stevens, the chief engineer, did not have a grade school education. He understood self-education concepts and implemented a leadership style that took full advantage of man's ability to educate himself. There is a saying: 

"If employers treat their employees like engineers, they will think and act like engineers. If they treat them like helpers, they will think and act as helpers."

The Panama Canal Commission treats blue-collar craftsmen like engineers. As a result, they make decisions equal to that of college-educated engineers in the United States. In most parts of the US, blue-collar craftsmen are treated as helpers.

The Experience

In 1980, the Panama Canal Commission installed timesharing computers in all offices. (Timesharing was a typewriter controlled by a computer at a central location. There was no monitor, input and output was typed on rolled paper.). I was working as a machinist when assigned to the office to operate the computer. My only experience was reading about them.

My assignment was to write programs that would be useful in the office. There was no instructor available; the only source of help was a small manual that came with the computer. There was no software, so the first assignment was to learn BASIC computer language, then design programs that would be useful in the office. 

A year later, IBM-PCs were installed. The same policy, no outside help and write your own software. It really wasn't policy, there was no one available to help and there was no useful software on the market that met our needs. I retired 8 years later as supervisor of the computer department.

I had a similar experience in 1954 when I was 19 years old, in the Marine Corps, during the Korean War. I was sent to Japan. First day off the troop ship, an officer told me, "you are a machinist. You are also in charge of the machine shop." Using a small manual, I taught myself to be a machinist, which became my primary occupation.

During extended combat, there is no time for years of training. Teenagers are able to learn skills in weeks, if not days, when under combat pressure. They are learning with hands-on in real word environments. It takes years to learn the same skills in classrooms.

My ability to educate myself is the secret that open the doors of opportunity. Number of years in the classroom may determine the ease of getting a job, but self-education skill determines the ability to advance.

What do you think? Please give us your opinion
............(C) 2012....LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES INC. (LXP INC)

MY DREAMS

How I Made My Dreams Come True

by Captain Bob Webb

Public schools are supposed to remove barriers so people can succeed. For some, the system does remove barriers and provide a solid base for achievement. For others, the system replaces one set of barriers with another. For example, creativity is killed by pressuring students to accept the status quo, by establishing a fear to be different and a fear of failure. Independent thinking is replaced by dependency. In some cases, pressure to excel in academics kills the love to learn — a skill needed for success in the real world. People, who have a vision that motivates, will maintain a love to learn and overcome all barriers.

My Story

My story begins in Summit, NJ, at the age of sixteen, where I am sitting in a classroom starring out the window. Out of the first window I could see myself exploring the jungles of South America searching for gold, I could see myself drifting down the Amazon River on a raft, I could see monkeys swinging through the trees, I could see myself as Tarzan swinging on a vine. Through the next window, I could see the bow of my sailboat plowing through the towering waves, heading toward the South Pacific. I could see myself on a white sand beach chasing girls.

Then BANG! The teacher's yardstick hitting my desk brought me back to the real world where subjects did not relate to my interest and dreamers are related to dummies. In a loud voice the teacher said, "You are a failure! If you don't pay attention you will continue to be a failure!"

When the bell rang, instead of going to the next class I walked out of school never to return. I was tired of being called a failure. Right or wrong, I took charge of my future. When I left school, I carried the single most important element for success... A DREAM. During the next twenty years, every one of my teenage dreams came true.

You may be asking, "How does one make their dreams come true?" There are three elements:

• First - We must have a dream that motivates us. No one has ever achieved anything without a dream attached to a burning desire.
• Second - We must learn how-to-learn. In school, we learn how to memorize or be taught. Learning how to learn frees our dependency on others for knowledge.
• Third - We must learn from failure and learn how to bounce back from failure. No one ever succeed without failure. In the classroom, failure is a no-no.

In my early teens, I read the book Kon-Tiki. This is a story about six Norwegians sailing a raft across the Pacific Ocean.  Their adventure inspired my dream of duplicating their raft voyage. As a teenager with normal parents, a dream like this was considered ridiculous. Not only did friends and family not support my dream, they told me to get serious. But the Kon-Tiki dream turned me on. I wanted to know more about the ocean world and how it could be challenged. I went to the public library looking for more books and found plenty.

During the next few years, I joined the seas scouts, read boating magazines, studied nautical books, and went to boat shows. To help understand seamanship techniques, I made model charts, buoys, and boats. With models, comprehension was easy. Unknowingly, I was learning the art of learning how-to-learn —  self-education —  a technique that would follow me the rest of my life, a technique that would bring me success and make my wildest dreams come true.

At the age of nineteen, during the Korean War, I was in the Marine Corps and in Japan. On my first day of duty an officer told me, "You are a machinist and will be in charge of the machine shop." As he gave me the shop keys, he pointed to a trailer. In the Marine Corps, everything is on wheels. When I opened the doors I had my first look ever at a machine shop. In the shop was one short instruction manual titled "How to Run a Lathe." When a job came in, I followed the manual's instructions. I was surprised at my ability to complete assigned tasks. The Marine Corps experience launched my machinist career. It also made me realize that learning how-to-learn is a powerful tool. For example, every manmade object around us is the result of someone's dream and failures. Consider the light bulb. Thomas Edison believed something could burn white-hot and not burn up. A wild unrealistic dream? Everyone knows everything burns up in a short time. A thousand failures later, Thomas Edison burned a steel wire white hot that never burned up. Continuous white heat creates light.

Opportunity is attracted to people with a dream. They are the first to be hired, first to be offered opportunity, and first to be promoted. Bigger the dream the faster doors open. People without a dream are last to be hired, last to be promoted and first to be laid-off in a force reduction. For non-dreamers, doors remain closed. WHY? People with a dream act differently than non-dreamers. Dreamers develop an attitude that radiates energy; they have a sense of purpose and meaning to their lives. Radiant energy is an attitude that bosses like and to which they offer opportunity. This is how the impossible becomes possible.

When I was discharged from the Marine Corps, I decided people were right, my wild teenage dream was ridicules. Real people do not drift across oceans on rafts. I am now an adult, I should think and act like one. The raft dream was dead. For the next five years my life went nowhere, my ambition, hope, dreams were gone. Something else was also gone — opportunity that came fast during my earlier years also dried up.

One day I dusted off the Kon-Tiki book. My dream jumped off the pages and came to life. I said to myself, "I must find a way!" Two years later, I was in Hawaii and learned how the Polynesian people populated the Pacific Islands in dugout canoes 1,000 years ago. My dream was changed from a raft to a dugout canoe. At this time, opportunity came back and fast.

I helped crew a 36-foot sailboat from Hawaii to California. This provided my ocean sailing experience.

Next, I was hired by the Panama Canal Company, Panama. Soon, my supervisor asked me to attend hard-hat diver school at company expense. With this skill, money was no longer a problem.

A short time later, I was living on a beach in Tahiti building a 40-foot Polynesian double-hull boat named Liki Tiki. The hulls were built by Choco Indians in the Darien Providence of Panama and shipped to Tahiti. I built the boat according to popular theory and information supplied by the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. Three days at sea convinced me the double-hull theory was wrong. The two hulls worked against each other and would soon breakup.

Back in Panama, I took the problem to the Indians in the Darien Jungle. They said, "Outriggers is what works." I then succeed in sailing a 36-foot dugout canoe with outriggers, named Liki Tiki Too, from Panama, 5,000 miles, to Hawaii. 

Opportunity never stopped. For the Navy Undersea Center Hawaii I help develop a two-man Plexiglas submarine. Moving back to the Panama Canal Zone, I learned five computer languages and became supervisor of the computer department, I became Captain of the Canal Zone's training schooner Chief Aptakisic on which we took a group of teenagers to New York. My wife and I spent five years sailing the South Pacific Ocean in our own 50-foot sail boat, Hunky-Dory, which I designed and self-built. Opportunity came my way because I could educate myself, was motivated and did not let a wild teenage dream die.

What do you think? Please give us your opinion

............(C) 2012....LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES INC. (LXP INC)

THE GIFT AND THE NATURAL TALENT OF MAN

                                               Lets analyze!!!

Sitting in a high school classroom are two highly intelligent teenagers:

• Student "X" is highly proficient in academics, his natural talent. He clearly understands literary structures, parts of speech, and is an excellent speller. When he looks under the hood of a car, he has no understanding of mechanical structures or the process that make the car run. He makes efficient use of the car without understanding mechanical systems.
• Student "Y" is highly proficient in mechanics, his natural talent. When looking under the hood of a car, he clearly understands mechanical systems, internal parts of the engine and what their function is. In the classroom he has no comprehension of literary structures, neither can he transfer his thoughts to paper. He makes efficient use of spoken language without understanding its structures.

The formal education system only measures academic talents, not mechanical or other non-academic skills. Question:

1. Which student will be labeled most likely to succeed and receive scholarships?
2. Which student will be labeled a failure and drop out of school?

You know the answer. What you may not know is, if the school offers auto mechanics training, student "Y" would not be allowed to participate if his academic grades were below "C", the one subject he could excel in. Through self-fulfilling prophecy, the education system trains non-academic talented teenagers to be failures. This failure is guarantee by societies acceptance that "anyone who cannot master academics lack ambition and cannot learn." The Self-Discovery program can give these teenagers a second chance.

Inspiration is a Motivator

• Maritime Theme Park would inspire teenagers to seek a professional skills in the blue-collar world.
• Inspiration and interest that motivates is achieved through the discovery of natural talent.
• The discovery of natural talent is achieved with Project Based Education.

• All teenagers have a burning desire to learn, be considered intelligent and have ambitions of being an achiever. Classroom failure does not mean they lack ambition, they need a different learning environment.
  • Teenagers join gangs because the education system has no alternatives for classroom failures. Street gangs fulfill this natural desire while gaining social recognition among their peers. Crime is the tool to achieve these goals. Our society must offer alternatives!
  • There will always be highly intelligent teenagers that are in conflict with classroom environments and/or cannot learn in competitive classroom environments. Classroom performance is not a measurement of true capabilities.
• All of us have different natural talents, intellectual, artist, mechanical, to name some. For this reason, there needs to be alternative learning environments to meet different natural talents. In the right learning environment, anyone can excel.
  • For intellectuals, the academic base education system inspires a vision, discovery of natural talent, opportunity to develop it, career guidance, and job placement. The system does not provide the same opportunity for non-intellectuals.
  • Most high schools will not allow students with below grade "C" average to take shop/vocational courses, an opportunity they could excel at. Self-fulfilling prophecy proves the education system right, "anyone who does not comply with our policies will be a failure."
  • The education system does not prepare students that are going into the job market out of high school. Their careers are hit and miss.
• In high school, placing intellectuals and non-intellectuals in the same classroom does both groups a disservice. This is like having automobiles compete with bicycles and expect the same performance. It will never happen. If both are required to be at the finish line together, the automobile will operate well below its capabilities. If not, the bicycle will be called a failure. The bike has the ability to do things automobiles can't and vise versa. The education system should recognize the various abilities and provide opportunity for uniqueness.
  • Teenagers that become failures are taught to be failures through self-fulfilling prophecy. When teenagers are told they are a failure 5 times a day, 5 days a week, for as long as they can remember, they believe it. Most teenagers believe and accept the limits placed on them by authority.
  • For many failing students, the classroom is their enemy and/or prison from which they feel there is no escape. Through self-fulfilling prophecy, they become misfits who believe they are NOT wanted at home, in the classroom or by fellow students. To them, there is not much difference between a prison with bars and a classroom without bars, either place is a reminder of not being wanted. With negative feelings like this, there is no motivation to learn.
• Education system's motivation tool is reward and punishment. Intellectuals receive the rewards while non-intellectual are punished. Does this develop a love to learn?
• Non-intellectual people learn best with hands-on projects, learning by doing. This can be achieved with opportunity to experience a verity of blue-collar skills. Hands-on projects give students opportunity to discover their natural talent.
  • In the blue-collar world, the ability to work with tools is a skill that has value.
• Ten days aboard a tall ship, at sea, gives inspiration needed to break through self-imposed barriers. In 1963, at the age of 27, I helped crew a 36-foot sailboat from Hawaii to Los Angeles. That experience gave me the ability to break through self-imposed barriers and carry out my teenage dream of becoming a hard-hat diver, drift down the Amazon River on a raft, and sail across the Pacific Ocean in a dugout canoe.
  • Teenagers use role models as a symbol of the person they want to be. They inspire a vision of the person they want to be. This can be constructive or self-destructive.
  • Leadership style and the ability to inspire a motivating vision is the key to efficient programs.      
  What do you think? Please give us your opinion
  ............(C) 2012....LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES INC. (LXP INC)  
  

THE PICTURE MINDSET OF STREET GANGS

Mindset of The Street Gangs

What do astronauts and street gang members have in common?

Both groups are highly motivated. Both had role models, at an early age, of the person they wanted to be.

Both attached a dream to their role model. The astronaut's dreams lead them into the world of aviation. The street gang members dreams lead to imprisonment.

Why do some people's ambitions lead to self-destruction when the same skills can be used to develop a motivating career and productive lifestyle?

It is important to note here that all of us follow our dreams. Some of us have weak dreams that offer limited motivation - others have powerful dreams that are highly motivating. For most of us, our dreams are positive, for others, their dreams are self-destructive. Street gangs have very powerful, self-destructive ambitions, usually related to criminal activity. Our mind is a powerhouse that searches for ways to fulfill our dreams, whether they are right or wrong.

Street Gang Members are Super Motivated! Gang members are highly intelligent and ambitious. They want to learn and be recognized as an achiever. They reject the classroom method of education; therefore, they are straight "F" students. Street gangs are teams that share knowledge, which is a powerful form of education. In this case, they are learning how to be efficient criminals. Our education system does not recognize teams' as an education tool. The education system drives young people into gang environments by defining a group as failures and reminding them in every classroom, 5 times a day, 5 days a week that they are failures. This produces low self-esteem. Street gangs are organized in a way that produces high self-esteem. This makes them attractive to classroom failures. We all like to associate with people with high self-esteem, including young teens who do not consider the outcome. Role models of gang members are people serving time in prison. A person in prison is an achiever, from their perspective. They actively seek criminal opportunity. They want to be caught, see their picture on TV and in the newspapers. Their peers recognize them as an achiever. This is a positive status symbol in the street gang world. They care less what society thinks of them. Young people, admitting to crimes they did not commit can give them instant status recognition among their peers. Serving prison time, guilty or not, is an achievement, from their perspective.

The above-stated elements are that of a super achiever. The problem is, these people embraced criminals as their role model and attached a dream to them. This leads to self-destruction. Because negative influences got to these people first, our society is putting highly motivated, ambitious people in prison. If these people were inspired with positive goals, at an early age, they would be helping to build a better world. We are talking about millions of intelligent minds wasting away in prison, because of self-destructive dreams, people who could be living highly productive lives.

Education's policy of using standardized tests, for measuring education efficiency, is increasing the number of students who give up and join the self-destructive group. The 30% student failure rate is the result of a "one system for all" policy. The academic based education system will never meet their needs no matter how much money is spent. There needs to be alternate education opportunities. Instead of pressuring students to adapt to the system, the system should adapt to the students' by recognizing individual learning personalities and offered learning opportunity that is in harmony with their learning personality.

Every individual not only has a social personality that is different from everyone else, we also have a learning personality that is different from everyone else. Our learning personality is the combination of natural talent, personal interest, current opportunity, social environment, character, motivation and how the brain processes information. Anyone can develop a productive skill if their learning opportunity is in harmony with their learning personality.

The education system requires every student to be an intellectual. If they don't measure up to intellectual standards, they are labeled failures and considered dummies. Through self-fulfilling prophecy, the labels prove to be correct. Because the system conflicts with learning personalities, 30% of our teenagers drop out of high school. If our society wants to solve the street gang problem, we have to recognize learning personalities and expose young people to positive role models in a different type of learning environment, where academics is a byproduct. Project based education can achieve this goal through self-discovery.

• Self-fulfilling Prophecy
• Learning Personalities
• Project Based Education

Some Notes

• Just because students get straight "Fs" in the classroom does not mean they lack intelligence, motivation or ambition. Goal driven "F" students need exposure to positive role models. Today, only "A" students have opportunity for exposure, or they are the one's selected when opportunity is offered.
• Labeling a student a failure 5 times a day, 5 days a week, builds low self-esteem. Motivated people will not accept this; they will find an environment that will give them high self-esteem. For many, opportunity is found in street gangs. These people have a love to learn, but not in the classroom.
• Some teenagers accept the label that they are dumb, stupid and a failure. Self-fulfilling prophecy proves educators right, "people who do not master academics will be losers."
• For many failing students, the classroom is their enemy and/or prison from which they feel there is no escape. Through self-fulfilling prophecy, they become misfits who believe they are NOT wanted at home, in the classroom or by fellow students. To them, there is not much difference between a prison with bars and a classroom without bars, either place is a reminder of not being wanted. With negative feelings like this, there is no motivation to learn.
• All of us admire highly motivated people with positive self-esteem. If young students can't find it in the classroom, they need to be exposed to other forms of education where they have that opportunity.

A One system for All is NOT Feasible Society creates opportunity for the intellectual learning personality. They are coached all the way through their school years to their first job. Their natural talent, interest, and ability are in harmony with the system. For non-intellectuals, there is little or no coaching, their natural talents are out of harmony with the system. People with an intellectual learning personality are viewed as high on the social ladder. People with a dexterity learning personality are low on the social ladder, therefore, their needs are ignored. High school students are taught, “blue-collar skills are something to avoid at all cost, they are beneath acceptable standards.” The teaching of social prejudice prevents non-intellectual students from discovering their natural talents. The formal education system wants to believe that people who succeed in life played by the formal education rules. To reinforce this belief, they put up barriers that many non-intellectuals cannot overcome, mainly academic requirements. For example, in high school, to take vocational courses, students must have a “C” average or better. Students who could benefit, who could discover their natural talent, are not allowed to take vocational courses. Educations' policies prove educators right, students who do not comply to the rules become failures in life. It is easy to understand why educators take this view. The formal education gave them a vision, helped them discover their natural talent, and helped them develop it. They are intellectuals and their natural talent is in harmony with the system. Where does this leave the dexterous talented student who is not allowed to take vocational courses?

My resource on street gangs is based on a seminar I attended titled "Understanding the Gang Mentality" by Deputy Richardson, Richland County, SC, Sheriff's Department Gang Task Force. It was held in Columbia, South Carolina, USA, December 7, 2001. At the end of the lecture I was so shaken I had to sit in my car and calm my emotions down before I could drive home. No lecture has ever had an impact on me like this did. I think what got to me was, these same gang members could be living successful productive lives if they had learning opportunity in non-classroom environments such as teams.

People Doing Jail Time are Heroes From The Wall Street Journal, Opinion, Friday, July 18, 2003. Commenting about the NAACP July 14 convention in Miami with 2004 presidential candidates. "Al Sharpton brought the audience to its feet by bellowing that he was the only presidential candidate to have done jailtime." People doing jail time are role models for many of our youth, not people or programs in the public education system.  Teenagers adapt role models from surroundings that inspire them. Theme high schools can provide this missing link.

In the News - June 16, 2003 The Massachusetts education system mandates that high school students pass MCAS test to qualify for a diploma. 92% of the students passed the test and this is considered a success story. This leaves 8% who did not pass. If we add 8% to the 30% who dropped out, we have 38% of our teenagers without a high school diploma. If the test can pressure more struggling students drop out then the MCAS success story can jump to 99%. That will leave 50% of our teenagers without a high school diploma. Is this success? What is the goal of education anyhow, for statistics or help students discover their capabilities? In Houston, Texas, high school students, that drop out, must sign a statement that they are transferring to another school. The results - Houston has the lowest dropout rate in the nation, statistically. High statistics increases school funding. For this reason the goal of education is based on enhancing statistics, not what is best for the students. Students are not numbers, they are individuals.

THE STRUGGLE OF A MAN {PART II}

“O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?  How long must I struggle with anguish  in my soul, sorrow in my heart everyday? How long will my enemy have the upper hand?” – Psalm 13:1-3

Continuation of  The Struggles of  A Man Part 1…….

The world is an open field where we have to face struggle and battle in life. This battle started from the womb and in this continual battle of life the one who stands firm through it all comes out of it victorious in the end. Even with all power and understanding, if one gives up through lack of hope and courage, one has failed. What brings bad luck in this life, in this battle, is a pessimistic attitude; and what helps man to conquer in the battle of life, however difficult, is an optimistic attitude. 

In this battle, drill is necessary. And that drill is the control over one’s physical organs and over the faculties of mind. For if one is not prepared for this battle, however courageous and optimistic one may be, one cannot succeed. Another thing is to know something about this warfare; to know when to retreat and when to advance. If one does not know how to retreat and wishes always to advance, one will continually be in danger and become a victim of life’s battle. 

There are times when one must give in; there are times when one must relax things somewhat; and there are times when one must hold fast the reins of life. There are moments when one must be persistent, and there are moments when one must be easy.

Life is such an intoxication that although everybody thinks that it is working in their own interest, hardly one among thousands is really doing so. And the reason is that people become so absorbed in what they are trying to get that they become intoxicated by it, and they lose the track that leads to real success. Very often people, in order to get one particular benefit, sacrifice many other benefits because they do not think of them. The thing to do is to look all around, not only in one direction. It is easy to be powerful, it is easy to be good, but it is difficult to be wise – and it is the wise who are truly victorious in life. 

The nature of life is illusive. Under a gain a loss is hidden; under a loss a gain is hidden; and living in this life of illusion it is very difficult for a person to realize what is really good for them. Even with a wise person, much of his wisdom is demanded by life and its battle. One cannot be gentle enough, one cannot be sufficiently kind; the more one gives to life, the more life asks of one. There again is a battle.

In this battle a battery is needed. And that battery is the power of will. In this battle of life arms are needed. And these arms are the thoughts and actions which work psychologically towards success.

For instance a person says to himself or herself every morning, ‘Everybody is against me, nobody likes me, everything is wrong, everywhere is injustice, all is failure for me, there is no hope.’ When they go out they take that influence with themselves. Before they arrive anywhere, at their business, profession, or whatever they do, they have sent their influence before them, and they meet with all wrongs and failure; nothing seems worthwhile, there is coldness everywhere. And there is another person who knows what human nature is, who knows that one has to meet with selfishness and ill consideration everywhere. But what do they think of it all? They think it is like a lot of drunken people. They think they are all falling upon each other, fighting each other, offending each other; and naturally a sober person who is thoughtful will not trouble with those who are drunk. They will help them, but they will not take seriously what they say or do.

In this world of drunkenness a person who is drunk naturally has to fight more than those who are sober, for the latter will always avoid it. They will tolerate, they will give in, they will understand; for they know that the others are drunk, and they cannot expect better from them.

The reason for life’s battle is often very small when it is looked at in the light of wisdom. This shows that the knowledge of life does not always come by battling. It comes by throwing light upon it. They are not warriors who become impatient immediately, who loses their temper suddenly, who have no control over their impulses, who are ready to give up hope and courage. The true warriors are those who can endure, who have a great capacity for tolerance, who have depth enough in their heart to assimilate all things, whose mind reaches far enough to understand all things, whose very desire is to understand others and to help them understand.

If together with sensitiveness one has not developed one’s will-power, it is certainly dangerous…There must be a balance between sensitiveness and will-power. Will-power should enable one to endure all influences, all conditions, all attacks that one meets from morning till night. And sensitiveness should enable one to feel life, to appreciate it, and to live in the beauty of life. It is true that by the cultivation of will-power one sometimes persuades oneself wrongly; that there is danger. There is danger in most things but one must acquire balance between power and wisdom.

What is most advisable in life is to be sensitive enough to feel life and its beauty and to appreciate it, but at the same time to consider that one’s soul is divine, and that all else is foreign to it; that all things that belong to the earth are foreign to one’s soul. They should not affect one’s soul. 

There is no doubt that what we lack most in life is to be tuned with the infinite and to be in rhythm with the infinite; in other words to be in rhythm with the conditions of life and to be in tune with the source of our existence. Our perpetual complaints against all things in life come from our not being in rhythm with the diverse conditions of life that we have to face. And then we think that if these conditions would only change into something that we wish, it would make our Life easier; but that is an inexperienced expectation. 

And now the question is how can one become at one with the rhythm of life, in other words with the conditions of life? One’s condition of life and one’s own desire are generally two conflicting things. If desire gives in to the condition, then the condition gets the upper hand; and if the condition is mastered, then no doubt desire has the upper hand. But the condition is not always master when there is a conflict, a struggle; only one needs caution in fighting a condition in life. If harmony can be established peacefully it is better to avoid battling, though it is a fact that those who complain most about life and those who are most disappointed and troubled with life are the ones who struggle most with life’s conditions. Therefore in achieving oneness with the conditions of life one need not always use a weapon; one should first try to harmonize with a particular condition of life. 

A condition as bitter as poison will be turned into nectar if we can get into rhythm with that condition, if we can understand it, if we will endure that condition with patience, with courage, with hope. When there is a favourable condition we are very often afraid that it may pass, but when there is an adverse condition we do not generally think that it will pass; we think that it will last for ever. This comes from fear, from agitation, from the desire to get out of this condition, and thus we lose even hope, the only source that keeps us alive.

The best thing is to go through every condition that life presents with patience, understanding, open mind, and so try to rise above it with every little effort we can make.

Tuning ourselves to the infinite is achieved by the way of silence, by the way of meditation, by the way of thinking of something which is beyond and above all things of this mortal world; by giving some moments of our life to the thought of getting in tune with that which is the source and goal of all of us, realizing that in that source alone is the secret of our happiness and peace.

The nature of being in tune with the infinite is this: comparing our soul to a string of an instrument, it is tied at both ends; one is the infinite, and the other is the finite. When a person is conscious all the time of the finite then they are tuned to the finite, while the one who is conscious of the infinite is tuned to the infinite. Being in tune with the former makes us limited, weak, hopeless, and powerless; but by being in tune with the latter we obtain the power and strength that will pull us through life in whatever adverse conditions may arise.

The work that one considers to be a sacred task has nothing to do with any particular creed, nor has it to do with any particular religion; it is only this simple thing: to be in rhythm with life’s conditions and to be in tune with the infinite. And when one asks how one can arrive at being in accord with life instead of being frightened by life’s conditions, the answer is: by meeting it and observing it keenly, and then by trying to harmonize oneself for the time being with that condition, while the next effort is to rise above it if it is an adverse one.

Never expect that the events of life are favourable all through. You will have to make a continual struggle and fight with others, whether you like it or not, whether you love them or not. You will find that this fight must be encountered on every side. So you must face it patiently. Do not turn your back to it. Face the conflict with courage and bravery and tranquillity. Since you know that you are on the path of truth you can go on trustfully.

Although there is a great responsibility in this worldly life, it is through this responsibility that you are enabled to evolve spiritually. In fact your evolution will become much greater even than that of the saints who have renounced the world.

Finally, the reason for this is that, when you pursue your life’s journey steadily and with tranquillity through all the struggles and conflicts you have to undergo, success will surely come in time. This success will perhaps enable you in your turn to bring great success and potentials to the lives of many other souls too.

What do you think? Please give us your opinion

............(C) 2012....LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES INC. (LXP INC)