May 8-14 /2008

Faith is focusing all your conscious and subconscious thought and your natural and supernatural powers to create a spiritual cable more powerful than any steel cable. Faith, through this cable moves mountains. This table is discipline! The words discipline and disciple come from the same root. Early Christians were called disciples. That means they became person’s so totally and completely committed to the Christian cause that they were willing to die for it. That essentially, is the spirit that makes up the word disciple. The person that disciplines his body practices faith, whether it’s through controlling an appetite for food or drink, or any other natural physical appetite. Affirmation: today I am determined that I am going to qualify as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I will be disciplined in the control of my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my stomach, my hands, and my sexual desires.

You have drawn the mental picture of your dream. You announced your intentions. You’re excited about succeeding; now your faith must continue to release enthusiasm so you can perform at your best. The word enthusiasm comes from two Greek words, entheos, literally translated “in-God.” So, the zeal of the lord, the enthusiasm that comes from power of God-inspired faith, gives us a peak performance power! Enthusiasm is the force of God himself energizing your body. Negative emotions such as worry, frustration, anxiety, fear, indecision, guilt and depression are weights causing tremendous fatigue of the human spirit. With Christ, positive emotions replace negative emotions and inspires you to set great goals. Yes, look at some older people move fast, think fast, act fast when they are excited about life’s possibilities! In contrast, young people who have no goals and are not caught up in consuming project act old. They move in slow motion and are tempted to draw upon chemicals for unnatural high!

We’ve all seen people who profess to have dynamic faith. They pray to God. They exercise religious rituals regularly and faithfully. They even go to religious retreats to seek the higher altitudes of emotional experiences. Yet their faith remains at the same level, and their lives fall short of productivity. Faith is not merely believing---- it’s working ! Show me a person who’s giving 110 percent effort to his work and to prayer and I’ll show you someone who’s really climbing in his walk of faith. I watched an ant, brushed off the stone bench, into a jungle of bic-a-bac, he fell, confused, bewildered, lost. I watched him madly race through the little passages, never giving up in spite of the many blind alleys. Finally, he decided to climb up a vertical cliff! And he found his escape. He surely and successfully climbed his way up and out. Can you do than an ant?

I’ve observed that there are strong connections among faith, ambition and productivity. The person who really believes he is going to succeed goes the extra mile, applies himself is extremely productive, stands out from everybody else, and understandably wins the promotions. He’s the first one to check in, and the last one to check out. He doesn’t watch the clock. God has promised that he will reward the good worker.

How do you go about prioritizing all your possibilities. The biggest problem you face on your walk of faith is finding yourself surrounded with more opportunities than you can handle. First, list your daily possibilities on paper. List all of the things you can do today, should do today, and would like to do today; review the basic objectives that you want to accomplish. Give your best time to your most important projects. Father, thank you for the many opportunities and I have to serve you and others. Help me to schedule my time and energy in order to accomplish all you desire of me. Amen.

The writer of proverbs tells us that diligence produces wealth. It is amazing what an enormous amount of problems dissipate when a person’s mind is diligently focused on a goal. Dear lord, I need to exercise the six D’s of faith today. Give me the power to decide, the courage to dare, the energy to do, the willpower to be determined, the grace to be dedicated, and the patience to be diligent. Thank you, Lord. Amen

How do you move Mountain? You move a mountain one truckload a time. You chisel away one chip that time. I have stood at the great wall of China and marveled at the hundreds of years that were consumed to build this wall over the impossible Mountain ranges I was reminded again of what faith is all about. We chip and we chisel at life’s challenges with confidence and hope until beauty emerges!