Words and music by DT
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
1 Peter 2:24
Jesus bore all your sin, sickness, and poverty in His own body…so you don’t have to.
“… for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”
1 Peter 5:5
One of the fastest project I’ve worked on involved me asking the Lord to help me with helping a specific Medic who was in trouble.
J.O.Y = Jesus, Others, You
Very negligible friction. The whole thing was completed within 46 days of starting. Other similar projects took months and years.
1 Peter 5:5 directs us to be clothed with humility, because there is Divine resistance to those operating in pride.
God loves you and He’s not mad at you.
But pride is the least aerodynamic way to travel through life.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
Psalm 37:23
The “good man” in Psalm 37:23 is a warrior. And this warrior has a secret weapon that is a font of endless confidence.
Namely: his steps are backed by Yahweh, the Existing One.
Just think. God Almighty has committed to establishing, securing, fixing and directing the steps that you take.
Remember, you’ve first got to take the steps.
But take them with the boldness, confidence and swagger of one whose steps are backed by Yahweh…the Existing One.
Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.
Proverbs 25:14
How do you find out what your true gifts are?
One way, is to look for the rain. Look for the areas where you naturally produce rain.
Look for the places where the invisible moisture condenses into tangible liquid. Look for the places where gases turn into liquids. Look for the places where there’s a change of state.
Look for the places where what you produce creates sustenance and life.
Don’t be distracted by the clouds and win. Look for the rain.
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
Proverbs 23:17
Here’s the redirection.
Don’t let your heart envy sinners…but rather the fear of the LORD.
The issue isn’t the envy, but rather its object and focus.
Redirecting those desires towards the fear of the LORD is a key that unlocks greater blessings than anything you’re currently envious of.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
To train is narrow your options. It’s to de-cide: to cut yourself off from everything that doesn’t line up with that which you have Covenanted yourself to.
Narrow is the Way that leads to life…
Selah.
He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall die.
Proverbs 19:16
Ways. Deh-rek. Manner of life. Habit. Pathways. Neural pathways? Living entities that only exist because you do. Servants. Emissaries. Awaiting your instructions and directions in order to fulfil their purpose (i.e enabling you to fulfil yours).
Care enough about them to make sure they line up with the commandment…that which has come forth from the mouth of the Creator.
Care enough to have God as the official and only sponsor of ALL your ways, and He will make your paths straight.
Commitment to this practice is life.
Neglect of this pathway is death.
As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
Proverbs 18:30
Words, thoughts, feelings, actions, results, your experience of life.
That’s the progression, where the starting point is: Words.
What words are you living by?
Whose words are you living by?
When your life is built upon the Word of God (the Bible), then the result will be a rock solid confidence and security that will keep you immovable and unshakeable.
Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
Proverbs 6:7
Winter is coming, whether you believe it is or not. Entire industries, specialities, nations and sectors will be stripped away by the impending arrival of the cold winds of change and the merciless drops in temperature. AI, machine learning, climate change, politics…are the surface level topics that many are being distracted into debating.
But the big question is: are you showing up each day to work on your projects before winter arrives?
Are you maximising the opportunities and moments you have to write that spec script, launch that blog, bootstrap that business, publish that comic strip, organise that movement…before winter comes?
Don’t let this moment pass you by. Winter is coming.
Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
Acts 7:33
Take off your shoes, those artificial man-made constructs, covered in the dust of preconceived notions, gathered on the journey to now.
Take off your shoes, laced or latched, buckled or bowed. Undo them. Unfasten them. Loose them and be separated from them. Let nothing be between you and the ground on which you stand.
Take off your shoes, those familiar responses, thought patterns and nonchalance about the day to day. Allow yourself to be amazed, impressed and blown away by the sheer wonder wrapped in swaddling chores.
Take off your shoes. This…is holy ground.