How the Unexpected Can Build Your Vision!

Your vision did not see the unexpected coming on did it?

Things do not go our way all the time…right?

Well, this is something that you should start your day a with reality check and just be aware of – as if you fill up your day you can limit your Vision potential by how you engage with unexpected events that arise. Your family, business and emotional health take a hit on you filling up your schedule to the point where you forget – or just do not deal with it (avoid)- to the best that you can because you are in a frazzled mental state.

So if you are an over achiever – this article is for you!

You couch potatoes can take a break from reading this.

Unexpected events are also a test of seeing what you are made of. To reveal how you will lead through that temporary setback – and if you are in an overwhelmed state of mind then you need to step back and breath through it for a mature perspective. This ‘stepping back’ can not happen if you are in a ‘go on to the next thing’ state of mind.
And you also realize that (while not all the time) it seems as if things can happen in sets of three’s – seems like not one, not two – but three things can all of a sudden pop up and distract you from your momentum.
So, when do you catch up and set boundaries, or work through these situations that are waiting for your input and action to resolve it?
So many of us have unresolved situations roaming around in our heads and hearts – and if not there they are in our homes and business.

If you were to write a movie and leave things unresolved it would be related to Independent (Artsy) films that do not close the circle – when you leave the movie you are wondering what happened – it is a form of tension that leaves you with a sense of incompletion (unresolved) – and that is the form of entertainment you paid money to watch.
Well, the same thing goes on in real life with a lot of incomplete circles of unacknowledged stories in our life that go on and leave you with some form of tension.

Traditional films and stories have a completion (a resolution) – or a closing of the circle – so that when you leave the theater or finish the book you know what happened and there is very little tension lingering in you. You may like the end or not, but you are not left wondering what happened.

We have a choice everyday to close circles, leave them open or create incomplete circles in other peoples lives – and your overall perspective may not even notice which stories in your life you are leaving things in that condition. One way of finding out is to take a Risk and ask others in your life if anything needs to be resolved. This is a HUGE contribution to your own Vision by taking this on for your own growth.
In your business you can ask your clients what needs to be resolved. Or – if you have a staff you can approach them individually to Engage with them to put a halt to the inner tension that is affecting their job wether they realize it or not.
In your home you can ask if something needs to be addressed and closed up – so that there is no inner tension lingering in those that you care for and love.

Closing circles and leaving some open are all options we have to learn from…as some will remain open and unresolved and only God can heal you from the tension that can linger for the rest of your life if you let it. Your inner story of tension CAN experience resolution only when you take it to God for Him to Father you through it…it may take time for inner resolution to give you a sense of peace instead of tension, but I know more people that have experienced this compared to others that have not.
It is possible to experience spiritual, physical and emotional healing. This is encouraging!

Listen here Overachiever – you can avoid life’s tensions just like the couch potato – but instead of being on the couch – you fill your schedule so dang full that you can look like you are a success – but in reality you are looking good on the outside as you are avoiding Life Story Reality on the inside. You need to plan time to resolve things and close up the circles of tension in your own life and the life you have an impact on. If you say “I forgot’ or “I just do not have the time” or if you have become heartless by saying “It just is not that important” – then you are too busy to care about and deal with the underlying values that drive your vision and you are loosing the very people that are the foundation of your family and business – or – you are loosing your own self in being overly distracted and busy.

Consider this – while you are still breathing, while you still have time to – put it in your schedule or your Life Plan to face those that are in your Realm of Influence.

You can lead with your Vision to open, close or expand other peoples Life Story Circles by taking a daily Risk of Walking New.

Listening to The Silence – A Part of My Own Story & Vision

Listening to the silence

Part of my own story – Commitment to Walking New

A few years ago I felt as if I was in a Cube of fragile glass that was transparent and yet was cloudy if you were to try to look through it – as if it was a very thin fragile piece of marble that you could almost see through – and it was surrounding me – causing my vision to be blurry.

Part of my own life story was a fear of what other people thought of me. This came from my youth where I was always criticized from friends, parents and coaches for about everything I did. They did very little encouragement and was heavy handed with the judgement or fault finding.

As time went on and I experienced a lot of inner resolution and heart healing mainly from a book by John Eldredge called “Wild at Heart”. I discovered that there is more to my life than I had realized and I also gained a lot from another guy by the name of Gary Barkalow who wrote a book called “Its Your Call” and what stood out to me over the years of letting those books and conferences I went to marinate in my soul & spirit was that it was time for me to walk in authenticity of how God designed me. I could sense in my heart that there was more to living life that I was capable of and yet I am blind to it.

I can say that I read at least a hundred books on the Christian walk and when I realized that they all started to sound the same to me in certain areas, and this was a bit of a revelation for me that was permission for me to tell the world my own story. Please do not misunderstand my wording – as each persons story is unique and of value and what was impressed on my heart was an understanding that my own story has value and that it can help others by telling it.

One thing that gets a bad rap most of the time is the word ‘persistence’ as it implies drudgery and tormenting of doing something over and over without anything changing.
Well – kind of!
But as you are fueled with a Vision you get a Supernatural form of energy within you that really loves most of what it takes to fulfill your vision.
It is fueled by Passion.
It has a deep sense of meaning so that you keep moving forward instead of being fueled by fear and falling backward. My own story was always falling backward and really felt as if I was in a dark tunnel with no form of light at the end of the tunnel. When I read the scripture that “Without vision you perish” – I was experiencing enough of the ‘perish’ part and realized I lacked Vision!

I remember telling some men in my life about wanting to change careers as something about my business was not working out – it was not building up to what it should be at this point in my life. I was 49 at the time and ‘feeling old’ and considered going to a vocational trade school to become an air conditioning guy or possibly a plumber or electrician – as you always need these guys year round and could easily find work.
So as I have been doing for many years, I went to my journal, got out a pen and started my process of quieting my active mind and was enjoying the next few moments of listening to the silence in my mind – as this is where I hear God, and listening to the silence prepares my mind to ask and listen – so I started with a question: “God, where do you want me to go?”

I hear in my heart: “I want you to stay a hair stylist”

And my reaction was that this was from The Enemy – the Thief who wants me to stay quiet and not share my story – that it was to confuse me – a sign that was from The Enemy of the world – and that I needed to ask again, “God, where do you want me to go? To learn about – plumber or air conditioning?”

Again, with this one deeper in my heart with some base resonance to it – “I want you to stay a hair stylist.” Over the years of listening to God – I realized this was serious and from Him. So, I listened more.

I said, “But it is not working, I am going out trying to meet people, give them my card and I have exhausted all of my current clients with no one left to help me build anymore.”

If I were to show you my work schedule – you would see I had many days with 1 client on that day – a mans cut and some days with 2 clients all day long…and Saturdays were my busy day with a few or 4 for that day with some big ticket services of hair coloring. I had no stock on my shelves as no one was buying products from me = no retail sales.

Back to my God Talk – and I hear in my heart a life changing question, “What do you love to do as a hair stylist?”

I immediatly knew what it was – this was just getting a commitment from me – a way of coming to terms with who I am about and what I love to do – I said, “I love working with Curly Hair!”

Next I heard words that forever changed my path, “Well…your not telling the world.”

I was already specializing in Curly Hair – but NO ONE knew about it!

I was also doing a little bit of everything and needed to FOCUS on what I love to do.

So, if I was to ‘Tell the World’ I needed to learn how and the next stop for me was Barnes & Noble and to get some books on having a web site and also learning about social media – as I was avoiding the social media seen back then because of all the drama it can pick up. But over time I was told that building a business page and having a web site where people that are out there searching for a quality service and content to help them with their curly hair was very much needed – so, I focused on those two areas.

That was a short three years ago – and since listening to God and how He revealed to me to drop The Cube, make a commitment to a Vision and that it was time to live authentically to how He designed me (with all the conflicts and also successes that lead up to it) and commit to something I love doing and to Tell The World about it – it has been a journey of persistence that is of pure joy!
Sure it is hard, challenging and not everyone likes me – and that is ok!
As what persistence has done is brought in the most amazing people in my life to learn from, some that wanted my help to guide them and wanted to learn what I was doing and also to form a team of people that are passionate and share the same goals and desires that I have. A community of people all around the world that shares a passion (really close to a healthy obsession really!) and doors of opportunity continue to open up.

So, I would love to hear your story of how this short series of articles are awakening in you a desire to commit to something you love to do, and how your own version of The Cube can fall off of you or crash as it did for me and to hear your answers to the questions I heard in my own heart of:

To assist you in discovering your Vision – ask yourself or in your journal time with God- What do you love to do?

And to then take the same risk I did with:

To prevent The Enemy from keeping you quiet and feel as though you do not have a voice or a story to tell – “Well…Tell The World!”

And Tell the World over and over – as that is a part of your mission and can help fuel your own Vision as you Walk New.

The Easy Way to Discover Your Vision – Session #6

Each and everyday your thought process goes through a pattern of creation that no one else does – and yet you THINK that other people see, hear, feel and think the same thing…but they don’t – which means YOU have a unique Vision that is needed to be expressed. The RISK that you must take is to TELL THE WORLD and to express yourself to share to your community what it is that you alone are designed to reveal.

Say something about what you sense.
Life is not about shutting up – no, it is about sharing and speaking up.

Better yet – DO it!

Your vision requires something, then asking others about it may diffuse the possibility of its effectiveness. Your Vision may require you to act on it first and offer what you came up with to show others your idea.
What is even better is if it is incomplete you can offer the possibility of it and ask others for their input – getting others on board once they see what you came up with, as not everyone can see your imagination – they need to see what you came up with in your thoughts on paper or an actual start to the project to be able to move forward.
And that is how faith can be seen by taking an action of what frustrates you or others. As their is something that is lacking in the world and taking some form of action on it based on what your imagination offers to you for a possible solution to consider is learning to form vision from frustration. 

Let me stimulate your imagination with these thoughts to consider:

Something is being done within an area you like but it is not quite perfect until they do this: (describe it). 

What frustrates you about something that is not being done? (describe it)
You seem to be waiting over and over for something to be done about it and you can see it and know what it is and yet no one is doing anything about it. Or, you do not really know what to do about it but SOMETHING needs to be done.
Some actions require you to lead by starting something and taking it on or some actions require you to build a community and let someone else take the lead. Vision is about offering a perspective to take it on or let others take on.

We get glimpses of our purpose everyday – but avoid them over and over by misinterpreting our very own frustration by waiting for someone else to do the very thing WE are to take on or bring up to let someone else take on.
We get a sign of what our calling is everyday – but numb out with less fulfilling things and distractions because no one gives us a chance or a break to do something about it – when in all actuality we are just not doing it or taking an initiative to make it happen – we are waiting for permission when we just need to take it on and do it.

Many of us do not need a new job – you need a New Walk and this requires a risk to be taken by you to offer to the world a solution to the very thing that is lacking in you (and others) or frustrating you and others. These are signs of what you alone are to help others with.
This in one element of your Vision that no one else notices, as it sends you waves of energy for putting a long awaited passion into for its completion.

People are misinterpreting frustration with what it can become – a passion.

There are so many ‘little’ experiences like this that are needing your input that will accumulate into something larger in the future – a vision that needs so much more of what you or what you can get others to offer – but it is minimized or made insignificant, or is avoided or numbed out and killed before it can even be acted on.

These little experiences can be your personal training for accumulating wisdom and knowledge that you may not even realize immediately unless you act on them now and let them add up to reveal to you something larger that you can act on later.

Many times vision requires attention to small things now to be built up and used later for a larger vision. 

Purpose and Calling at times are not about immediate gratification. Fulfillment can come later on as the Vision takes on certain elements that are not exposed to you at first but come into play later on.
You need to discover the very things you lack in your growth by entering into your frustrations by training and through some trials to better understand your larger Vision later on.

Do you get a ‘little’ emotional from lack of understanding – well then learn to be a man or women of understanding (Proverbs 20:5) by bringing out the deep waters of your heart to impact the world with.

We all hear that God will not give you more than you can handle – so taking on what is required of you from your very own frustrations and see how turning that frustration into a solution will add to your sense of purpose & fulfillment and I guarantee that this will also help and serve others even if you or they do not see that going on yet.

Many people live without passion and yet they are fully frustrated – and learning to reframe that is a sign of Walking New.

Top Three Vision Killers of a New Walk. Vision Session #5

The New Walk as 3 Vision Killers.

As you take risks and learn from your New Walk – the top three things that kill your vision come from Immaturity, Foolishness & Pride. These Three Vision Killers close doors of opportunity quickly and create a sense of no light at the end of the tunnel and lead to avoidance and numbing out if left unchecked. 

These Vision Killers also can leave you with a sense of being mis-understood as well if you are on a New Walk quest and do not understand what is going on. 

It is not all about opening doors of opportunity – as the reality of doors opening means a consequence of the opposite – closing doors as well.
This is not about doors being closed on you – but learning to close doors intentionally by YOU.

This is about letting some things go.

It is also about making some difficult choices and decisions based on that it may not be about the people you are pointing fingers at or blaming others for your life challenges – as if you point your finger at one person, look at your finger pointing hand – you will see a few other fingers pointing back AT YOU! 

Vision killers are immaturity, foolishness, pride and also the opinions of other peoples immaturity, foolishness and pride = creating a lack of understanding.

Being around someone funny is one thing and comedy can only be taken for so long as it can be draining to laugh for a long amount of time. Comedy Club shows are only so long – and when comedians come off stage, many are regular people and only perform when they are ‘on’, and separate their lives for being ‘on’ and being ‘off’.
But when you are around someone that is ‘foolish’ constantly – it is draining…and the foolish individual doesn’t even know it and is wondering why life is not moving in the direction he reads about in other peoples life or see’s them living out with success. Success seems like a light at the end of the tunnel.

Being Funny is one thing – being Foolish is not funny nor is it not related to anything resembling the art of comedy – it is living from immaturity that is sensed in the heart by others and is many times repelled and in the long run closes doors of opportunity.
When you decided to live out a Vision and want to open doors it can be frustrating to take a risk and realize it is going no where because of doors being closed or you are not being taken seriously and levels of trust are hard to establish until a sense of maturity to engage with you is established.

Setting boundaries with yourself to mature and to gain wisdom is difficult if you are stuck in immaturity, foolishness and pride – and many times it is a matter of your own perspective more so than something you are born with and this is promising for those of you that feel you are stuck in a mindset of immaturity.

When you establish boundaries with yourself – which is called: Self Control – just that action of establishing boundaries alone is a sign of maturity and will be encouraged by others (and be on guard for those who have or will not establish boundaries with themselves). A discussion with you on the hot topics of your life will reveal areas that lack Self-Control and many times indicate areas of immaturity, foolishness and pride.

Your actions are more of an indicator to the world of who you are. Step out of immaturity in your actions and this reveals the development of a leader. As this is more powerful than reading a book on leadership and talking the talk.
There are a lot of immature leaders out there talking the talk.

Another vision killer is the ‘fake it till you make it’ philosophy – works for some – as you have to try to do something outside your comfort zone or experience zone to develop confidence – so, intention is key for how you incorporate your vision. Building confidence with authentic vision and walking that out in discomfort but with your head held high in humility is desirable compared to faking it till you make it while filled with Pride. Pride can fill your heart when you walk something out faking it and getting a positive response from it. You build a Prideful Perspective from doing this over and over.

Guard your heart for sure – but walking out in humility, asking questions, engaging with people from good intentions and learning from them builds confidence backed up with inner Maturity to fuel your walk.

You influence people through your hearts intentions based on manipulation or inspiration – so this is  where your intention comes from in your heart and is sensed by other people as if they are picked up like invisible energy waves and sensed in their own heart and spirit as to whether they are negative or positive.

Having a desire of being Understood comes from the foundational message based on Proverbs 20:5 – Proverbs overall is filled with examples of how you can learn to be understood with other peoples Maturity, Wisdom and Humility – as those things can be drawn out of you – and this is the foundation of a New Walk.

Authority to Speak Into Your Life? Session #4 on Vision

Backing off at times is one thing, having uncertainty is another – as doubt is not knowing what to do from lack of experience and that is ok to a certain extent – but it is how people see you deal with conflict that reveals your values and ultimately your character for conflict resolution that confirms who you are and also your leadership.

Thin skinned people back off and quit – and yet being doubtful and having uncertainty is ok…just do not quit – get used to spending time considering a resolution instead of reacting quickly in uncertainty and letting fear creep in. Fear will nip your Vision Adventure off in a heart beat. Uncertainty is not fear unless you let it cross the line of what is important to you.

What helps garner support and developing confidence is asking for help (Humility). People let uncertainty or fear cross the line of what they value and what is important and loose ground on their vision because their pride prevents them for reaching out. You were given a community of people out there that want to support you and our Old Walk shuts that out in avoidance and numbing out.
Asking for help in many ways is like having a Master Mind Group of individuals that are there for you to support and guide you. You will be Blessed by having others in your Realm of Influence – or you will feel Cursed when you are all alone.
As you consider what you should do and value the options that others can suggest for you – you are brainstorming action options based on the experience of other people that you value and respect = give authority to.
This is Vision Talk where you throw out a bunch of options and see what sticks and learn not to take what does not stick personal. Your skin thickens as you release unimportant things that do not fulfill your vision. You are learning to focus on what is essential to your purpose, calling and vision with releasing what is not essential.
This is very important to grasp onto.

You need to exercise and practice to lead with your vision.
An example of this going on right now even is your thought process as you read through this manifesto of positive and negative images, thoughts or the inner critic creating dialog in your mind being scattered about as to criticizing this article or the opposite with seeing the value of this resource.

What is winning?
There is Negative Vision Talk and it wants to stick with you. It is important to notice this going on and identify which thought process is sticking on you?

Not everyone knows how to Vision Talk – as their doors of opportunity are closed or restricted and do not have the ability to communicate vision to a certain extent because of their own lack of Vision Adventure in life. They have not been a good steward of the Realm of Responsibility they have been privy to and lack people in their Realm of Influence.
Be careful taking counsel from those that lack understanding/adventure/vision in their own life. Many of those that lack wisdom speak more from criticism than actual experience. So you will be learning how to Discern the values of others as they communicate – again…your skin is thickening.

You must communicate Vision Talk to other people that you give authority (Permission is granted to only a select few) to – your Master Mind Group of individuals that you respect and allow into your vision to help you, get ideas and see what is of value to pursue = what sticks with you. As you put energy into and look for a resolution to what you are uncertain about, it is important to incorporate the authority of other peoples wisdom at times. Then as you take it on, make it work and learn from it – your skin thickens because it is what is best for you and your vision.

It is mandatory to be uncomfortable as you grow into your vision as you release your Old Walk.

What if you do not have a group of people? This is the result for many who have hidden, avoided and numbed out with no group of people that have authority to speak into you that you can respect – so, Napoleon Hill (Author of Think and Grow Rich) recommends doing this in your mind with people that are significant to you in your life. Authors, Spiritual Influences and other Leaders that you have read about and  offer guidance from can be recollected in your mind when given it thought, time in study or meditation with a journal or sheet of paper to catch the Vision Talk that comes to you. You don’t worry about neatness as you write – just put on paper all that comes to you and as you look it over you will see a pattern and then make some connections with as you marinate in it. 

Try it and see what sticks!

In your journey – when others disagree with your vision or bash it to smithereens – you will be disappointed and hurt at times but you will realize that it will not take you out or kill your dream unless you obsess about their authority. This is why Grace and Forgiveness are first and foremost in walking out Vision as you need to release these people from any form of power they try to grasp onto. You may not forget what they have done by any means but is more about releasing any form of authority they try to manage in your life.

Who have you given Authority to speak into your life?
Positive Authority – find or locate those you respect to speak into your Vision. 
Negative Authority – time to realize who you have given undo respect to and release them. 

Not everyone has authority to speak into your life – it is only your Master Mind Group that you have given authority to speak into your heart – not every ‘come and go person’ that mentions you or your journey can speak life into you or speak vision killers to you UNLESS you give authority to them. While easier said then done, but over time you will not let Vision Killers the required authority to influence you and your heart – therefor your skin thickens.

Sadly the only way to thicken skin is by going through interactions with these people and situations.

In the end – it makes you a better and stronger person that strengthens your maturity and wisdom as you are Walking New.

Opening Doors of Opportunity – Vision Session #3

Opening Doors of Opportunity

As you pursue risk and doors open for you – one thing that has to develop over time is the process of skin thickening.

Skin Thickening happens over time from learning to not take things personal. It may hurt a bit or make you feel uncomfortable – but you learn to not take it personal.

When we start out at first, everyone may or may not be on board for you and your Vision Journey. Thing is – we have to live our life without permission from everyone to accomplish our goals. If we go around asking everyone what their thoughts are on doing what we are designed to do then we are doing things based on what others think vs doing things that we are meant to do. Other peoples opinions can have a strength and authority in our lives to the point of not following our calling if we are concerned with what others think more so than what we sense in our Spirit to do.

We are not under the authority of others once we are over the age of 18 and are mature enough to take on the responsibilities of life. This is about taking on what you are Responsible for and God has given you a Realm of Influence to be in charge of.

It is very important to have your spouse and family on board with what you are doing – that is a given.

Worry of what others think will keep doors of opportunity closed.
Fear, frustration, judgement, criticism and pride keep doors closed.

Serving others opens doors.

This is about doing something bigger than yourself and thin skinned people are in fear of what others think syndrome. 

So as you take on a risk and step through the door of opportunity (pursuing your vision) we become sensitive to what others think more so of what we are doing because of lack of confidence in knowing what we are doing.
It is ‘natural’ to feel this.
It is ‘Supernatural’ to break through this.

There are many leaders out there that do NOT know what they are doing every moment of walking out their vision.
You realize your a leader right? So this means you can still lead and not know every step you are to take – and this is normal. 

So, what is it that keeps them on their path? What helps them to make choices and decisions even when they are unsure of what to do?
1)Values ((I value Biblical Principles and A Healthy Authenticity to name a couple))
2)Knowing what is important to them ((Self Control & Patience are a couple things important for me – yeah we all say family, health and work – but this is more about what resides in you and not about what is outside of you))
3)What they believe in – and this is so important to them that it drives all of what they do and are building for the Vision that is in their heart. And this is ‘why’ they do what they do – as people believe in why you do what you do – not just what you do.

What is important for you to walk out your vision is what keeps you on the right path.
When you are short on knowing what to do at times – your values help you make decisions in moments of uncertainty. As ultimately is is you and what is important to you that dictates where your vision should go. If you make a poor decision then you will know quickly how to change it and redirect it. If you are doing things based on what other people think, then you will be stuck and uncertain in decision making and leading with what is important to you – and when others sense this they will unfollow you and not trust you in your lack of follow through.
People need to see you follow through even if it fails, or to change direction to another option. As you deal with a bad decision people will see your strength and even want to help or support you. People want to see you succeed and they also want to believe in you more so when they see that you are in it for the long run and are willing to fight for it.

This process thickens your skin. As you skin thickens it can influence you to become Arrogant and Prideful – or – Humble and Service Orientated – and it is all about what you value, what is important to you and what you believe in.

And as Doors of Opportunity open for you – it is important to be reminded of what is influencing your decision making and thin skinned people are obviously hiding behind numbing out and avoiding risks out fear of what others think of them…closing doors of opportunity.

Do you feel as if there are no opportunities for you?

Is your skin thin or thick?

You can feel sorry for yourself and stay that way – and that is a form of Pride – thinking only of yourself.
OR – you can be Humble…and ask for help, believe that doors can open by taking a risk to value what is important to you and your family from a Biblically Based Journey to Serve Others in a New Walk.

Want to understand your Vision? (Session #2)

Want to understand vision better?
Drop everything and go do something for someone else! Or – drop what you are doing and ask someone to forgive you for something you have done!

Why? Serving others and asking for forgiveness are two areas that open doors of opportunities for discovering your vision.

Step outside of your normal routine and let go of the structure of the certainty you have set up to discover something new from a perspective of uncertainty. 

Serving others and asking for forgiveness are a couple ways to kill pride and walk in humility that will expose NEW vision to you. Why? It is naturally uncomfortable to serve others and to ask for forgiveness so the natural thing to do is NOT to do it. We avoid it. 

Doing this alone helps you to uncover where your intentions are and this is telling you and others around you what kind of story you are telling.
Here is a part that I was going to leave out – but I will include it as a part of helping you to realize how important vision can impact you and others around you – ((Ever notice that the story you are telling is one of safety and of one with no risk – one that fits in with a high percentage of people around you and the world in general? When you step out of that comfort zone you will be noticed and this series of articles is set up to guide you to completion of your vision…because some of you will get resistance or not much encouragement for living by design and may stop for lack of mentoring.))

These actions of Humility strengthen you and start to diminish negative things built up over the years such as resentment, judgement, bitterness and stewing anger – no wonder we want to numb out and yet do not understand why. No wonder we want to stay safe and not take any future actions based on this perspective as Pride is wasting humanity to dust.
We have unintentionally built up VALUES of appreciating Judgement & Criticism or even Anger.

((What do you do? Avoid? or Numb Out?))

Many of us have unintentionally or intentionally engineered failure and the world reinforces this!
So – we can now engineer success and do it by Walking New with God. We can make plans and HE can guide our steps. You can not hear how to walk out vision when you have resentment, bitterness, judgement and other ‘fruits’ speaking into your heart, soul & mind – these are dictating a and fueling your current vision with negativity. 

What occupies residence in your mind is valuable real-estate and hoarding memories of the past can deteriorate your mind by renewing it with trash that can cause harm to your own body and to others by how you treat them, what you say to them (and yourself) and the choices and decisions you make to take a risk with are all based on Vision fueled with pride, selfishness or unforgiveness. I can tell you that these areas are unconsciously dictating your underlying vision. All vision is fueled with some from of ‘fruit’ that has a negative or positive energy attached to it.

Vision is one part perspective and one part design.

With training and practice we can gain a new perspective and create a new design to gain a New Understanding = A New Walk. 

Humility or Pride:
Serving others (Humility) or serving self (Pride).
Grace or Un-Forgiveness:
Grace and releasing the pain of hurt or Un-Forgiveness with resentment, criticism and judgement.

Humility along with Service and Grace is difficult to do and comprehend by many, and can only be understood by doing it, experiencing it & learning from it. If you can do those two things (serve others and walk in grace), then learning about your vision can be just as challenging. but come to you by stepping out of your self inflicted comfort zone.

You may not get instant revelation as much of this is accumulates over time as you do it and then understanding comes to you in small increments.

Has un-forgivess, lack of serving others, judgement, resentment, bitterness and pride been an indicator in your life that also includes some form of  Numbing Out or Avoidance?

Send me your thoughts and I look forward to your comments as we progress in the Vision God has placed in your heart. 

 

Vision (session#1)

You have to remember that Vision comes to you…right where you are and in the job and home that you are already in. The energy you spend chasing something else is to be re-directed to where you are needed right now in the season of your current job and even in your home.

You do not need to wait to fulfill God’s vision for you by waiting for the next job to do this…no, you are needed right where you are TODAY. As a job or certain amount of income is not what is needed…what is needed is for YOU to stir the gifts God has planted in your heart and Spirit and to take a risk on looking ‘foolish’ (you know what I mean if you were at my talk) and reveal what vision God has for the situations you are in currently.
We need more of this – and imagine practicing this day after day, how much more so you will be blessed by doing this…instead of chasing a new job or asking for a raise or wishing for a different home situation…spend time taking a risk in a New Walk by daring to look foolish to gain Understanding.

We need more men and women of ‘Understanding’.

Remember – God kept me as a Hair Stylist and is using me as a Man of Understanding without chasing a new job or higher paycheck – thing is, he has blessed me with both by being obedient.

And so can you….right where you are. And I realize this is easier said than done, but you can only ‘understand’ this more so by doing it over and over with persistence and not giving up = walking out vision. I did not say it was easy, but learning how to walk as a Woman or Man of Understanding is not intended to be easy. Stepping outside of yourself and doing something for someone else (the Heart of a Servant) and to do it in a way that is bigger than anything you can do on your own is never easy. But it will be blessed if your intentions are of Gods Kingdom. If it isn’t blessed, than maybe you should consider if it was ‘your kingdom’ trying to get favor.

If you are uncertain, talk it out with another Woman or Man of Understanding and work it out – as that is a part of what we are called to do is by Working it Out.

I look forward to your replies and comments as you step out to become Understood, find your vision and create a New Walk in the Vision God has put in you.

Circle of Growth

Take your journal or a piece of paper and draw a circle and divide it into 4 sections. In the top left put “man” or “woman” (section 1), section 2 will be top right and put in “speak”, section 3 will be lower right and put in “share”, section 4 is lower left and the word “lead”. 

I will return to this in a momen. First check out this website that has a FREE version of Oswald Chambers devotions from a book called My Utmost For His Highest…a book you should own. this is April 20th:

 

http://utmost.org/can-a-saint-falsely-accuse-god/

Another resource is Watchman Nee’s book called The Spiritual Man and in it he mentions:

“Is it possible for a child of God to have a new life and a new heart but be without a new head. With too many saints, the mind, though their heart is new, is still quite old. Their heart is full of love whereas their head is totally lacking in perception. How often the intents of the heart are utterly pure and yet the thoughts in the head are confused. Having become saturated with a mishmash of everything, the mind lacks the most single element of all, which is spiritual insight”. Pg. 11 of part 8 that is from chapter 1 called The Mind a Battlefield.

As you walk the New Walk, pay attention…have SPIRITUAL INSIGHT, as a Child of God- How do you Speak to people, how and what do you Share with people and over all how do you Lead?

Your either doing it from an Old perspective or a New Perspective. Another way of putting it is living your life from a “Wounded” perspective or a “Healed” perspective.

The first box of Man/Woman can be subdivided into Old/New. As you are doing the rest of the sections from a New or Old PERSPECTIVE. So, as a Man of God, I can Speak, Share and Lead from an old-wounded perspective (and still do) or I can do it from a Healed/New perspective. April 20th reveals much of how this is accomplished in the above webpage of Utmost devotion.

Another exercise is to take a self assessment and put in a # in each section. Not a grade…but a peek into how your current perception is of you as a Man/Woman of God. Put in each section a # of 1-10 of how YOU see your current perception of how you are walking out your New Walk with God. There are no right or wrong numbers and no one is looking over your shoulder…be honest- it will pay off if you follow along with what we all are doing.

Mine are:
Man = 8
Speak = 7
Share = 3
Lead = 6

How do I come up with these numbers, well, I just kinda listen inside and think about how I interact with the world and my community of people that I am involved with at home, work & travels. You know inside how you interact with YOUR world- just put a number to it and yes, you can always change and modify it later when you better understand all this.

Each number reveals a Strength and Gift inside you based on your perception number. There may be a strength you are gifted in and someone gave you a ‘low’ number and you are LIVING from that number! It is a Wounded Perspective! And, you are living it out in OLD ways! God is calling you out of that perspective….giving you a higher number, but Christians all over are refusing that New Walk. I use this number system to just give you an idea of what we all ‘naturally’ do…judge and be critical of our words and actions and I put a number system to it to form a model of looking into what we do…God does not do this. Come on now- have fun with this!

Over the next few blog posts I will be focusing on each section and what they mean…so, hang in there and enjoy the process of expanding your Spiritual Insight and Perception of how you Speak, Share and Lead as a Man/Woman of God = the New Walk!

Scott

A New Frustration

In my journal time I was expressing my Discomfort and noticed the Holy Spirit bringing on Comfort to my realization that my Frustration in my marriage was not my wife’s fault…but my own.
It was a New level of maturity to accept the responsibility and to make a commitment to BECOMING THE MAN GOD DESIGNED ME TO BE TO MAKE MY MARRIAGE VICTORIOUS.

This led me to start asking questions to other Christian’s about what they were experiencing frustration in.
Marriage.
Work.
Parenting.
Finances, were the answers and what shocked me even more was that most, if not all, were pointing the finger of judgement and criticism at the other person.

Ever see the visual where you point one finger at something and have 3 others pointing back at YOU?

I had lived the same way of passively or aggressively pointing the finger of blame at other people and over the years those same area’s mentioned above were going down hill. It is in scripture where ‘if you have no vision, people perrish’ and the vision I had in those area’s of life had become so distorted that they started to look like the rest of the world’s vision and I was becoming ‘one of the statistics’ and yet, not willing to do anything about it myself…as if I already exhausted all possibilities, and have a pride filled expectation of ‘it’s time for the other person to DO their part’ mentality.

No wonder living with that kind of ‘vision’ I was perishing. No wonder I had a desire to NUMB out this ‘pain’ or just AVOID it all together and think that ‘this is just the way life is’.

When I took responsibility for what kind of VISION I desire to have and make a persistant COMMITMENT to the fulfillment of this vision-to not be passive or take over and CONTROL everything- I realized that I was living by His Design to depend on Him to Walk this New path out.

So, when I talk to others of what Walking out His Design looks like- a great place to start is: What is FRUSTRATING you? Who is bringing on this great DISCOMFORT? What area of your life are you PASSIVELY waiting for someone else to take over? What area of your life are you filling up your plate of life with so much busy-ness that no one else can even offer you a hand of assistance?

This blog and NO book can help you to do what you are designed to do. That is done when you are ready to Walk New in the Holy Spirits power by making a commitment to depend on Jesus to LEAD you into the very thing that makes you afraid. Oh yea, by avoiding the very thing that has filled you with frustration has gone on long enough to now produce a level of fear to keep you in hiding and have the Area’s of Life perrish.

This blog is to give you a glimpse into the Vision of who you are and what you are made of and to Walk FROM this.

Again, what area of your life is giving you DISCOMFORT?

Fill in the blank in your journal: To become the man God designed me to be to make my………………..victorious.

For me, my marriage was to be in that blank years ago when I was working on this and I am STILL walking that out. You see, the opposite of Walking is: running-hiding-avoiding. My TRAINING is to Stand Firm and to Persist in the very thing I was avoiding.

YOUR TRAINING will be in the Area of Life that God wants and needs your maturity, strength, discernment and wisdom in but is lacking because of your hiding, running away from and avoiding. Like Adam in the garden in Genesis. “Adam where are you? And Adam was silent like he could hide from God. What a fool to think and ACT in such a way. I personally know what that feels like. It is my OLD walk that still pops its head up now and then and wants me to stay safe, but in the Holy Spirits power-those old ways of trying to bring up fear fade away as Faith over rides the Discomfort to Persist in the Vision God has for me to Walk in His Design.

I look forward to hearing what Area of Life God wants you to Walk New in and to hear the New Story that brings Glory to God by your Persistence of Faith to over-ride the fear of what is Frustrating you. This very discomfort of frustration is a call to Walk New.

What is my new New Walk? To become the man God designed me to be to make my business victorious.

And it is Glorious in how He is Blessing my Obedience.

He will in your New Walk as well.

-Scott