Many Thoughts

So many thoughts. It's like having an aerial view of spiraling and overlapping highways with vehicles in route to many different destinations. This of course, is nothing but a part of his design. I don't mean God, I mean satan. Don't think for a minute that only God has plans for your life; satan definitely has his own agenda.

Satan's number one goal is not to make you a blatant sinner; his goal is to distract you. Making us blatant sinners would to easily be recognized by our moral radars, so satan opts for deception, the oldest trick in the book. Last week at Bible study, pastor Ilnisky taught about a subject that definitely needs as much attention as it can get-Obedience. He talked about Adam and Even in the garden and how their disobedience has engrained in us the same sinful nature of disobedience and rebellion. I guess you can see why the topic isn't heavily raised. It's much easier to talk about 10 ways to get your blessing than 10 ways to live a life of obedience. But, I thank God for vessels that are willing to teach us the the tough lessons that we all need.

Obedience is a key because whether we know it or not, we're all obedient to something or someone. The long short of it all is that our obedience is based on our thought life. When Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, he tried to relate the importance of this by telling us (in 2 Corinthians 10:5) to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Why? Because thoughts that aren't captive to Christ are captive to another power. We already know that Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life (John 16:4) so any other is obviously the opposite, being The Wrong Way, The Lie, and The Death. If your thoughts aren't captive to Jesus, then its captive to confusion, lies and death.

So, with that said, are all my thoughts really captive to Christ? Haha, obviously not. If they were captive to Christ, I wouldnt allow my mind to look like a convoluted highway system, which like I said earlier is satan's goal; distraction. He doesn't have to try and make me a blatant sinner, he just has to distract me enough to lose focus of Jesus, so my thoughts will be captive to him (satan).

Once my thoughts are led astray, sin is pretty much inevitable. But the sin by itself is not the worst part; the worst part is not being able to discern the spiritual struggle behind the scenes because now, I wont ever repent, which would stop me from moving forward and experiencing the fullness of God's plans for my life. Do you see how subtle satan is? It's no wonder the mind is the true battlefield. Our mind is like the rudder of a ship; and whether we like it or not, someone is at the wheel directing our path. Who is the captain of your ship?

Living a Successful Life

Don't succeed in the wrong assignment.

Being busy is not the same as being effective. The key is to know your purpose and to spend your time and energy pursuing it. The True meaning of a 'Successful life' isnt making alot of money; you can be successful in making a lot of money, but making alot of money can never constitute a successful life. Furthermore, money is never an end, it is a means to an end. For example, I can have 10 million dollars in cash sitting on my desk in front of me, but unless I decide to use that money for some cause, like putting it in the bank to gain interest, or buying real estate, I am nothing more than a poor person with alot of cash. Money is always a means to an end. Therefore, money used in correlation with your purpose, can constitute a successful life, but never money in and of itself.

Purpose. Why is it so important? Consider this. You study for months and months for this test you have to take. You read your books inside out and you feel pretty confident about passing it. You sit down to take the test and the professor says, "Be sure to answer only the odd numbered questions." Now, you, filled with both excitement and anxiety, don't fully hear the assignment, so you answer all the even numbered questions. Now, even though you may have gotten all the even numbered questions correct, all your months of studying helped you to be nothing more than a successful failure.

Why did you fail? Well, let's look at what you did: You followed "The 10 Steps to Acing Your Exam", "The 5 More Steps" the other book left out, you did a few study group sessions, got advice from people you considered successful...MAN YOU DID EVERYTHING THAT SHOULD MAKE YOU SUCCESSFUL, right? WRONG! You missed what mattered most: The Assignment, odd numbered questions only.

Do you know your assignment?

Don't be fooled or falsely impressed; many people driving nice cars, having high profile careers and nice homes, are not necessarily successful in life. "Success is not measured by wealth, but by purpose."

And you know, it's not rocket science to figure out where to find our purpose in life; the more difficult part is waiting for it to be unfolded to us. Yeah, that nasty word, "Patience."

Consider this. If an indicator light turns on in your Mercedes Benz, where do you find information regarding the issue? The instruction manual, right? Where did the info in the manual come from? The manufacturer of the car, right? So in other words, the only authorized, trusted and certified place to find information about your vehicle is from the manufacturer, simply because your car was his idea in the first place. What about if you aren't sure about the use of a function in your car? Where do you look to find the answer? That's right, the instruction manual. Like I said, the place to find purpose isn't rocket science, the harder part comes in understanding what you've found. But, don't worry, for this, there is also a solution. If the instruction manual seems a bit confusing, you can stop off at your nearest authorized Mercedes Benz dealership, and they are more than capable of explaining to you what is being said in the instruction manual.

It's not that the people at the dealership are smarter than you, or that their cars never have problems, it's just that they have a relationship with the manufacturer who fills them in on how to handle such issues. This is not to say you cant contact the manufacturer directly, because you can, and you should primarily, develop a relationship with the manufacturer. But, the purpose of the dealership was the manufacturer's idea, to be his representative, so we should definitely make use of it. In fact, the manufacturer even made it convenient for us by placing these dealerships in cities all over the world. Though I will tell you, when it comes to observing some of the manufacturer's representatives, you just have to remember: The manufacturer is a great guy, (just look at your beautiful car) but he sometimes has the worst PR people!

Don't let poor representatives cause you to miss out on important information the manufacturer has for you!

Now I know I've said a lot about cars, authorized dealerships and manufacturers, and I'm sure you now understand the purpose of that instruction manual, the dealership and the manufacturer, at least to some extent. You might be wondering how this applies to finding purpose in your life. Well, you're life is represented by the car, the instruction manual is the Bible, God is the manufacturer, and the dealership is the church.

To live a successful life, is to live a purposeful life. And who knows the purpose of the product better than the One who created it? A Successful Life is within your reach; just get in touch with the Manufacturer, or stop by an authorized dealership.