Well, a couple of weekends ago I atteneded the Millionaire Mind Event in London, UK and as I sat in the hotel room waiting for my friend to get ready, I picked up my Bible to get a last minute read before attending the first day of the event, and I opened up to Matthew 25 and started reading the story of the talents.  

I have read this story so many times since a child but two things really hit me:

• No matter how small you might consider your ability, you either use it or lose it!  Matthew 25:18 tells us that the servant who received the one talent didn’t think it important enough so he dug a hole in the ground and hid it!

What’s worse, when his master returned he made excuses as to the reasons why he hid the talent… “Lord, I knew you to be a hard man… and I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground.  Look there you have what is yours.“  (verse 24-25)   

This is a problem I see so much in Christendom it frightens me.  I hear people speaking about their gifts being God’s gifts as if God is still holding on to them.  He isn’t!!  He’s given those gifts to you for you to use them and as long as you think they’re not yours, not only are you likely to abuse them, you’re unlikely to use them to the highest potential that God intended for them to be used.

The principle of the “Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get Poorer” is actually grounded in the Word of God.  Hear me out here before you click the back button!

• The one talent that the servant hid was taken away from him and given to the servant with the ten talents (v.28) and then in verse 29, we’re told “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”

Just to clarify that last point, this isn’t suggesting that if you’re poor or not so well off that you’re going to lose everything because the fact is, you can be rich and lose everything.  Your responsibility is to be faithful to your calling, to use the gifts that God has given you, no matter how small or insignificant you might think your gifts are.  

So the only thing in question here, is your faithfullness to perform the service that God has called you to and what might seem insignificant to you could be a huge service to someone else.  

For example, I dislike ironing with a passion and so I have a lady who does my ironing for me.  I praise her so often because she’s more efficient at ironing than I am and she does it with a smile on her face!! 

If you only have a little but use it for God’s glory, He will ensure that what you have expands and the more you get, the more you’ll get.  Think about the snowball principle here.  You start off with a little ball of snow in your hand, add more to it and then it will get to a size where you can roll it on the ground and it really starts getting big then!

In my next blog I’m going to talk about the role of knowlede in the fulfillment of our calling and why I believe what we have is directly related to what we know, understand and do.  You don’t want to miss it so go to the top of this page and sign up to receive my blog updates.

Blessings to you all,

All too often as born again Christians, we feel obliged to help everyone who asks for our help, a favour or, – and I know this won’t go down well with some people - to make a sacrifice of service!  Here are a few problems with being a “yes” woman:

• You burn yourself out so you have no time for you and no time for the precious family God gave you
  
• You feel inadequate because you’re so involved in “stuff” that you can’t give any of what you do adequate attention and stand back afterwards feeling as if it was a job well done
  
• You create resentment among your family who feel you’ll do everything for others and cry “not enough time” when they ask you to do anything
  
• You’re so busy you can’t hear from God
  
• You can’t live on purpose when you busy yourself with things God didn’t call you to do!

During my 25 years of Christian living, I’ve seen it all and I’ve been guilty of it all!  So, I’m not telling you something I haven’t experienced first hand.  God had to show me so clearly over the past couple of years that my sacrifice is to Him and not to Church, or to service or to my ministry or business. 

Anything that we set up to take a higher place than God is idol worship and I’m sure like me, you don’t want to be guilt of idolatary!   

When your sacrifice is to God first, He will enable you to get done ALL that you need to do because He will show you your priorities, your mission and even your tasks for today.  Then you will be able to confidently and boldly say ”no” to the things that take you further away and not closer to your God fulfilled destiny.  

The enemy is cunning and he knows how to make you lose sight of your vision.  So start seeking God and ask Him to order your steps so that the decisions you make today and the help that you’re asked to give move you toward your purpose.   

It isn’t and never will be God’s intention for you to fill every need in your Church, community, home, business and ministry.  Focus is what gets tasks completed and when you don’t focus, you get the opposite results -life becomes a blur and you begin to question what life is all about because you experience one failure after another.   

Success breeds success and God’s Word is filled with success stories – how not to do it and how to achieve it. 

His promises are the success stories that should become a part of your every day life.  So if you’re not experiencing those levels of success, stop and think about what you’re saying “yes” to! 

Go to Crosswalk.com and read what the disciples had to say about leaving the Word of God to serve tables.     

Don’t be Satan’s next victim of spiritual myopia… focus on God and He will show you the needs you were called to meet. 

I heard Jesse Duplantis put it in a way I’d never heard before when he talked about giving, he said “give with purpose.”  

Until next time,   Blessings,

First of all, a very Happy and prosperous new year to all of my readers.  I pray sincerely that this is the year that not only will you find your purpose, but that you will live it to the max so that you get results in every area of your life.

Did you think about the question I left you in the orignial post?  You can read this post at http://www.womenofinfluence.com/blog/index.php/straight-talk-on-blessings-and-curses if you have no idea what I’m speaking about.

So, do you need to revoke that generational curse,
or do you need to change your mindset? 

I’ll answer the question for you… you can revoke generational curses all day long but if you don’t change the way you think, you’ll not change your actions and the course of your life, because you’ll continue to make poor decisions which have lead you to where you are today.

Romans 8:2 specifies the laws that govern our lives… If we walk after the Spirit, we have a life in Christ Jesus and all the benefits that go with it… healing, divine health, prosperity, love, peace and happiness.  Conversely, if we walk according to the law of sin and death, our decisions will lead us to a life of fear, poverty, sickness and ultimately death and as Creflo Dollar puts it so well, YOU turn on either of these laws and therefore, YOU have the ability to jump ship! 

And Romans 8:5 even gives you instructions on how you have turned on the law you’re currently walking in and therefore, how to jump ship if you’re steering in the wrong direction,

"For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit."   Amplified Version 

What are you setting your mind on today? 

Is it the Word of God which is going to give you the foundation you need to walk according to the Spirit, or is it your circumstances or even your past.  As I’ve heard so many times, what you focus on expands.  So by keeping your eyes on your circumstances, the problems are only going to get bigger, and if you try to avoid making the same mistakes you did in your past, if this is your focus, you could end up weaving your own web of destruction.

So, the secret is to walk into your future in Christ Jesus and by doing so, it’s inevitable that you will reap the benefits that go with good living such as peace, joy, prosperity, health etc.  How am I so sure?  It’s written in the Bible and the Word does not and cannot lie!

Trust in His Word and you’ll be able to walk according to the Spirit and enjoy all the benefits this brings.

Blessings until next time,