Psalm 81.10 - I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
It's still the first week of a brand new year and I would encourage those who had not plan any goals for themselves to start working on it now. The Chinese New Year is around the corner, on the 28th of this month and by the time the celebration is over, the mood gets settled, we are in mid February. One thing after another, we pretty much stick to the same old, same old stuff , like what we did last year. Then when the year ends, you wonder why you are not progressing as much as you would like to be.
Writing down your goals, and then put into short words or phrases in post-it pads to remind you is one strong trigger to change a new habit. For example, if you want to become healthier this year, to achieve your desired weight, then put that figure in writing. Carry it in your wallet, purse or better still, take a photo of it and make it your wallpaper. See image below.
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
It's still the first week of a brand new year and I would encourage those who had not plan any goals for themselves to start working on it now. The Chinese New Year is around the corner, on the 28th of this month and by the time the celebration is over, the mood gets settled, we are in mid February. One thing after another, we pretty much stick to the same old, same old stuff , like what we did last year. Then when the year ends, you wonder why you are not progressing as much as you would like to be.
Writing down your goals, and then put into short words or phrases in post-it pads to remind you is one strong trigger to change a new habit. For example, if you want to become healthier this year, to achieve your desired weight, then put that figure in writing. Carry it in your wallet, purse or better still, take a photo of it and make it your wallpaper. See image below.
Make a conscious effort to see this number at least 3 x a day, morning, noon and before going to bed. Imagine waking up tomorrow and you see this number on the weighing scale. Would you jump with joy? Who would you immediately share this good piece of news with? How would you celebrate your sucess? Let this nice feelings overwhelm you, day by day, week by week and month by month.
Do not be hasty to take actions like cutting down on your food intake, excessive exercise,etc. Not that this method are not good but jumping on the bandwagon and wanting to rush off the result is what most people do. When the tough gets going in the journey, they tend to give up easily. They lose sight of the end in mind. God has his mighty ways to help us achieve our goals. We need to wholeheartedly put our faith with him, even though we may not know the steps towards our goals. The rationale mind, the means to an end, etc are what men that has not access to this spiritual power employs.
We are the children of God and we too can create miracles and make transformations in our lives. The number will over time remain not just as a number in your mind but one that is burning with strong desires. It becomes a motivation force, a discipline master and coach as well. When you overeat and give in to temptation, it will send you reminders and signs that you need to cut off and stay on track. When you feel sluggish and lack the motivation to do your daily walk, swim, yoga, etc , this number would push you on, encouraging each step on your way to success.
This number becomes alive to you. You begin communicating to it, confessing your anxiety and excitment about reaching the goal. In return for your loyalty, it would listen to you, remind you the "why" you are doing this and how when achieved, it would make you feel. Living in a fast paced society can make one easily lose track of things happening around them and the number would like a lampost brighten up your day and direct you to the right path.
In traditional goal setting method (again design by human), the timing or dateline becomes crucial. So we become dateline driven and drive ourselves crazy like machines, rushing from one task to another, aiming to check off the list fast, complete and create another one. In the spiritual one, time is eternal and God's timing is perfect. Like the four seasons in the nature, no spring nor winter would be missed.
Do not be hasty to take actions like cutting down on your food intake, excessive exercise,etc. Not that this method are not good but jumping on the bandwagon and wanting to rush off the result is what most people do. When the tough gets going in the journey, they tend to give up easily. They lose sight of the end in mind. God has his mighty ways to help us achieve our goals. We need to wholeheartedly put our faith with him, even though we may not know the steps towards our goals. The rationale mind, the means to an end, etc are what men that has not access to this spiritual power employs.
We are the children of God and we too can create miracles and make transformations in our lives. The number will over time remain not just as a number in your mind but one that is burning with strong desires. It becomes a motivation force, a discipline master and coach as well. When you overeat and give in to temptation, it will send you reminders and signs that you need to cut off and stay on track. When you feel sluggish and lack the motivation to do your daily walk, swim, yoga, etc , this number would push you on, encouraging each step on your way to success.
This number becomes alive to you. You begin communicating to it, confessing your anxiety and excitment about reaching the goal. In return for your loyalty, it would listen to you, remind you the "why" you are doing this and how when achieved, it would make you feel. Living in a fast paced society can make one easily lose track of things happening around them and the number would like a lampost brighten up your day and direct you to the right path.
In traditional goal setting method (again design by human), the timing or dateline becomes crucial. So we become dateline driven and drive ourselves crazy like machines, rushing from one task to another, aiming to check off the list fast, complete and create another one. In the spiritual one, time is eternal and God's timing is perfect. Like the four seasons in the nature, no spring nor winter would be missed.
God is not a slave master, driving us to achieve our goals by slogging for it. No, he loves us too much to do that. He understand that you may have other priorities in your life and sometimes you may not be ready for the change although you say you wanted it. Like a fine artsman, he tailor make the solution to fit each and everyone of us. So, even though two person can have the same goal, one can achieve it faster than the other. Why compares ? It is the material world that we lived in that make us insecure and the constant need to be on par or exceed our neighbours even though we may not know why.
In the material world, we get burnout from stressing ourselves too much with all this ridiculous timeline, maybe to create a statement but hiding behind our sense of insecurity. Slogan like "retire at 30", "become a millionaire", etc are often taglines that are used by marketeers to attract you to their seminar so they can sell you what THEY want. In wanting to reach our goal so desperately, we become impatient with success. We turn to shortcuts, tempted by successful testimonials of how others had done it risk-free and achieved great results. I often associate this with the food we eat today. In order to hasten the harvest process, some farmers would inject chemicals and growth hormones into chicken, cows in order to get them to fatten up so they can start laying eggs or milk them. We become the last chain to consume these food.
Men has always wanted to find ways to defy nature, to take control, to rule the world their way rather than letting go and letting God take over. Surrender, this word may not be in their dictionary and labelling those who did it as a form of cowardice, weakling, soft or lack of fighting spirit.
Read this verse carefully - Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Matthew 5.5.
When taken on a literal context, most would think the word "meek" means submissive, silent approach.
There is wisdom in God's words if one truly meditate on it. I reached the same conclusion like many before but I discovered it was not meant that way. Here, this verse is telling us to quiet within ourselves, to tame our mind that runs like a wild horse and submit to Him. Whe we surrender, we would be able to hear our inner voice that yearns for a listener for which they sorely lack. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3.16
The more I read Matthew 5.5 , the more I understand the importance of living a life fillled with peace and calmness. If the environment is rocky like sitting in a boat out in the turbulent sea, can one remain calm and not be swept away by the waves of emotions that sway within us? Are we allowing these waves of turbulence and chaos to rules our life, bringing us to where it wants to go instead?
Let your 2017 be your breakthrough year, one filled with goals that truly matters only to you, be it making money, healing a sickness, getting the dream job/promotion, improving your relationship with your family and loved ones. The words of God are like gems of golds and diamond that no monetary value can be attached to it for when properly understood and applied, we mere mortals can achieve things beyond our wildest imaginations. At the end of the race, we would say -
Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord., for he is good, his love endures forever. Psalm 106.1
In the material world, we get burnout from stressing ourselves too much with all this ridiculous timeline, maybe to create a statement but hiding behind our sense of insecurity. Slogan like "retire at 30", "become a millionaire", etc are often taglines that are used by marketeers to attract you to their seminar so they can sell you what THEY want. In wanting to reach our goal so desperately, we become impatient with success. We turn to shortcuts, tempted by successful testimonials of how others had done it risk-free and achieved great results. I often associate this with the food we eat today. In order to hasten the harvest process, some farmers would inject chemicals and growth hormones into chicken, cows in order to get them to fatten up so they can start laying eggs or milk them. We become the last chain to consume these food.
Men has always wanted to find ways to defy nature, to take control, to rule the world their way rather than letting go and letting God take over. Surrender, this word may not be in their dictionary and labelling those who did it as a form of cowardice, weakling, soft or lack of fighting spirit.
Read this verse carefully - Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Matthew 5.5.
When taken on a literal context, most would think the word "meek" means submissive, silent approach.
There is wisdom in God's words if one truly meditate on it. I reached the same conclusion like many before but I discovered it was not meant that way. Here, this verse is telling us to quiet within ourselves, to tame our mind that runs like a wild horse and submit to Him. Whe we surrender, we would be able to hear our inner voice that yearns for a listener for which they sorely lack. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3.16
The more I read Matthew 5.5 , the more I understand the importance of living a life fillled with peace and calmness. If the environment is rocky like sitting in a boat out in the turbulent sea, can one remain calm and not be swept away by the waves of emotions that sway within us? Are we allowing these waves of turbulence and chaos to rules our life, bringing us to where it wants to go instead?
Let your 2017 be your breakthrough year, one filled with goals that truly matters only to you, be it making money, healing a sickness, getting the dream job/promotion, improving your relationship with your family and loved ones. The words of God are like gems of golds and diamond that no monetary value can be attached to it for when properly understood and applied, we mere mortals can achieve things beyond our wildest imaginations. At the end of the race, we would say -
Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord., for he is good, his love endures forever. Psalm 106.1
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