Friday, April 8th, 2016

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Ezekiel, Chapter 11, Verse 8
You fear the sword—that sword I will bring upon you—oracle of the Lord GOD.
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? (Ps. 27:1)

Christ said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Mt. 26:52)

Violence begets violence and takes us away from the will of God. For violent men death and damnation is the usual final outcome. John Pridmore is the exception by the grace of God. John says of himself:

I had what I thought was everything. Money, power, girls, drugs the lot. But yet there was something missing... This struck me more than ever, when I thought I had killed someone. I knew I had to change my life... I now work full time for God. No one pays me. I live completely off his providence, telling my story all over the Earth.

From the bible Sampson who was born endowed with great physical strength started out following God but failed to continue walking in the spirit of He that Is. John Maxwell[1] points out that like many men they failed toward the end of their life because they dilute the vision God had given them, and have become too comfortable with their success and lack the self-control to overcome their weaknesses. John’s advice to leaders is to be self-disciplined using a quote from Plato, “The first and best victory is to conquer self.” John points out a five step plan to develop self-discipline in your life.

1.      Develop and follow your priorities. Time is a precious commodity, do what’s really important first and release yourself from the rest.
2.      Make a disciplined lifestyle your goal. Set up systems and routines to ensure you feed the mind, body, spirit and love of neighbor daily.
3.      Challenge your excuses. We all make them; push the envelope.
4.      Remove rewards until you finish the job. Eat your vegetables first.
5.      Stay focused on results. Focus on the outcomes and not the difficulties in accomplishing it; envision the change.

Our model for transformation: Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. (Luke 6:12)


[1] John Maxwell, The Leadership Bible, 1982.


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