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)
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