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From Eddie L. Long's Called To Conquer
March 9, 2010
Expect to Be Blessed So
You Can Be a Blessing
Assuredly I say
to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be moved
and be cast into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart, but believes
that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says."
Mark 11:23
Today is the "tomorrow"
that you talked about yesterday. Do you ever think,
"I wonder what God has for me today?" Do not wonder anymore. God
has for you
whatever you talked about yesterday. Your tomorrow has come!
If you talked about your lack of joy and your disappointment, heartache,
per-
sonal pain, loneliness, and poverty, then guess what? You will awaken
the next day
to a fresh load of disappointment, pain, loneliness and poverty.
Our big God gets excited about people whose faith is strong and with their
mouths they confess it. He is thrilled to hear us declare by faith,
"God, I am thank-
ing You for divine health. I am going to be spiritually prosperous
through Your
blessings. I will walk in Your favor today. I declare that my
house and my heart are
yielded to You. I trust You to guided my steps.
Talk about your faith expectations, not your life experiences. Talk
about your
future, not your past failures. Failure is a natural part of success
in God's kingdom.
Every home-run king in major league baseball also has a high strikeout
average-
it is a natural result of swinging at the ball with all his strength and
passion.
When you talk about your expectations and bright future in the Lord, you
ener-
gize the power of God to move in your life. You will wake up every
morning with
a new joy because you expect to be blessed so you can be a blessing in
Jesus' name.
Pray this prayer with me:
Lord Jesus, I expect to be blessed. I expect to walk in divine favor.
I expect to be
healed. I expect the joy of the Lord. I expect to feel the peace
of God that surpasses
all understanding. I expect my children to be in order. I expect
that no weapon
formed against me shall prosper. God, these are big things, and I am
speaking them
out with my faith in You.
More from CrossFit Sectionals with Tanner and Caleb... David catching at
N. Davids- Lost a heartbreaker 4-3 but beat Graham at the US Baseball
Training
Facility in Raleigh 5-0... Mt. Tabor tonite in Winston.
March 8, 2010
Step Out of Your Downward Spiral
Spiral With Fresh Vision
How can a young
man cleanse his way? / By taking heed according to
Your word. / With my whole heart I have sought You; / Oh, let me not
wander from Your commandments! / Your word I have hidden
in my heart, / That I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:9-11
Words create pictures.
A simple story can make us smile, cry or feel a wide
range of emotions. This is why you must separate yourself from so many
worldly things. It all follows a pattern. We tend to think about
the things we hear,
then we begin to feel emotions about the things we think. Once the
emotions set
in, actions almost always follow. In other words, we tend to "do" what
we feel.
What you do regularly becomes a habit or pattern in your lifestyle.
Your habits
determine the direction of your life and eventually your destiny.
Why am I going into all this? Pay attention: if you are having a
sin problem, you
felt it before you did it. You felt it because you were hearing and
picturing it over
and over in your mind.
Few of us will readily admit this. Most of us are tempted to act holy
and pious
to cover our sin with the claim, "Well, I just 'woke up' in sin. It
shocked me. How
did I get in this hotel room? Who put that false claim in my tax
return? I'm as sur-
prised as anyone."
You were not surprised. You led yourself down that path.
Beginning this moment, you must stop talking about your setbacks, defeats,
and disappointments. Stop focusing on your failures and problems.
That simply
creates feelings that lead to actions and destructive habits. It is a
vicious downward
spiral, and you cannot afford to stay on this deadly ride. Freedom and
a new start
are just a prayer away (although your responsibilities do not end after this
prayer).
Pray with me right now. Do not put it off or say, "I will do it later,
after..."
Jesus, forgive me for listening to things and viewing things that are not
part of Your
kingdom. Forgive me for listening to trash and filling my vision with
devilish dis-
tractions. I stop the cycle right now! I choose to focus on the
positive instead of the
negative. I set my eyes upon you and Your Word, and I trust You to put
my feet
back on a sure path to kingdom living.
Jesus, forgive me for listening to things and viewing things that are not
part of Your
kingdom. Forgive me for listening to trash and filling my vision with
devilish dis-
tractions. I stop the cycle right now! I choose to focus on the
positive instead of the
negative. I set my eyes upon you and Your Word, and I trust You to put
my feet
back on a sure path to kingdom living.
Caleb and Tanner competing in the CrossFit Sectionals in Rock Hill, SC.
Caleb finished
12th out of 80 and advances to the southeast regionals in Jacksonville FL.
Tanner
placed very, very well- posting solid times in all events!
March 5, 2010
You Do Not Have Time For A Pity Party
The Lord said to
me:
"Do not say, 'I am a youth,'
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak."
Jeremiah 1:7
In this passage Jeremiah
was doing the same thing the ten spies did. He was
looking at his inability instead of God's ability. God said, "When I
talk to you
do not tell Me about your inadequacies. Do not tell Me what you lack.
Do not tell
Me how nobody loves you. Do not tell Me
about all the things stacked up against
you. Focus on what you have going for you instead. Tell Me about
your gifts and
all the things that are going right."
Speak praises and stop focusing on the negative. Do you not know why
the
psalmist said, "From the rising of the sun to its going down / The Lord's
name is
to be praised" (Ps. 113:3 NKJV)? It is to keep you from talking
negatively!
You do not have time for a pity party. God has been too good to you.
Every time
you look around, God is blessing you, so you should not waste time being
nega-
tive. Pray this prayer with me right now:
Jesus, I choose to forget the negative things that have happened to me in
the past.
I choose even to forget what bad things are happening to me now!
Instead, I choose
to praise You morning noon and night. You are so good to me!
March 4, 2010
The Fruit of Promise Is Ripe and Waiting
(Moses said),
"(See) whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there
and forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of
the fruit
of the land." Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
Numbers 13:20
Never focus on the
negative. Move on until you are able to focus on what God
sees: "I have good things prepared for you there. The fruit of
the land is
already ripe and waiting there. Do not pay any attention to the evil
reports."
Have you noticed that once we see something that overwhelms us, we get stuck
on the negative? God says, "Be of good courage. Do not become
afraid; do not get
paralyzed. I did not give you the spirit of fear. I do not want
to hear prayers about
your trouble. Look in the middle of your crisis and see all the rich
fruit I have pre-
pared for you. Pick some of it and bring it back as a testimony."
You will see treasure that no one else sees right in the midst of your
situation.
You will find it right in the middle of your enemies. Be bold and take
courage.
Now go get that fruit!
Pray this prayer before you go:
Heavenly Father, thank You for preparing a blessing for me in the midst of
my
enemies and trials. Help me to be of good courage and to see Your
abundance in
the midst of my lack. By faith I will take the land and possess
its wealth for the kingdom.
Wow... Fun at the beach seems a lonnnngggg way off. These pics from
one
of David's Dirtbag baseball trips. The hotel is one of those old ones
right along the strip.
March 3, 2010
Focus on the Promise, Not the Problems
You shall not turn aside to
the right hand or to the left. You shall
walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you,
that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you
may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
Deuteronomy 5:32-33
Ten of the twelve spies Moses sent
into the promised land ran into trouble
because they were worried about being in the same territory as their ene-
mies. Joshua and Caleb saw the inhabitants of the land, but they kept
their focus
on the grapes instead. There are blessings in the midst of all your
tests and trials,
and God does not want you to be distracted. He is there.
Are people talking about you? Let them talk. "Somebody is trying
to get me
fired." Let him do his best. Your promotion comes from the Lord.
"Somebody is
trying to take my spouse." Let him try. God ordained you to be
where you are. If
anybody tries to touch you or your belongings, you should feel sorry for
him!
Why? Because when he attacks or steals from you, he is attacking and
stealing
from God.
People who ride with me while I drive usually pray a lot because my driving
is
much like that of Mr. Magoo, the nearly blind cartoon character who insists
he can
see just fine. I have had a few fender benders, and they usually
happen when I take
my eyes off of where I am going to look somewhere else at someone's urging.
When God tells you to go someplace, do not worry about anyone else's pres-
ence. You have been ordained to be there, so anyone who tries to
distract you must
deal with God.
Pray this prayer with me:
Lord, help me to keep my focus upon You and Your promises. There are
always dis-
tractions awaiting me, and I am all too willing to look aside and feed my
fears, my
appetites, and my curiosity. Help me to seek You and find the
blessings in the midst
of every trial. In Jesus name, amen.
 
Fun times at Baine IV's graduation!
March 2, 2010
God Is Gearing You Up For A Miracle
(Moses said,)
"See what the land is like: whether the
people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many."
Numbers 13:18
Just as God led the Israelites to
the land of promise and told them to "see what
it is like," so He will tell you to go to the place He has promised you.
He wants
you to open your eyes and assess what is going on. Is the land strong,
weak, or
overwhelming?
God shows you how you are outnumbered and overwhelmed so He can get you
geared up for a miracle. He wants you to look at the promise so He can
tell you,
"I have something for you, but I want to show you what lies in front of it:
I have
your enemies guarding your blessing."
Are you bold enough to press on? God is setting you up so that no one
can get
the credit but Him. There was a day when you would not face trouble,
but after
coming through so much, you now look at trouble and say, "Trouble, you
cannot
stop me."
God says, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper" (Isa.54:17 NKJV).
That
may mean that He will let your enemy form the weapon, but it just will
not be successful. That is what happened in the lives of Queen Esther
and
Mordecai- they watched Haman form the gallows for Mordecai and a death
decree
for Esther and the Jewish people. Yet those weapons went unused.
When God
shows you the weapon, just pray:
Thank You, Lord, that this weapon is not going to prosper. Thank You
for reveal-
ing the enemy's plots and plans and for removing their power to hurt me.
You are
gearing me up for a miracle, for my life is not my own, I have been bought
with a
price. I bless You, Lord of heaven and earth.
Watauga 8 Mt. Tabor 1
Opening Night in Davie County
Cal Hardee Pitches 2-Hitter with David Martin catching
Cal hits double and HR!!! David hits double. Max Linnville
hits first pitch of game out of the park!
March 1, 2010
You Are Not in a Mess;
You Are In a Treasure Hunt
I thank my God upon every
remembrance of you... being
confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work
in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Phillipians 1:3,6
Have you ever made a mistake? Perhaps
you thought, Lord, I did that all wrong,
and I am in the middle of a mess!
I know both of us have and it does not matter. The important thing is that
you
are where God led you. If God led you to where you are, then He has
something
for you there. Do not allow the devil to discourage you and turn your
focus toward
your failures and shortcomings. This is not the time to dwell on your
inadequacies.
God in His sovereignty loves you so much that He has brought you to where
you are- and it is the place of promise.
The Lord says, "Even though it seems you live in a land of famine, I have
great
blessings and coverings for you. I have hidden your blessings and
provision
around your enemies. If I put them anywhere else, other people would have
gone
after them. Yes, you are where you are supposed to be."
God knows all about the lazy saints; the ones among us who refuse to dig or
pursue anything. They operate by sight and not by faith. God is looking
for those
who have matured enough to trust Him. They know that if God tells them to
enter
a lions' den, then He plans to give the lions lockjaw.
You are not in the middle of a mess; you are in the midst of hidden
treasure!
Now shut that toothless lion's mouth and dig that treasure out!
Pray this prayer with me:
Lord Jesus, instead of looking somewhere else in times of trouble and
saying, "I wish
I was there doing that," I will look for You. You have placed treasures
and blessings
in the midst of my troubles and problems, if only I will look for you.
Help me to
live by faith and not by sight in the crucial days ahead.
On the way to the coast to play ball we stopped to see Tanner and Caleb
in Chapel Hill on their 21st birthday. I can't remember how Baine got
there...
Great shot of the guys and me in top left
Neil Postman
Technopoly- The Surrender of Culture to Technology
“Because of what
computers commonly do, they place an inordinate emphasis on the technical
processes of communication and offer very little in the way of substance…
Computers make it easy to convert facts into statistics and to translate
problems into equations. And whereas this can be useful (as when the
process reveals a pattern that would otherwise go unnoticed), it is
diversionary and dangerous when applied indiscriminately to human affairs…
The computer argues, to put it baldly, that the most serious problems
confronting us at both personal and public levels require technical
solutions through fast access to information otherwise unavailable. I would
argue that this is, on the face of it, nonsense. Our most serious problems
are not technical, nor do they arise from inadequate information…
And yet, because of its “universality,” the computer compels respect, even
devotion, and argues for a comprehensive role in all fields of human
activity. Those who insist that it is foolish to deny the computer vast
sovereignty are singularly devoid of what Paul Goodman once called
“technological modesty- that is, having a sense of the whole and not
claiming or obtruding more than a particular function warrants…
When the Dallas Cowboys were consistently winning football championships,
their success was attributed to the fact that computers were used to
evaluate and select team members. When Dallas has been hard put to win more
than a few games, not much has been said about the computers perhaps because
people have realized that computers have nothing to do with winning football
games, and never did. One might say the same about writing lucid,
economical, stylish prose, which has nothing to do with word processors…
Technological immodesty is always an acute danger… Sir Bernard Lovell
expresses concern that “literal-minded, narrowly focused computerized
research is proving antithetical to the free exercise of that happy faculty
known as serendipity- that is, the knack of achieving favorable results more
or less by chance.” He proceeds to give
several examples of monumental but serendipitous discoveries, contends that
there has been a dramatic cessation of such discoveries, and worries that
computers are too narrow as filters of information and therefore may be
antiserendipitous…
Once upon a time, in a village in what is now Lithuania, there arose an
unusual problem. A curious disease afflicted many of the townspeople. (This
diseases is much like a slow real estate market with brokers who promise
the moon!) It was mostly fatal (though not always), and its onset was
signaled by the victim’s lapsing into a deathlike coma. Medical science not
being quite so advanced as it is now, there was no definite way of knowing
if the victim was actually dead when burial appeared seemly. As a result,
the townspeople feared that several of their relatives had already been
buried alive and that a similar fate might await them. How to overcome this
uncertainty was their dilemma.
One group of people suggested that the coffins be well stocked with water
and food and that a small air vet be drilled into them, just in case one of
the “dead” happened to be alive. This was expensive to do but seemed more
than worth the trouble. A second group, however, came up with a less
expensive and more efficient idea. Each coffin would have a twelve-inch
stake affixed to the inside of the coffin lid, exactly at the level of the
heart. Then, when the coffin was closed, all uncertainty would cease.
The story does not indicate which solution was chosen, but for my purposes
the choice is irrelevant. What is important to note is that different
solutions were generated by different questions. The first solution was an
answer to the question, How can we make sure that we do not bury people who
are still alive? The second was an answer to the question, How can we make
sure that everyone we bury is dead?
Questions, then, are mechanisms that give direction to our thoughts,
generate new ideas, venerate old ones, expose facts, or hide them.”
Albert Einstein
in his book Ideas and Opinions
(1954) points to the problem of teaching to specialties rather than generalizable knowledge and critical thinking. I love this segment.
It is so profound and puts into order so much- at least for me! :)
"I (Einstein) want to oppose the idea that the school has to teach directly that special
knowledge and those accomplishments, which one has to use later
directly in life. The demands of life are much too manifold to let the
idea of specialized training in school appear possible... The school
should always have as its aim that the young man leave it as a harmonious personality, not as a specialist... The development of general
ability for independent thinking and judgment should always be placed
foremost, not the acquisition of special knowledge. If a person
masters
the fundamentals of his subject and has learned to think and work
independently, he will surely find his way and besides will better be able
to adapt himself to progress and changes than the person
whose training principally consists in the acquiring of detailed
knowledge (p.62)."
"It is not enough to teach a man a specialty. Through it he may become
a kind of useful machine but not a harmoniously developed
personality. It is essential that the student acquire an understanding
of
and a lively feeling for values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the
beautiful and of the morally good. Otherwise he- with his
specialized knowledge- more closely resembles a well trained dog than
a harmoniously developed person. He must learn to understand the
motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings in
order to acquire a proper relationship to their individual fellow-men
and to the community... Overemphasis on the competitive system and
premature specialization on the ground of immediate usefulness
kill the spirit on which all cultural life depends, specialized
knowledge included. It is also vital to a valuable education that
independent critical thinking be developed in the young human being,
a development that is greatly jeopardized by overburdening
him with too much and with too varied subjects."
"Overburdening necessarily
leads to superficiality.
(pp.66-67)."
"It is not the fruits of scientific research that elevate a man
and enrich his nature, but the urge to understand,
the intellectual
work creative or receptive (p. 12)."
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