The Prison Of Fear Is A Death Sentence

There is a prison that has an inmate population in the billions. It’s a prison without walls, without barbed wire, without guards and without any physical barrier.

But it’s the most effective prison in thr whole world. Few escape it, but those who do find real and lasting freedom. That prison is in our minds.

It is a prison that holds back our initiative, our talent, our ability to to express ourselves and most of all, it holds back the fulfillment of our full potential as human beings.

That prison is fear. Our lives today are controlled by fear more than we know. Fear controls the choices we make, out actions, our habits, and even our destinies. Fear has become one of the greatest threats to humanity in this day in its many forms.

Terrorism has become the pinnacle of fear worldwide. Recent events in the world have shown how fear can drive even those that are powerful to behave desperately and inhumanly. But the effect of fear in our personal lives is more damaging that any terrorist can ever hope to achieve.

Fear of life prevents most of us from living. Fear of life? Yes. Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death.

Overcoming Fear

The many faces of fear in its extremes fear in our personal lives causes anxiety and phobias. For people with such illnesses the prison of fear can seem like a death sentence.

Their lives may be totally controlled by fear making life totally unenjoyable and everyday tasks are a real struggle. Fortunately, this is not the most common manifestation of fear.

The far most destructive from of fear is one that we have come to accept because it is so common.

Whether your fears involve your relationship, career, death, or discomfort, staying inside your comfort zone will ensure you’ll live a small life.

Overcoming fear

Fear can stop you from progressing.

There are those of you out there will brilliant ideas. What holds you back is fear. We all think about the statistics on how many will fail, or what our friends and family will think of us if you quit our jobs to pursue our dreams.

The fear of not being able to pay your bills, fear of getting fired, fear of starting over and fear of not having a job title all hold us back.

It is fear that keep most of us in jobs we do not enjoy and sometimes,that don’t even meet our financial needs.

The fear of taking risks in one that few people are able to overcome. Risk is the potential harm that may arise from some present process or from some future event.

Any every area of life risk-taking is a necessary thing. If you propose marriage to someone you have to be able take the risk that they may say no. If you are in a race you have to take the risk that you may lose miserably.

I have a nephew that enters marathons all over the state, where we live. Every marathon he enters, whether it’s running, swimming, biking he takes the risk of not winning. But he doesn’t quit because it causes him to keep trying. He doesn’t fear doing what he loves, he just keeps on going.

If you want to live life to the fullest you have to take the risk of failure. A quote by Dorthy Thompson said “Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.”

Fear will paralyze you if you don’t deal with it. It will absolutely stop you from living a life that you desire. Recognize it. Conquer it.

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” – Eleanor Roosevelt-

You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

Never Underestimate The Power Of Believing In Yourself

You’ve probably been told to believe in yourself multiple times in your life. While you may not have taken it too seriously, there is power in that advice. Believing in yourself sets the foundation for your journey on the road to success. It can be the motivation you need to get yourself out of depression or a tough situation in your life.

When you believe in Yourself, you:

Talk Yourself Up Internally

You can talk yourself up internally. When you believe in yourself, you reinforce the notion that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to do. This may seem fairly obvious, but so many of us are filled with crippling self-doubt that hinders us from even taking the first step towards success. Rather than having an inner monologue revolving around whether you can accomplish a certain task, your positive mindset reaffirms the belief that you’re a fully capable human being with many talents.

Talk Down Your Fears

Just as you talk yourself up by believing in yourself, you also erase any self-doubt you have in your mind. When you stop talking yourself up, your mind wanders to questions that may stop you in your tracks: What if I don’t succeed? What if something goes wrong? What if people don’t like my idea?

Yes. There are a million things that would go wrong, and something new might not always work out. Without believing in yourself, it can seem like there are a million ways to to fail and only one way to succeed. Don’t sabotage yourself before you even get the ball rolling.

Reflect On Past Success

No matter how much you’ve failed in your life, you’ve undoubtedly experienced success in a variety of ways. When you believe in yourself, you constantly look back on all the times you’ve used your talents to do well in your life. Not only do you realize your successes, but you also frame your failures simply as times your efforts didn’t pay off. Those that constantly look down on themselves often let their abilities to try something new and improve their lives.

Think Realistically

When you believe in yourself, you see your actions from a variety of perspectives. You’ll see how your efforts positively impact others and you’ll understand how important you are to your community. Furthermore, you’ll also see how little your mistakes matter. Nobody truly cares enough to laugh at you or judge you when you mess up. People have enough problems of their own. Most people are just too busy with their own lives to waste time thinking about anyone else. When you believe in yourself, it’s okay to inflate your own self-esteem and worthiness, but you should never exaggerate the way that others perceive you.

Count Your Victories

Just as you reflect on your past successes, you’ll also start to see how many small victories you really have throughout your life. Every time you make progress in life, you’ve won. In fact, every single day you are alive is a day that you won. Just because you fail at times doesn’t mean you’ve lost. This just means your victories has been put off for the time being. When playing a game, you either win or lose. In live, even when you talk short of your goal, you can find a small victory in your efforts.

You Never Lose. Either You Win Or You Learn.

Celebrate Yourself

When you talk yourself up and believe in yourself, you’re celebrating your life. When you count every small victory you’ve ever experienced, you’re throwing yourself the opposite of a pity party. Too many times, we focus on the negative aspects of ourselves and get caught up in a loop of detrimental thinking. Believing in yourself helps break that cycle. We begin to see all of our weaknesses as aspects to be improved, all our strengths as reasons to celebrate.

Being Broken

Some People Survive

Some people talk about it. Some people survive and go silent. Some people survive and create. Everyone deals with unimaginable pain in their own way, and everyone is entitled to that, without judgment. So the next time you look at someone’s life covetously, remember… You may not want to endure what they’re enduring right now, at this moment, whilst they sit so quietly before you, looking like a calm ocean on a sunny day. Remember how vast the ocean’s boundaries are. Whilst somewhere the water is calm, min another place in the very same ocean, there is a colossal storm. -Nikita Gill-

I copied a simple wisdom quote today.

I fell this morning and broke my ankle in three places. Please pray I don’t need surgery. Thank you everyone.

Reasons Why Your Soul Matters

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? -Matthew 16:26

Picture a balance-you know, one of those scales on which they weigh mail and packages and frozen meat and newborn iguanas (I saw that on the Discovery Channel.) Imagine that one side of the scale has all the stuff you already have or are trying to gain. Tipping the scale would be all the possessions and activities you typically view as benefits, houses, cars, boats, vacations, swimming pools, stock portfolios, job titles, reputation, college degrees, iguanas, all the toys you’ve ever bought, and karate lessons.

Then, on the other side of the balance is simply… your soul.

It would seem obvious that the side will all the stuff should weigh down the balance, right? Wrong! In God’s divine measuring system, stuff always loses to the soul. Yet, when was the last time you stopped long enough to even consider your soul?

Your soul- that invisible and external part of you that connects you to God. It’s what makes you different than all other life forms on the planet: every human has a soul. Your soul is the real you. That’s why Jesus asked, ‘Is anything worth more than your soul?”

Jesus wanted us to understand that our souls are the most important part of who we are. Your soul is your most valuable “possession.” Because of this, your soul longs for the type of fullness whose warranty doesn’t wear out after sixty days-the fullness that only God can fill through regular connection. This is why we need to value, feed, and care for them. And having this fullness is critical because…of the reality of death.

I have tried to fill my soul with alcohol, drugs, sex, money, possessions, and evil, but my soul always came up empty. It wasn’t until I found God that I felt full.

One day each of us will die-at least physically, anyway. Our hearts will cease beating. Our bodies will stop and we’ll assume room temperature. But our souls will live for eternity. We can lose a body part or have an organ transplant, but it doesn’t alter the soul. Souls last.

When we connect with God, we not only access the power and guidance we need for each day, we also invest in our eternity-our real home and final location, the place where the risen Christ is preparing for us to join Him. Connecting with God is another way to prepare us for the time when we will be entrusted with “many things” for all eternity. By regular connection with God, we feed our souls and at the same time, we stash away spiritual capital that will last forever in the real adventure of being in the very presence of God.

Going Deeper:

How does your life reflect the truth that “your soul is your most valuable possession”?

What actions are you willing to take today in order to feed and care for your soul?

An Old Farmer’s Advice:

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig tight, and bull-strong.

Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.

Life is simpler when you plow around your own stump.

A bumblebee is considerably faster than a John Deere tracker.

Words that soam into your ears are whispered…not yelled.

Meanness don’t just happen over night.

Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.

Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.

It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel word.

Every path has a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

The best sermons are lived not preached.

Most of the stuff people worry about, ain’t gonna happen anyway.

Don’t judge folks by their relatives.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Live a good and honorable life, then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.

Don’t interfere with something that ain’t bothering you none.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.

Sometimes you get, and sometims you get got.

The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every morning.

Always drink upstream from the herd.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.

Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.

If you get to thinking you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.

Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, and enjoy the ride.

Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just shoot you!

The True Signs Of Holiness

What do you think of when you hear the word “spirituality” or a “spiritual person, ” a “holy man?” Most people picture someone who is somber, mystical transcendent. But in Acts 13:52, it is written that the disciples were “filled with great joy and the Holy Spirit.” Joy and the Holy Spirit… go together. Joy is even listed as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

So you see, the most spiritual people are also those who have joy and who are truly filled with the Spirit. They do not argue all day about the gifts of the Spirit but have the joy of the Lord.

Those believers rejoice in the love of God from morning to night. The good news is since joy is of the Spirit, it is not dependent on the flesh or the world or your circumstances. There is never a situation in which you can’t have joy, for true joy is based on the Spirit, and the Spirit is not bound by circumstance. Rejoice in the Lord always. For it’s time to get spiritual, and the spiritual are those who rejoice.

Practice the practice of rejoicing always, rejoicing unconditionally, rejoicing no matter what-However far you get, you’ll be more blessed than you were.