Dynamic Dreams: Measuring the Plan

Matthew 25:14-18 Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

Good Morning,

This morning I would like us to continue focusing on God’s plan for our lives. I want us to get a step closer in developing our plan and working our plan. I would like to share with you today how to measure your plan. It’s very important that we measure our plan and position ourselves for the more God has in store for our lives.

In Matthew 25:14-46 Jesus is speaking of a story about 3 servants that were given talents, each according to his ability. In this parable He references money, but we can use this parable and have been taught time and time again that it can be substituted for other areas of our lives. I would like to focus in on this scripture for a moment and connect it to our plan. In the beginning of our lives, just like in Joseph’s life, God gave us gifts. He gave us desires that we could accomplish with Him. Some of us He gave a few and some of us He gave less. We learned yesterday that we all were born on purpose, with purpose and for a purpose.

We all can relate to this scripture. Some of us have tapped into our passion and moved forward with all that God has given us and others have taken what God has placed on the inside of us and as the last man did in the parable, we hid it. Well as I mentioned earlier this week it’s time to come out of hiding. We will focus in on our plan, we will develop our plan, we will work and measure our plan. I believe I was led to inspire each of us on a daily basis because we all need encouragement along our journey. I am not willing to waste another day not doing what God has designed me to do and God wants the same for you. He no longer wants you to focus on things that will not benefit the purpose He established for your life.

As we look back over the story of Joseph’s life we will see that along his journey he had great successes through it all. We will see that because he remained faithful to God, Joseph was able to excel in all areas. Even though he went through all that he went through, it was all about his maturing process. God gives us gifts for us to use for His glory to be revealed. We must learn to stand on faith and submit ourselves wholeheartedly to His Word. His guidance is all we need, in order for us to enter into our promised land. We must be patient and allow God to humble us, in order for us to get to where He needs us to be.

Today I want you to evaluate your plan and measure it against your tasks and accomplishments of each task. If you have not already written your plan, you still have time to do so today. If you have a plan and you set it aside, the time is now to pick it back up and press forward towards your goal. When we measure our plan, we can actually see the benefits along the way. It helps us do away with the unnecessary things that hinder us along our journey.

Measuring the Plan

The first thing we have to do when we are measuring our plan is to identify the pros and cons of each goal and the developmental task we have completed against the goal. We have to examine what’s working and what’s not. If the developmental task is not working for us then we may need to research another way to get us to our end result. We may have to take identify several task to each goal in order to get mature in that area. So we may need to evaluate ways to reach each goal. One developmental task may not get you matured in that area, in order to accomplish it and get to your next level.

For example if your goal was to become a business owner. Let’s say you want to start a nonprofit. Your developmental task would be to research nonprofits, by reading books and attending training. Now if you are a hands-on person like myself you will need a lot more than reading and attending forums. You may need to contact some nonprofit business owners in your area and get yourself a detail or internship. You may even have to volunteer in your free time and put to work what God has given you. It’s a lot easier to volunteer and/or step out on faith when it’s your passion. So make sure when you are planning, working and measuring your goals that they are things you would like to do.

As apart of my Executive Leadership Program, I had to evaluate my plan and realign some of my goals over the past few weeks. I had to think about how many talents God had given me and incorporate them in my plan. I realized why I was frustrated, stressed and overwhelmed at times, because my focus was in the wrong place. I had to think about my love for community outreach and my willingness to help someone else. I decided to edit my plan in such a way that would allow me to grow with my passion to help others and at the same time help me mature in all areas of my life. I went goal by goal identifying what was working and what was not working.

I came to realize once I measured some of my goals and accomplishments a lot of them had nothing to do with my passion, a lot of them had nothing to do with the talents God gave me, a lot of them were things I allowed myself to get sidetracked with. I had to take a serious step towards aligning myself with God’s purpose for my life. I believe each of us has heard from God. I believe God has told each of us about our gifts. He gave them to us in the beginning and over time we developed a sense to know what they were, by understanding what we liked and disliked over time.

So today I challenge you to sit down with your plan and measure each goal and examine the benefits. Will they help you get to the next level? Will they position you for a new job? Will they give you the experience needed to get to wherever you believe God will have you to be? Have you talked to God lately and asked Him, where do you need me to go? Are you growing in the workplace? Are you growing in the home? Are you growing at school? These are some of the questions I had to ask myself and I would like for each of us to get serious with the plan God has for our lives and move forward. May God lead you forward today with your plan!

Blessings,
Tennille L. Whittington

Prayer for Today
Lord I come to You in this morning asking Your forgiveness, Lord I want to be who You have called me to be, Lord connect me with Your plan for my life, Lord I want to live out my purpose, Lord place Your mirror in front of me, Lord allow me to see what You see, Lord I know I was created for much more than what I believe today, Lord send forth the angels that are assigned to my life, Lord reposition me, Lord lead me out of hiding, Lord show me how to increase my talents, Lord show me how to utilize my passion, Lord get me up out the way, Lord have your way in my life today, Lord when I measure my plan, I want Your glory to be revealed, I want souls saved and hearts cleanse, I want to do all and be all that You have called me to be, Lord I expect You to show up in my life today and show out, Lord no longer do I want to hurt You, Lord no longer do I want to waste Your time, Lord I am all Yours from this day forward, Let’s work Your Plan for my life! In Jesus name, Amen

Also check out:
Writing the Plan
http://unique-encouragement.blogspot.com/2010/01/dynamic-dreams-writing-plan-working.html

Working the Plan
http://unique-encouragement.blogspot.com/2010/01/dynamic-dreams-working-plan.html

Dynamic Dreams: Working The Plan

Philipian 3:12-14 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Good Afternoon,

I hope and pray that we all are one step closer to stepping into our breakthrough! On yesterday we talked about writing our plan. I hope you have positioned yourself to take time out and write your plan. It's time to write out God's vision for your life.

We focused in on some of the characteristics that Joseph possessed. We talked about all the hell Joseph had to go through, in order to get through. We talked about his trials and tribulations. In a sense we compared our journeys with his journey. We also talked about our goals. We brought to the top of our minds our goals for 2010. We examined our goals to create ways to develop our plan.

Today I would like to go a little deeper in Joseph's journey and examine what is written in Phil 3:12-14. In the scripture Paul writes about pressing forward towards your goal. Despite all that Joseph experienced he remained faithful to God and pressed forward towards his goal. As I mentioned on yesterday, he didn't have a written plan, but his plan was in the visions that God had shown him. Daily he took steps necessary at times unknowningly towards his goals.

Joseph was a young man who took steps towards what He believed and when situations along the way turned for the worst He pressed forward with God. He didn't allow being locked away to stop his faith. He didn't allow being sold into slavery to hinder his belief. He didn't allow false accusations to make him forget who His God was to him. He didn't allow going to prison to cause him to become bitter. I can go on and on. What I want us to realize is that every step along his journey was for purpose. God's glory was revealed through it all. From his story we can learn valuable lessons about being submitted and settled in God. We can learn about remaining faithful and obedient to His Word.

We have to believe God's promises are forever. We have to open our minds and position ourselves for purpose. I have learned over time that we are born on purpose, with purpose and for a purpose! I have learned that some times we don't have to open our mouths, we don't have to know what's going on, we don't even have to be the one they expected to show up, but if it's all of God's purpose things will happen in our favor. We need to remain focus on what's in front of us and not be consumed with everything else. It's all about your position. Reposition yourself!

There has been times where I have written a plan and took the necessary steps to move forward and never really heard from God. I began to get frustrated because nothing seemed to go my way. It was simply because it was not apart of His plan for my life. That's the main reason I want us to get in touch with our passion and get in conversation with God to lead us into bringing it into a reality.

Now there were other times when I heard from God and would make a plan, but I always seemed to get sidetracked. Each and every time God would show up and point me back in the right direction. I believe He does this for all of us, but you see we have to understand when we hear from God. We have to understand and know His voice. It's like a baby responding to their mother's voice. From inside the womb a baby begins to recognize their mother's voice. Because God is our Creator and He is Spirit and created us in His image and likeness, we have the ability to recognize His voice clearly. The more we comunicate with God in prayer and deed we will recognize His voice.

Working The Plan

The first thing you have to do when you take the necessary steps to work your plan is you have to set your mind on your goal. It's similiar to running a race. At the start of the race you have your mind set on reaching the finish line. With each goal we have to identify where we are in our lives as it relates to the goal and where we want to be. It's easy to figure out the beginning and the end, the challenge is all that falls in between.

I like to think of the in between stage of our plan as the maturing stage. It's a rippening stage. It's a process that causes us to become better at what it is we need to do. It's a process that causes us to be stronger and able to take on more of a challenge the higher we grow. It's a time of success and failure, heartache and pain, joy and sadness, experience after experience, but the best thing we all need to do is focus on God and He will lead us through and over it all. We must focus in on the good in all things.

Today I want you to examine where you are and where you want to be. Yesterday we focused on writing out the plan. Well now it's time to work your plan. It's time to register for school, it's time to job hunt, it's time to update your resume, it's time to invest in some books, seminars and webinars. It's time to use your free time wisely and focus on working your plan! I am keeping it real when I say it's not going to be smoothed sailing. There has to be test, in order for us to have testimonies. All in all I want you to keep your eye on your prize and have the confidence of Joseph and know who you are in God and who your God is and what He has promised you. No one can take from us what God has for us!

I took the necessary steps last August when I enrolled in the United States Department of Agriculture's Executive Leadership Program. I let my employer know of my interest and I was nominated to take part in the 9-month training. During this lifechanging experience I am able to focus on where I was and where I need to be. Successfully I can say I am off to a great start. It's been 4 months since the program started and I have already attained so many great things.

I had to learn to stop beating myself up over what I should have, would have and could have done with my time and my focus. I had to stop worrying about what was written in the last chapters of my life. God showed me a new page, a new chapter and new beginnings for my life. He showed me going forward how to love myself, invest in myself and want more for myself in order to help someone else.

In the above scripture Paul writes about forgetting what is behind us and pressing forward towards our goal. How many of us know that it's easy to write things down on paper and it's also easy to talk a good game, but when it comes time to walk it out, all hell tends to break loose.

Today I do not want you to focus on the hell that has taken place in your life, I don't want you to focus on all of the pit stops you had to make along the way, I don't want you to focus on all of the people who where standing in your way, I don't want you to focus on your past failures, mistakes, mishaps or concerns. Right in this moment I want you to focus on your goals, dreams and desires. I want you to call out to God and ask Him to help lead your way. I want you to not just read today's prayer, but I want you to absorb it in your mind, heart and soul and allow your spirit to grow to it's next level in Him. It's time you work your plan and no longer let your plans work you!

Blessings,
Tennille L. Whittington

Prayer for Today:

As I read this Lord today I need You more than ever before, Lord I don't know which direction to go from this point forward, Please Lord speak to me today, Lord lead me in focusing my mind, my heart and my soul in the right direction, so Your Spirit can take lead of my life, Lord reveal to me more of my plan, Lord reveal to me more of how to work my plan, Lord I forget all things that are in my past, Lord I press towards my future, Lord I was born on purpose, with a purpose, for a purpose, Lord I shake my haters off today, Lord I close the doors to my enemies, Lord I open the doors to my opportunities, Lord I am who You say I am, Lord I can do what You say I can do, Lord lead me forward, upward and settled in You, Lord on this day I submit wholeheartedly I am ready for my dream to be a living reality in You! In Jesus name, Amen!

Dynamic Dreams: Writing The Plan

Jer 36:2 "Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken"

Good Afternoon,

Through Joseph’s journey we can see that despite his situations time and time again, God’s promises for his life came to past. Joseph went through trials and tribulation, but in the end he ruled over Egypt. Joseph had some unique characteristics that we need to focus on so we can position ourselves for our dreams to become a living reality.

Joseph was respectful, faithful, obedient, and responsible to name a few. He displayed the character of God. Just as Joseph was created in God’s image and likeness, we are too. We possess those same characteristics and today it’s time we tap into them and believe in ourselves. I would like to continue focusing on our dreams today. I would like us to position ourselves to write a plan for the visions God has given us. Once we develop our plans, we will be able to take the necessary steps to work and measure our plan.

Now back in Joseph’s journey, his plan was written in the visions God had shown him. God had gifted him to interpret his dreams, as well as the dreams of others. So Joseph didn’t sit down daily and journal, but he did spend time daily with God. God lead Joseph along his plan and into his destiny. Today God wants to lead you along your plan and into your destiny. It’s time to reach deep within and pull out your goals, dreams and desires and write your plan.

I want you to get out a sheet of paper and begin to think about some of the things God has been speaking to you. Write down all your goals, dreams and desires on the piece of paper. This week we are going to take steps towards putting together a development plan for our lives. I know some times sticking to what is written is hard, but there is nothing to hard for our God. With Him we can do all things. This year I want us to reposition our thinking, walking and talking by putting God first and allowing Him to lead us along our journey.

Writing the Plan

The first step in writing your individual development plan is to define your goals. Take the time out and write out what you are trying to obtain from your plan. You should establish different goals for different areas of your life. Some of the goals that are in my plan are to deepen my relationship with God, elevate my career in government, position myself for marriage, obtain a degree and start a business. What are some of your goals? Place them all on your paper.

My plan ranges from 3 to 5 years and then from 5 to 10 years. It’s always good to have short-term and long-term goals. Things that would normally fall under short-term would be those things you expect to take place in a short period of time. Your long-term goals would be those goals that will be achieved over a longer period of time.

The next step would be to tie each one of your goals to a developmental task. Based on your goals what are your strengths and weaknesses? Put your goals in order by your weaknesses to your strengths. Now look over each of your goals and identify ways to strengthen your weak areas and how to develop your strengths.

For example if you have a passion to motivate people, but you are not good with public speaking, then you would research and add to your plan to read books or take classes on public speaking. Another example would be if you wanted to own a business and sale merchandise, but you lack the experience and knowledge. You could add to your plan that you would take a few hours out the week to spend time with people in that market of what you are trying to sell and gain the knowledge, wisdom and understanding of the business. For every goal there should be a developmental task and a timeline to measure against.

Ex.
Goal
Start a Nonprofit

Developmental Task & Timeline
Research Nonprofits in Maryland 1/10 – 6/10
Attend Workshops TBD
Purchase/Read Nonprofits Books 1/10
Sign-up for daily web alerts 1/10

Goal
Communication Skills

Developmental Tasks & Timeline
Enroll in Public Speaking Forum 3/10
Take Online Webinar on Public Speaking 2/10

We need to take time to focus on our goals and once they are established, we can move forward. It’s time to write down you plan! Once it is written, it is easily to follow and easy to measure your success. Look forward to “Dynamic Dreams – Working Your Plan” blog tomorrow.


To request a template to create your plan, email me at Tennille.Whittington@gmail.com.

Blessings,
Tennille L. Whittington

Prayer for Today

As I read this Lord allow my mind to be renewed, Lord allow my soul to be changed,, Lord allow my heart to be cleansed, Lord I am ready to follow the blueprint You designed for my life, Lord I am ready to put a plan in place, Lord I am ready for you to lead me higher in You, Lord put me in touch with my goals, dreams and desires, Lord blow my mind today, Lord I want to be redeemed, Lord I want the more out of this life, Lord I want to be all that You have called me to be, Lord all I need is You, Lord I know I am only steps away from my dreams coming true, Lord I promise to be faithful, Lord I promise to follow You, Lord forgive me for my shortcomings and forgive me for giving up, Lord today I believe in me, I love more of me and I know that I will be all that You have called me to be! In Jesus name Amen

Dynamic Dreams - Becoming A Living Reality

Gen 41:41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt."

Good Evening,

Now that we have tapped back into our dreams, goals and desires, it's time to reposition ourselves to take charge over them. Let us focus back in on Joseph. Yesterday we touched on Joseph being hated for his gift of dreams. He was locked away and then sold off into slavery, because his brothers hated him. He was falsely accused, falsely imprisoned, but also successful at all that he did.

Although this all sounds bad, it was for purpose. Joseph had dreams, but in order for them to come to past, he needed to go through some steps to get to where God needed him to be. He ended up living the dream and being put in charge by Pharaoh over all of Egypt.

For a moment just reflect over you life and think about how many times you have been put down, shut down and/or lacked support. Think about how many times you were the victim and had no clue as to why it was happening to you. Think about someone falsely accusing you for something you had no parts of. Well Joseph was a man of integrity, despite his situation he remained faithful to God. No matter what they did to him, no matter what they told him, no matter how much suffering he had to face he never gave up on his dreams or God.

We tend to give up or give in as soon as it gets too challenging. We forget God's promises to us. It's hard for us to hang in there when everything around us is falling apart. We have to get to a place in our lives when it doesn't matter what people think or say about us. We have to get to a place when our circumstance doesn't dictate our outcome. There has to come a time when we stand faithful to God's Word and do away with what the world says about us.

Can you imagine in 2010 being locked away by those who love you? Can you imagine in 2010 being sold away into slavery? Can you imagine being falsely accused and sentenced to prison for a crime you did not commit? Just think how it felt to be Joseph, favored and full of dreams, full of ambition, but yet every step of his way turned for the worst because of his gift, because of his dream. Does this hit close to home for you? How many times have you suffered trying to bring your dream to being a living reality? How many times have you set goals and faced obstacles that were unfair, unexpected and caused a road block to block your destiny?

What's your dream? What's your reality? Better yet have you taken the time out to ask God what's His reality for your life? Have you taken the time out to talk with God about what He needs you to realize through your journey? See even though Joseph endured alot of bad times, he remained faithful to God. He obeyed and waited patiently for his dreams to become a living reality.

God positions us in the right moments to test us for our purpose. Our reactions to our test determines if we will get the access to the next level of our purpose. We need to get out of our comfort zone and allow God to use us. Joseph used his gifts to help others and in the end he was rewarded. God blessed Joseph beyond his dreams. What more do you think God would do for you? What gifts have God given you that can be help to bless others? We all are created in His image and likeness. We too can reap the benefits that Joseph did.

Today was my first day working in a new position. I am detailed to a member of Congress through my Executive Leadership program. I had to reposition myself and serve the community with various issues. I always press forward to try and make things happen in my own strength, but I was never successful. This time around I allow God to humble me. I allowed God to show up in my life and show out. I went through several phases before acquiring the position and alot of them were more challenging than others, but I remained faithful. I realized that in order to get the more out of life I needed to focus on my relationship with God and trust in Him wholeheartedly to lead me into my breakthrough.

I praise Him daily because of who He is. I'm grateful to say I'm walking in my breakthrough. I am in His living reality for my life. God is waiting to lead you too today. He is ready to take all of your experiences and mold them together to blow your mind. He is ready to lead you in making your dream into a living reality. Are you ready to reposition your thoughts, will and emotions? Are you ready to believe in yourself, push yourself and invest more in yourself? Just like the story of Joseph, in the end God will turn your situation around too.

Be patient my friend, the best is yet to come.

Blessings,
Tennille L. Whittington

Prayer for Today:

As I read this Lord help me to examine my walk, Lord lead me through my trials and help me to see the good in all my experiences, Lord position me like Joseph, help me to interpret my dreams, Lord I thank You for my dreams, I thank You for bringing my dreams back to me, Lord I thank You for the journey I have traveled and I thank You for my next assignement, Lord created in me a clean heart, Lord strengthen my spirit, Lord where I am weak, make me strong, Lord where I need healing, heal me. Lord remove from my thoughts all the people who have impacted my walk in a negative way, Lord I pray for them today, Lord show me a new me in me, Lord show me who I am in You! In Jesus name Amen

Dynamic Dreams - Experiencing Your Vision(s)

Gen 37:5-6 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had:

Good Evening,

Today I would like to focus on dreams. On yesterday we learned that God calls out to us, just as He did to Adam in the beginning daily. We learned that once we get things, meet people and/or become consumed with so many other things we sometimes forget to include God in our daily plans. We close the line of communication to Him and expect things to happen in our lives when we are in hiding. Today I hope and pray you are out of hiding and are ready to answer the call on your life.

I want to encourage us all as we move throughout 2010 that we get back on track with the plan that God created for our lives. Moving along in the book of Genesis we come to a story of a young man born with the gift of interpreting dreams. He has such great dreams full of meaning for his own life to the point that those around him begin to hate him. The story is about Joseph. He was Jacob’s favorite son out of 12 and his brothers hated him so much they locked him away and then sold him into slavery. Joseph's dreams began in his youth and throughout his lifetime he could also interpret dreams. Because of his gift he went through so much before his dream became a reality.

What are some of the dreams you have shared with people? What are some of the business opportunities you dream of? Have you set aside time to write out the visions God gives you? Do you even share those visions and dreams with the people around you? Have you been hated on because of your gifts? Have you given up on moving forward with your dreams, goals or desires?

This caused me to think about all the things I believed God was trying to tell me through dreams. As a child I use to dream big. I wanted to save the world. I wanted life to be fair. I wanted to a lawyer, a teacher, a wife, help those in need, to write books, own businesses and design great works of art.

As I reach out to you on yesterday God asked me “where are you with all these dreams?” He said “where are you with planning out your plan?” He said “where are you in establishing goals, in order for this to become a living reality?" My answer was I have started but never finished any of my plans, my goals or even stayed focused long enough in the fight to experriencing any of them being a living reality. I had to make up my mind that in 2010 I would move forward and stick to my plan.

I allowed fear, rejection and lack of support from others to be an excuse for me not to push towards what I believed God wanted for my life. I want you to think for a moment about what you believe are your gifts. I want you to focus in on what you do well. I want you to bring back all the things you told people and they told you no, you were crazy, it will never work, give up, you can’t or that’s just wishful thinking. In this moment recall a dream from your youth and think about all the reasons it never came true. Remember you went to your family and friends and just as Joseph did you said “listen to this dream I had”, “listen to this idea I have”, listen to this business opportunity I have”, etc and they just turned away and told you what you couldn’t do.

Today God is saying tap back into your dreams. Just as Joseph was given dreams, we all have dreams. It's time to get back on track. Some of us are living out our dreams, while others focus on what we should have, could have or would have done. If we follow the story of Joseph’s life we would learn that because of his gifts and purpose, he suffered a great deal before his dreams came true. Every phase of Joseph’s journey we can relate too.

This week I will focus in on each step of his journey in hopes of getting us on track with where God needs us to be. It’s never to late to start over. Each new day presents new opportunities for us. I challenge you today to get up and back into the fight for your life. Allow God to reveal to you through dreams, your purpose and His direction for your dreams to become a reality. Despite the lack of resources and support, God gave you your dream, purpose and plan only for you. It's not for others to believe in you, it's not for others to support you, it's not for you to quit. Just know that God believes in you and has your best interest at heart.

Think for a moment about Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, President Barack Obama etc, what if they had giving up on their dreams? After several failures, false accusations, suffering, etc, they all pressed forward and stepped into a living reality of their dreams. Today I am here to tell you we can too. We have to believe in ourselves and allow God to move in our lives.

Blessings,
Tennille L. Whittington

Prayer for Today

As I read this Lord teach me how to tap back into my dreams, Lord allow my dreams from my youth to resurface, Lord place people in my life that will support me in getting to where You need me to be, Lord I know that I need to press forward toward the goal, Lord I thank You for each new day, I praise You for who You are, Lord I ask for forgiveness, teach me how to forgive myself, Lord I know that there are great things that will come out of my life, Lord I follow Your lead, please lead the way! In Jesus name, Amen

Where Are You?

Good Afternoon,

Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

I thank the Lord that we have entered into a new decade full of new possibilities. In 2009 there were some challenges and tough situations for alot of us, but because of who God is in our lives we were able to make it to 2010!

I want to focus on Gen 3:9, when God went looking for Adam and he was hiding. Daily God spoke to Adam and before giving to Adam and him being deceived he knew no wrong and spent time with God. God went out looking for him and asked "where art thou?" Adam was in hiding. He had been created naked and not ashamed, yet on this day Adam was hiding because he was ashamed of his nakedness. Think about your life, where are you?

I had to reposition my thoughts and place myself in that moment. I had to ask myself what are some of the reasons I hid from God. I had to ask myself why did I allow myself not to hear God's voice when He came looking for me. I had to be real with myself in order to respond to the question for my life and ask God to help me come out of hiding. Once Adam came out from hiding and responded to God, He asked him "who told you"?

As I think back over the reasons why I hid from God before stepping boldly to Him and serving His people, why I was disobedient to His Word, why I valued what people said more than what God said, why I put more trust in people than in God, why I steered off His path for my life and created one of my own, why did I think I could do anything without Him! Think about your own life, who told you?

I thought about how I positioned myself for failure, how I positioned myself for error, how I positioned myself for heartache and pain, how I positioned myself for a nervous breakdown, how I positioned myself to be the leading star in the movie called my life, but I had no real success because I continue to hide from God.

True we can never really hide from God, because He is everywhere we are, but in this season God's asking "where are you?" It's not about new year's resolutions, it's about getting in touch with God and putting together a realistic plan and measure your goals against your plan. It's about knowing who you are in Him. It's time to step outside yourself and step inside the presence of God. No more hiding, no more running, and no more sitting still. It's time to come out of hiding and be who He created you to be.

In Gen 1:26 God says and God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: We need to read His Word and examine the character of God, in order to reposition ourselves after His image and likeness. We need to stop giving ear to the naysayers and the negative people, places and things that have held us back from obeying God's call on our lives. It's time to tap into our purpose and take the proper steps according to our plan to get closer to our God.

Today I challenge everyone to step to God boldly and ask Him to show you where He sees you today and where He needs you to be. I know and believe there is a master plan for all of our lives and it is the Master's plan! I know and believe we all want more out of this life and we want to be all that God has called us to be. We have to remember to always put God first and not allow people, places and things to cause us to hide from Him. We need to focus on the blessings in the beginning and studying the Word daily to build up our spirits.

Today my friends God is asking, "where are you?". I am writing to you to encourage you to respond to His question, write a realistic plan for your life and move forward on building a stronger relationship with Him! It doesn't matter that your family and friends say you can't, or that your job and the bank are telling you no! God is telling you yes! Remember we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! We have to focus on God's Word daily!

Blessings,
Tennille L. Whittington

Prayer for Today:

As I read this Lord lead me out of hiding, lead me up closer to You. Lord lead me to the people, places and things that will help me be who You have called me to be. Lord I am sick and tired of being sick and tired, Lord I am tired of living a mediocre life, Lord I am tired of being disobedient, Lord help me to reshape my mind, heart and soul, Lord teach me to think like You, love like You, talk like You and walk like You, Give me your mirror today Lord show me who I am in You, Lord teach me to use Your word as my manual for living I want to step boldly to the plate and answer the call for my life! In Jesus name, Amen

Extraordinary Measures ~ Happy New Years 2010!

Good Evening,

Phil 3:13-14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Praise Him for new beginnings!

Welcome to 2010 the year to go in! It's time that we all move forward on this first day of the year. We must remind ourselves of the message from Paul in Phil 3:13-14. We must press toward the mark God has set for our lives. We must forget those things which are behind in 2009!

It's time to gather our plans and goals. We need to measure our progress along the way. This is the year for extraordinary measures to take place! We need to believe more in ourselves, love more of ourselves and forgive ourselves completely, because we need to start with self before we can help anyone else.

Today I would like us to focus on our determination for this year. I pray that each of these writings uplift your spirit. I challenge everyone this year to approach all things naked and not ashamed, as in the beginning like Adam and Eve. Gen 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

My definition of the naked and not ashamed is life before we knew any wrong. The word naked meaning without addition, exaggeration, or excuses; not concealed or disguised; open to view; manifest, pure and/or plain. The word ashamed meaning feeling shame; distressed or embarrassed by feelings of guilt, foolishness, or disgrace.

There once was a time in all our lives when we did not know any wrong. We operated off our spirits, not yet knowing life’s situations would allow our flesh to dominate our decisions. It was a time when we had no worries, no struggles and/or stress did not live within. It was in our beginning, when we were first created. We were born into this Earth naked and not ashamed. Press forward from this point in your new beginning naked and not ashamed. It's time to go higher in your relationship with God!

Blessings,
Tennille L. Whittington

Prayer for today!

As I read this Lord I need You to place me with the people, in the places and with the things that I need to get to where You need me to be in this year! Lord I press forward towards the mark You have set for me! Lord put me in touch with my purpose! Lord I want to go higher in You, Lord I want to go all the way in! Lord have Your way tonight in my life! Lord I need You to show up and show out! Lord You are my everything! Lord with You I am everything! Lord teach me to believe more in me, love more of me and forgive myself daily! In Jesus name, Amen