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| The world economy has been shaken to its core by a series of financial services mis-steps, natural disasters, poor decision making, and out-of-control spending patterns. Many people have looked to the stock market and to their own skills and abilities and financial resources as a type of protection against the fluctuations and challenges in the economy. One bad day on the stock market can erase years of prudent saving and planning. Scam artists promising huge returns on investments have further complicated the financial picture. As the job market has been more and more challenged, individuals are finding themselves without the retirement security that they had spent years building as long-term organizational members. Old strategies are not paying off in the same way. Business leaders, legislators, and CEOs alike are asking themselves and others what to do next. The only answer is found in allowing God’s plan to unfold and to ask Him for guidance and direction. Regardless of how smart we may believe we are, we do not have full knowledge about the present and cannot predict the future. Only God can safely and successfully help us navigate in this chaotic and ever-changing environment. Where is YOUR security? Do you need to have a paradigm shift? How is what you’re doing now working for you? |
When we think about navigating through life, we are confronted with finding our way through lane changes, detours, different exits, missing signposts, and under and through construction zones. . .you get the picture! You must listen to the voice of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, speaks inwardly, to your spirit, through God’s Word. As you traverse along the pathway set for you by God, you will need to pay much closer attention than you have ever paid before. There are people who started off on this journey with you who are no longer passengers in the vehicle in which you are now traveling. Your new or continuing assignment has been specifically designed for the plan and purpose for which God uniquely created you. You may intersect with a number of other pathways, but it is your most sacred responsibility to ensure that you stay on your pathway, in your lane, totally attentive to the voice of the Lord.
In my first book, “Called to Lead, Anointed to Serve,” I used examples from the life of my then one-year-old grandson, Joshua, called “Joshua Moments.” The response to that was so positive, that I decided that in this book, I would use examples from my granddaughter, Gabrielle, called “Gabrielle’s Gems.” The Gems are key lessons that I have learned through observation, experience, interaction, and study which I would like to share about and with Gabrielle and you. Of course, stories of my Joshua may also find themselves within these pages. The following is an excellent example of what I am talking about. Think about it based on what is part of your regular, everyday world. Then think about it in terms of what an underlying greater spiritual significance could be.
Gabrielle’s Gem – Gabrielle loves to run around the house. She does not have any destination in mind. She loves the force and fury of running and laughing at full speed ahead. She has learned to slide before she hits the wall. Sometimes she will throw herself onto the couch. The thrill of speed, under her own power, and the feel of the breeze as she flies by is still almost magical for her. This child, whom the doctors felt would not have all of her limbs at birth, has proven that prayer works and that God is the final authority. As we believed for her to be born whole, nothing broken and nothing missing, we have to believe that God directs her path. He has great plans for her and for you. We cannot go by what we see and know. We have to rely on the Holy Spirit to direct us. Gabrielle knows that we will protect her from the wall and the dangers in the room. Often, Joshua runs interference for her and catches her before she can harm herself.
Isn’t this true for us as well? Sometimes we drive aimlessly around, going up and down the pathway of life with no real destination in mind. Our physical GPS also calculates speed, distance, and time to the destination; the direction in which driving, tells us that it is acquiring satellites. It shows the road we are on and gives us the grid for intersecting roads and identifies key landmarks (blue for water, universal sign of medical facility. When it is ready for us to begin, it says, “Ready to navigate.” It shows our “vehicle” and the direction it is facing, along with intersecting roads and highways and detours. Our spiritual GPS has that kind of information for us as well, although He may not reveal all of that data on a single screen. We sometimes will know the overall destination, but we may not always understand how the route we are on will get us there. We have to trust God to know what is best for us, even when the pathway seems circuitous, full of detours, and less linear than what is easy and/or comfortable for us. Do you trust God in spite of what you see? Remember the price He paid for the ransom to restore us to Him – the precious blood of Jesus the Anointed One. God has also promised to perfect that which concerneth you (SCRIPTURE).
Address does not compute . . . No signal . . . Searching loop . . . No such address
As you’re further preparing for this journey, there are a few additional details that I must provide for you. The first is, as God said to Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous.” For those of you who might not be as familiar with Joshua as others, I am preparing a brief information rest stop for you to have everyone on one accord. Because we all learn differently, I am providing you with several different tools, models, mnemonics, and/or tactics to emphasize key concepts. Find the ones that work for you. We have analogy of GPS; metaphor of our body as vehicles; leading for life principles; DELTA and ADEPT mnemonics, Joshua Moments, Gabrielle’s Gems, icons, Biblical scriptures and examples, and practical examples. Read all of it – your level of absorption will be deeper with things that speak to your leadership learning style, but you will also begin to absorb the remainder if you “eat the elephant one bite at a time.”
Let’s start with the DELTA mnemonic – D E L T A:
D iscover; E ngage; L isten; T ry; and A rise
D – Discover (Self Assessment, God’s Plan)
•Determine who you are in Christ
•Discover your strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities (Your personal SWOT analysis) – in what areas is the enemy routinely defeating you or you him?
•Delve into God’s Word – ask God to examine you -- (Ps. 139-23-24)
•Develop an attitude that you want it to be God’s will, God’s way
E – Engage (Intimate, Fully Satisfying Relationship with God)
•Embrace God’s plan for your life (Believe God)
•Examine your calling, purpose, anointing and vision
•Excitedly, enthusiastically seek God’s face and power
•Expect -- His Word is His will, and He will reveal it to you as you diligently seek Him through prayer, fasting and study
L – Listen (Let him who has an ear hear – let the Holy Spirit teach you)
•Lean not on your own understanding
•Let the Spirit lead you
•Let go and let go and let go and LET GOD!
•Love God and what God loves and values
T – Try God (Work the Word so that the Word Works in Your Life)
•Take
