Live with Confidence!

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images-8All of us at some point lose our confidence. It could be through a hurtful comment, unwarranted criticism, unrealised dreams, disappointing performance or overwhelming circumstances.

Truth is, we don’t have to stay in that place of insecurity and doubt. We can live with confidence in every arena of life regardless of how life may look right now. It comes back to our convictions in God and his Word in our lives.

I find such confidence from knowing that God has spoken into my heart specific things for the details of my life. I can live with a fresh and joyful outlook on life because I know that God is for me and not against me. I can enjoy each day knowing that God has already gone before me and made a way even if I can’t see it nor understand it all.

Confidence comes from knowing God and who you are in Him! Leonard Ravenhill once said, ‘He who is intimate with God will never be intimidated by man.’ How can man or circumstance be intimidating when we come into a deep realisation of who our Father really is.

My prayer for you is that you would know the hope to which God has called you and you would encounter the reality of who God is at the core of your being. Out of that place of revelation you can live with an abundance of humble confidence.

The Oracle!

Don’t Miss Your Miracle!

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IMG_1483Genesis 28:16 ‘Surely, the Lord is in this place and I did not know it. How awesome is this place.’

Too many of us are always thinking about what we lack rather than what we already possess. It’s so easy in our culture to allow lack and discontentment to rule our lives rather than thanksgiving and gratitude.

Could it be that you are right in the middle of your miracle unfolding before you but because you are so distracted by your perception of lack, you are, unfortunately, missing out?

In the bible, Jacob, son of Isaac, was on the adventure of his life but it took a dream from God to wake him up to the fact that he was in the middle of a miracle, the Promised Land.

What does God have to do in your life to wake you up to the truth that his presence is with you and that your miracle is unfolding before you? Never judge your life by circumstance alone but realise that there is more happening behind the scenes than what you can see with your natural eyes.

The Oracle!

Have you done the Work?

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strength-trainingProverbs 14:23 ‘In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.’

Most of us have dreams for our lives, the issue is have we put in the work to see the dream realised. What separates the dreamers from the believers is the believers toil and toil and toil until they see their dreams come to reality. Faith apart from works is dead.

Talent counts for far less than the will to see the process through to completion. I’ve seen too many talented, anointed and gifted people throw away their gift because they were not willing to put in the work required to develop it to its fullest potential.

One of the challenges of ageing is you look back with regret at things you wish you had have seen through to completion. As you mature you learn that if you just had of stuck to your guns and kept turning up, you most probably would’ve realised your dream. However, it’s never too late. No matter your age or situation in life, you can do something about the dream beating in your heart.

It’s called WORK! Humans seem to do almost anything to get out of work and yet when God put Adam in the Garden in Genesis 1-2 he called him to work it and steward God’s creation. God’s called every one of us to a sphere to work in and steward for his glory and the extension of his kingdom. What’s your sphere and what are you doing within it?

Are you merely talking the talk or are you actually doing the work required to flourish in that environment? The world is filled with talkers, what we need to see is a generation of doers rise up and actually put in the hard yards. You can’t expect a harvest if you’ve never sowed any seeds. It’s time to stop talking and start working! Let your work do the talking when it really counts.

The Oracle!

The Devil is a Liar!

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From Genesis 3, back at the beginning of creation, the devil has been lying and casting doubt on the truth of God’s Word in our lives. His strategy hasn’t changed and he’s still undermining people’s faith with his constant condemnation, negativity and hopelessness.

Satan’s whole agenda is to steal, kill and destroy anything that resembles the life of God’s Spirit in you and at work in our world. Never has there been a more important era of human history than now to know, think and speak God’s truth about ourselves. We are bombarded daily with hundreds of mixed messages. Deciphering God’s truth can be a challenge without being intentional.

Satan is an anchor that is always pulling you back down from heading out into the adventure that God invites all of us onto. If you entertain the negative thoughts, words and opinions that weigh you down too long, it will become your new norm and limit your capacity to believe for God’s impossible to work in your world.

The challenge is if we haven’t undergone a renewed mindset then we don’t so easily distinguish between the lies of the enemy and our own thoughts. The truth of God’s Word really does set us free and we need to immerse ourselves in a daily diet of God’s truth so that we will not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Pay attention to the messages you entertain in your brain and heart on a daily basis. As you think, so you are. What negative self-limiting ideas have you allowed to preoccupy your thinking? It’s time to uproot and replace with God’s truth!

The Oracle!

Never Give Up!

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triathlon_1Galatians 6:9 ‘Don’t grow weary in doing good, for in due season you’ll reap, if you don’t lose heart.’

I’ve been thinking a lot about this verse in recent days. The reason is I’m training to compete in the Melbourne Ironman Triathlon in 2014. It’s a gruelling multi-sport, one day event that is filled with weeping and gnashing of teeth as competitors complete a 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and 42km marathon run just to finish you off.

Each day that I train for this event, as well as several half-Ironman races leading up to the big kahuna, I constantly have to keep coming back to this verse and remind myself to never give up. Every time I swim, bike, run, lift weights, eat healthy and focus on recovery, I have to keep the big picture in mind and remember that although I may endure pain and suffering for a moment, the end result of crossing that finish line is well worth it.

The Psalmist said it like this, ‘Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.’

The Apostle Paul in several of his letters used athletic imagery to point to spiritual principles relevant to all of us in the race of faith. Perhaps the most famous words Paul used in this context is 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. In summary Paul calls us to run the race of faith to win… Don’t run merely to finish but finish well. To do so requires focus and discipline, no matter what discouragement or temptation comes our way.

Running the race of faith requires us to get over our petty excuses and focus ourselves on seeing the race God has called us to right through to the very end. Everyone at some point thinks and feels like quitting and sadly some of us do and spend years living with the pain of regret. Don’t give into your flesh but stay the course. It will be worth it in the end, even if you’ve got to grit your teeth and push yourself through the discomfort.

God’s watching and perhaps your refusal to never give up could lead to your finest hour.

The Oracle!

Follow the Cloud, Not the Crowd!

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white-clouds

Exodus 13:21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.

Wow! I love this verse of scripture. Here is a beautiful picture of God leading his people through night and day seasons by going before them in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. The people weren’t left without a witness to follow and this must have been so encouraging for Moses in his leadership of what sometimes was a group of very difficult people to lead.

In our lives, we can too easily get distracted by the opinions and voices of the crowd. The crowd can have far too much influence in our lives than what God wants or intended. There will always be someone out there who thinks they know best for you and who has a wonderful plan for your life.

It’s in these moments, that you and I need a conviction that heaven has spoken and that God is going before us to make a way in both dark and light seasons of life.

What about you? Are you following the crowd or the cloud? God loves you and wants to lead you in such a significant way. Stay focused on the cloud before you.

The Oracle!

Live in the Bullseye!

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Don’t live on the periphery of what God has put you on the planet for. Live in the Bullseye. Too many of us settle for far too less than what God intended for us.

Imagine a blank A4 piece of paper folded a dozen or more times into a very small square and placed in your pocket. You carry it around with you day after day, year after year until finally you die. Imagine standing before Jesus and he has in his hand that little screwed up and folded up piece of A4 paper in his hand. Jesus then proceeds to unwrap the tiny A4 square piece of paper until it’s completely unfolded to a full piece of paper.

He looks at you in love and says to you, ‘You settled for this little square corner of life, when I called you to stretch, grow and live and contribute far more than you could have imagined.’ How do you think you might feel in that moment. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably thinking, ‘Oh Crap’.

The pain of regret is the worst pain of all. It’s never too late to change. It’s never too late to pursue that dream. It’s never too late to say sorry or forgive or believe again. But you’ve got to make a decision to stop living on the periphery and start living in the bullseye of what God has really called you to.

The Oracle!