Fear is a common emotion which has the power to crush your dreams, take you captive, and imprison you by turning your thoughts and feelings against you. Fear is stressful, debilitating, weakening, discouraging, and produces nothing but negativity toward your plans, your execution, and your commitment. It is an emotional prison. You can see everything outside, but you can’t experience or feel it and cannot touch it. It is the worst because you can see your dreams right in front of you but fear has you trapped within its boundary. What makes fear so difficult to deal with? I don’t have the answer for everyone but the key to getting out of this cage is right in your hand. The problem is that most people do not know how to use the key. A simple key moves in two directions, left or right to lock or unlock. Your key is the decision you make to either face it or not to face it. For most of us it is a process because fears are powerful and we can experience some very uncomfortable feelings when dealing with them. The best way to grow out of fear is to experience the inevitable over and over again. The more you experience the more you grow. Through growth, you are expanding your comfort zone. It’s basically winning a territorial battle by taking back territories that were consumed by fear.
Be strong and take courage! Don’t let fear keep you from your potential.
A reminder to those who are vigilant and awake!
An important feature of the Framework to Life and what will be an integral part of the content of the book is character. Character is important because it makes up who we are as beings and what people see on the outside. Most important, it is what God sees in our hearts as we live for Him.
Achieving success as you live for God’s purpose is no easy task and requires certain qualities. Qualities such as strength, courage, and perseverance are easy and quick to remember when you are talking about achieving success. The qualities I am referring to, however, are those of conduct which a lot of people tend forget about during times of struggle or in the heat of the moment. Most of the time life can get so busy that we easily forget about God’s Word and how He wants us to conduct ourselves. The more time we spend away from scripture, the more we separate ourselves from Christ. When I went through the Armor of God series last year, I mentioned that the only weapon we have is God’s Word which the Apostle Paul referred to as the Sword of the Spirit. Just like any sword used for battle, knowledge of God’s Word must be maintained and sharpened consistently. Our mind is what takes the knowledge of God’s Word in, before it is inscribed into the tablets of our hearts. Having consistent knowledge of His Word will keep us sharpened so we do not forget the principle values that we must strive to live by every day.
For this article I am listing a segment of scripture that relates to Godly character and conduct as a reminder for all of us. Everyone knows the fruits of the Spirit which Paul presented in Galatians 5. If you have not read Galatians 5 then I highly recommend you sharpen your sword over Paul’s words. Also read Colossians 3 for extra sharpening of character.
The segment I want to discuss is coming from the Old Testament in the Book of Psalms. Particularly Psalm 15 which is titled “A Psalm of David”. This Psalm is about a person’s character as they dwell with the Lord. As you walk with the Lord throughout your life, do you exhibit the kind of character He wants you to project to the world? By looking at the character traits written in this Psalm, most of us can say, this looks pretty simple. But, think about how you conduct yourself during times of hardships and struggle. Do these character traits suddenly get thrown out the window?
I simplified each character trait from chapter 15 for easy reference and mixed in three different versions: NKJV, NIV, and ESV. When I read scripture I normally go through different translations to get a better understanding of God’s Word. Read through these traits below and ask yourself if this is how you conduct yourself as a child of God. If not then lets get to work. For me personally, I can say I have my weaknesses and I also have work to do.
Look at each character trait listed below and think of a recent time where you might have failed to meet one of the standards listed. Also, think about a time where you feel you exhibited this character. Its good to study God’s Word so we can see where we may fall short and see where our strengths are when it comes to personal conduct.
I was reading Proverbs 8 and what a good reminder of the excellence of wisdom
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“The Framework to Life is about reaching success with a purpose in life alongside a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is living a life of passion with an eternal purpose.”
Above is the opening statement on the “About Framework to Life” page. I am going to break this down so I can describe how important it is to know what your purpose in life is. Your purpose is also known as your calling. It can be your occupation, hobby, raising a family, building a ministry, or whatever you feel you are called by God to do.
“Reaching success with a purpose” is how I start explaining the framework. Success can be anything someone wants to achieve, whether it’s a short goal in life or a lifelong journey. But I add the kicker, which is the key word, “purpose“. Your purpose is the intention behind what you want to accomplish, it’s the why, the intent, and the reason. As we continue on with the same sentence, here is the most important part, “alongside a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ”. Adding this statement now changes the outlook of your purpose. Why? Read the next sentence from that same statement “It is living a life of passion with an eternal purpose”. Living a life that is bonded to a relationship with Christ means you live for Him and as He lives in you. If He lives in you, then you live a life according to God’s Spirit. If God’s Spirit dwells in you, then you can understand that your purpose in life is now eternal, meaning the purpose we are living for today on this earth may continue on to eternity. Think of it this way, if you live for eternity and every righteous thing you do becomes noticed by those who live in the flesh, there is potential there for them to be changed by God through you. You become a beacon of light for the Lord’s kingdom. This is how God intervenes in people’s lives by using others for His purpose. If this is the case and you eventually see these people living in God’s kingdom, don’t you think this is an eternal impact? I would think so. If you leave a legacy behind you of changing lives after the Father has taken you home to Heaven, wouldn’t your legacy continue to impact eternity?
I am not here to tell you how to find out what your purpose in life is, that is up to you and the Lord. Having a relationship with Him by reading His word and communicating with Him through prayer along with wise council will give you those answers. This framework is simply a way to help guide and protect what your purpose is as you embark on a journey to achieve the dreams that come with it.
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
1 John 5:5 NIV
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Matthew 16:24 NIV
framework2life.com 