Dare to be Remarkable - Jane Gentry

Good Morning World...it's 4:58 AM!!!

Think highly of yourself because the world takes you at your own estimate. -Unknown

I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it's only a choice of attitude.
- Judith M. Knowlton

Hey do you have a FB account? If so let's be friends... http://ping.fm/jNtbp

Mistakes are a fact of life: It is the response to the error that counts. —Nikki Giovanni

Hey do you have a FB account? If so let's be friends... http://ping.fm/jNtbp

Day 4 - 40 Day Fast From Negative Thinking

Today the assignment is to obstain from the: “What if I don’t make it?” Mindset

For much of my life I lived with fear of “what if I don’t make it.” When in college I feared that I would not pass my classes, every semester in every class I had this same fear. I had fear when making any major decisions. ‘Fear’ that I would make a mistake that would be catastrophe. That was unfounded because there was no real basis for this frame of thought, nevertheless, it was there. Outwardly I appeared confident and fearless. I would take chances but always on a sure thing and things would usually work. But in the privacy of my mind I was always anxious about something. I believed that I was fearless….I would just become anxious and anxiety was ok. After all we all suffer a little anxiety, right?

One day (because I love words) I looked up the words anxious and anxiety. I almost fell off my chair the definition was ‘full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear.’ Well, that was a shock to me I had no clue I had any fears, but, there it was in black and white. God began dealing with me in this area and I realized I had to eliminate fear (anxiety) from my thought life, and my vocabulary. For me fear came in the form of anxiety but it was the mindset that the devil was subtly using to suggest the possibility of failure, and that thought was consuming me. It took very small steps and to date that anxiety tries to creep up again but I continue to refuse to allow it to dominate my mind.

Therefore it MUST CHANGE TODAY:

• Realize, you’ve already made it! No matter how bad it may look the end of the chapter of your life is already written and it says “successful”. Often all we need is a clear perspective to take the pressure off of our present trial and look towards our positive future.

• Whatever you’re facing is TEMPORARY – We need to realize that our present state never determines our future!!! It is easy to get focused on our temporary situation but 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." This too shall pass!

• You are more than a conqueror! See yourself victorious. Your mindset will determine your future. Taking your focus off of your present situation and knowing that you will come out better for all that you are going through. While Christ was on the cross He saw His victory. This must permeate in your mind.

• Faith always finds a way – About 1.5 yrs ago I lost my job. I was determined that this would not be a way of life for me. I trusted and I knew that God would make a way…so I pursued a way out of my situation! The only thing that could bring me through was faith. All I had to do was look for a way out! (Luke 5:19). And JESUS is PRAYING FOR YOU that your faith will not fail.

• The idea of ‘not making it’ is not a part of the plan! Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you—FOR GOOD, and NO HARM." This was what I put my stake on! He has a plan for me, there is a master plan, it’s always for my success never for harm, and therefore, I will NOT FAIL! This was what I had to stay focused on when I was slipping in my faith.

• Rest in the fact that God will never fail you, nor forsake you – Repeatedly God tells us how he loves us, how he has plans for us, how he will care for us, so we need to rest assured that no matter what the circumstances we were created for success, he wont allow your failure. There are times that we may not see how it can possibly all work out BUT He is God and He WILLS not to forsake us.


THINK IT, SAY IT &ACT ON IT:
You need to know that you are more than a conqueror. Your circumstances no matter how bleak (and trust me I’ve seen bleak) are just temporary (even if it is 7 years). You need to determine that your faith will NOT fail because Jesus is interceding for you continually. God is incapable of failing you. And through your most difficult circumstances when it feels like you can’t take another step, He is there, with the blueprint of the design for your prosperity. Designed for you from the time you were in your mother’s womb! Before you thought of Him, He was thinking of you!

Day 3 - 40 Day Fast From Negative Thinking

The mindset to abstain from today is “thinking that I need to do something for God to get a blessing”

I was breed and raised in “church” yet one of my greatest limiting beliefs was that if things did not go just right it had something to do with my not being “holy enough” or that I was so messed up that I did not “qualify” for any of God’s blessings. I was never “good enough”. Maybe “I don’t pray enough” or maybe “I don’t read the bible enough”. I must be doing something wrong and I don’t deserve any of God’s blessings.

The fast today calls for me to get rid of the destructive mindset that my relationship and blessing from God are “merit-based”.

We are chained by the impression that we “get what we deserve”. After all this is what we are taught from childhood. But this is just not true the reality is that none of us “deserve” what we get – not the good not the bad. Today’s assignment said BUT GOD! I’ve been reading through the old testament as of late and I see how often the Israelites rebelled against God. I read this and re-read it and I ask “God am I much different”….He has not said No! Yet each and every time they “cried out to God for help” He did just that!! He helped them EACH AND EVERY TIME. So if it were based on “merit” they would have never gotten out to the messed THEY but themselves into. Ephesians 2- “..BUT God being rich in mercy...doesn’t give us what we deserve.”

We need to totally change this frame of thought. We will NEVER get what WE deserve. When we get blessings it’s not because of what We deserve it’s because we being joint-heirs with Christ get what He deserves!!! Romans 8:17

We need to be aware that have a covenant with Christ. We have a blood written contract. This contract states that we have a full fledged guarantee stating that we will never get what we deserve because He has given us a “Master Card” that gives us the right to cash in on what we could not ever pay for ourselves.

We need to have confidence in God! The men in the bible who did the greatest things (Moses, Abraham, Daniel, David) put all their faith in God and they always got answers to their prayers! Moses took 2.5 million slave Israelites out of Egypt, Abraham became the father of many at age 90 and his wife Sarah at age 80, Daniel survived being eaten in the lions den, David who tended sheep and who even by our standards would have been most likely ‘not’ to succeed became King. All of these men placed their confidence in God.

Reject condemnation – Hebrews 10:35 “Do not through away your confidence…”
Refuse to accept the enemies lies. We condemn ourselves continually for our mistakes and shortcomings. We are the first ones to loose confidence in ourselves. This of course keeps us from receiving all that God has for us.


Accept your freedom in Christ. (Romans 8:1) “There is no condemnation for those who are in Him.” This is a gift that God has given us but if we do not accept it we will always live a very defeatist life. We will never have abundance if we do not accept our freedom. We are mental prisoners because we choose not to accept what God has freely given us. We are prisoners to living limited lives emotionally, spiritually and physically.

Be GRACE-minded. Hebrews 4:15 says, "Come boldly and receive mercy and grace in your time of need." Grace means having what we don’t deserve. We don’t deserve the freedoms we have. We have freedom to think, we have freedom to choose we have freedom to make mistakes and the freedom to correct them. We don’t deserve it, oftentimes we abuse it, nevertheless we have Grace. So let’s cherish grace, respect grace, and give honor to God for the grace he has given us even though we don’t deserve it.

THINK IT SAY IT & ACT ON IT:
Abandon the limiting mindset. Abandon the belief that you only get what you deserve therefore, you will not strive for abundance. Receive abundance by faith. Be assured that you are joint heir with Christ. Expect to receive what He deserves and not what you deserve. Cash in on your covenant with God. Have full and complete confidence that He is listening to and will answer your prayers. Trust that He loves you and he does not condemn you. Receive his grace, freely and abundantly!!! Soak in the sun of his enormous unconditional love for you…by grace!!!

Day 2 - 40 Day Fast From Negative Thinking

The exercise today is to fast from the “survival mentality"

As many things as I have accomplished thus far in my life (because I am not done YET - LOL), I learned that I have for the most part been very limited in my thinking. I perceived my life one project at a time. It’s as if I’ve lived my life politely requesting from God one bite at a time. “If I can just finish college”, “if I can just get a good job”, “if I can just keep my job”, “if I can just get through this or that” – these are all reasonable requests from God and He is a good God willing and able to give us what we want. But, what if he wants to give us more and we are asking for so much less than he wants to give us?

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” Eph. 3:20 So what if I am asking God for way less than He wants to give me. What if I can have “exceedingly and abundantly” and I am settling for “just enough”. Amazingly we believe that that is humility. But doesn’t God glorify Himself in the abundance? Doesn’t God want his children to live the abundant life He created us to live? Aren’t we setting our sights too low to make a difference in anyone else’s life or in the world?

Everything Jesus did while in the earth was “super-natural” “BIG” no one had ever turned water into wine, healed the sick, make the lame walk and the blind see. I mean He was God he could have gotten them a good doctor and paid the bill. He could have gotten the lame a good wheelchair – know what a state of the art wheel chair. He could have given the blind well paved streets and a sharp Seeing Eye dog. But he did not do that He gave them in abundance. He healed their aliments and He saved their souls. So why do we ask for so little….why not “exceedingly and abundantly”?

We need to:

* Be focus on the end. Proverbs 29:18 says, "Without a vision, my people perish." Become a visionary, see your life as a life of victory, see yourself as a person with favor and see His daily blessings. Have a vision of yourself as blessed in abundance, so that you can be a blessing to others.

* Perceive yourself as a gift to the world— Be a blessing to others. Offer others solutions to their problems (1 Peter 4:10)

* Anticipate abundance in your life. Don’t settle for just enough. Think Big, think outside of the box. Think of all the ways that you can bless others if you had more than enough. (John 10:10)

* Truly care about others – You have to be genuine about caring for others and what is best for them. When you sincerely help others with no with ulterior motives, you will succeed. It's easy to smile when you really care about what’s best for someone else.

* Put others ahead of yourself. Be genuine in caring about people in your sphere. It’s easy to be selfish and to focus on your self. But when you apply God’s law and you put others ahead of yourself God blesses you in abundance.

* You truly have to want the best for the people in ‘your sphere.' During difficult economic times, it's easy to pull back and focus on taking care of self. It is after all what everyone else does. But God’s system works contrary to the worlds. In Genesis 13:8-17, Abraham put Lot, first. By doing so, God blessed Abraham—more than he could contain!

* Give value to others. Acts 20:35 says ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.' But it’s not just giving but giving the things that people cherish such as counsel, alistening ear, encouragement, teaching awareness, love…things of value. Making peoples lives better with what you are giving them. When you give unselfishly you will never lack. You will always have the best of everything, jobs, successful businesses and healthy relationships! You will be a “success”.

THINK IT, SAY IT, ACT ON IT:
Ask God to make you a visionary. To have you thrive and not just survive in life. Envision yourself as blessed and being a huge blessing to others. Envision yourself as someone who brings value to other people’s lives. Thank God for depositing in you a passion to serve, give and love others. Envision that as you serve others you will never lack, you will be a success. Receive God’s abundance in your life, spiritually, emotionally, financially. Now walk in your victory!!!

40 Day Fast From Negative Thinking

I am starting a 40 Day Fast from Negative Thinking. I will be chronicling my journey through this fast for the next 40 days. I have been on a journey to find my God given purpose for about 16 years. I decided that I needed to know what God created ME to be. So I did a lot of soul searching and found that although I made some progress and outwardly I appeared to be successful, I continued to hold on to limiting beliefs, hence behaviors. These limiting beliefs kept me from making the progress and reaching the full potential that God had for me. I became frustrated because I knew there was more I just had no clue who to reach for it.

Later I learned that it was “me” that was holding me back from reaching this life of excellence and obtaining the goal and gifts that He had for me. What I learned was that I needed to change my mind set. I need to arrest negative thinking and I needed to take the word which had been so apart of my life for many years and I had to learn to apply it, speak it and act on it.

When I learned what I had to do I began to do it to the best of my ability. Reading my bible, reading positive things, obtaining a life coach and all of this truly helped to get me out of the limited belief mindset. I was pleased with my progress. It was major BUT I have never stopped seeking out the ways to change my thinking. This is a daily struggle. It is not a prompt read five verses and two books and it’s over. As a matter of fact, it is daily step by step struggle. Possibly a lot harder than any addiction is the negative self-talk and limiting beliefs that holds us back from reaching the goal of a life of excellence.

So here I am once again, doing one more thing to apply one more concept to harnessing my mind and directing it to thinking positive thoughts. The thoughts God would have me to think. Aligning my thoughts with His thoughts about what He thinks I can do, where He thinks I can go, who He thinks I can be.

I will begin my 40 Day Journey with:

• Drop the “IF” word. I must stop thinking that “if” things were better, different and the circumstances were perfect I would be able to have that life of excellence.

• FACE life as it is. But don’t ACCEPT it as it is. I was a secretary the first 10 years of my working life. That was a fact but the truth was that I could change that. So I went back to school and earned a degree, which changed the “fact” that I was a secretary.
  
  
• Recognize YOU HOLD the power to do something with your life, regardless of your background, upbringing, environment or mistakes in your past. We all possess seeds. Seeds that we can choose to sow whether choices, words or money we all possess these seeds. We have the choice to sow them or not. We need to learn to daily sow seeds of faith, joy, peace, love and hope. If we choose to sow what we have no matter how little we can reap breakthrough.

• Don’t wait for the perfect conditions. We have a tendency to procrastinate. We wait till we get married, wait till we have kids, wait for the kids to grow up, for the economy to improve, or real estate, before you do what you know to do. Ecclesiastes 11:4. “He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap.” If we learn to sow what little we have we will reap a huge benefit, even if you fail, you reaped knowledge. You learned how not to do it.

• FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS. We are such a blessed people. To have the ability to make choices is huge. Look at those who are mentally challenged who don’t have the benefit of making even bad choices. Even most bad choices can be corrected. Focus on the good you already have; what God HAS already done. (Psalm 103:2-4) And stay focused on ALL that you already have.

I will THINK His thoughts; Speak His thoughts and Act on His thoughts for me.

Standing and believing Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, Plans to Prosper You and Not harm you, Plans to give you a Hope and a Future.” Things don’t need to be different before I succeed, because God already has “plans” for my success I am successful. I will to believe that I am successful because God has said I am a success. I possess the seeds and the power to sow the seeds of a better life. I refuse to welcome whatever life brings. I will stand on faith and find a way through it. I will remember what God has done in the past. He pardoned all my sins, healed all my diseases and crowned me with victory. I am victorious because I am His. He satisfies my life with good things so that my youth, vitality and outlook on life are refreshed and renewed.