Thursday, October 6, 2011
In Search of a Father-Terrence Wilson
Like the majority of African-American men in our society, Mr. Wilson grew up without his Father in the home. Mr. Wilson could have taken the route that most of our boys take today, the easy way out of missing his Father, he could have easily become one of the statistics of another youth gone wrong, and I call it the easy route because it doesn't take much effort to do the wrong thing. But, instead he has taken the opportunity to share his experiences with other young men African-American, Caucasian, Asian, etc, in hopes that they will overcome while "Achieving their rite of passage on the road to manhood."
See, it doesn't matter where you come from, if you grew up in a home without both your parents, it will have an effect on you and the reason being is a one-parent home is not the will of God, it is not the "order" of God. The Father was set up in the household as a model of our Heavenly Father, the "Head" and the "Authority Figure". The Father was set up in the household as a model of our Heavenly Father. I believe that is one of the reasons it's such a struggle for our men to trust God, because they have a trust problem with their "Natural Fathers" it makes it harder for them to trust their "Spiritual Father."
I appreciate Mr. Wilson sharing with the world his experience, his struggles and his accomplishments. And I appreciate his Father even more for admitting his shortcomings and acknowledging his errors as his role as a Father. In his book "In search of a Father" Mr. Wilson doesn't just tell his story, but he adds facts and statistics which are startling.
But, this brother doesn't just leave you with facts of how we are losing our generation in a hopeless state, he gives us a picture of hope, hope for our young men who are coming up in the system, for those that are fatherless, for those who have found Father figures through Rap Artists, Drug Dealers and any other kind of negative influences. I believe every Pastor, Counselor or any man that has grown up without their Father in the home should read this book.
Brother Wilson I commend you for sharing you story and giving our men a ray of hope as they "Achieve their passage on the road to manhood!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
7 Ways to Rid Your Garden of Weeds
In the previous post we learned that thoughts are like seeds and the ground the seeds are planted in is our mind. In every seed there is a harvest, rather it's a beautiful flower planted or a nasty weed. In every garden you can expect a weed or two to appear occasionally but it's our responsibility to pluck the weed from the root or else we can expect it to grow again, except we can expect it to come back stronger then before.
Weeds serve no good purpose, especially not in our gardens. Just as negative thoughts serve no good purposes. Weeds come to choke the seeds that are planted to produce good fruit in our lives, the negative thoughts and the traumatic images that replays in our minds over and over again were planted to choke the good seeds that has been planted.
Just as you do not have to accept the weeds in your physical garden, you also do not have to accept the spiritual weeds that come to choke the good seeds in your spiritual garden. With the physical weeds you uproot, you would replace them with good seed. So you should do in your spiritual garden. Just as you have authority in your physical garden, you also have authority over your spiritual garden.
You may not necessarily have control over the thoughts that appear in your mind, but, you can control the thoughts you think about. How do you rid your spiritual garden of spiritual weeds?
1. Seeds can be planted by the words we speak. So speak words of encouragement to yourself, speak words of life over yourself like I am somebody, I do have a purpose.
2. When negative thoughts appear replace them with positive affirmations. Example a thought might manifest and say, you're going to die of a heart attack just like your Father, replace that thought with the thought of you living a vibrant life full of life, then live it just how you see it!
3.Sing words of encouragement to yourself. Our minds tend to remember messages more easily when put into a song. That's why large companies trying to get you to buy their products put their slogans and pitches in music so you will remember them and unconsciously purchase their products.
4. Write a vision for your life. We write visions for businesses but we never write a vision for our lives. When you keep your vision constantly before your eyes, your mind will begin to gravitate to the vision until comes to pass.
5. See yourself successful before you actually are, the imagination can be very powerful when used in a positive way. To prove it, close your eyes and think about a lemon for a minute and your mouth will begin to water, because your mind is reacting on what it sees. Now, just think what will happen when you see yourself happy, wealthy, healed, etc.
6. Surround yourself with successful people, you will begin to desire their lifestyles therefore you will begin to think like them.
7. Enjoy yourself, life is short I know you probably can remember when you were 16 like it was just yesterday, but in reality it's been a while for some of us it's been a long time ago:) So, don't waste anymore time on things that aren't important, enjoy your life while you can!
I hope this will help someone see themselves in a better light, get rid of the weeds in your garden and sow seeds that will produce good fruit!
Be Empowered. Be Motivated. Be Educated.
Weeds serve no good purpose, especially not in our gardens. Just as negative thoughts serve no good purposes. Weeds come to choke the seeds that are planted to produce good fruit in our lives, the negative thoughts and the traumatic images that replays in our minds over and over again were planted to choke the good seeds that has been planted.
Just as you do not have to accept the weeds in your physical garden, you also do not have to accept the spiritual weeds that come to choke the good seeds in your spiritual garden. With the physical weeds you uproot, you would replace them with good seed. So you should do in your spiritual garden. Just as you have authority in your physical garden, you also have authority over your spiritual garden.
You may not necessarily have control over the thoughts that appear in your mind, but, you can control the thoughts you think about. How do you rid your spiritual garden of spiritual weeds?
1. Seeds can be planted by the words we speak. So speak words of encouragement to yourself, speak words of life over yourself like I am somebody, I do have a purpose.
2. When negative thoughts appear replace them with positive affirmations. Example a thought might manifest and say, you're going to die of a heart attack just like your Father, replace that thought with the thought of you living a vibrant life full of life, then live it just how you see it!
3.Sing words of encouragement to yourself. Our minds tend to remember messages more easily when put into a song. That's why large companies trying to get you to buy their products put their slogans and pitches in music so you will remember them and unconsciously purchase their products.
4. Write a vision for your life. We write visions for businesses but we never write a vision for our lives. When you keep your vision constantly before your eyes, your mind will begin to gravitate to the vision until comes to pass.
5. See yourself successful before you actually are, the imagination can be very powerful when used in a positive way. To prove it, close your eyes and think about a lemon for a minute and your mouth will begin to water, because your mind is reacting on what it sees. Now, just think what will happen when you see yourself happy, wealthy, healed, etc.
6. Surround yourself with successful people, you will begin to desire their lifestyles therefore you will begin to think like them.
7. Enjoy yourself, life is short I know you probably can remember when you were 16 like it was just yesterday, but in reality it's been a while for some of us it's been a long time ago:) So, don't waste anymore time on things that aren't important, enjoy your life while you can!
I hope this will help someone see themselves in a better light, get rid of the weeds in your garden and sow seeds that will produce good fruit!
Be Empowered. Be Motivated. Be Educated.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
What's On Your Mind? Life or Death?
Change your thoughts and you change your world! I know you have probably heard that statement time and time again, but it's true. What we think about can have such a powerful impact on our attitudes, our health, the way we treat others, and the way we view the world.
Thoughts are like seeds, they can be planted or they can be plucked. You can say that your mind is the garden and your thoughts are the seeds planted in your garden. Positive thoughts will produce a beautiful garden and negative thoughts will produce weeds that will choke out your beautiful garden.
Since you are the gardener it is up to you to make sure your garden is well kept, nourished and weed free. What do you do when you see weeds popping up all over your beautiful garden? You pluck them up by the root, because we know nothing can grow without roots. So are our thoughts, they start out as seeds planted in our minds through past experiences, something we saw or heard and we nourish those seeds by meditating on them, constantly replaying the images over and over again in our minds.
So, if you have ever experienced something traumatic, it left an image on your mind and anything can trigger that image in your mind replaying the experience all over again, except now you're experiencing it in your mind, you begin to put all of your focus on that image bringing back hurtful feelings, emotions get out of whack and your whole attitude is messed up because a weed just popped up in your garden.
At this point you have a decision to make, you can either nurture that seed/weed or you can reject that weed. Did you know you can control the thoughts you think about? I will be showing in a future post how to get rid of the weeds in your garden, so stay posted!
Be Empowered. Be Motivated. Be Educated.
Thoughts are like seeds, they can be planted or they can be plucked. You can say that your mind is the garden and your thoughts are the seeds planted in your garden. Positive thoughts will produce a beautiful garden and negative thoughts will produce weeds that will choke out your beautiful garden.
Since you are the gardener it is up to you to make sure your garden is well kept, nourished and weed free. What do you do when you see weeds popping up all over your beautiful garden? You pluck them up by the root, because we know nothing can grow without roots. So are our thoughts, they start out as seeds planted in our minds through past experiences, something we saw or heard and we nourish those seeds by meditating on them, constantly replaying the images over and over again in our minds.
So, if you have ever experienced something traumatic, it left an image on your mind and anything can trigger that image in your mind replaying the experience all over again, except now you're experiencing it in your mind, you begin to put all of your focus on that image bringing back hurtful feelings, emotions get out of whack and your whole attitude is messed up because a weed just popped up in your garden.
At this point you have a decision to make, you can either nurture that seed/weed or you can reject that weed. Did you know you can control the thoughts you think about? I will be showing in a future post how to get rid of the weeds in your garden, so stay posted!
Be Empowered. Be Motivated. Be Educated.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Battlefield of The Mind
There is a war going on and your mind is the battlefield!
If you are one of millions who suffer from worry, doubt, confusion, depression, anger or condemnation, you are experiencing an attack in your mind. Overcoming negative thoughts that come against your mind brings freedom and peace. You can overcome these negative thoughts!
Did you know that negative thoughts produce negative actions and positive thoughts produce positive actions?
Our thoughts have a lot to do with the world we create round about us, the words that we speak has an effect on our thought pattern and our attitudes. If you go through your day only thinking about the bad things that happened to you, or how someone has hurt you, you will see the world as a bad place. You probably have a trust problem because you think everyone is out to hurt you because you have been hurt so many times in the past.
What you have done is created a wall around you that won't let anyone in and in return you find yourself in a lonely and excluded place. Well, guess what? All of that can change, you can live a life of peace, a life full of joy, you can leave your past behind and live your life the way it was supposed to be. There are great things in store for you, you were created with a purpose! It doesn't matter how you start the race, the only thing that matters is how you finish the race. It isn't contingent upon your environment, family, friends, or anything else it's only contingent upon You! What will you do to create that place of peace, happiness, love and joy that belongs to you?
There is a Battle Going On And Your Mind Is The Battlefield! But, there are some things you can do to Win the Battle!
1. Think on things that are a of a good report. What are your good qualities? Are you a good listener? You have a heart of compassion? You were in a violent relationship in the past but you found a way out. You woke up to another day! All of these are of a good report, think on these things!
2.Keep guard over the gate of your mouth. Watch the words you speak, words are transporters whatever you speak out into the atmosphere your words immediately go to work to bring it to pass. Start confessing that you are healed, you are victorious, you are created with a purpose!
3. Get rid of negative relationships. The company you keep says a lot about you. Have you ever heard the saying, "birds of a feather flock together?" The saying is true, you wouldn't associate yourself with an alcoholic if you're not one, so why flock with negative people if you want to get rid of the negativity in your life?
4.Cover your eyes. There is so much negativity in the world today, you can find it on tv, the internet, billboards, etc., there is just no getting around it, but you don't have to fix your eyes on it. Don't bring negative materials in your home like pornography, violent materials, videos. etc.
5.Cover your ears. Don't listen to everything, don't listen to the dirty jokes at work, remove yourself from the negative conversations, remember you're trying to get rid of the negative elements from your life.
There is a book by Joyce Meyer that I read years ago called Battlefield of the Mind and Joyce tells you how to win the Battle, because she had to come through years of abuse, Joyce tells how she was abused and molested by her father for years and how it had a negative impact on her life, even after she became a Christian, Joyce still battled with the negative thoughts and negative attitudes. Joyce says it was so bad she could go to someone's house that had been newly decorated and she would find the bad in it! But, God showed her how to let go of her past, forgive her father and allow healing for her soul.
It took time but I believe it's worth the fight and it's worth the wait. I am praying for your much success because I know you can win the battle!
Be Empowered. Be Motivated. Be Educated.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
For Men Only!
This post is dedicated to my brothers! My Black brothers, my White brothers, my Chinese brothers, my Arabic brothers, whatever your nationality I consider you my Brother. There is a story about a boy who was born at a time an Evil leader made a declaration to kill all Hebrew boys from birth to 3 years old. The Mother of this boy put him in a basket and released him in the river in hopes that someone would find him and care for him, but before she just let him sail off she instructed his sister to watch the boy until he made it to safety. This baby boy's name was Moses and his sister's name was Miriam.
Miriam walked along side the Nile River as her brother sailed along side of her, she never took her eyes off of that basket, if the waves begin to speed up, so did Miriam, thinking in the back of her mind, Lord I pray nothing happens to my baby brother, I hope he doesn't drown, what was my Mother thinking putting him in a basket and just letting him float away not knowing what will become of him? But, what Miriam didn't know was that the same waters that were meant to kill him were the same waters that saved his life!
The Miriam in me is speaking to the Moses in you! Moses was rescued from that River and he was trained to forget who he really was, he was given a new identity so he will forget where he came from, he was lavished with the riches of this world to keep him preoccupied with never finding out Who he was and what his Purpose for being born was.
But, Moses found out, he found out that he was not the man he thought he was, he found out that there was a Divine Plan connected to him and no one else could fulfill this plan but him! See, Moses was destined for Greatness, he was born to Deliver a people from an Evil Taskmaster! How ironic is that, the one who needed to be Delivered was called to Deliver? For forty years Moses witnessed his people living in bondage while he lived the Glamorous life, but one day something on the inside of him stirred him to do something about it!
Moses left that place, he left everything behind and came back with a plan to Deliver his people and when he came back he came with the Army of Heaven backing him up and delivered his people! Who is connected to your Divine Plan? Who are you called to Deliver from the River Nile? Who has stripped you from your identity making you fat with the riches of the World so you will be preoccupied with stuff that is not apart of the plan for your life?
The Miriam in me is speaking to the Moses in you, rise up from the Nile, take that thing that was meant to destroy you and use it for good, tell your Mother thank you for doing what she had to do ta save your life and thank your sister who never took her eyes off of you while you floated up the River until you found safety and shelter, thank your sister for praying for praying for you until you got a breakthrough! My Brother there is a plan for your life now go get it! Happy Father's Day!
"Be Empowered. Be Motivated. Be Educated."
Miriam walked along side the Nile River as her brother sailed along side of her, she never took her eyes off of that basket, if the waves begin to speed up, so did Miriam, thinking in the back of her mind, Lord I pray nothing happens to my baby brother, I hope he doesn't drown, what was my Mother thinking putting him in a basket and just letting him float away not knowing what will become of him? But, what Miriam didn't know was that the same waters that were meant to kill him were the same waters that saved his life!
The Miriam in me is speaking to the Moses in you! Moses was rescued from that River and he was trained to forget who he really was, he was given a new identity so he will forget where he came from, he was lavished with the riches of this world to keep him preoccupied with never finding out Who he was and what his Purpose for being born was.
But, Moses found out, he found out that he was not the man he thought he was, he found out that there was a Divine Plan connected to him and no one else could fulfill this plan but him! See, Moses was destined for Greatness, he was born to Deliver a people from an Evil Taskmaster! How ironic is that, the one who needed to be Delivered was called to Deliver? For forty years Moses witnessed his people living in bondage while he lived the Glamorous life, but one day something on the inside of him stirred him to do something about it!
Moses left that place, he left everything behind and came back with a plan to Deliver his people and when he came back he came with the Army of Heaven backing him up and delivered his people! Who is connected to your Divine Plan? Who are you called to Deliver from the River Nile? Who has stripped you from your identity making you fat with the riches of the World so you will be preoccupied with stuff that is not apart of the plan for your life?
The Miriam in me is speaking to the Moses in you, rise up from the Nile, take that thing that was meant to destroy you and use it for good, tell your Mother thank you for doing what she had to do ta save your life and thank your sister who never took her eyes off of you while you floated up the River until you found safety and shelter, thank your sister for praying for praying for you until you got a breakthrough! My Brother there is a plan for your life now go get it! Happy Father's Day!
"Be Empowered. Be Motivated. Be Educated."
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