"Who do you say I am?"

Matthew 16:13-20

Peter's Confession of Christ

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

¹⁴They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

¹⁵"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

¹⁷Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." ²⁰Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

I have always taken this scripture to mean that Christ is revealing his true self to his desciples. I still believe that is the case but, I have learned something new about this familiar scripture. Remember, His word is alive, it breathes life into any situation or circumstance that you are in. Jesus is calling, challenging, on Peter to declare who he believes that he is. Peter knew exactly who Jesus was, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.". This scripture is for you, right now, where you are at. Who do you say that Jesus is? Is He truly the Son of the living God in your life? Is he the key to the kingdom of heaven in your life? Perhaps he is somebody you meet with on Sunday morning at "Club Church" and forget about after brunch at Elmer's with the family. Jesus can only meet you where you are at, where your faith is at. If your faith only allows him to bless your food then that is all you will get. If your faith in Him is strong enough to move mountains in your life, then that is what you get. What I am trying to say is, Jesus will meet you at whatever level your faith is at. He will not go too far past it, because you wouldn't believe it anyway. This is the manifestation of reaping and sowing at it's pinnacle. You sow faith, he increases the reaping of that fruit in your life. When you rely on your faith in him, you are giving up "self" in order for God to work in your life. He can't work in your life if you are in the way all the time mucking up the process with "self". You are a tool for God to use, not the other way around. Exercise your faith in Him and just like a muscle, that exercise will cause it to grow into a more powerful force in your life.

I pray that you've gained something for your life by reading this, I know I did by writing it. I also pray that only the true word of God would shine from all that I write and the rest would be washed away, that only the truth would remain.

Force your mind to think!

This is a passage from the book Law Of Success by Napoleon Hill. Every time I read from it I gain something of value. Please read, learn, imagine, and enjoy!

Force your mind to think! Proceed by combining old ideas into new plans. Every great invention and every outstanding business or industrial achievement that you can name is, in final analysis, but the application of a combination of plans and ideas that have been used before, in some other manner.

Back of the beating hammer
By which the steel is wrought,
Back of the workshop's clamor
The seeker may find the Thought;
The thought that is ever Master
Of iron and steam and steel,
That rises above disaster
And tramples it under heel.

The drudge may fret and tinker
Or labor with lusty blows,
But back of him stands the Thinker,
The clear-eyed man who knows;
For into each plow or saber,
Each piece and part and whole,
Must go the brains of labor,
Which gives the work a soul.

Back of the motor's humming,
Back of the bells that ring,
Back of the hammer's drumming,
Back of the cranes that swing,
There is the Eye which scans them,
Watching through stress and strain,
There is the Mind which plans them-
Back of the brawn, the Brain.

Might of the roaring boiler,
Force of the engine's thrust,
Strength of the sweating toiler,
Greatly in these we trust;
But back of them stands the schemer,
The Thinker who drives things through,
Back of the job the Dreamer
Who's making the dream come true.
- Berton Braley

"Nothing is more tragic-or more common-than mental inertia. For every ten people who are physically lazy there are ten thousand others with stagnant minds. And stagnant minds are the breeding places of fear." Napoleon Hill, Law of Success

I cannot speak for anybody but myself on this idea. This one makes me extremely uncomfortable, not only on its face, but by the trailing thoughts that follow it.

I tend to believe that in general, people want much from life. I believe that they think about it often. I believe they try to do the right thing, right now. The problem is this- all they are doing is thinking about it. Usually they are not thinking good things about it either. It will tend to have a negative bent to it. Their usually is only a shortsighted vision for what is ahead. Test yourself by asking one simple question. I challenge you to be completely honest with yourself. You don't need to tell anybody of course, it is a question with an answer that will reveal your true thinking on much that takes place in your life. Your first reaction is your answer, the more you try to make excuses for why that is your answer, the more you try to blame outside influences, the deeper the roots of that particular nerve are.

That question is this: "What is your first reaction when you hear the word money?".

If you cringe in horror then you are in lack. The fear of not enough has taken root in your life to the extent that it affects every single area of it. You will never have enough to even catch up if you keep thinking this way. This shows up in all areas of your life from the car you drive to the people you call your friends to the relationship you have with God. Pull your head out of that deep dark place and look around. When you have an idea for something that you feel could be of benefit to someone, write it down. Then after that, write down the next step to make that idea a reality. Then do that next step. Wash, rinse, repeat. You will change your thought over time, not over night. Keep doing it!

Maybe you feel that you have enough, you are comfortable where you are on the income scale. Things are going pretty well. You have the things you need plus a little more and you are fine with that. Along with that comes very little drive or desire to accomplish anything else. This is where routine becomes a way of life, you show up every day to work and can't remember the drive there, you autonomously fix up dinner for the family and connect to the TV in the living room to watch other people live great and exciting lives. You probably feel stagnant. If that is you, then you may have a tougher time than the person suffering from lack. You need to find a desire to change from your comfortable habitat to an environment where you are uncomfortable with the stagnation in your life in order to grow toward your desire.

What if you think this way? I see money as a tool to get what I truly desire in life. It will help me accomplish something in my life that I could not do without it. I have plenty of ideas, businesses and projects in place that I don't worry about money on a limited scale. I desire to have changed the lives of millions and I realize that millions of people will not be changed or made better by my being broke and harboring a lack mentality. I am thinking of what I want people to say at the end of my life and I behave, act and think accordingly.


Do you cringe or have a fearful response? Is lack the dominating thought about money in your life? Do you immediately feel inadequate or undervalued in what you earn? Is there never enough money each week? Perhaps it's the other way, maybe you feel that you have plenty, more than you need. This would be a comfortable place to be I think. And, maybe you are the 1%'er who thinks a little bit differently. Do you think that money comes easy, there is plenty of it, do you see the opportunity to produce it everywhere you look? Chances are, if you are that person, you have a hard time keeping up with your mind and it's ideas.

In any case, you will need to identify what your reaction is. Then you need to decide if you really want something different. After that, you will be required to act. I said all that to get to this point here. If you have a stagnant mind, you will need to change it. You need to exercise your mind and it will grow. Just like muscle, it can be trained to get by and just hold you up or you could be some kind of ripped phenom that accomplishes all it sets out to do. You decide.

Put the blinders on.

"A real leader cannot be slandered or damaged by lies of the envious, because all such attempts serve only to turn the spotlight on the leader's ability, and real ability always finds a generous following. Attempts to destroy real Leadership is love's labor lost, because that which deserves to live, lives!" Napoleon Hill, Law of Success

If you are truly on a path towards greatness, or achieving some definite aim, you will have to be guarded against all the negative things that people will say or do to you. Most people want to "protect" you from the pain of a great failure, it is their aim to keep you safe. At least that is what they tell themselves and sometimes what you tell yourself. The sad reality of this is that their fear has it's roots firmly planted in envy. They want you to stay exactly where you are, exactly where they are. They fear that if they can't do it why should you be able too. People like the idea of people succeeding and getting ahead but only after it has already happened. They like to look back and say "I knew they could do it.". That is rarely displayed while you are in the process of succeeding. You would probably hear words like risky, dangerous, foolish, and whatever else you can think of to try and demean the efforts of another. Henry Ford is one of the greatest example of this. He was told over and over again that he would never amount to anything and that stupid "horseless buggy" would never be created much less marketed and sold. Thank God he kept focused on what he was doing, could you imagine where we would be today without his vision.

If you are blessed enough to be able to lead people in any endeavor, you must be unshakable in your resolve to complete the clearly stated objective. People will follow a true leader with these qualities to the ends of the earth. You can bet that envy and jealousy of others will try to stumble their giant steps only to be trampled on like so much of their own broken dreams. So, do what you know in your heart to be true and just, the right people will notice and they will follow.

Living Intentionally

"Is what you are intentional or accidental?" The E-Myth, by Michael Gerber.

I know that who and what we are is more than what we do for a living. I also know that what we do for a living affects every area of our lives whether we realize it or not. It has great impact on who and what we are. If what you are doing for a living is not raising you up, then it's dragging you down. There is no stagnation, it's either up or down, always in motion. It doesn't even matter the size of the paycheck, it hangs upon the feeling of reaching for your calling in life. If you have a calling in life you are, at the very least, started in moving toward it. Providing that the calling is strong enough in you, your actions will line up toward the attainment of that purpose. If you don't have a calling on your life, you are letting life live you, you are living accidentally.

If you are serious about who and what you want to be then start with this very simple exercise. Write down the names of 5 people whom you admire. List the attributes in them you really admire. You are using at least 5 people because no 1 living person can have it all, nobody is a complete package. Now, take 30 minutes a day and read those attributes aloud as if to say "I am (Bold, Courageous, Loving, Kind, Attentive, Ambitious . . .)". You are reading it out loud because "Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God". If you aren't hearing it, the vibration of your voice is not energy. When you speak aloud, you are creating some form of energy that God can use in your life, it affects your mind then your actions. The end.

Choo-Choo!!

"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." Will Rogers

I can't believe how simple this little number is, yet, we often fail to recognize it's truth as it affects our lives. You may be getting things lined up in your life, you might already have things lined up, or maybe you've just thought about lining things up. In any case, the next step is to get moving, to apply some action to your plan. Hit the streets with your ideas and test the waters. It is through that action that all progress is made. If there is no action then that great idea you had has dwindled from a mighty oak to a weak little dandelion. You'll notice that there are more dandelions in the world than there are mighty oaks. Whatever your idea, put action to it. Try it and you will see great results from your effort. Most people are busy trying to get through to next week, try thinking about breaking through next week, to the destiny that you know belongs to you. After all, you are on the right track now aren't you?

Relationships, what do you think?

"You will reap what you sow." By somebody who wrote it down and published it.

Good stuff here. This little phrase packs a real punch if you look at an aspect of your life that is in shambles. I will not pretend to know what that is for you but, if you're honest with yourself then you are the only one that needs to know anyway. Here is an example of what I mean. A man, lets call him Alfonso, is complaining all the time about how nobody invites him out to do anything . . . ever. To Alfonso, this is because everybody else is blind to just how much fun he really is, everybody just doesn't see his genius. What Alfonso doesn't see is this, he has not opened up the door for people to invite him to do anything. This is his day; he wakes up and immediately turns on the TV to some of the worst news anybody could possibly hear or watch, setting the tone for his day on the negative. He listens intently at how wrong everything is and shakes his head in a disapproving manner while brushing his teeth. Next, Alfonso gets into the car for his commute to hell, I mean his job, where he turns on some horribly "edgy" morning show where they are doing a "Battle of the Sexes" topic. Now that he's listened to that, he hates women. Finally he gets to work where he treats everybody like they are the terrorists he saw on the news this morning blowing up a crowded train depot somewhere in the middle east. Lunch time comes and he just wants to be alone for a half hour so, he goes to his car and eats his egg salad sandwich and grumbles about all the idiots he works with. He goes back to work after lunch and pretty much works to get through to the end of the day. Now, the commute back home is upon him. He gets to sit on the freeway for an hour with everybody else who has had a day just like his, an awful experience that he dreads even more about tomorrow. Finally, he is home. Home is his palace, Alfonso goes inside and is quick to lock the door and shut the blinds so that the evil that is out there can't get in. He grabs bite to eat, for one of course. Then our friend, Alfonso, paces the living room waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for one of his co-workers to ask him to go watch a much anticipated scrapbooking competition that is happening downtown. Alas, Alfonso is disappointed again. He knew that all his friends are just too busy with family, soccer games and church to pay any attention to him. He reasons with himself that there is nothing he can do about it so he walks over to the Walgreen's and picks up some Wild Turkey, comes home and gets plowed and falls asleep under the heavy weight of the world closing in on him. Then, he gets to do it again tomorrow.

Let's look at why he has not been invited to anything by anyone.
1. The first thing he hears in the morning is bad news. This puts him in a bad mood because everything is going off a cliff. He has yet to leave the house and it's all falling apart.
2. He treats everybody around him like crap. Nobody would invite an a-hole to anything.
3. He blames his problem on everybody else, he has yet to realize that he is the antisocial one.
4. He expects the SAME thing to happen tomorrow.

Now, let us run through Alfonso's day after he reads this blog posting. Alfonso wakes up in the morning and he's not hung over from drinking himself stupid the night before. Quite the contrary, he decides to skip the news and heads directly for some positive and uplifting music on his IPod to play while he gets ready for work. Alfonso, is feeling great and looking great, especially now that he is wearing a smile on his face. He gets in the car for his opportunity to go to a job that nearly 10% of Americans who are out of work would love to have. He stops by the Krispy Kreme and grabs box of doughnuts for the office. He makes his way by the cubicles of some of his co-workers and makes the greeting and lets them know that he has Krispy Kremes in the break room. He asks a little about their previous evening and gains an insight on what they are interested in. Maybe, Alfonso will have an interest in that same area and he can invite them to go participate in that activity next week. It's lunch time now and he goes into the lunch room and eats this time. He makes some small talk with those in the room, talking about the weather (people love talking about weather, why? Who knows?) and other current events. After lunch he goes and gets his work all finished up and sets up the workday for tomorrow. It's time for the commute home now. This time, instead of listening to some drivetime idiot DJ on the radio, he puts in "The DNA of Relationships" by Scot Anderson. He is tuning his mind to building relationships. On the way home, he gets a call from a co-worker, Heavy D. Heavy D asks him if he would like to come over and play some "Left 4 Dead" on the XBox 360. Alfonso agrees that it's a great idea and swings by the Little Ceasar's Pizza and grabs 12 boxes of pizza for $8.00. His evening is set and all is changed in Alfonso's world because he realized one very important thing.

He cannot blame others for what is his problem. He decides that it is his problem and then makes corrections to his behavior and actions. Alfonso has owned his situation, he has not blamed others and camped out on that mindset. He made changes in himself to grow. So can you.