EGO can keep you from achieving, or cripple you so you can’t achieve.

On my morning walk I was thinking about an interesting thing I might like to do, and then about the reasons to do it, or not. One of the things that popped into my mind was “Oh, I could do that if I lived in that town where nobody knew me, but not here.”

The idea of interest wasn’t bad or shameful, it just doesn’t match my current identity—how I THINK people view me. So my Lizard Brain (Thank you Seth Godin for the term) was signaling that I should preserve my identity and not take the risk of being seen in a totally different light. Message to self: NOBODY cares about your image but you. NOBODY really thinks and pays attention that much. If you think they do, you are an ego-maniac.

A friend of mine found himself in debt because he sponsored a big name professional athletic event. I asked why and he quickly replied “I wanted to feel good about myself. I thought if my name was in lights beside the team’s name it would mean something.” He now knows it doesn’t. But his ego took him on an expensive trip that he’s still paying for, and it is in the way of some other things he’d really like to do.

So, I’ve confessed. And I’ve outed my friend. How about you?

Is your EGO in the way?

(Written by Zig Ziglar, www.ziglar.com)

Virtually all of us have experienced the phenomenon of watching a movie and laughing and, on occasion, even crying.  The tears and laughter were not brought about because somebody put something in the theater seats, but rather by something shown on the screen which entered your mind, affected your emotions and produced the tears or laughter.

The exciting thing is that there is something you can do about your emotions, whether you are “up” or “down,” and  the choice is yours.  Most people who are “up” don’t want to do anything to get “down,” but, surprisingly enough, according to a study done at Ohio State University, everyone who is “down,” does not necessarily want to get “up.”  Maybe there is some truth in the old saw that “misery loves company,” or that some people enjoy having “pity parties.”  At least they seem unwilling to take positive actions to cure the “doom and gloom” feeling which they have.

The question is, why would some people elect not to change their gloomy state of mind?  A follow-up study revealed the answer to that question.  It has to do with self-esteem.  Those who felt good about themselves even when they were in a foul mood felt they deserved to feel better and took positive action to accomplish that objective.  Those with poor self-esteem had a tendency to maintain that foul mood by pursuing their negative thinking, which produced the feeling.

One fast cure for overcoming gloomy feelings is offered by the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas.  Many years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger stated that when we are down, if we will seek out someone else who has a problem and get involved in helping them solve theirs, we quickly forget our own.  So the solution is simple.  When you’re in a blue mood, help someone else solve their problem.  Both of you will feel better, which means I can see both of you AT THE TOP!

Here’s a fabulous word from Fred Smith, reprinted from Breakfast with Fred.

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I was playing golf with the head of a financial company. Out of the blue he asked me, “Fred, do you think God will take away my money because I’m not active in church?” “What makes you think he will?” I asked. “My family tells me he will.” They’re using religion to police him. No wonder so many have a jaundiced view of our God. 

This goes on all the time. I was listening to the tape of a Christian friend’s funeral. The officiating minister said, “Jesus got lonesome in heaven and took Chuck home to be with him.” What is that widow supposed to think about such a capricious God? What do his children and grandchildren think about a God who gets so lonesome He takes away someone they love? I thought to myself if Jesus wasn’t with Chuck during life, then Chuck isn’t with Jesus now! What intellectual dishonesty. 

Growing up in a parsonage I had a bird’s eye view of people who took out their hostilities intimidating others with the threat of God’s displeasure. It took me a long time to understand a God of grace. 

I was speaking at a meeting in our state capital. After the meeting, a young man with a bright, but noticeably serious, face came up to me. “Mr. Smith, do you have anything I can say to my wife? We have just lost our two year old son.” He paused and then quietly said, “Do you think I am getting paid back for my past sins?”

I don’t know who put that idea in his head, but I would love to write that person a long letter about the nature of God. I would write about a God I know who doesn’t carry out grudges against unsuspecting and innocent children. As I said this to him, he was relieved. 

We are called to spiritual integrity. We are called to rightly represent God. 

This morning, with a cup of coffee and bowl of oatmeal in hand, I stepped onto the wrap-around porch which hugs our farmhouse and into the early dawn that was awake with color and noise. The daffodils are in full bloom. The bluejays were squeaking, the chickadees were chirping, and mourning doves were cooing. Only a few yards away a wild turkey was chortling the find of some new morsel. But loudest of all was the rooster, crowing as if he’d orchestrated the whole thing. It was a glorious and beautifully noisy cacophony of praise that caused my heart to say “Yea God!”

 The Bible says “the trees of the field will clap their hands.” And today, they are.

THIS is Living Abundantly!

Do you ever talk to yourself? Maybe you should. The words we say to ourselves have great power. I can’t explain all the brain science behind how they work, but I can tell you that what you tell yourself, about yourself, influences outcomes in your life. A batter who says “I’m gonna miss it” strikes out much more often than one who says “I can hit this pitcher.”

Words matter. And the words YOU speak about YOURSELF and to YOURSELF matter the most.

I was pondering this notion as I thought about David in that epic battle with Goliath. You may remember that Goliath had told David “I’m gonna tear you to little bitty pieces and feed your flesh to the birds of the air.” But the story records that David said “When the lion came after my sheep I went after it and I killed it. When the bear attacked the flock I tracked him and killed him dead. And this Philistine shall be like one of them.”

Here’s the question: Who was David speaking to? The scripture tells us that David’s response was in answer to Saul who’d said “You are just a boy going against this giant man.” But I wonder if David was speaking TO Saul, or was David perhaps muttering to himself in response to what Saul had said. I sort of think David was rehearsing past victories in his mind, in order to prepare himself for the next victory; a bigger, greater, more magnificent victory than any in his past.

I want to be a man of living, active, demonstrable faith. I find it builds my faith when I rehearse what God has done for me in the past. It fortifies me to face the bigger battle of the future. And I’m convinced the battles and the stakes in the future will cause those things in my past to look like simple skirmishes, because God continues to equip his people to do greater things. Daniel 11:32 says “…The people who know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” (KJV)

Part of me wants to be content and not challenge any mountains. But another part of me knows that “doing exploits” is part of the DNA that God puts inside of us when he comes to take up residence in us when we are born-again. So, that means that the bigger things that lie in front of me are going to require ever more faith to accomplish and I’m going to need to remember what God has done for and through me in the past, in order to build my faith for the future achievements. One of the ways I “work” my faith is to talk to myself about what God has done in the past. “God did this small thing, then he did this bigger thing, and now that I face this gigantic thing, the God who was with me in the small thing and the bigger thing will work through me to accomplish the giant thing. I can do this because nothing is impossible with God; because greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world; because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me; because He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond all that I ask or think according to the power that works in me. Get out of the way mountain!”

That’s how mountain moving faith takes root and becomes established in your life. And its why we should be careful to journal and record the ways in which God shows himself daily in our life, so we can go back to those journal entries and remember well what’s happened in our past.

Are you facing a difficulty? In what smaller ways has God helped you in the past? What does the scripture say about you, and what is God’s promise to you in this situation? Remember those moments and find those promises. Mutter them to yourself everyday, often. Yesterday’s victories are the foundation for tomorrow’s greater victories.

Remember: God is for you!

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I love to hear stories of how God is working in your life. Leave a reply below and tell me what God is doing in your life.