The Daily Challenge’s blog

Ephesians 3: 14-21

So I bow in prayer before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth gets its true name. I ask the Father in his great glory to give you the power to be strong inwardly through his Spirit. I pray that Christ will live in your hearts by faith and that your life will be strong in love and be built on love.

And I pray that you and all God's holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ's love - how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. Christ's love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God. With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine.

My Prayer

Lord, I pray that I will grow to WANT to experience your love. At times I seek affection, love, and acceptance from people who will never love me the way you promise to in your word. Help me to be satisfied with your love. Help me to be satisfied with you. Help me to be patient as I grow into the woman you want me to become. Help me to be patient as my life unravels and unfolds the way you want it to unfold. I pray that you will always be enough – and that I will WANT you to be enough. In the name of Jesus, AMEN!!!!

Isaiah 41: 10

10 So don't worry, because I am with you. Don't be afraid, because I am your God. I will make you strong and will help you; I will support you with my right hand that saves you.

2 Timothy 1: 7

7 God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power and love and self-control.

          I’m looking at my mountain of self-teaching books – including the two I just bought yesterday, and now I’m like…..WOW! I BETTER become everything I want to become, or else, LOL.

          I’m spending a ton of money funding my dreams, and I better accomplish them too. The decision, of course, is mine. Whether I pass or fail professionally, vocationally, and even financially is all dependent upon me. Success is up to me.

          It’s scary knowing that something so big is in my hands. I want to live in my dream home, and drive my Range Rover. I want to live comfortably and be able to give what I want to give, buy what I want (and need) to buy, and live how I want to live. But the difference between that - and being 30 and still living at home with mamma ‘cause I’m broke - is in my hands, and under my control. Success and failure is based on the decisions I make here and now.

          I am so scared. Life is unpredictable. You can trust in God all you want to. I need help in that area, myself. But God does allow certain circumstances to happen. Though He’ll never allow more than we can bear – life is heavy sometimes. My life is so precious. Life itself is so precious. I don’t want to screw it up, but when I weigh the negative verses the positive, I end up seeing a bunch of crap that needs change. I end up seeing someone who went all through life with no dreams, goals or visions. I was lost, without a clue and feeling stuck. Now I know my calling. Now I have a dream, a vision and several goals – but what I’m lacking is faith. All I have is fear – and unfortunately, that’s what drives me.

          I have faith in what God has called me to do – but I am so scared that I’ll never measure up and I can’t stand it! Writing is as simple as what I’m doing now (but, with a tad bit more care for structure, organization and action)! I didn’t think about sitting here and writing this blog; I just did it. I simply felt like blogging, and now, here I am. No second thoughts, no doubts, no fears. Just simple, plain writing. Why can’t approach my NIP (novel in progress) like that? Or my screenplays like that? Or my plays like that? Why can’t I simply get on craigslist and write:

Hey. I’m looking for some local-to-DC community theatre actors and actresses of all ages to be a part of my theatre arts group. I am also looking for some set builders, seamstresses, backstage assistants, etc. These are not paying jobs; so if you’re looking for compensation, please know that I’m just starting out – with your help. I hope to grow to the point where compensation is an option, but for now, this is simply community theatre.

Simple, right? One would think. But, okay. What scares me about that is my lack of cash flow. If we put on a production, where would we have it? But, Tyler Perry was dang near homeless. Now look at him. He started somewhere, and I probably have more than he had starting out! If he found a way to escape a bad situation and live his dream, why can’t I? Because I’m scared, that’s why.

What would I even be like without fear? What type of person would I be? What would I have accomplished? The good thing about that is: It’s never too late to find out.

Show us your bible.
Submitted by Connie.

Bibles

I actually have more Bibles, too!

Guys, I’ve been reading but:

1.)   Not as much as I should be,

and,

2.)   I’ve been sick, so blogging is the last thing on my mind.

Some of my blogs have been kept up, but this one is lagging behind!

I’m feeling much better, though, so I’ll be blogging more faithfully next week (or, this week. since its Sunday and all, LOL).

I Corinthians 13:4-7

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud.

5 Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done.

6 Love takes no pleasure in evil but rejoices over the truth.

7 Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always endures.

            I really don’t think I need to say anything else here! These verses make me want to start a “love blog,” because love is a daily challenge within itself. What about verse 5 in its entirety? What about the first half of verse 4, about love being patient and kind? I’m kind more than I’m patient, but sometimes I’m lacking in both qualities.

            This verse is a challenge every single day, and I wonder if I will ever get it down! Lord, my prayer is: Teach me how to be obedient to this scripture. Help me become a reflection of this scripture. Father God, this scripture teaches me how to love, but PLEASE! Help me WANT to!

Proverbs 15:22

Plans fail for lack of counsel,

but with many advisers they succeed.

My name is Christina, and I have “I can do it by myself” syndrome. I don’t need anyone else, because no one else cares about my plan the way I do, no one else understands my plan the way I do, no one will give me the help I need – so I may as well do it all by myself.

I can’t tell anyone my goal because they won’t take me seriously, or they’ll try to talk me out of it, and I don’t want to be hurt when I realize that people don’t believe in me.

If I tell Whatsherface over there, she’s going to tell everybody my plan, and that I’m going to her for help – and I don’t want the whole world knowing my business. I’m better off just making things happen on my own – because I can’t trust anyone else to keep my business confidential.

Sadly enough, I’m not exaggerating. Those really are reasons why I don’t go running to folk to receive the counseling that this verse speaks of. Everything’s a secret to me. Nobody needs to know anything, because the last thing I need is a thousand people’s opinions on how to operate certain aspects of my life!

I don’t even give people a chance to help me, because I don’t tell them I need help! Actually, I barely tell myself I need help. I just keep convincing myself that I can do it all. I just work as hard as I can, stress as much as I can, complain as much as I can and before I know it; the job’s done. But not before ten other things start lagging behind and falling apart.

Sometimes my problem is procrastination, but a lot of times, my problem is shutting people out and denying myself the opportunity to recruit and receive help. I’m talking about stupid stuff like fetching dinner for the whole family and saying, “I don’t need anyone to go with me.” Then there I go, trying to juggle two bags of Chinese food, two bags of drinks, my purse, my keys – and I’m trying to unlock the door without having to put the bags on the ground because I don’t like putting food on the dirty ground.

Even worse, I’ve refused to see a tutor for my math class. I wasn’t going to give up until I figured out how to solve and graph the equations on my own. Needless to say, after work, I’ll be heading to school to drop that class before I receive an F. I just wasted about $500.00 of my hard earned money because I chose to figure it out myself vs. getting help – FREE help that was readily available to me! Call it the “I can do it all by myself” syndrome or the “self-hero” syndrome…call it pride, stubbornness, stupidity or plain insanity…..it doesn’t really matter. I have a problem nonetheless.

Lord, help me to not be so prideful and non-trusting. You’ve placed a bunch of people in my life that I can count on and depend on to help me when I need help, and advise me when I need advising.  Help me to realize that if I could do it all by myself, I’d be YOU! But even you have Jesus, and the Angels, LOL! I’m certainly not You, God. I’m a mere mortal, LOL. Help me to be obedient to this scripture and seek counsel for even the smallest of things. In the name of Jesus I pray, AMEN!

Philippians 4:4-9

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

First of all, rejoicing is the last thing on my mind right now, LOL. Here I am at my job feeling so….out of place, and bitter about it. Here I am with not as much money in the bank as I’d like to have and I’m feeling quite bitter about that too. Here I am, never having finished school, and wondering what my life would be like if I had a degree like everybody else in America. Would I be here? Would I be as miserable as I am? Would I be doing something I love or even like for that matter? Cause I’m certainly not rejoicing about what I'm doing now!

How dare the Bible tell me to rejoice at a time like this? (LOL). I mean, I have hopes, dreams, aspirations and goals of my own. Now I have to sit here every day and listen to my parents’ hopes, dreams, aspirations and goals for their business – which I work for. I’m starting to regret my impulsive nature. I’m starting to regret that in my haste to escape one situation, I jump right into a brand new situation – and that situation usually turns out to be far worse. I wish I was one to, instead of taking advantage of every opportunity that looks decent to me, take more time out to pray. All this indecisiveness and impulsiveness wouldn’t exist if I actually gave God the time of day every once in a while!

This scripture tells us to be anxious for nothing. So whatever my situation is; that means don’t worry, don’t stress, don’t agonize, don’t pace around back and forth, don’t plan for a plan B, don’t ask a thousand questions about it, don’t Google it and see what the experts are saying – but be patient. Be calm. Be anxious for nothing, the Word of God says. But this is probably the most challenging thing I will ever read in the Bible. God, help me to trust in you – because the root of anxiousness in my mind is lack of trust in You to control the situation.

The hard part – which should be the part that relieves my mind - is the part when I’m promised a guarded heart and mind in Christ Jesus. For some reason I find comfort in agonizing. I’ve gone and created a comfort zone out of my anxiousness. Something about a bad situation makes me not want to have peace. Maybe I enjoy being secretly mad at a person. Maybe I enjoy plotting revenge that I know I’ll never take. Maybe there’s more fun in figuring out how I’m going to get out of a situation. That always makes me happy. If I’ve devised a plan B, put it into action, and it proved to be beneficial, I’m left smiling and feeling proud of myself.

But I need to consider who allowed the situation to take place in my life. God wants to be the one to rescue me. Why else would he allow certain plots to unravel in my life? I can’t be walking around with my “self-hero” syndrome. God wants the glory, and He alone deserves it. He wants to fix the problem, so he can get the glory. But we have to let the dang problem go! We have to stop being so anxious every time something bad comes up. We have to stop being so worried and acting so afraid.

            God is promising to guard our hearts and minds because He has everything in control. There are a million scriptures that come to mind to prove that.

Verse eight of this passage is a challenge too. Because God doesn’t want me thinking about how much I hate my life or regretting every decision I’ve ever made. God wants me, and all of us to think on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. Anything else just shows my lack of trust in God’s ability to show up – and show off!

Romans 15:13
I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace while you trust in him. Then your hope will overflow by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The challenge is; will I allow God to give me this peace as I trust in Him? Will I even decide to trust in Him? LOL, that's the challenge.

The prayer is that God will give us peace and joy while we trust in him - but it's really hard to even trust God when we feel our world is crashing down. Even if we 'put the problem in God's hands,' we're still constantly worrying about how the situation will turn out. Joy and peace make us sick at that point! We feel we shouldn't be happy, don't deserve to be joyful, will never experience peace.........and all that proves that we really don't trust God at all - or we really don't know God like we should - to know that He can be trusted.

So....my prayer today, God, is that I will learn how to trust you. You're an amazing God and the last thing I should want to do is fix problems and situations on my own. The last thing you want me to do is waste countless hours worrying about what's going on in my life. I need you. Help me to be anxious in nothing (that may be the scripture one day), and allow you to fill me with the peace that passes all understanding. Thank you,

Today’s Challenge comes from Luke 16:10-12. The version below comes from the New Century Version translation of the Bible.

10 Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with a little is dishonest with a lot.

11 If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then who will trust you with true riches?

12 And if you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?

This speaks for itself. How can I want my own place when I don’t even keep the room I have in my parents’ house clean? How can I want to bring in more money when I’ve misused what I’ve got by spending too much on junk? How can I want more money when I don’t take the time to educate myself on what to do with what I’ve got? How can I want a new job? How can I expect to fulfill my dream to become a writer? I can barely get through the day without complaining and whining about how much I dislike the job I have.

In order to progress, we have to learn. We have to grow. We have to have one thing under control before we move on to another. I can’t graduate high school without having a certain amount of credits. Earning the credits needed to graduate indicate that I’ve done all I’m supposed to do to get out of high school and tackle the real world. Those who didn’t have the amount of credits they needed stayed back. They didn’t walk on the stage in June 2000 with me, LOL. I feel like in life I’ve ‘stayed back.’ I know where I want to be, I know where I should be and it’s time I start moving there by taking care of what I’ve got.

If I want a whole house to myself, saving up for it is fine; and one would think that’s the only step to take. But there’s far more involved than just that – as the Bible states. I mean, I’m saving now – but I have to be faithful in keeping my one little room under control before God blesses me with more. I have to prepare myself for more by being thankful for it and keeping it organized and clean. I just have one room to keep clean and I can hardly manage to do that! Imagine if I owned a whole, entire house! Three floors of junk that I wouldn’t know what to do with because I never learned how to handle myself when I had a fraction of that space. As much as I want to get out my mother’s house, I have to be faithful in a little before graduating to the next level.

I am thankful for my job, but maybe I should do my duties and shut up. Excel at what I’m doing now and more doors will open. Show that I can handle what I have to do, and God will allow more to come into my life – because I’ll be ready for it. We can beg God for more…and He may give it to us. But it’ll only be a matter of time that we realize He only gave us the blessing out of love – and to prove to us that we weren’t ready for it. I’ve been there before, LOL. I’m there now.

As for money, maybe I should get out of debt and stop spending money every time I get a little extra of it. Maybe I should tithe a percentage more instead of wasting money on frivolous things. Maybe I should maturely manage what I’ve got before being blessed with more. I see cash bonuses as being able to afford that new TV I’ve been eyeballing. I see raises as being able to afford that new car I’ve been dreaming about. Maybe that’s why I haven’t received either of those in a while – because all I’m going to do is throw it away on things that aren’t of any true value. Be faithful with your $300 a week. Be faithful with your $1500 a month. Be faithful with your $25,000 a year and watch God move. Be faithful with whatever you have in your life that you feel needs to be advanced.

If you’re single and want to be married – don’t spend your life sulking about it. I can ask any married person I know if marriage is what they dreamt of it being when they were single. Most will tell me no. Most will tell me to be patient. To wait. To enjoy my singleness and do all the things they have to beg their spouse to let them do, LOL…

Be patient in that thing that you want ‘upgraded.’ Embrace that and get that under control. We claim our job sucks so we sit at work all day and slack off on purpose! After all – it’s a dead end job. They ain’t paying you no money, and you can’t stand your boss! Why put forth the effort if it’s not going to get you anywhere? Wrong. It will get you somewhere. It will prove that you can handle the smaller things in life – so when the bigger things happen you’ll be more than ready to handle them. And who knows; maybe God will have you ‘skip a grade’ or two. Maybe He’ll take you further than your wandering mind ever will! But you have to be faithful with what you have now!

That is my challenge. Sometimes I slack off because I can’t see myself getting any better. Things have been mediocre for so long and I have hardly any hope for the future. Sometimes I look at my life, shrug my shoulders, roll my eyes and think things will never change. My challenge is learning how to be thankful with what I have, and learning how to manage those things. My challenge is preparing to do more by being faithful in the little.

I was reading Romans 12 today...and most of those verses are going to be challenges for me. When someone does me wrong all I want to do is ignore them for the rest of my life, sulk over it for days, or figure out how I'm going to slash their tires without getting caught.

But Romans 12 verses 14:21 says:
14 Bless those who persecute you. Don't curse them; pray that God will bless them.
15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.
16 Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all!
17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.
18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say:
"I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,"
says the Lord.
20 Instead,
"If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads."
21 Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

This passage pretty much speaks for itself. But the challenge is being obedient to it. The last thing I want to do to someone who's treated me wrong is get along with them! The last thing I want to do is treat that person with love - but the Bible is real. By treating your enemies with respect, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads! In other words; you will thrown that person off. You’ll catch them by surprise and leave them knowing that they have a problem. You’ll leave them feeling like maybe they need to take a few breaths and calm down.

But most importantly, you'll be making God happy by choosing to be obedient to the above scriptures. Don't match a person's evil with evil of your own, because God is calling us to a higher standard. The Man knows what He's talking about - so while it's hard, I'm going to try my hardest to do it His way! My problem is I like to argue - if I know I'm right and especially if I feel violated! The challenge in this scripture for me is learning how to bite my tongue and listen to the Holy Spirit as he brings scriptures like this back to my memory.