God-Esteem: Glory to God

God created us so that He would be glorified.  We bring glory to God when we live according to God's blue print for our lives. In  Jeremiah 29:11 it says that God has plans for our lives.  This plan that God has for us is our purpose.  It is the job assignment that God has for us while we are here on Earth.  When we are living according to the purpose God has for us we are bringing Him glory.  This plan is not limited to spiritual things.  God is concerned about every part of our lives.  The Word says that He knows the number of hairs on our heads.  God is into the details.  He has a plan for our spiritual maturity, a plan for us career or business wise, a plan for us with our relationships and in any other area of our lives.  It is up to us to seek Him out and find out what His perfect will for our lives is so that we can give Him Glory in all we do.

God-Esteem: Destiny and Purpose

The Birth of Destiny and Purpose

I'm hot.
I'm cold.
My emotions are out of control.

I'm bloated
And irritated.

My waist line is expanding
And I am demanding
Fulfillment to these cravings.

I'm back and forth
For restroom stops
I'm uncomfortably
Uncomfortable.

I am pregnant.
I am pregnant with
A girl named Destiny
And a boy named Purpose.

You see there are twins
Nestled in my womb
And I am about to go into labor.

I am fully dilated
And Destiny is crowning
Destiny, she is being pushed out of me
And I've got my eyes wide shut
Closed tight against the pain and agony.

I am pregnant.
I am pregnant with
A girl named Destiny
And a boy named Purpose.

I'm in labor.
Laboring over Purpose.
Purpose seems a little more
Difficult to deliver than Destiny.

There are labor complications.
My blood pressure rises,
Threatening still birth -
A death of Purpose
A dead Purpose.

But I cannot give up on Purpose
Because of my Destiny
I have enough strength for
One last push.

My Purpose seems fragile at first.
His breath is shallow and heart beat weak.
So I ready myself for battle.
I ready myself to war over my Purpose.

I am beyond the point of exhaustion
A weak smile lights my face
There are remnants of the pain, the struggle,
The fear of near death.
Stretch marks will remain as battle scars,
But none of it really matters now that
The twins, Destiny and Purpose have
Been born.

God-Esteem: God's Glory

God’s intention behind man’s creation was to create an expression of Himself to bring Him glory on Earth. Now the other side of that is how we bring glory to God. How we bring glory to God is through the fulfillment of our destiny, whether it be as a preacher, a business man, a doctor, a lawyer or singer. When we are walking according to the divine destiny that God has for us (Jeremiah 1:5), we will bring glory to His name.

Copyright 2011 Kendy Ward

God-Esteem: The Battle Ground

Like God we are also triune beings. We are body, spirit and soul. We are most familiar with our body because it is the physical part of ourselves that is most apparent to us on a daily basis. Our spirit is the essence of life that God the Son breathed into us during creation. It is the part of us that lives forever. It is also the part of our being that we least recognize because we do not see it and do not deal with it on a daily basis, but it is the most important component of our trinity because it is eternal like God. It is the part of us that will either rule and reign with God for all eternity, or be tormented with Satan for all eternity. The other part of our trinity is our soul, which is also composed of three parts – mind, will and emotions. This is where most of our battles take place. Our struggles between good and evil wage in the soulish realm - the mind, will and emotions.

When Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden he did not engage her in physical combat instead he planted an idea in her mind that appealed to her emotions (vanity) and her will to obey God faltered and eventually failed. Satan's tactics have not changed. When engaging us in spiritual warfare, almost every time it starts with a thought he plants in our minds. This is why we have to guard our gates - ears, eyes and mouth against Satan's old tactics.

Copyright 2011 Kendy Ward

God-Esteem: Reflect God

As brilliant as the moon looks in the night sky, it has no light of its own.  The light we experience from the moon is a reflection of the sun’s light.  Likewise we have no true light of our own.  God is our sun.  We are the moon, reflecting His light, His image in us. 

The moon is a reflection of the sun, yet it does not take on the same appearance as the sun.  So it is with us being a shadow or image of God’s characteristics.  When God breathed into man, He breathed into him His character, intention, purpose and destiny. 

When the moon is what we call “full” the sun has an unobstructed view of the moon so its light shines directly on the moon.  When the moon turns away from the sun and the Earth gets in the path of the moon and the sun, we can only see portions of the moon.  In the same way when we turn away from God and let stuff get in between us and God, only a part of His light is reflected on us, making His image in us dark and hard to see or decipher.

Copyright 2011 Kendy Ward

God-Esteem: Let There Be Light

As I mentioned in yesterday's post when we invite God into our lives He bright illumination, but we remove him there is darkness.  During the period in human history known as the Dark Ages we see this demonstrated very well.  I would argue to this period of constant warfare with virtually no urban life, a time of tyranny, sickness, disease, famine, poverty, and illiteracy was mainly because man took God out of the picture.  

This historically period was followed by the Renaissance, which was a period of rebirth of intellectual enlightenment in literature, art, science, religion and government came about when man started to search for God again.  

So we see that not only in our personal lives, but also in history that when God is removed it results in darkness.  When we let Him in there is illumination and revelation.  

God-Esteem: Order

"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Genesis 1:2

Some believe that there is a gap between Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", and the verse quoted above.  God created then something happened that is not recorded in the bible, and whatever happened left the earth without form and void - a mess basically.  In addition to being a mess, it was also dark.  We know this because the first recorded words of God in the Bible are "let there be light".  

So the earth was a dark mess because God was not present.  Then God showed up and He brought light.  He also brought order with day and night.  Whenever we remove God from our lives it results in a big, dark mess.  When we invite him into our lives He brings light and order.

God-Esteem: God's Vision

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (I Samuel 16:7)  

God sees things very differently from the way we see things.  When God sent Samuel to appoint the new king of Israel,  Samuel was looking for someone the right age, with the right looks and the right title.  He never considered that a twelve year old shepherd could  be God's pick for King.  In the same way when God gives us an assignment, we are some times taken back by the fact that He has chosen us because we are looking at ourselves from the outside instead of looking inside at our hearts.  When we look to the heart of the matter we will see God because that's where He lives.  He lives in our hearts. So when we look at our hearts we will see God, and when we see God we will see that in Him all things are possible. 

God-Esteem: It's the God in You

Whether saved or not everyone has had an issue with their self-esteem, and these self-esteem issues go back almost to the Garden of Eden.  In the Bible in the book of Judges there was what might be considered a pretty regular dude named Gideon.  One day Gideon was at work, at the threshing floor, when God showed up.  God spoke to Gideon and explained to him that He a job for him, and that job was for Gideon to free Israel from the oppressive Midianite army.  Gideon is taken back by God’s plan, and responds to God with this,

“Excuse me, God, but you must have me confused with someone else.  It’s me, Gideon.  I’m from the worst family in all of Manasseh, and I’m the weakest person in my family. How can I lead an army that’s supposed to save Israel?” 

Pause right there.  Doesn’t that sound like Gideon had some major self-esteem issues?  Well, the story ends with Gideon and an army of 300, kicking some Midianite butt. 

            What changed Gideon from not having any faith in himself or to liberty an oppressed people?  The answer is a simple one – God.  When he looked at himself he saw God, and his self-esteem became God-esteem.

Copyright 2011 Kendy Ward   

What Dreams Are Made Of

Family vacation has become a tradition of sorts with the Ward family.  It started with my parents before I, the oldest of three children, was even thought of.  Each of the three years preceding my birth my parents visited countries in Central and South America.  They tried to continue their yearly trips once I was born, but my grandmother would not allow them. 

 

My grandmother quite often told me the story of how when I was six months old  my parents went to "that far place" and left their brand new baby girl at home with her for two whole weeks and did not call one time to check on me.  My grandmother told me that story so many times I do not think that I will ever forget it.  My grandmother lived in a very small (I think the new politically correct word may be cozy) house, and she shared with me how my parents brought all of my stuff, including my crib that nearly took up her entire bedroom, to her house as if they had no intention of returning for me.  I think that was her fear, that they had left me there with her and moved to "that far place", which happened to be Guetemala.  Suffice to say there were no more trips for my parents there after.

I vaguely remember going on a trip with my parents when I was a toddler to one of the family islands in my home, the Bahamas, but it was not until I was six years old that the real Ward Family Vacation tradition began.  It was that year that we first visited Disney World.  Disney World was a place that I was very familiar with and had secretly  longed to visit for as long as I knew it exited.  I never supposed in my wildest imagination that there was a way that we could leave my little island home and go to this far place.  I had been on a plane once that had taken my mother, cousins and I to Miaim, but that did not seem very far to me because the plane ride had not been that long. But a magical place like Disney World had to be at a least a million miles away from my little isalnd.  You could imagine my unadutlerated excitement when my parents announced a trip to Disney World. 

 

My sister, Denise, was two years old at the time.  She was just as excited as I was.  We were going to Disney World!  I was right too.  It was a very long journey to get there.  First, we flew on the plane to Miami where we stayed over night in a nice hotel, the Omni Hotel on Biscayne Boulevard, which is now the Hilton.  The next day very early in the morning, earlier than I had ever had to get up, we boarded a bus.  It was still dark outside and the bus was what I imagined was beyond freezing point.  From there the bus driver drove us to a place called Orlando where we checked into another hotel.  By this time I was very anxious and thought that we may never get to Disney World.  We had to then get back on the bus and to my delight within a short time arrived at Dinsey World. 

 

It was really all too much for my little brain to take in.  It was like everything inside the television shows I watched and books I read had come to life.  In the back of my mind I suspected that Mickey, Donald and the gang were not really real, but I had enough imagination to believe that they coud be real.  There was Dumbo from Dumbo's Big Top.  I loved to watch that show on the Disney Channel.  There was Pooh Bear, Piglet, Tigger and E'or from Winnie the Pooh.  There was Snow White and the Seven Dwafts along with Sleeping Beauty.  Then right before my eyes was Cinderella's castle!  My parents let us have candy, ballons, mouse ears and almost anything we asked for. 

 

And that is how it all began.  We went back to visit Disney every year there after.  Soon my brother, Quincy, was born and joined in making magical memories with us.  Since we are all adults now, we have went on other family trips to more grown up destinations.  We have been to various parts of the United States and travelled through out the Caribbean.  My sister currently lives in Africa and has travelled to parts of Europe and Asia.  Still  no matter where we go Disney is still our favorite. This year we return as a family to where the tradition began and we are having a magical time.

 

A friend of mine jokingly said to me that I am too old for Disney World.  Disney does not hold the same meaning as an adult that it did when I was six years old.  Today I see the magic a little differently.  The reason that I love Disney so much has very little to do with the theme parks and more to do with with the man himself, Walter Elias Disney.  I find something very alluring, magical if you will, about a man who instead of just thinking about a thing, dared to do that thing.  Making Disney Land a reality was no easy feat and many nay sayers of Disney's day said that it would be a failure. 

 

Mr. Disney started off in animation. His first famous character was not Mickey Mouse, but rather a rabbit named Oswald.  He lost all the rights to Oswald through a loop hole in his contract to a large distribution company that also has theme parks in Orlando.  Mr. Disney left New York very disappointment and discouraged to learn about Oswald, but it was on the train ride from New York back to his home in California that he first sketched Mickey Mouse.  We all know how successful Mickey went on to be.  The money he made from Mickey allowed him to build an animation studio, which allowed him to make alot of the classics we know and love today.  Snow White and Seven Dwarfs was the first full length animated movie ever, and a box office hit. 

 

The idea for Disney Land came to Mr. Disney when he could find no place where both he and his daugthers could have an enjoyable time when he took them on their weekly "daddy/daughter day" . He started to think up the idea of Disney Land, a place that both parents and children would enjoy.  Mr. Disney loved Disney Land but wanted a more private location for his theme park.  That is when he learned of some swamp land in Orlando that was selling pretty cheapily.  He bought a great deal of the land under various aliases because he knew that if the sellers found out that it was him buying the land the price would go up dramatically.  They did find out it was him purchasing the land. The price increased, but it was after he had already purchased most of the land. 

 

He incorporated that land as two seperate cities, Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake.  This land is approximately half the size of the island I grew up on on!  He started to build Disney World.  Even though, at the time, he had only just began to build Magic Kingdom, Mr. Disney had the whole Disney World as we know it today sketched out.  He never lived to see any of that or even the opening of Magic Kingdom. 

 

I believe that anything good orginates in the mind of God.  Every good idea is a God given idea.  Just like God gave Moses instructions on how to build the Ark of the Covenant, Noah instructions to build the Ark and David instructions on how to build the Temple, I believe God gave Mr. Disney the blue print of Disney World.  It is an example that if you can conceive it, you can achieve it.  A lot of times we are too afraid of our imagination becasue that thing we dream seems too grand, too unrealistic.  My goodness how realistic was the idea of Disney Land when there was nothing like it in existence? 

 

I love Disney becasue it represents for me the notion that no dream is impossible.  If God gives me an idea, it is not for me to day dream about, it is for me to act on.  Now not all of us are going to build multi billion dollar corporations, but some of us can.  Only a few of us will. 

 

I think what would have happened if Noah had not built the Ark.  What would have happened if he spent all those years thinking about building the Ark.  Even though Disney is a "magical" place magic, wishful thinking, hoping has absolutely nothing to do with how it came about.  It came about because of action.  The Bible says that faith without works is dead and the same is with a dream.  A dream without work is also dead.   Dream big and then do big.