Last week we spoke about how we had given up our birth right for knock-offs and nearly-new products circulating in our markets, well today I just want to share what I hope will be a nudge in the right direction out of this funk. I’ve never wanted to be one of those people whose lightning-fast mind can list all the things that are wrong and not actually suggest a possible solution or at the very least a better way of looking at things.
I know it sounds a bit harsh to say we have simply given up our birth right but hear me out for a second. If we truly perceived the power of our purpose yet remained inactive for one justification or another doesn’t that imply a sense of stepping back giving the floor to others who claim to have our best interests at heart? What causes that? A secret fear that we are powerless, powerless to step outside of ourselves to make an impact, powerless to change the way we think, feel and act and powerless to keep up the good fight.
Basically there is a paralysing fear that we feed with our inaction especially because we don’t really believe that we had the power to surrender in the first place. Somewhere in our minds colonisers took our power and identity too and that’s where we have been stuck for most of our lives believing that we need to retaliate and our retaliation will absolve us of our own responsibility to carry the weight of our choices after the colonisation.
When I used to hear this scripture quoted
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” [2nd Timothy 1:7]
it used to fly right over my head. I thought it was one of those motivational scriptures that kind of just make you feel better about your lousy existence without actually adding any value to it. If I may be honest a lot of scripture used to sound the same but that was because one fundamental thing was off in my mind and that was the belief that that there was power in submission to God.
Not our idea of submission which is measured by our personal performance but the reality of submission which is to let go of the beliefs that we rank higher than believing the word of God and trusting His love for us. It’s not a walk in the park but it’s certainly worth a try, after all doesn’t He ask us to try Him and see if He will not exceed our expectations. I can’t for the life of me remember the exact wording for this quote I came across once but it said something to the effect of
“one’s power is only taken from them because they do not perceive that they have it in the first place”
It also reminds me of one of my history teachers who always used to say “even dictators need permission to dictate”. As Captain Planet would say “The POWER is yours”..so perhaps it’s time to re-assume our seven kingdoms in this Game of thrones called Life.
We have the ability to choose to be better today, right now without the lingering judgement that the enemy tries to throw at us at every positive step we try to take. When I say better I mean taking honest stock of all the things that are in our power to change that we haven’t changed for whatever reason. I’m talking about taking the power back by deciding to move even just a centimetre a day. God doesn’t expect lightning bolt leaps and bounds in faith because He knows that He has the power to ignite your faith.
If we could only take the right step then all the rest would follow because what is on the outside is really a reflection of what we have buried deep on the inside hoping no one would ever see. Think about the Apostle Paul who was less than a model citizen, but once he was touched he made an inspired decision and from that moment on his life acquired a new purpose that is still impacting our lives to this day. He became a willing slave who was happily bound and ready to spread this love right up until his dying day.
I’ve started to watch something called TED talks and this has changed my mind about a lot of things that used to hinder me in my walk. They are basically a series of short talks of between 10-20 minutes where the speaker shares their profound revelation from their experiences in life. These are successful entrepreneurs, business owners, writers, designers and philanthropists all with a desire to spread positive ideas for a better world or at least better experience in the world. As I’ve grown in faith I have started to realise that God-inspired things don’t always have a cliché bible verse at the end of every sentence or a picture of Pastor and wife on them.
I found these two talks particularly interesting and I’m just going to leave the title and speaker here if you want to have a watch:
- “The art of being yourself” by Caroline McHugh and
- The one by Andrea Pennington (forgot to take note of the title…woops but she did say something I liked and that was “An original is always worth more than a copy”).
- “Don’t settle for safe” by Sarah Jakes (this wasn’t a Ted talk but Lord knows it will move you)
Be inspired 😉
