by Clarence E. Stowers | Nov 10, 2015 | Christian, Christianity, Decisions, Empowerment, Encouragement, Leadership, Prayer, Self-Leadership, Success
Welcome to Day 8 (the FINAL day) of our #PrayFirst Campaign!
For One Week, we will pray for One Minute every hour about One Topic as One Church to One God! Pray for the first 60 seconds of every hour and watch God bless the other 59 minutes! There is power when God’s people pray in unity. Join us as we answer Jesus’ prayer “May they be ONE” (John 17:21).
If you’d like to know more about our #PrayFirst Campaign you can:
- Click HERE to read the overview
- You can read our Day One Devotional on Faith HERE
- You can read our Day Two Family Devotional HERE
- You can read our Day Three Finance Devotional HERE
- You can read our Day Four Facilities Devotional HERE
- You can read our Day Five Fulfillment Devotional HERE
- You can read our Day Six Family Devotional HERE
- You can read our Day Seven Devotional on Finishing Strong HERE
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves…Really?
Although it sounds great, it’s not in the Bible. No matter how good it sounds, if we demonstrate some effort to improve, God will give us a little push in that direction. So we decide to make it by sheer willpower and discipline. The problem is, we run out of steam and lose focus.
Next year, millions will make and break resolutions because they’re trying to solve a spiritual problem through earthly means. The challenge we all face is that we want to be transformed. However, we tend to look within ourselves for the solution. The solution resides outside of ourselves. The solution is God.
Transformation is a problem that we cannot solve. That’s why God sent Jesus! Apart from him, we can do absolutely nothing! In Galatians 3:3, Paul reminds the Galatians that God has given them His Spirit and with this – combined with their faith, they can make it.
[shareable]Transformation is a problem that we cannot solve. That’s why God sent Jesus! [/shareable]
Who Does God Help?
God doesn’t help those with themselves. God helps those who abide with Him and those who walk with Him in faith (John 15:1-5). Our efforts were never the impetus for God’s transforming grace. Nor will they be the impetus for our changed hearts.
[shareable] God helps those who abide with Him and those who walk with Him in faith (John 15:1-5). [/shareable]
The Bible says that we are justified by faith. We don’t need willpower or self-effort as much as we need faith that God will accomplish in us and for us what we can’t do ourselves. He is the source of what we long for and need. Willpower and self-effort can only take us so far in our desire to change.
What’s The Point?
Change is Possible
Focus is Required
Dependence on God is Foundational
Focus requires discipline. As the famed personal finance guru Robert Kiyosaki defines it: Follow One Course Until Successful.
Prayer of F.O.C.U.S (Follow One Course Until Successful)
Lord, right now, eliminate all distractions for the time it takes me to complete my priorities. Help me to turn off the wifi, silence cell notifications, and schedule F.O.C.U.S. time with you. Help me to stay on task and Follow One Course Until I’m Successful. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
[shareable]Change is Possible. Focus is Required. Dependence on God is Foundational. [/shareable]
by Clarence E. Stowers | Oct 5, 2015 | Empowerment, Leadership, Motivation, Networking, Self-Leadership, Servant Leadership, Social Media, Success, Vision
I love adding value to church leaders, pastors, and marketplace leaders.
In an effort to add value to their lives, I decided to attend Pastor E. Dewey Smith’s One Day Leadership Summit in Atlanta, GA.
It’s no secret that I’m a HUGE fan of John Maxwell. In fact, his 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, along with Bill Hybels’ Leadership Axioms travel with me everywhere I go. Attending conferences that equip me to influence the influencer fulfills John Maxwell’s 15th Law – The Law of Contribution – Growing Yourself Enables You to Grow Others.
I must confess that in the beginning, my motivation for personal growth was selfish. I wanted to grow, so I could be successful. There were goals I wanted to accomplish and milestones I wanted to achieve. But along the way, I made a life-changing discovery. My progress in personal growth also opened the doors for others.
Therefore, I’d like to share the top leadership lessons from one of the greatest leadership minds in Christianity, Dr. E. Dewey Smith, Jr. (more…)
by Clarence E. Stowers | Sep 9, 2015 | Decisions, Empowerment, Encouragement, Motivation, Self-Leadership, Success, Tools, Vision
Time is an unrenewable commodity. Once it’s gone, you can never replace it.
The real question is what are you doing with your time?
Each day the average American spends between one and two hours driving to and from work. Yearly we spend well over 300 hours of our lives in our car. It’s the equivalent of 38 work days of driving. Another way to look at it is 13 straight 24 hour days.
[shareable]Time is an unrenewable commodity. Once it’s gone, you can never replace it.[/shareable]
We Spend a Lot of Time Commuting
The average commute in the U.S is 45 minutes, with New Yorkers having the longest trek to work with an average 73-minute commute. Chicagoans came in second spending 64 minutes a day commuting, followed by San Francisco residents with 56 minutes, while those in Los Angeles have an average 55-minute commute, according to CNN Money. (more…)
by Clarence E. Stowers | Sep 2, 2015 | Decisions, Empowerment, Self-Leadership, Success
In Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace study, 70 percent of those who participated described themselves as “disengaged” from their work.
Translation: 70 percent of Americans don’t like their jobs. Yikes!
There’s a reason King Solomon is considered one of the wisest men who ever lived. Thousands of years ago, he posed a question that’s even more relevant today. He wrote:
What do people really get for all their hard work? Ecclesiastes 3:9
King Solomon is asking, “Why do you work?”
Do you work to pay your bills? Do you work to get rich? Do you work so that you can retire? Since studies show you’ll spend 40% of your life working, maybe it’s time to think about the real reason you work.
Let me put it another way: If you’re an average American, you’ll spend about 150,000 hours of your life at work. That’s a long time considering how many people don’t like their jobs. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time understanding why people spend their lives doing something they don’t like.
Again I ask, “Why do you work?” (more…)
by Clarence E. Stowers | Aug 12, 2015 | Decisions, Empowerment, Self-Leadership, Success, Vision
How do you profit from your struggle?
What comes to mind when you hear the word, “Struggle?”
It’s a touchy subject that one rarely wants to discuss, let alone dwell on. If you’re breathing, at some point in life, you will inevitably have to confront it, deal with it, get through it and learn from it.
In every struggle, there’s a lesson and we must learn how to leverage it and profit from our struggles. “When God wants to send you a gift, He wraps it up in a problem. The bigger the gift – the bigger the problem,” according to Norman Vincent Peale.
It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of TED Talks and it’s not uncommon to come across a life-changing message. Zain Asher, national business and personal finance correspondent for CNN, challenged listeners to “Trust Your Struggle.” Check it out:
[youtube id=”BT2XlI8oeh0″]
After watching Zain’s talk, I came away with two valuable lessons:
- Seek the valuable lesson in every problem or difficulty. Every setback you face contains 1-2 lessons that have been sent to you to help you become more successful. Failures feel sorry for themselves when things go wrong. Successful people look for the valuable lesson they can learn.
- Focus on what can be done now (solutions) instead of who’s to blame. Ask: “What’s the good in this situation?”
[shareable]Failures feel sorry for themselves when things go wrong. Successful people look for the valuable lesson they can learn.[/shareable]
When you look for something good, you’ll always find something good. Like Zain said, “I don’t believe in competing for what I want, I believe in creating what I want”
Are you trusting your struggle?
[shareable]Focus on what can be done now (solutions) instead of who’s to blame. [/shareable]
by Clarence E. Stowers | Aug 5, 2015 | Decisions, Empowerment, Encouragement, Leadership, Self-Leadership, Success
I have a confession to make: I waited until the very last minute to write this blog post.
Why? I work best under pressure. Really? That’s just another excuse I tell myself but in reality, it’s procrastination. No matter how many productivity tips I discover, procrastination still stalks me from time to time.
Procrastination is a Universal Problem
Most of us know what we need to do, we just put it off. The problem with procrastination is that it becomes a way of life, a lifestyle. The more you do it, the better you become at it. Some people are professional procrastinators. They are very, very good at it.
The Bible has something to say about procrastination.
Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. James 4:17
I know the things I ought to do, and I don’t do them. Here’s why: (more…)
