Daniel 6:3 (KJ21) — Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.

Frenemies:

Excellent is defined as: extremely good, outstanding, extraordinary, pre-eminent. When you begin to excel, you will find that people, coworkers, may look for ways to hold you back and tear you down. How should you deal with those who cheer at your failure and even try to cause it to happen?

Holiness:

Conduct your life above reproach. That doesn’t mean perfectly — it simply means you will have nothing to hide. You work hard and produce. You purpose to live a life that would be hard to criticize. You may get criticized for your faith, but not because of the way you act or work. Learn to walk and live according to the word of God — in holiness, living a moral and pure life, serving the Lord in a way that pleases Him, separating yourself for His service.

Purpose:

An excellent spirit is purposing to live a life honoring God, purposing to do things right, not the good-enough attitude. You work hard and purpose to be outstanding or extremely good. It’s becoming more and more difficult to find people who possess an excellent spirit about them. But we can all strive to be better, do better, and live better.

Let’s live a life with excellence.

Just a thought,

PSS

As we serve the Lord, there are a few things I believe we have to learn.

Must-haves:

Jesus said, If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else — your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26). Jesus is teaching His ways, His word. Pleasing Him must be the number one priority in our lives, over everything else. If not, we cannot be His disciple.

Self-will:

In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus speaks of those who do what they want, what they think is best, instead of what He wants them to do, what He says is best. They are self-willed instead of God-willed. We must learn to be obedient to God’s ways, His word. That is what He desires. So many miss out on His blessings, His help, because they do what they think is best, instead of what He asks. It’s so sad to me to watch this.

God-will:

If we would simply learn it’s not what we want, it is what He wills, we would all be living the abundant life Jesus came to give us. In order to affect the lost, see them saved, we must let them see us becoming successful, living victorious lives. They are watching how we handle setbacks in our lives.

If you really want the blessings of God, do what He asks (John 14:21).

Just a thought,

PSS

How do you see God? How do you honor and please God? These are questions all of us should ask ourselves from time to time.

A designer god:

Do you really believe? Or, do you wear God like a sticker, a patch, or a designer shirt? Do you believe when it’s convenient, or do you purpose to please Him in all of your ways, especially when it’s hard?

The real deal:

With God, you can’t compartmentalize your walk with Him. You can’t act one way at church and act another way at home, or at work, or out socializing with friends. Too often, when people are caught doing wrong, they are quick to say, “Yeah, but I’m a Christian. I believe in God.”

Getting to know God:

If you are truly right with God (as in, saved or born again), then you will have a real desire to get to know Him. You will want to please Him. You will want to learn His ways and follow His teachings. You won’t be living two separate ways, but you will be consistently living according to God’s word, wherever you go. Your walk will match your talk.

God will no longer be a patch you wear. Instead, you will purpose to serve and please Him in everything you do.

Just a thought,

PSS

So many people know about God, but not as many know God. There is a big difference.

Knowing about:

I know some things about Michael Jordan, but I don’t know him. I have never met him, talked to him, hung out with him. I can give you a few facts about him: he played basketball, one of the greatest (arguably the greatest) to ever play the game. But it doesn’t mean I know him. That’s how too many people are with God. They know some things about Him, but they don’t really know Him.

Knowing Him:

Once we get born again, saved, we should begin to pursue God, and really get to know Him. Too many believe the ultimate goal is to get saved. That is just the beginning of our relationship with God. The ultimate goal should be to know Him. How do we do that? One way is by doing His word, reading His word and then acting on it. You can’t get to know God outside of knowing His word. We need to get to know Him as our healer, as our provider. We do that by reading what He says about those things.

The ultimate goal:

Getting to know Him is our ultimate goal. Philippians 3:8 NLT — Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ. Knowing Christ is the greatest accomplishment in any of our lives. It’s what will cause us to live an abundant, everlasting life. Jesus says in John 17:3, And this is the way to have eternal life — to know you, the only true God.

It’s our call what we seek. If we seek to know God, we will experience abundant, everlasting, eternal, life.

Just a thought,

PSS

At some point in our lives we will all have to deal with disappointment. Disappointment is defined as: sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations; unhappiness from the failure of something hoped for or expected to happen.

Low expectations:

At times, if we are not careful when we experience disappointment, we will be tempted to lower our expectations. People might even tell you that you need to lower your expectations, or that you expect too much. This is not a solution: it’s just an avoidance technique. There are better ways of dealing with it.

Unreal expectations:

In a day and age when we expect things to happen fast, we are seeing more and more people dealing with disappointment. Sometimes people do set unrealistic goals that cannot be met. Then there is disappointment that comes from unspoken expectations. We expect someone to do something that we have never spoken about.

Managing disappointment:

There are times when we set ourselves up for disappointment. No matter how it comes, we need to manage this emotion of disappointment. We can do this by having a backup plan if whatever we desire to happen does not happen. We can also realize that failure is not permanent, and that not everything will work out in our timing. We need to learn from our failures and grow from them. So, don’t allow setbacks to keep you from your dreams and desires.

We can overcome disappointment with faith — believing God’s word is true, and that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.

Just a thought,

PSS