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Tuesday, June 15, 2010Be Offensive
Imagine yourself in the middle of the sea rowing your boat in deep calm waters. Suddenly, the sky turns dark and a great storm arose on the sea. Your boat is being covered with waves; what will you do?
Start panicking and worry yourself to death or kneel down and start praying for divine intervention hoping that an angel would fly by and calm the storm or would you row your boat as fast as you can?
Let's read a similar scenario in the bible from the Gospel of Matthew - and behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing!" He said to them, "Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. (Matthew 8:24-25)
From this reading, the apostles physically had Jesus in the boat. By faith, the apostles should have nothing to worry about, right? I believe that if the apostles had faith the size of a mustard seed they could have stopped the storm themselves. They could have saved themselves from being reprimanded by Jesus - but that did not happen. The apostles started to panic!
If you are one of the apostles, what would you do? Would have done the same thing?
When you analyze your situation, the storm, the waves and the fear and anxiety that torment you, the answer becomes obvious. To be on the offensive side - row, row, row your boat!
But, is that really the answer?
For me, merely rowing your boat is being defensive.
For the past few weeks, I have been very busy with a lot of things. But regardless of my enthusiasm on the things that I'm doing, I could not understand why I have to struggle every step of the way.
I have a dream, I have enthusiasm but I also have an excuse - my struggles. It's exhausting. But in spite of being worn out, the main reason why I get excited each day is because of the plans I wrote to help me achieve my objectives. In the scriptures, the Lord tells the prophet Habakkuk, "Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets that the one who reads it may run." (Habakkuk 2:2)
This is the secret to successful goal setting - documentation.
When you have a dream or a vision, it should always be written. Because a vision is not a goal; it is nothing more than a dream until you write it down and commit to it. That is your master plan.
This is probably why God gave us the bible. It's the message of God for us in written form. He also gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us every time we read the bible. He gave us the scriptures to direct us what to do. For every obstacle we face, God provides us a scripture for our needs. Sometimes the same scripture is read but it gives us different meanings based on our needs.
Just like when I was writing my blog last Easter. I always thought the reason why the stone rolled out during the resurrection of Jesus was for Him to get out. The message to me that Easter was, He really didn't need the angels to open the tomb for him to get out. The tomb was open so we could see in.
The same scripture but different meaning based on the situation we are in. That is how the Holy Spirit works in our lives.
Reading the scriptures and writing your dreams is taking offensive.
This is probably why I've been struggling lately. I am not taking offensive. Even though I pray every day, there are still times when I don't include God in my plan of action (as I have said before, I am a work in progress).
When Paul the apostle said, walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) - he is simply saying in whatever we do we have to have faith that we can succeed because by faith, God is with us. God is not a God of failure but of success.
We do not place our eyes on what we see but on what we believe that we will see.
Writing your goals and dreams keeps you in order. Our guidance from the scriptures prevents us from wasting our time and energy on anything.
Writing opens doors for bigger things. Enthusiasm builds and momentum grows. That is taking offensive.
Taking offensive is risky.
In investments, being offensive is having an aggressive portfolio. Everyone knows that an aggressive portfolio gives you the highest rate of returns; however, it also gives you the highest rate for loss. You should be prepared to take a roller coaster ride with your money. Aggressive portfolios are recommended for investors who have a long timeline for investing – ask your personal financial advisor about this (your portfolio may vary based on your risk tolerance).
In the middle of a falling market, never pull out your money. That is playing defensive. You may never be able to recover from a loss when you do that. In the investment world, a crashing market is an opportunity for seasoned investors to buy more investments. Remember, great opportunities happen on where you are, even on worst times.
That's one of the most important thing in our life - what we are doing in our current situation.
Taking offensive is a decision.
You will push yourself to your limits. Your patience is tested. You will get out of your comfort zone. You will be tested again and again specially during the times when things are not going smoothly. There will be times you will question yourself - how long can I hold on?
This is so real for me... today. There are times when I want to throw the towel and go back in the defensive side and be an average person. What have I got to lose anyway? I did what I wanted to do and more. The only question that is stopping me to do it is - do I want to go back on being ordinary again?
Every decision you make is the seed that you sow and you reap according to what you sown. Doing your best at this very moment of your life will always put you in the best place tomorrow. All the fruits of your tomorrow are the seeds you plant today.
Destiny altering decisions are the make or break decisions. Marie Edgeworth said, there is no moment like the present. The man who will not execute his resolutions when they are fresh on him can have no hope from them afterwards; for they will be dissipated, lost, and perished in the hurry and scurry of the world, or sunk in the slough of indolence.
Have I made the wrong decision of not executing my dreams in life, I would not be here today... blogging.
Once you start worrying about your future, you are simply admitting that your fear is greater than your faith.
Think of what you could do rather than wonder what you could have been if you did it.
Dream big! Strive to reach the full potential of your calling!
A persons calling is not limited on the religious vocation. Your calling depends on where you are right now in your current stage in life. Your calling may be to become a skilled engineer, the good businessman, the excellent student, the hard working employee, a great boxer like Manny Pacquiao, or to be the best mom and dad.
Being the best is only one part of the chemistry. Like I said in the beginning, merely rowing is being defensive.
To be in the offensive, you row and pray at the same time.
To be an offensive engineer, be a skilled engineer and pray at the same time.
To be an offensive businessman, be the good businessman and pray at the same time.
To be an offensive student, be an excellent student and pray at the same time.
To be an offensive employee, be a hard working employee and pray at the same time.
To be an offensive boxer, be great and pray at the same time (like Manny does).
To be an offensive mom and dad, be the best mom and dad and pray with your family at the same time.
Pray while you row. If an undertaking does not include faith, it is not worthy being called God's direction. I do not believe that God would call us to do anything that would exclude him out of the picture. When you know that God is with you, who can be against you?
One last thing, have you heard about the TCP-IP concept. Don't worry; I'm not talking about Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP). However, it is also a communication protocol – linked directly to our father in heaven.
From my blog "What if God does not provide" I gave some questions to help you discern if our dream is aligned to God's plans for us. The TCP-IP is the shortcut.
If you have doubts about your calling, check if you hold the TRUTH.
If you have CONFIRMATION about your truth, you will find PEACE.
The Truth, Confirmation and Peace (TCP) are your paddle. If one component is missing, you have a hole in your paddle.
Your direction is given to you - In Prayer (IP).
As you pray and row away from the storm, always remember after each storm, there is a rainbow.
By the way, are you a basketball fan? Do you know which team normally makes it to the finals? Oftentimes, it's the team that plays offensive, just like the LA Lakers :)
For those of you who are not a sport fan, just cheer... go Celtics!
God is the greatest!
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