DON'T Take Your Gifts to the Grave With You... We NEED 'em!

"Fulfilling your purpose God put IN you to fulfill, w-i-t-h Him, is much more important than you might t-h-i-n-k it is!"

Did you know that there are areas of real estate in your own community that contain something so valuable that all of the world's money, diamonds, gold, and every other precious mineral pale by comparison? What are these places? Your local cemeteries! They are the most wealthy places of all, because buried in graves are songs that were never sung, books that were never written, businesses that were never started, and encouraging words that were never spoken. All of those and countless other wonderful things that never became more than good intentions are now lying six feet under the ground.

            WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN? Why do so many people talk about doing great things, but end up taking the visions and dreams that God placed in their hearts to the grave? The answer is simple. They never found out why God put them on earth, and so their lives were mere shadows, having no real meaning. They did not succeed in fulfilling the purpose for which God created them, because only in His purpose is the secret to a successful life to be found. DON'T MISS IT!

            SO, WHAT ABOUT... the people who have written hit songs or best-selling books? Are they successful? They are IF those things were done w-i-t-h God, because what the ungodly understand as success is not truly success at all. While it may be true that they pursued their dreams and accomplished some, or even all, of their vision, whatever someone accomplishes without (on the outside of) Christ is not in the will of God, and is achieved by the arm of the human flesh. Such efforts are the "abuse" of their own being - the "ABnormal USE, or "abuse" of God's original intent for that person's being, with the gifts and talents that He placed in them for His purposes and for His good pleasure. The truth is... Without God we can do nothing!

            The sooner we realize this... 
...the sooner we can begin accomplishing God's purpose for creating us.
...only then can we truly be fulfilled!
...only then can we live genuinely successful lives. For our dreams and visions can only be fully understood and truly realized within the context and fulfillment of God's vision for us. In other words, it is only by fulfilling God's will that we CAN BE fulfilled.

            How do we know what God's "will" is for us, that thing that He has placed in us to fulfill, with Him? Here is a hint. What do you have the most fun doing? What is that one thing that you wake up in the mornings, and go to bed at night, thinking about accomplishing? Remember this, God will never call you to do something you do not like to do. Why is that? Because He knows far better than we do that, if we do not enjoy doing what we are called to do, we simply will not "want" to do it.

            Fact: the Person of The Holy Spirit can help you identify the unique thing God wired in you, that thing God has given you as a gift, for the purpose of working with Him to lead His kids into His loving, open, and waiting arms., Now, get with The Holy Spirit, ask Him to show you what God's Will is for you, and have fun "with Him" fulfilling your calling! GOD LOVES YOU, AND YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS!

            We need what God has created in you for the sake of encouraging all of us, so don't take your gifts, your books, your music, your messages, your businesses, etc. to the grave with you! Press through the intimidating spirits that come to discourage you away from completing the purpose that God has placed in you. And, just as Jesus did on the cross, FINISH TRIUMPHANT!

            NOW, if you haven't invited Jesus Christ into your heart to be your Lord and Savior, right there where you are, say this prayer to God. "Father God, in the precious Name of Jesus Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of all lords, I lay my life at Your Feet. I come before You, confessing that I am a sinner, and I ask for You to forgive me of all my sins - those that I know I have committed, as well as those that I am not even aware of.  I ask that You come into my heart and be my Lord. I lay my life, and everything in it, at Your Feet, and ask that You please take me and begin to change me to be like YOU. I ask that You redeem the time that has passed, and allow me the opportunity to become exactly what You have predestined me to be, from before the foundation of the earth. I commit my life to You now, and thank You for receiving me as Your own. In the wonderful name of Jesus Christ, the son of the Living God, I pray, Amen."  And AMEN!!!

            WELCOME HOME! If you have just prayed this prayer we want to congratulate you for making the greatest decision that you can ever make! By accepting Jesus Christ, or rededicating your life to Him, as your personal Lord and Saviour, you have begun the wonderful process of being grafted into the Family of God, and we welcome you home. We would like to invite you to contact us so that we can send you information that will help you begin growing in your relationship with God. We would also encourage you to begin attending a Holy-Spirit-filled, Bible-believing church right away.

            We advise you to begin reading The Holy Bible daily, whether you understand it or not. Always remember, God's written Word in The Holy Bible is like no other book that has ever been written! When we rendezvous with The Person of The Holy Spirit as we read what God has written there, it becomes stored in our heart for The Holy Spirit to access it to bring to our remembrance.  You will find that the Scriptures will become applicable to whatever you are going through, at any given time!

            There are wonderful Bible teachers on television and on the radio that can, especially early in your walk with God, help you to begin receiving good teaching, and encouragement, right away. Although very informative, these programs are never to be a substitute for close relationships with people who love and serve God. At times, the transformation process that you have now begun will be difficult, and you will be tempted to go back to your old ways of living your old life. It will be during times like these that hanging out with strong Christian friends and mentors will be crucially important. There really IS strength in numbers!

            CONGRATULATIONS!!! We would like to welcome you into the Family of God... right where you "belong", and always will! (Selah)

            And, remember, no matter what,  KEEP PRESSIN' IN... and learnin', and growin', w-i-t-h our Lord and Savior, and with Keith and Brenda Shealy & Toward The Mark's:

XII SMOOTH STONES book, holding the collection of these 12 most-requested Titles:

No Matter What!	The Magnetic Mantle or Why Cats... Have Kitties;
Fire, Pressure, and Them Slithery... Snakes	The Ultimate Home Gym
Vampires In The Church	STOP...
The Great Deception	The Invisible Man
God Is So Much Bigger Than You Think!	Die Empty!
Building Godly Friendships	The Secret To A Happy Life

Twelve of Keith's best lessons-learned that are most-requested by friends and fellow-readers are printed in our book, "XII Smooth Stones" available at TowardTheMark online

We pray God uses this message to fan the flame in your heart for Christ Jesus, His wonder-full Ways, and His Plan and Purpose for you in this life. If you have any questions about our work, or if you would like to make a special tax-deductible donation, place a special order for any of our books, magazines, or CDs, or to share a testimony or prayer request with us, please  e-mail us. Also feel free to write a letter and mail it to TOWARD THE MARK, P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152.

May God bless you greatly as you carry this truth in your heart. We are eternally grateful for our loving Toward The Mark Family of sponsors who make this blog, and all of our resources, possible by their faithful prayer and monthly financial support!

Your friends and servants in Christ,

    

To Show GOD BIG in a World that Sees Him small… 
sums up the reason Keith stepped out in faith to focus on reaching the lost and strengthening believers everywhere, through Toward The Mark, Inc.  Keith and Brenda's prayer is that you will be encouraged and edified by the Secrets from God's Word that Keith recounts in our written and recorded products.

We couldn't do this without the help of our friends!
This blog message, along with the complete collection of original podcasts, music, blogs, books, CDs, and other Bible-based resources of Toward The Mark, Inc. is made possible by the faithful prayer and financial support of the TTM Sponsorship Family. We'd like to invite you to come on-board, to become a part of the TTM Family as well by becoming a monthly financial partner? Your support will go toward fulfilling our God-given calling to help provide effective, contemporary outreach tools that are available to everyone, the churched and un-churched alike, who desire to know more of the love, truth, and salvation of Jesus Christ. We invite you to partner with us as we "press Toward The Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14)

Keep PRESSIN' IN!

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Thank you in advance for sowing your financial seed into the fertile soil of this ministry! We pray God bless you with a 100-fold return for your generosity!

           Take me back to the top of this post.

           Take me back to "The Magnetic Mantle...Why Cats Should Have Kitties".

           Take me to "Valentine's 5-Step Prep" post.

           Take me to "Run TO the Roar!" post.

           Take me to "Overcoming Intimidation" post.

           Take me to "The Heart of Thanksgiving" post.

           Take me to "The Invisible Man" post.

           Take me to "The Abomination of Misrepresentation" post.

           Take me to "Living Among Thorns" post.

           Take me to Keith's Journey through Chapter ONE of *Keep the FAITH*.

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"See flipcard titles"

Don't Say You'll Pray If You WON'T!

Perhaps one of the most subtle things satan does to deceive us away from God, and from serving others with Godly integrity, is working to keep us from realizing the cost of NOT doing what we say we are going to do.  Let's take, for instance, the popular phrase, or commonly-used "sign-off", "I'll pray for you."  How many times do we hear that statement, in a "see-ya-later" kind of voice, and from someone closing a conversation with a fellow Christian brother or sister?  How many times do we make that statement ourselves, then go on about our day, week, and month, and not think about the commitment we had made, or even remember it, again?

Not long ago, Brenda and I attended a special ceremony to observe a change of leadership for a local organization we work with in ministry on occasion.  At the end of the ceremony, as we went through the receiving line, we waited to shake hands with one of the primary national directors over the local organization.  As the person ahead of us finished talking and prepared to move on down the line, he reached out his hand and closed by saying, "Sir, I'll be praying for you."  Brenda reached out, shook his hand next, and shared how grateful we were to see that he was able to be here for this special leadership transition, and added that we pray God bless him for his support.  Being that Brenda and I had been discussing the subject of what the gentleman had said ahead of us, the subject of this blog, I took the opportunity to have a little bit of fun with him, saying, "Brother, I won't say, 'I'll be praying for you' because I probably won't."  He looked at me and, I could see by the look on his face, he was briefly puzzled by my making that comment.  Within just seconds, I could see that a light went on, when, with a big smile on his face, he replied, "I'm glad, because I probably won't be praying for you either."  We both agreed that, when we hear someone telling someone else that they are going to be praying for them, the first thing we think is, "Lord, I hope with all of my heart that that person truly understands the crucial importance of not breaking a commitment or vow."

Jesus blessed us with wisdom concerning this in Luke 14:28-30, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, stitch not down first, and counts the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?  Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish."  Though we are not talking about the construction of a tower, we are discussing the crucial importance of making sure, before we ever commit to praying for someone, that we have taken the time to learn about the needs of that particular person so we are able to pray for them effectively.  Remember, good intentions will never make up for failure to follow through with our verbal commitment to others.

When we tell God or anyone else that we are going to do something, and then turn around and not fulfill that commitment, we not only inflict pain on the one we committed to, but we reveal the lack of integrity operating in our lives.  To any of the people who heard you commit, and then observe your subsequent failure to honor that commitment, it does not matter what your intentions were.  The result is the same as if you had deliberately misled them.

It is easy to say to someone that we are going to pray for them.  That person doesn't know one way or the other if we actually do what we promised them, or not.  On the other hand, however, God does know, ... every vow we make.

When Jesus teaches us of the crucial importance of counting the cost of whatever we commit to doing, He teaches us that it is vital that we calculate whether or not we can keep the vow, and do so before we have made the vow.  Why?  It is because, in the eyes of Jesus Christ, whatever we have done "even to the least of His brethren," whether we have kept our word or not, we have done it to Him, personally!  This is what we must be aware of, and ask The Lord to help us remember always, as Jesus says in Matthew 25:40, "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  A person who says one thing and does another is a detriment to God and to everyone around them!

It boils down to this: If you are going to tell someone that you will do something, you had better think it through very carefully before you make the commitment.  A broken vow is an offense that carries a very stiff sentence in the eyes of God.  Do not be deceived by the use of the word “vow".  This can be something as simple as our telling someone that we are going to pray for them, but we do not—or our telling someone that we will call, stop by, or do something else for them, then we do not.  This especially includes honoring our words concerning punctuality.  When we say we are going to be at a certain place at a certain time, we need to keep the commitment to the T (as in Time).  If we find we will not make it at the time we committed to, at the very least, we should let the others know as soon as we can.  Even our worship depends upon this.  “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.  God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)

There is no way around it.  Integrity must be the hallmark of our lives, in order for us to effectively model ourselves after God, and to verbally represent the Word of God to people!  We must speak the truth and live the truth.  Do not say you are going to do something, and then not follow through.  Whenever a person says one thing but does another, it is lying and will be judged as such.  Listen to the warning Jesus gives us concerning vows that are made in passing, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37)  We must make sure our yea means yea and our nay means nay.

We pray that this message encourages you, and reminds you to S-T-O-P and COUNT THE COST of what you say and how you follow through.  Make sure to ask yourself daily, "Have I made an account of prayers I've committed to today, and am I making sure I really mean whatever it is that I say?

THANK YOU for connecting with us today!  Also, we appreciate you downloading copies of this blog to share with others, and a copy to keep handy for yourself!   

 

Find many more messages based on real-life matters, like this one, in our published book called, "THE CRISIS OF ERODING INTEGRITY."  For more information or to place large-quantity orders, visit us online at the Toward The Mark website today.

We pray God bless you greatly as you have greatly blessed us and the entire Toward The Mark Family!

In Christ Jesus,

PS.  THANK YOU for following the Blog of TTM, Inc. and we INVITE YOU to...  follow and share these Scripture-based tools also as we “Press Toward the Mark…”:

~ "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" on Facebook

~ "Keith Shealy's "Between TheLines" Podcast on Libsyn

~ "Sharing the Secrets God Whispers to me" teaching messages on our website

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Thank you in advance for contributing to the fulfillment of the vision and mission of this ministry!  We pray God bless you, and return to you a 100-fold harvest for your generosity!