We Have to Learn About LETTING STUFF GO!

"The Rabbi asked, 'Do you know why PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN was, without a doubt, one of the greatest world leaders that has ever lived?' His answer would change my life!" - Keith

In the winter of 1988, we were preparing for a concert that Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark band was scheduled to do with Mylon and Broken Heart. In preparation for the upcoming event, I was being interviewed by the host of a local radio station in the Washington, DC area.

            About ten minutes into the interview, the host announced to the listening audience that we were breaking for a few commercials. No sooner had we broken away that the door to the studio opened, and in walked a local Messianic Jewish Rabbi. Under his left arm was his brief case. In his right hand he was tossing a tennis ball up and down!

            Without saying a word, and rather abruptly, the Rabbi threw the tennis ball at the show's host. Seizing the moment as an opportunity to display his sharp athletic ability, the host immediately reached out and grabbed the airborne tennis ball. As the host began to gloat over his quick response to the pitch, the Rabbi looked him square in his eyes and asked, "Why did you catch that ball?"

            Looking somewhat puzzled, the host replied, "I don't know. I guess I've always been programmed to catch things when they are thrown to me."

            At that, the Rabbi then asked him, "Do you know why PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN was, without a doubt, one of the greatest world leaders who ever lived?" His answer would change my life!

            Rabbi said, "The reason that Ronald Reagan was one of the greatest leaders in all of history is, he learned how NOT to catch everything that was thrown at him!"

            Until we finally come to the place where we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that there is nobody and nothing worth our relationship with God, we will constantly find ourselves overwhelmed and sinking under the weightiness of the cares of this life.

            Jesus lovingly warns us that, "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My Words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting (excess), and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares (being unprepared). For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. (Luke 21:33-35)"

            We have to get better at letting go of things that we should not carry with us as the result of effects from the way others my see us or criticize us. If we "drop our guard", and permit those things to take root in our lives - like an insult, false accusations, criticisms, and such - we open ourselves up to what can weigh us down and keep us from moving forward into all that God has for us. If we "reject" those things when they are thrown our way, we keep our focus to be freed from the self-limiting effects of: "unforgiveness, poor self image, bitterness, unreal expectations of others, anger, jealousy, greed,..." and the like. The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Philippians 3:13-14, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

            To those who have given up houses, lands, relationships, jobs, and their very lives to diligently pursue oneness with God, and resist all manner of distractions to fulfill God's plan for you, we dedicate this message to you. If you are one who has not yet invited Jesus Christ into your heart to be your Lord and Savior, right there where you are, pray to God the following prayer.

            "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 you always will! (Selah)

            KEEP PRESSIN' IN... and learnin', and growin', w-i-t-h our Lord and Savior, and also with Keith and Brenda Shealy & Toward The Mark family.

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!

We INVITE You ... to follow and share these resources that are also available, for helping build your faith in God, His Will, and His Ways: 

~  "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" on Facebook 

~   "TTM Singing Sergeant" on Twitter 

~   "Between The Lines PODCAST" on TTM's Libsyn Channel
HEAR (podcast): PRESSIN' In With God... Trade Anxiety & Fatigue for Confidence & Strength!
+ Keith's song *WON by ONE*

CLICK HERE to make a tax-deductible contribution securely by PayPal.

Every gift is tax-deductible and helps, and we thank you for it!

Mail tax-deductible contributions by check or money order made out to:
Toward The Mark, Inc., P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152. 

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 to Don't Take Your Gifts to the Grave post.

           Take me to Salvation is For Every-Day Life post.

           Take me to Emergency Warning to Professing Witches post.

           Take me to Passionate Pursuit of Singleness post.

           Take me to We'll Miss You, Dad Shealy post.

           Take me to 75 Years Ago: Pearl Harbor & Fleet Admiral Nimitz post.

           Take me to Our Military Vets Out of Sight...Out of Mind post.

           Take me to Where to RUN When Trials Come post.

           Take me to Caught Up With Jesus post.

           Take me to True Leaders Speak Life post.

           Take me to Greatest Hindrance to Significance post.

           Take me to Keith's MINI-Series Journey #1 of *Keep the FAITH* post.

           Take me to Keith's MINI-Series Journey #2 of *Keep the FAITH* post.

           Take me to Rattlesnake Revelation post.

           Take me to Gold Star Families Gave ALL post.

           Take me to Love of GOD post.

           Take me to My Broken Vessel's Fiery Trials post.

           Take me to Magnetic Mantle...Why Cats Should Have Kitties post.

           Take me to Run TOWARD 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.

           Show me Flipcard titles

Toward the Mark, Inc. © 2005 - 2017 | Privacy Policy and Terms of Use apply | (757)251-2440 TowardTheMark.com | Resources@TowardTheMark.com

The Fruit's on the End of the Limb

When was the last time that you "went out on a limb" or, as we Christians say, stepped out in faith for something, especially to the point of actually hearing the limb cracking under you?

W hen I was in grade school, I remember very vividly the passion that I had for building things, especially tree forts. Each night before my friends and I would start to build, and we built quite a few in those days, I would lie in bed and my mind would come alive with visions of a tree house that was second only to the one in Walt Disney's movie, "The Swiss Family Robinson." I could see it all so clearly: Ladders; trap doors; rope swings; windows; and so much more. I could hardly wait to get home from school to get to work on it.

As you can imagine, each day in class was quite a battle for me as well. It never failed, I would find myself headlong in a fight to stay focused on my school work while, at the same time, struggling to hold at bay the temptation to daydream about everything I had planned for that afternoon. I regret to say that, more often than not, it was a skirmish that regularly ended in my defeat. Once the final bell rang, I grabbed my books and headed for the bus with my bud's. It seemed like the bus ride that actually took about twenty minutes took every bit of an hour. It goes without saying, we could hardly wait to get home! When we arrived at our bus stop, we would jump off of the bus, run home, change into our play clothes, gather up our tools, and head straight for the woods. Finally, it was time to make our vision a reality!

Anyone who is well-versed in the fine art of tree fort construction will tell you that the first order of business is always the selection of the perfect tree. Living in Virginia Beach, Virginia at the time, we found that the best trees were either maple or oak. Even though we also had lots of pine trees, they were not as desirable since their limbs were usually much higher up and rather brittle. Once we had picked out the best tree, we then set out to locate the materials we would need. Fortunately for us, the housing development where we lived at the time was only a few years old and was surrounded with quite a few new home construction sites. We would grab our little red wagons and head straight for the nearest scrap pile. While one guy was picking up discarded nails, others would be digging through the piles for scrap 2x4s and ply wood. Once we gathered everything we needed, we then loaded it all on the wagons and headed for the woods.

With our tree picked out, all of the materials gathered together, and with our dads' saws and hammers in hand, it was finally time to begin construction. We went right to work. Our first project was to cut short pieces of 2x4s to nail to the trunk of the tree. These would serve as a makeshift ladder. Once we nailed enough of them up high enough to reach our desired build site, where the limbs were just right, it was then time to frame up the floor. This was perhaps the most crucial stage of the project. Here is how it works. The bigger you want your fort to be, the further out on the limb you would have go to nail up your first floor supports. So really, the size of your fort was directly related to the courage of the guy whose job it was to make that first trip out on the limb. To put it simply: little courage, little tree fort; big courage, big tree fort! After quite a few painful plunges to the ground, I was able to develop a pretty fail-safe method of doing this. I would climb out on the limb until I heard it starting to crack, then slide backward about two feet and nail the floor support at that spot where I could reach. It never failed. This way we knew that we were actually building the biggest tree fort that we could for the size tree that we had chosen. It was interesting, you could actually look at the size of some of the other guys' tree forts and tell a lot about their level of courage, or lack thereof. Sadly, most of their forts were really nothing more than small platforms nailed very securely to the truck of their tree. It's a simple fact, 'scaredy cats’ never build big tree forts!

I soon found that the same theory we used for building tree forts also applied when picking apples out of a neighbor's tree. It did not take but a few seconds to see that the apples did not grow out of the trunk of the tree and, if we wanted to enjoy them, we were going to have to go out on the end of the limb to get them. Sure, you can cling to the trunk where it is much safer, and occasionally reach far enough to grab an apple or two, but if you really want an abundant harvest, you will have to go out on the limb. This is not a task for the faint-hearted. The whole time you're out there, you're faced with two thoughts: First, just how good the apples are going to taste once we get out to them; Secondly, just how fearful it was to think of taking that much-dreaded plunge to earth. I eventually learned that, the more I would venture out on limbs, the less often I would fall.

When was the last time that you went out on a limb or, as we Christians say, stepped out in faith for something, especially to the point of actually hearing the limb cracking under you? For some, it could be getting the courage to share your love for Jesus with unbelievers. For others, it could be asking their boss for a much-needed promotion, or getting the courage to leave a church body that is steeped in religion in order to pursue one that practices the complete Word of God. No matter what you are pursuing, the sound of the limb cracking under you means different things to different people. To most, that sound represents impending doom that usually results in the abandonment of reaching their goals in life while, to the rare few who have overcome fear and doubt, that cracking sound is always an indication that abundance lies just ahead.

In the business world it is a well-known fact that the risk-takers eventually become the money-makers! This same principle also applies to our life in Christ. If we truly want to live the abundant life that Jesus Christ came to provide for us, we are simply going to have to turn loose of the trunk, or go beyond the place of comfort in our lives, and climb out to where the fruit is. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10) We refer to this process of going out on the limb as "stepping out in faith". And, if we are going to be successful as Christians, "walking by faith" will have to be a regular part of our daily life. Successful Christians do regularly what unsuccessful Christians do only occasionally! "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7) As a matter of fact, our living life by faith is not simply an option, it is mandatory if we want to be pleasing to God. Paul teaches us, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him (God): for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)

If we truly want to be successful in God's eyes, we must make “stepping out in faith” our way of life. Think about it for a moment. Do you personally know and love God enough to trust Him and to stop clinging to the fruitless truck of life's tree? If not, abundance will always remain out of reach for you. Everything is based on faith where God is concerned and, frankly, those who do not trust Him will always live on the outside of a whole, fulfilled life. Ironically, this is where the vast majority of folks who claim to be Christians dwell today. The Church today is filled with hearers of God's Word, but very few who are the doers. "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." (James 1:22)

The unsaved world, whether they know it or not, looks for people who will lead the way IN-to life's fulfillment. Sadly, though those leaders are supposed to be us in the Church, the unsaved world AND the Church today are both in desperate need of "godly heroes". What this means for you and me is that we have the priceless opportunity to both speak and model God's Word to this lost and rapidly dying generation.

What part has God called you to play in this end-times harvest of souls and can you say without a shadow of a doubt that you are doing everything that you possibly can to see that calling fulfilled in your life? One of the most widely publicized accounts of someone stepping out in faith was Peter stepping out of the boat and walking across the water to meet Jesus. "But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. And He said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus." (Matthew 14:24-32) Peter was the only one of the disciples who loved and trusted Jesus enough to even try stepping out.

Never forget, it is always better to try and fail, rather than to never have tried at all! One thing I can guarantee you is, if we never climb out there, we can be sure to never eat of the fruit of abundance!

Imagine how God feels when we believe Him enough to attempt something that we have never had the courage to try before. Much like the jubilation that occurs between parents at the sight of their child taking their first step, God also rejoices when we, as His children, attempt to step out on His Word, like Peter did.

Is there something you are praying for that has not yet come to pass? Is there something that you have wanted to do for a long time but, for one reason or another, you have not yet attempted it? I encourage you to throw off any fear or doubts you may have, and get out there! Launch out into the deep and see if Jesus won't bless you in the same way that He blessed Peter and the guys for their obedience in Luke 5:4-7: "Now when He (Jesus) had left speaking, He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto Him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at Thy Word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net broke. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink."

There is indescribable abundance that God has in store for any one of us who is obedient to act on His word! As a matter of fact, take a look at what resulted from Abraham's obedience to God when he was asked to sacrifice his only son Isaac, who he and Sarah had waited over 100 years to bear. In offering his son as an act of his trust in God and the promises of God, he fulfilled his assignment for his life. "And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By Myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed My voice." (Genesis 22:15-18)

Think about that for just a moment.  Because of that one act of Abraham's obedience, every generation since then has been blessed! Not only do we suffer when we fail to act on God's Word and assignment for our lives, but think of all of those who will come behind us who will miss out on their own inheritance, if we fail to obey God's voice for our lives.

Be courageous, be strong, throw back your shoulders, and walk right into the face of the intimidating spirits that have, in the past, hindered you from possessing the fulfillment of God's promises for your life.  And never forget, "When thou pass through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walk through the fire, thou shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." (Isaiah 43:2)

I encourage you with all of my heart to set aside a time to pray and fast for the purpose of hearing God's voice for your life's assignment.  If I had not faced my own fears where climbing trees were concerned, we would have never enjoyed playing in the nicest tree forts or eating the sweetest apples.

God has blessing beyond measure waiting for you, as soon as you get out there and take those steps of faith.  "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."  (Philippians 4:13)

Thank you so much for allowing Brenda and I this opportunity to share our heart with you.  We  pray that this blog message will, in many ways, help you as you “press toward” the high calling of God in Christ Jesus for your life. And, to help you further in your pursuit to fulfill God’s purpose for you in your life, read this message in its entirety, and eleven more messages, in our book Letters From The Front available at TowardTheMark.com. If you have any questions or would like to place a special request for multiple book copies, please send us an e-mail or order by mail at the address shown below.

Your friends & servants in Christ,

This message, and all of our Bible-based resources, is made possible by the support of our faithful partners. Would you consider helping us expand our outreach capabilities by becoming a monthly financial partner? Your support will go toward fulfilling our God-given calling to help provide effective, contemporary outreach tools for the churched and un-churched alike to know 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)

CLICK HERE to make a tax-deductible contribution securely by PayPal.

Every gift is tax-deductible and helps, and we thank you for it!

Mail tax-deductible contributions by check to the order of:
Toward The Mark, Inc., P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152.

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!

Also available in Audio Book

It's Time To Turn Loose

As a young boy I use to love hiding under this big bush in our front yard.  One day, as I was under the bush looking out toward the street, something caught my eye.  About ten feet or so from my " hide-out" standing on our side walk was one of those big black and yellow bumble bees.  I watched as he was desperately try to fly, but each time he did he could not get but a few inches off the ground and would fall back down after only a few seconds.  Thinking that the bee might be injured, I crawled out from under the bush and went over to assess the problem.  As I drew closer to him I noticed that his legs were so completely covered in thick bright yellow pollen that it weighed him down to the point that he was, to coin an aviation term, "grounded."  If the bee had only known to turn loose of some of the pollen, he would have been able to get back to doing what God had created bees to do, "FLY!"

The simple fact is, if we are going to be able to move into the things that God has for us we are going to have to become proficient at turning stuff loose!  Paul, knowing just how detrimental the past and the things that lie there can be to our future successes teaches us, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."  (Philippians 3:13-14)

So often we allow things into our lives that restrict our ability of "reaching forth unto those things which are before."  Satan knows full well that if he can get us loaded up with enough stuff, that he can essentially "ground" us to the status quo, making any forward progress in our lives extremely difficult to achieve.  "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"  (Mark 8:34-36)  A very wise man, who witnessed my overloading and spreading myself way too thin in the ministry, once pulled me aside and said something to me that would forever change my life.  He simply told me that I needed to select my battles more wisely.  The same goes for the choices we make concerning who we allow to get close to us, what we allow into our eye-gate and ear-gate, and so on.

Until we finally come to the place where we know without a shadow of a doubt that there is nobody or nothing worth our relationship with God, we will continually find ourselves "grounded" under the weightiness of the cares of this life.  Jesus warns us, "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting (excess), and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth."  (Luke 21:33-35)

No matter how we slice it, the effects of sin are terribly weighty!  Like having someone three times your size continuously pinning our shoulders to the floor, the results of sin will always cost us our freedom and, ultimately can and will cost us, our lives.  Whether the burden you may be carrying today is self-inflicted or a result of someone else's actions, it really does not matter.  What does matter is that we become proficient at "turning them loose!"  Jesus said, "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (1 John 1:5-10)

You might ask, what if the thing that I am struggling with is not a direct result of my committing a sinful act?  What do I do then?  It is of the utmost importance that we first understand what sin really is.  Sin is not simply sex, drugs, murder, stealing and the like.  These are merely means by which sin gains access into our lives.  Sin is actually "anything" that separates us from God Himself.  It's that simple!  Whether the sin in your life is self-inflicted or a result of a generational curse, it does not matter.  Sin is sin and Jesus stands more than ready to forgive, or deliver, us from them all!  So, if you know that things are not right between you and God, if your communication with Him has been cut off, if you find yourself "grounded", do not panic.  Take a deep breath, relax, examine your heart, confess your sins, and walk away from practicing whatever it is that gave the sin access into your life.

So, you see, if the pollen-laden bumble bee in our story would have only "turned loose" of the pollen that weighed him down, he would have been free to fly.  I beseech you desperately, if there is anybody or anything in your life that is separating you from God, "Turn it loose- right now!!"

We invite you to follow these additional Scripture-based resources that we make available to help us Press Toward the Mark of becoming "one" with our Heavenly Father:

~ "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" on Facebook
~ Keith's "Between The Lines" Podcast on LibSyn channel; and

~ "Toward The Mark" monthly teaching feature on the website

Working WITH GOD--Fulfilling HIS Dream

~ Guidelines for Working WITH GOD ...

                           and Fulfilling HIS Dream~

            We are living in a time where satan is working through self-serving church-goers to condition the general population to avoid, at all costs, anything that resembles the church of Jesus Christ. This is where we come in!

          The only correct way to serve both God and His people is to approach *the work of the ministry* in the same way as Christ Jesus... with an all-consuming love for everyone, no matter who they are, what they can do for you, or what they have done in life - good or bad! We must walk in His same kind of selfless love for others, meaning we are dead to our own selfish wants and desires!

         

          Because the general mindset in the church today is that the pastor and his staff should do all of the work of the ministry, the equivalent of "a welfare state" has been created. This demonic revelation that has been forged in the minds of many Christians – that the giving of their tithes and offerings somehow releases them from service – has greatly diminished the Church’s effectiveness where spreading the love of Jesus Christ is concerned. Don’t buy it!!      

          Imagine if the gardeners in the Church did not connect their garden hoses to the Water Source. The result would be barren fruitlessness. God said, "For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and carved them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)

           

          If you know folks who have made a bold stand against the things of God, wrap the things of God in love and give it to them with a smile. I have found over the years that the phone company, the USPS, and the world-wide web provide three of the most effective means by which we can daily spread the love of Jesus to people.

         

          It is time that we all throw off any preconceived misconception of what ministry should be, gird ourselves with the towel of loving service, and be counted among the ranks of the “Selfless Servants!”

         

          “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)

~ Email us and let us know if this has blessed you. Also, follow our "Between TheLines" podcast every Monday, and Wisdom-packed Wednesdays at "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" Facebook page, & place a ministry donation for your TTM Resources today.  We look forward to learning more Scripture-based truths with you, and being encouraged with you, as we conquer the devil and his ploys, and live a whole, fulfilled, truly happy life in Christ Jesus. ~