Every successful person will tell you that he/she had someone or something that kept them motivated during their climb to success. That motivating factor influenced them during the difficult times when they thought about giving up. You can find motivation everywhere and not all motivation comes from something positive. It’s easy to take a positive comment and use it as motivation but it is also possible to take negative comments and use it as fuel to press on. Turn the tables on negativism. Feed on it. Don’t let it defeat you or cause you to give up. Instead let negativism challenge you, view it as an opportunity to show what you are really made of.

If a person is correctly motivated, there is nothing that can stop them from accomplishing their goals. That is why you should surround yourself with people who support and encourage you and avoid people who put up barriers to what you want to accomplish and achieve in life. If someone tells you that you can’t do something it only means that you can’t accomplish your goal with them. Be cautious with what you feed your mind and soul. Feed on positivity and let that propel you into positive action.

God is our final say in who and what’s negative and who and what’s positive in our lives. With God all things are possible. Therefore, you’re absolutely capable of doing anything. You can because of who you are. You are a child of God. Let the thought of pleasing God motivate you to do more, be more and make a difference in this world.

There is only one way to move in the kingdom of God and that is forward! Believers should always be growing and moving forward because if we are not going forward we are either standing still or falling behind. Time continues to move.  Nothing stays the same. Move on to what is next and embrace all that God has for you.  Moving forward will require a higher level of faith but your past victories are there to uplift and encourage you. Don’t fear the future and know that there will also be new battles to fight. Your past victories are to encourage you to keep moving. When we get to a place when the way forward looks difficult, we often tend to take a glance back over our shoulder to see what it is we’ve left behind. We are tempted to think that it’s just easier to turn around and go back or remain where we are than it is to continue to move forward.  We already know what is behind us and the fear of the unknown is real. We are comfortable with what is familiar. We’ve been there and done that and besides, there’s no faith required to go back to where you once were. However, if we always do what we have always done, then we will only receive more of what we already have.

Don’t ever become stuck at where you are right now. If you do, you are settling for less. Want more – you deserve more and the tests you will face will show God how badly you want everything that He has for you. Hold onto your promises and let the tests strengthen you.  There is only one way to pass your tests and that is to keep moving forward. There can never be a time or place in our lives that we stop moving forward! You are not finished yet! The future is full of all kinds of possibilities. We must never accept as permanent what is supposed to only be temporary. Your present stage is meant to be temporary; you have many more steps to climb so never give what is temporary permission to become permanent. Don’t become complacent and stop moving. Standing still won’t get you where you want to go! Turning back leaves you powerless to move forward and remember that other people have a vested interest in you and they want to see that you are determined to keep moving forward no matter what. Always look towards the future with hope and know that every step you take is one step closer to fulfilling God’s plan for your life.

Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is to “the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And the second commandment is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I think the focus on loving people has been lost. It starts by each person loving people. We need to help people feel loved and respected because that’s what Jesus did and God wants us to model what Jesus did. We are to see the good that is inside other people, build a relationship with them and demonstrate a love that is a reflection of God’s love.

I think somewhere along the journey we forget about loving our neighbor as ourselves. We think that going to church week after week and worshiping God is all we need to do. However, showing God how much we love Him goes much further and deeper than that. One of the ways for us to love God first is to love what He loves – the people He has made. Put action to your words. Influence your world. Make a difference in someone’s life. Demonstrate your love for God by giving. Giving a little bit of your time is the most precious thing you can do. Make a phone call, bake a cake, send a card are just a few things we can do to let someone know that we are thinking about them. In loving others, you are loving God. When you do something for someone, you show God that what is important to Him is also important to you.

Love God. Love people. Do something with the life that you have been blessed with. Take pleasure in putting a smile on someone’s face. Demonstrating your love for others shows God that you truly love Him with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your mind because you are honoring the first and greatest commandment.

In Ecclesiastes, the 3rd chapter, the Bible tells us “there is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to up root, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build . . .” I do not believe we can build the kingdom of God in a way that is pleasing to Him until we realize that now is the time to tear down the walls that are dividing us. Then and only then can the kingdom of God reign upon the earth. Galatians 3: 26–28 says “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  God wants us all to understand that race, culture, ethnicity, skin color, rich, poor, educated, uneducated – these things should not divide us. Martin Luther King, Jr had a dream that one day his four little children would one day live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Unfortunately, that dream has yet to be realized because some people feel that they are valued less than others based solely upon who they are.

In John 4^th chapter Jesus is leaving Jerusalem on his way to Galilee. On the way to Galilee, Jesus and his disciples take a route that leads them through Samaria. There was a deep hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans and the Jews avoided Samaritans at all costs, but Jesus showed us that the love of God extends to all people. In Samaria Jesus sat down by a well and when a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus asked her for a drink of water. Just speaking to this woman addressed a racial and a cultural problem. Jews would never drink from a vessel that had been used by a Samaritan but Jesus purposely came to that particular well to offer that woman living water which is eternal life. Jesus is teaching us a valuable lesson. The kingdom of God does not recognize social, racial or cultural differences. How could it? God created man in His own image and the cross justifies and redeems everyone who accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Eternal life is available to all and judging people based on their differences is not how God wants it to be.

The answer to all things that divide us is Jesus. Jesus wants us to find unity in Him. This means breaking with any prejudices that we might have. Believers must be like Jesus. The only Jesus some people might see is you, so don’t hold back, be involved and make a difference. Offer the living water to all in the same way that Jesus did. Colossians 3 says “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Now is the time to step outside our comfort zones and not be content with the way things presently are. Let’s reach out to all people of all nationalities and enjoy the diversity that God has created.

Whether we like to think about it or not, we all are getting older day by day. Some people even try to stop the aging process by paying for a tuck here or a lift there to make themselves look ten years younger. Regardless, time marches on and no one will ever be able to beat the clock and stop the aging process. The good news is that II Cor. 4:16 says “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” Even though we can’t stop the aging process, we do have a way to grow and mature spiritually. A faith-lift is free and available to anyone who has a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Since our faith is or should be centered in the Lord, it should come from the Lord. Our faith cannot be lifted by an outside source. I think we all need to focus more on the Lord and knowing Him personally. Matthew 6:33 says “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” It’s easy to lose heart in life if you pay attention to the events going on in our world today. Focusing on terrorism, racial tensions, the economy or politics won’t work. They won’t satisfy. They won’t result in fulfillment. You will never really begin the process of being renewed day by day until you begin the process of drawing nearer to God. Knowing God is vital to life and once we begin to know God better our faith will be lifted higher and higher and our attitude to the otherwise alarming world events will be one of courage, hope and an assuring confidence that God is still in control.

Christ asked a question in Luke 18:8: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” The fact that He even had to ask is a good indication that faith will be scarce at the time of His return. Hebrews 10:38 states that “the just shall live by faith.” Do you need a faith-lift? If fear knocked on your door today will faith answer? Believers who undergo a faith-lift have a reality of God’s sustaining and intervening presence in their lives. Be certain that you live with that same reality.  Seek God daily and watch your faith lift you where you have never gone before.