FEAR

Right now, there are many people who sit with a burning desire in their hearts to do something special – something big.

Right now, there are people who think that they left their purposes behind, only to settle for second or worse, third best.

Right now, there are people who have influence in their lives speaking all kinds of doubt and uncertainty to accomplishing that big thing.

Right now, the world needs someone to step up. More than ever, we need people who are willing to take that jump with no parachute knowing that if the LORD does not show up, you will certainly die.

Well, jump.

Take the leap. It is time.

Some still have some baking in the oven, but there are many who are called. The chosen few know who they are and need to jump.

For, if you fear, you will certainly not accomplish that big thing.

God is with you. Take the leap.

Jump now.

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John Stein has 23 years business experience working with companies of all sizes and industries including Arthur Andersen (way before Enron), Prentice Hall Professional Software, CPA Systems and Escape Velocity Systems. His background includes various leadership roles in sales and marketing.  Learn more about John and his company at elevate29.com

Tactics Come Later

Now is the time to really go after increasing your presence in the marketplace. There are many companies who are drying up and going away. But, it takes wisdom unlike any prior time. And, it all starts with the big picture. A common trap for many starting companies is to skip past strategic planning and get right into tactical execution.

For example, there is a great buzz today around social media and pressure to get activesooner than later. It is quite easy to launch a Facebook fan page or put your name on Linked In or even start a blog. But, there has to be a reason for this type of activity. I can tell you first hand that keeping content fresh on a blog is work.

But, what is the purpose? What are you trying to achieve? What is your desired outcome?

It is good to know what you want out of the program before you start the project. The foundation must be laid before the walls can go up. Otherwise, the entire house will fall. For your business, the foundation is your corporate strategy. Who are you? Who are your customers? Where do they want to be met? How do you bring value to them better than anyone else? What is your revenue growth path?

Once you develop a solid strategic plan for bringing value to the marketplace as a business, your marketing and sales plans will follow suit. From there, you can roll out the execution of your plans.

It seems simple enough, but it is amazing how many emerging companies sit behind the rock of “I dont have time to do it” and implement marketing campaigns that dry up resources and produce little results. You then get a bad taste in the mouth for that type of activity when it was the entire approach that was flawed.

There are some amazing tools and techniques from a sales and marketing standpoint that will produce great results, and we implement many of those for our clients.

But, know who you are and you your market is. Know what you are looking to accomplish, and develop plans that support where your vision takes the business. Then roll out the tactical execution.

You will see much higher results and impressive ROI.

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John Stein has 23 years business experience working with companies of all sizes and industries including Arthur Andersen (way before Enron), Prentice Hall Professional Software, CPA Systems and Escape Velocity Systems. His background includes various leadership roles in sales and marketing.  Learn more about John and his company at elevate29.com

Receiving Answers from the Presence

This morning, I sat down to seek the Lord this morning about the same thing. Again. For some reason, I just hadn’t received the direction needed. Why, I wasn’t quite sure. He, the Living Word tells us in the book of James that we are to ask for wisdom in faith, without any doubting and He’ll liberally give us His wisdom. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that Jesus IS our wisdom from God. And, here I was again.

This time, however, I could tell that I was about to hear the answer. There was that “pregnant pause”, that alertness and awareness in the spirit that I was about to receive a download. And I did.

So, what was the difference this time when I hadn’t gotten the answer previously? I’ve come to realize that the Lord doesn’t want to just give us commands, “Do this”, or “Do that”, “Go there”, but He delights in His children understanding His ways. We learn, not only from what He tells us to do, but the process by which He communicates with us.

I’ve also come to realize that our hearts have to be properly prepared to hear the Lord. Too often we still wait for His orders as obedient servants waiting to carry them out. What’s wrong with that? Plenty, once you realize that we are to serve the Lord as heirs and ambassadors, not merely purchased slaves. We’re family, not staff. To carry these responsibilities properly, we’re being “renewed to a true knowledge” in the very core of our being, learning in experience the very heart and nature of our Father.

So, when we seek the Lord’s will, despite our admirable intentions to please the Lord, there is often still much self-reliance lurking within us, with self-condemnation waiting in the wings to point out any imperfection in our efforts. Self-reliance is a breach within our being, an undesirable disconnect from God’s presence and power. In this disposition of heart, any answer received from him, quickly becomes a command that we run off with, trying to please the Lord by becoming successful in the new endeavour.

Seeking the Lord for direction is to be with the awareness of what we need from Him, but not in neediness. Neediness, that sense of anxious clamoring within us, produces begging, pleading in our seeking, and is usually full of confusion. Neediness is evidence that some performance-based fear still lurks within: surely God has some high expectations that we had better meet if we are to receive the “Well done”. What a misunderstanding of His character! Seeking the Lord is to be done with complete trust in His being everything we need and His grace that gives it all to us.

The answers and direction we seek from the Lord are closer than our breath or a million miles away, depending on our just being able to peacefully, expectantly receive from Him. Wisdom is in the presence of the one who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth. (Prov. 17:24)  Again, self-reliance creates distance between ourselves and the Lord, dragging the weight of a sin-consciousness that should no longer exist.

What I have experienced from the Lord is the suspension of the answers I seek until my heart is properly prepared to hear Him. The arena He communicates in is the clear communion of faith, devoid of condemnation and performance-orientation. He does not scold or upbraid for our not being all that we think we should have been thus far. In any direction He gives us, He wants us to embark on His plans together.  Him working through us.  Adventures in God. Enjoying life in the perfect law of liberty.

That answer I was looking to the Lord for? He pointed to one of the items in my hand, the “staff of Moses” if you will. It was so simple, but I wouldn’t have known which stick to choose without His direction. As usual, the answer was there all the time, waiting to be accessed by simple faith.

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Delaine Allen is a passionate preacher of God’s Word, stirring the hearers to press on to know Him, who is the Living Word. Knowing that God, “in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things”, Delaine sees all the blessings of the eternal Kingdom as available through living in the fulness of Christ.

Read more from Delaine at www.lifestreammin.org

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