Have you ever seen a pen write by itself? If you ever do, please show me. I’d love to see that. But what makes a pen write? Is it the pen? No, of course not. The only way a pen can write is if someone picks it up and attempts to write with it. Can you imagine trying to write with a pen that has a mind of its own? What if every time you tried to write, the pen would refuse to be still and would fight you, trying to write what it wants to write? That would be insane! Of course you wouldn’t be able to get anything accomplished. In the same way, as believers in Christ, we kind of do the same thing. Instead of just being still and letting God do the work, we think it’s up to us to live for Him and we end up getting in the way from letting God do His best work in our lives.  We think we’re helping God but instead we’re just interfering with what God wants to do in us. The only way we are ever going to produce good works in our lives is not in us doing it ourselves.  You see, just like the pen can’t write on it’s own, neither can we. The pen needs to rely on someone using it. We too need to rely on Jesus to use us and produce the fruit of good works in our lives. Yet too many times we try to muster up our own strength to live for God and we ask God to help us. We then start off strong and for awhile we start doing things for God, living our lives correctly but then eventually the circumstances, trials and temptations of life catch up to us and we end up falling back into habitual sin or we simply burn out in our holy endeavors. I personally have experienced this in my life. What I’ve come to learn the hard way is that God’s not so much interested in our doing things for Him.  In fact, God wants us to stop trying to write on our own because like the pen, we can’t. It’s foolishness. Just be still and trust Him to do the work. Remember, when you first believed to receive eternal life? Did you do anything? No, you just believed and you received.  The Bible tells us in Colossians 2:6, “Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.”  How did you receive Jesus? Did you clench your fists and try really hard asking God to help you? No, you just believed. So walk in Him just like that. Just believe you are already complete in Him. Believe that His holy character is and already is being manifested in your life and receive it as being done.  In John 15, Jesus makes a wonderful illustration about this. He describes Him as being the vine and we, his disciples as being the branches. Think about it, branches don’t do any work, all they do is receive what the vine is doing. It’s the vine that produces the sap that produces the fruit and so it should be with us. Quit trying to live for God. Instead live in Him and allow Him to live through you. Get out of the way and instead of DOING, practice the discipline of just BEING in Him, by abiding in a relationship with Him. By faith receive His power in your life by simply accepting His promises to fulfill His work in your life. Then watch and be amazed at the fruit that is manifested in you.  In the same chapter in John 15:16, Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.”  You see, Jesus is basically telling us, it is not our doing ever. He chose us, it is not the other way around and it is Him that bears this fruit, not us. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  Even here we see that these works are not our doing but His and He’s preparing them for us to do through Him in advance.  So the next time you blow it or you feel tired and frustrated by your constant efforts to please God and you’re just not seeing any results, then perhaps it’s time to go back to the vine.  It’s time to just connect with Him in relationship again. Just do nothing but be a branch and receive. Thank Him in advance for the work He is going to accomplish.  Stop trying to be a pen that wants to write on your own, because you can’t. Just be a pen that will be still and just let Him pick you up in His loving hands instead. Trust Him and soon you’ll see the empty pages of your life being filled with life changing and powerful words that only God could write. Words that will change your life and those around you. Words that soon will unfold into a beautiful story. A story He is still creating in and through you and just like a pen in the hands of it’s author, we too will get the honors of simply participating with Him in this marvelous creative process. A process that will one day manifest into another one of God’s masterpieces, YOU. 

Do you ever feel like you’re  a failure? You see all these people on television living their dreams, telling you the meaning of success and you look at your life and just feel stuck, not going anywhere, a loser?  I struggle with that.  I heard one television celebrity say that success is like jumping out of an airplane and soaring. But as he was talking and quoting Bible verses, I could hear the underlying message. Success to him was money. Unfortunately, for a lot of us, we feel so inadequate and like failures because we don’t have the big paycheck coming in at the end of the week. What if we jump out of our planes and take the risk to pursue that dream and it doesn’t work out? They will tell you, to never quit because if you do give up, then you’ll never know what will happen. But even if you follow this advice and don’t give up, there is still no guarantee and you still won’t be satisfied. No, I think that is just simply bad advice, because success is not to be sought after. If success is something we do or something tangible or anything in this world, then we will constantly be jumping out of airplanes and crashing into rocks not ever truly soaring.  I think we have to change what the definition of success and soaring is. Is it making six figures working a job you love? That’s still not a guarantee that this would happen. Is it having meaningful relationships and lots of kids? That’s wonderful but what if you can’t have kids or your spouse suddenly dies or you just can’t find anyone to marry, are you now labeled a failure?  No, my Bible says that all the disciples that walked with Jesus died for Jesus as martyrs. Some were stoned, imprisoned, and even crucified upside down. So, did they not live successful lives? YES! Of course they did. They did soar, simply because they knew who they were. They were able to face death with joy and certainty knowing they were going to be with Jesus because they knew they were loved by God. They were children of God!  Perhaps we need to rethink what success means. We always link it to what we do. In my career I’ve done a lot. I’ve been an actor on stage performing for thousands, I’ve been in commercials with celebrities,  I’ve acted in movies, I’ve been a magician both on stage, and on the street, I’ve also written, produced and starred in my own independent film which was nominated at a local film festival in Florida. I’ve written screenplays for the big screen and I’m currently writing a book and have written close to eighty blogs giving spiritual hope and encouragement to people like myself who need it.  But with all that said, I also work a security job that is boring and monotonous. I have been with TSA for almost eighteen years conducting thousands of pat downs, going through thousands of bags, getting thousands of people complaining about what I am doing to them, a thankless and underpaid job.  So, I ask myself am I a failure? I’m sure when you read the first part you were impressed with my resume, weren’t you? Maybe you thought “how impressive he did commercials with celebrities” but then when you get to the last part of me doing a security job, perhaps you felt sorry for me. Isn’t that funny? We still think of success by what one does. And unfortunately, I still do it too.  Sometimes I ask myself did I do something wrong along the way that God is punishing me?  But again I have to remember that success always comes back to not what I do but who I already am. Who am I? I’m a child of God.  If we put success outside of that, then when circumstances don’t pan out the way we want them to, we will never be truly satisfied. We will always keep jumping out of airplanes hoping the chute will catch us but it never will. Remember, from the moment you put your faith in Christ as your Savior, you immediately became a success. Why? Simply, because of not what you did but by faith you became a child of God and this brings God glory!  The scripture tells us that everything we do, we should do it all for the glory of God.   This is made possible not by our own doing but because of us believing who God says we are. By just being a child of God by faith, you glorify God thus achieving success. Then whatever you do from here on out and accomplish in life, big or small,  is just a cherry on top of an amazing sundae.   In other words, whether I write the greatest novel of this century, live in financial freedoms and travel the world or whether I work a mundane job counting beans in a corner living paycheck to paycheck, it doesn’t matter, because I am a child of God. Whenever we live by faith and operate out of faith, we are living our lives to shine forth His glory not ours and this my friends is the meaning of success!  So, are things in my career where I want them to be? No, but I’m working my mundane job in excellence and I’m still pursuing a writing career. I still believe in something better and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, no matter what happens, whether I achieve my dreams or not whether I’m rich or poor, I’m still a success!  I’m not hoping to be, I always was and always will be and it’s all because I am His child and this brings Him glory!  And that my friends, is truly soaring!!!!!!

1 Corinthians 10:31

³¹ So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

John 1:12

12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—