The Still Small Voice

What’s Your Focus…

Having some time today really thinking about, and praying about things has been very nice. Very rewarding to be totally honest. To be transparent, I have been really looking down on myself lately for just random things. Feeling like I have been messing up or that my heart isn’t right in areas of my life for one reason or another. Wether it be others making it seem that way, or my own mind beating up my spirit.

So today, I was really asking myself, and asking God, “Why isn’t my heart right?! Where isn’t it right?! What am I doing so wrong?!” And after some real searching and digging in, I have realized that I have been overly critical of myself. 

As a leader, the saying “perception is reality,” is something that I hear daily. This saying is one hundred percent true, and what it means is that what people perceive of you and your life, though true or not, will effect you as if it were really true. I am not fond of this saying, to say the leas, and that could be the compassion in me that really dislikes what this represents. See, I wish that people would really give their perceptions a rest for a while. People have so many opinions and views and judgments on others without even taking one minute to talk about it with that very person. And often times what happens is, their earthly perception gets in the way of the Godly potential in that person. This drives me nuts. 

What happens is, as human beings, we focus so much on other people. I don’t get why, we just do. We get so caught up in everyone else’s lives and drama… when in all actuality we can’t even handle our own. We get so focused on what everyone else is doing… who they are hanging out with… who they like or who likes them… how much they need to check their hearts and change… how they are getting distracted and need to really check their hearts and motives behind everything that they are doing. It’s almost euphoric for us, we get a ride out of looking that the issues of others. It makes us feel better about what we may have going on in our lives.

Humans LOVE getting into other people’s business… I am not excluded, it’s just a fact. People talk about others needing to check their heart or their motives… without doing a heart check themselves… or even getting to know the other’s situation. We focus on everyone else’s lives and what they are doing, telling others they are distracted or not right… but what is that ultimately doing? Distracting us. So, in a great way, what we perceive as other people’s faults, short comings, or distractions… become OUR distractions. How ridiculous is that? 

See… we really need to STOP focusing on what’s around us, and START focusing on who’s above us. We get so consumed with other people’s lives, that we don’t allow God consume ours. 

Now please, those of you who read this don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that we need to do this life by ourselves, or that accountability is not a good thing. Accountability with one another is a necessary thing… if you are asked into it. We try to hold people accountable that we have no connection to, or relationship with. That never goes well. And if you are sitting there right now, reading this, thinking, “NATES WRONG, WE need to call one another out, we need to hold each other accountable because its not right for blah blah blah…” Please re-read the bold statement above. I am 100% for applied accountability, but notice the word APPLIED. 

       Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work our your salvation with fear and trembling. 

Philippians 12:2

Notice how it says your salvation. Not your neighbors, or that girl’s that you know, or anyone else’s… but yours. We have a hard time doing that.

With all of this said, I guess I want to close with a challenge. Not just for those reading by any means, I struggle with this like crazy. And you may think “Wow who is he to talk, he isn’t an expert on this junk, and he still deals with it so who is he to tell me how to live.” Or maybe you are thinking, “Wow, isn’t he contradicting himself by posting this. He’s telling others not to do this well that is what this very post is doing.” (oh believe me… I have thought of all of the rebuttals to this post.) 

To address the first, sometimes we speak better out of experience while going through something because it is fresh, and something that we are currently working on as well. and as for the second, This is something God has shown me, and it would not be right to maybe have God share it with others too. I only post about this because personally, if God is sharing His wisdom with someone else, I would surely want them to then share it with me.

So I guess the challenge is for all of us to start focusing on WHO’s above us, not what’s around us. To stop looking left, right, behind you… and to start looking up. Because I guarantee that if we stop letting the drama and things from others consume our perceptions and thoughts… that God will show up and consume our lives. And if we’re all focused on Him, then all the garbage will have no place in our lives. 

~Fox

Envy.

Envy is something that so many people struggle with it, and may not even know it. Even those who are the most confident, struggle with envy. People just don’t really get 100% with who they are, and who God has made them to be.

Recently, something miraculous has happened in my life. All in all, I am pretty confident, but there was always something that I wish I had like someone else… or maybe looked like someone else, or whatever it may be. But lately I have been spending so much time with God, and so much time looking at the things around me, instead of letting them pass me by… that I have realized how much I love my life. I love what I am called to do, I love the stage of life that I am in… I love it all. I have this sense of confidence more than ever before. I am so happy that I am living my life right now, and no one else’s. I would not want to be anyone else than Me… and that is such an amazing feeling.

I think if we were to step back, we would realize that we don’t all have that… but we should. So I challenge you, what are you doing… or not doing… in your life that makes you be envious of someone else? Do you not love being who you are every second of the day? If you had the opportunity to be like ANYONE else… would you take it? If you answer is yes… why? And if it’s yes, I encourage to find the things in life that switch that for you… because once you do, you truly realize what a beautiful life you live. 

The 3 things you’ll remember from hard work…

When you have a good work ethic, and when you work hard for something… others are not the only ones to notice. There is something said about those who work hard, and work hard all the way until they get their result. It is Colin Powell who said; “A dream doesn’t become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” How true is that? As we’ve all realized since we were in our early teens… magic isn’t real… it’s silly. But we still have dreams, those are real.

We have big, small, medium sized dreams, all of which we want to have come to pass. Maybe it’s something as silly as a dream of having a relationship with that cutie you have your eye on, or something as big as being a world changer; we want all of our dreams to come true. But magic isn’t real, and none of us have a lamp to rub, so we need to work for our dreams. Now that may sound like a bad situation; that we have to work for our dreams, but I disagree.

There are three things that we will remember from our hard work, and the effort that we put into the things that we do. We will remember;

1.) The Price

2.) The Payoff

3.) The Product

Now two and three may sound similar, but they are quite different, and we will get to that later on.

The Price

As we work hard, and in the midst of our hard work, things and life get, well, HARD. That is why they call it hard work. Hard work wouldn’t be hard if it was easy. I know this all sounds obvious, but I feel that people do not always realize that. This generation, more so than others past, has a huge problem will doing what they call “suffering.” When things get tough… the “tough” go home now. Where did we learn this? Where did we learn that going under a little bit of struggle is a bad thing?

More often times than not, people mistake the better route, for the easy route. Those are vary rarely the same when it comes to major decisions, or things in life. Where in the bible does anyone who makes a difference not have to work for it? I think if we were to look at scripture, and the people who made a difference in God’s word, the common theme for all of them was that they were willing to work hard. Joseph, after being thrown away and sold by his brothers was made a slave. We read a few chapters later, though, of a Joseph who is not a slave, but a ruler?  How do you think he got there, from just sitting around and waiting? No, he worked hard, became valuable to the king because of his hard work, and went through some pretty rough stuff. He didn’t look for the easy ways out, or avoid troubles and hardships… no… he knew God gave him a dream and that no matter where he was or what he had to do, he would push through and get to that dream. 

We ALL have dreams. We ALL have a purpose. Joseph had a dream from God, he knew he had a purpose from God. Let’s start being more like Joseph. We know God has plans and purposes for our lives; plans to prosper us to give us HOPE and a FUTURE. We know more than Joseph did, yet we still choose to work less. Joseph didn’t have the bible and the promises of Jesus, Jesus hadn’t lived yet. But Joseph still worked hard, and fulfilled the dream and purpose that God had on his life. How much more should we push through, work hard, and pursue God and his plans, now that we DO have the living and active word of God available to us? Let’s be more like Joseph, because when we do work hard, we will always remember the price that it took for us to get to where we are at. 

The Payoff

The payoff is the thing that I feel most take for granted, along with the product. They are two very different things by the way; and this is how.

The payoff is working hard, sucking up to the manager at work, and finally getting that raise, or promotion you’ve wanted. You are finally seeing the harvest of your hard work.

The payoff is in the moments where you truly start to see the results. Example; the payoff is when you are working with a friend or a student to help them change the way they act, or how they see themselves, and you start to really see them become different and change. You see that your words and your leadership were not for nothing, and that the things you were trying to get through to them really got through. 

The payoff is when you have been working hard in the gym, and you all know that you don’t see results the first day you lift weights. But as you work hard, and keep going at it, and really put effort in it, you start to see some changes. You look better in a bathing suit… people whistle at you in public… that cooler you had has trimmed down into a six pack. You see the results and realize what you’ve done, and the hard work that you have put in has made a difference. 

The payoff is when you had been working hard praying for someone to become healed, or to no longer be broken, or to come to Christ, and you see them raise their hand during a commitment. You have them ask you for prayer for that thing you have been praying for them about. You see the miraculous doctor’s report that they get. 

Now you may be like “wait, work hard in my prayer life? What’s that all about?” Yes, you DO need to work hard in your prayer life. You need to be constantly seeking God to see results. If you aren’t working hard in your prayer life, then don’t bother working hard in your day to day. EVERYTHING is birthed in prayer… everything needs to pass through the supernatural before it presents itself in the natural. We need to work HARD in out prayer life, and not be such sissy prayers. We have authority by the name of Jesus, and we need to take that authority.

If we start to take a step back and see what something cost to us, then we will appreciate and remember the payoff for that very thing we paid such a high price for. Mentally, spiritually, monetarily, etc. 

The Product

This is the thing that everyone wants, but few are willing to work for. This is the stage after the payoff, where you can truly see the blessing that you have reaped, because of the hard work you’ve sewn. When you work so hard at something… pay a true price for it, see the payoff from the price you have paid… then you will always remember that product that you have because of it all.

When we work hard, it gives the things that we work hard to achieve, obtain, experience, etc, a sense of ownership, and pride. Not a bad type of pride, but pride in the sense of being proud of your work and the things that you’ve done to get to where you so desperately wanted to be, or dreamed of being. There is nothing better than having a product that you have worked hard to achieve. When you work hard, when you put your blood, sweat and tears into something, that is when it means the most to you. 

Think about a bird house… what an odd item. You can go out and buy one from Walmart, or Home Depot… and that’s all it is. It’s a bird house. There is nothing special, nothing extravagant, nothing worth while about it. You would never notice it enough to tell anyone about it, or mention it in a conversation. 

But now, imagine a birdhouse that you built. You went out, you cut the wood, you bought the paint, you drilled the hole, you decorated it, you have literally put your time, your effort, your sweat into making this birdhouse. Odds are, now you will take 800 pictures of the birdhouse, and make a Facebook album titled “Birdhouse!” You are proud of it, you’ve worked hard on it… and now something that we would have never mentioned a word about to anyone is something we brag about to everyone.

What kind of birdhouse life do you all want? Do you want a life that you never really have anything to say about it… you just kind of bought it at Walmart. It’s nothing special, nothing great… most people have the same one. There is nothing different, unique, or personal about it. It’s just a boring, plain old birdhouse.

Or do you want a birdhouse that you have worked hard, given it your all, and have invested your time, your effort, and your heart into. A birdhouse, a life, that you are proud of, and want to talk to everyone about. A birdhouse that is unlike anyone else’s, and that you truly appreciate. A life that is worth living, and is exemplifying the glory of God and the gifts, talents, and abilities that he has give you.

We all have a choice… what does your birdhouse look like? Can I find it at Walmart? If so, I recommend getting a value for hard work, and really start to put that into play. I have been blessed to have always have a great work ethic. I have always been encouraged to work hard for the things, the birdhouse that I want from my parents. I have always been a fighter, someone who will work at the things with 110% of my efforts because I know that is what I am called to do. That is the bird house that I have always chosen. And let me tell you, especially in the recent days, God has been showing me glimpses of the payoff… and it’s tremendous. 

I will leave you with one last quote. “The future belongs to the few of us who are still willing to get our hands dirty.” Let’s be more like Joseph… let’s be willing to get our hands dirty. Let’s start building tremendous, original, amazing, worth while birdhouses. And I guarantee you that if you do, you will always appreciate them more, because you will remember the Price, the Payoff, and the Product of your hard work.

Hope you enjoyed, 

Nathan Fox

Bad Company…

“Because none of us are as cruel as all of us.”

~Anon.

Do not be misled; “Bad company corrupts good character.”

1Corinthians 15:33

These two things are saying very similar statements. Just thinking about the relationships that we have with others, and how easy it is for our character, our integrity, the person that we know that we are… to be set aside because of those we surround ourselves with. I don’t want to be like that… my prayer today is that I will no longer let the people who I surround myself ever corrupt who I am, and who God has made me to be. Jesus walked with the sick, the poor, the sinners, the harlots… but never once did he step out of his character. Never once did he let the people around him decide who he was, but rather, he always stayed true to who God made him to be. I want to be like Jesus.

Darkness…

The common man relates darkness to distraction, death, an evil sort of thing. But in reality, that’s not the case. Darkness doesn’t represent evil, but rather, it represents potential. See… where there is darkness, obviously there is no light. What that means, is that in the darkness there is so much potential for light to be shown. When there is darkness, there is then a door open for you to take what light you have, and illuminate that darkness. Darkness means there is room for growth, more room for light to shine. The only time that darkness is evil, or can be evil, is when we don’t take the opportunity to bring light to it. 

What darkness do you see… and why aren’t you bringing light to it?