We should never allow ourselves to become stagnant in life. It is easy for
us to fall into a routine and believe the lie that our life has nothing 
special to offer this world. That is a falsity that many of us have 
believed simply because we haven't been taught any different. We must 
renew our minds with the word of God and see that we are created with a 
special purpose and plan in mind. We are God's handiwork. The Lord has 
made us as an extension of Him. We are to move forward in life imagining,
creating, building, and making our life a benefit to humanity. (Romans 12:2)

You need to realize that you are special. You have qualities and abilities
that no one else possesses. You are to use the gifts that you've been 
given to bring into existence that which is still in your heart. Be 
encouraged to do something new. Bring those past productive thoughts to 
the forefront and do today what you have been meaning to do for so long 
before. The Lord will help you and guide you to bring into realization 
what was once only a dream. (Proverbs 8:12) (Jeremiah 29:11) (Job 8:7)

I hope this message ministers to your heart to imagine again what you have
stopped imagining in the past. Think of those stagnant dreams again and be
encouraged to nurture them into existence.


YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE ORIGINAL

I sat on my deck, enjoying the evening. Birds chirped and fluttered around
the birdfeeder in the backyard. Finches clung to a bag of thistle hanging
on a tree branch, only ten feet from me. They'd grown used to my presence
and no longer flew away, when I stepped out for fresh air. I sat and 
watched them pull the thistle through the tiny openings in the fabric. 
Their feathers, red, purple and yellow, pleased my eye.

From a distant tree, I heard the song of a cardinal: purdy, purdy, purdy.
The song changed. It was a starling. Next, it was a version of the robin's
evening song. A little later it was a song I couldn't identify.

It was a mocking bird. For more than thirty minutes, he sang through his 
repertoire of songs. He was loud; his singing perfect. He didn't have a 
song of his own. He mocked the songs of other birds, pieced them together,
and created a concert for my enjoyment.

I was reminded of “American Idol,” a show my stepdaughter, Heather, has me
addicted to. Hopeful singers competed against each other, singing the 
songs of others, judged by a panel of three, now four. The top contestants
went to Hollywood, where they competed against others. Each week they were
faced with new challenges. One-by-one they were eliminated until a winner
was chosen.

A carpenter built a house. He used skills, learned as a young man, to 
construct a basic house. Over time, the carpenter learned more. He added 
his personal touch to his work. He took the basics he learned from those 
before him and made it a creation of his own.

The mocking bird, the winner of “American Idol,” and the carpenter have a
common link. They took the ideas of others, copied and learned from them.
They added to what they learned and created their own works of art.

We don't have to be original. We start with the building blocks placed in
our path by those before us. We have a choice: we can continue to copy, or
we can add our own blocks for the next to follow and learn from.

I have to run. I think I hear my mocking bird outside. I want to hear what
he has created for my enjoyment today.

By Michael T. Smith


Read and meditate on these scriptures:

Psalm 40:1-4 “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined unto me, and
heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the 
miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He
hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see 
it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. Blessed is that man that maketh
the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside 
to lies.”

Ezekiel 36:26-27 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will
I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within 
you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments,
and do them.”

Isaiah 26:3-4 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
Thee: because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in
the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.”

1 Peter 2:9-10 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who
hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light: Which in time 
past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not 
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.


Today’s Selected Poem: THE ROAD
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem83.htm

Today’s Selected Testimony: WHEN OUR BOAT SANK
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony66.htm


In Christ’s Service,

Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry