Jones Look Like Man, Think Like God

1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-1-62287-243-5
Verlag: First Edition Design Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Wasserzeichen (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 100 Seiten

Do you feel as though you're sinking and drowning in life? Have the storms of life held you back? If so, then this book is a must-read for you. I have fought and won many battles against the darkness of anger, fear, trust and doubt; and so can you. I am not a pastor or a theologian. In fact, I have a secular job, just like most of you, which is another reason why you need to read this book.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Jones, Robert

Leseproben

  Chapter One - The Power of a Negative Thought
  Mark Twain said the man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them. That’s an astounding statement and is so true. During my early years, I was not one to pick up a book to read because I just didn’t like to read, and now I’m writing one; amazing, isn’t it?  After reading this first chapter, you will come to know that it was only because of the divine appointment of the Lord that I was able to write this book.  This chapter is a short synopsis of some of the things that I went through early in life.  There was a tremendous amount of bitter seed in the form of fear and trust that was planted in my life during my early childhood years, through my adolescent years, and beyond.  The bitter seeds became unfruitful crops that caused havoc in my life.  These crops needed to be taken to the throne of God, where only He has the power to sever them at their deepest roots.     One day I hope to share these and other nuggets of truth with men and women, young and old, all over the world. My hope and prayer is that all who reads this book will have a greater understanding of how their past, present, and future thinking, thoughts, habits, and attitudes can affect their lives, and to help guide them to a more productive way of thinking and living by the renewing of their minds, therefore enhancing their lives and the lives of others around them.  I hope and pray that this book touches the lives of all “young and old” all over the world.  Most people, if not all, have had the negative thoughts of fear and trust at some point in their lives and may continue to have those crippling thoughts from time to time.  The inability to trust can be devastating in any relationship, and trust issues are typically, if not always, connected to fear in some form or fashion.  Fear, in my opinion, is the most negative and hindering thought anyone could ever have, because when we fear it opens the door for the enemy to trick you into other crippling thoughts.  When these feelings of fear and worry become thoughts, they can and will become powerful adversaries in your life if you don’t know how to harness them and use them to your advantage.  Yes it’s easy to say don’t fear because the Lord tells us to fear not.  Why did he tell us that?  Of course!  He told us to fear not because he doesn’t want us to fear.  The Lord also told us to fear not because he knew the enemy was going to try to tempt us with fear.  So, it’s not a matter of will you fear again; it’s more of a matter of when fear tries to rear its ugly head in your life, will you be ready?  What will you do?  How will you react?  Will you know how to harness it to your advantage?  There are many books out there on the subject of trials and tribulations, and everything else under the sun. I don’t have the answers, but I know the one who has all the answers and holds the truth to all things.  It’s Christ and Christ alone.  Jesus Christ is the answer, has always been the answer, and always will be the answer - PERIOD!  There is no deliverance from anything apart from Christ.  The majority of material contained in this book came from my life’s experiences and the things that I’ve learned from them, along with some helpful thoughts from the Pastors to whom I have had the privilege of listening to over the past thirty years.  God bless you all.   I don’t have all the answers; but I personally know the one who does. His name is Jesus!   One of the things I want to talk about in this chapter is how to harness these negative emotions, attitudes, and perspectives that are brought on by fear and actually use them to help us move forward in life.  When negative feelings and emotions come, and they will, let’s use them for our purposes instead of letting them use us for their purposes.  Fear in and of itself is not the factor that hurts us; it’s what we do with the fear and, more importantly, what we let it do to us that can harm us.  Someone once said that only 10% of life is what happens to us and 90% of life is how we react to it.  There’s much truth to this statement.  Our reactions to circumstances and life in general set the tone of our day; and that tone, whether positive or negative, has a tendency to carry into the next day, next week, and beyond.  When our inner spirit feels threatened, we fear. When our spirit is at ease and not threatened, we feel love - we feel safe.  I’d like to share a personal testimony with you how my spirit was threatened early in life by fear and then share how the Lord gave me the power to overcome the darkness that tried to overtake me later in life.  It would be silly for me to say that I hope no one else has ever experienced what I experienced in Junior High School because I surely can’t be the only one that has ever experienced these things.  But I would like to say that my heart goes out to those of you who have experienced similar trials.  I truly hope those of you who can relate to this text will benefit from this chapter, as well as the entire book.  My testimony begins at the end of my last year of elementary school, which was 6th grade.  My grades were mostly E’s and S’s which are equivalent to A’s and B’s; so, during those years, I was doing very well in school.  I loved school back then and enjoyed everything that had to do with that experience.  I quickly learned that Junior High School was a whole different ball game.   The Junior High School that I attended was not short on bullies, and I’m thinking they all followed me there.  Here I am walking down the hall minding my own business and these two football players, who looked like giants, push me, one from each side knocking me to the floor for no reason. I would also get cornered in the restrooms, hallways, and any other place these bullies were, and I would often get asked, “Do you consider yourself black or white?”  Before I had a chance to respond, they would answer, “You look black to me.”  Almost every day, three or four boys, much bigger than I, would corner me, threaten me, and push me around.  Yes, I told my parents; and my parents did complain to the principal, but nothing was ever done to alleviate the situation.  Now that may not sound like much to you; but, in seventh grade, I was a super feather and, these boys were football players at least six inches taller than I.  Needless to say, I was intimidated.  Here’s a good one for you. Swimming class was every Tuesday, and we were forced to swim naked. Why?  I don’t know and no one ever had explained that nonsense. That was one of the most humiliating experiences ever.  In today’s society, that surely would not be allowed.  Back in those days, we were disciplined with swats; and in swimming class, when it was time for someone to get disciplined with a swat, the coach would walk the less fortunate one to the end of the diving board and tell him to grab his ankles.  He would then give him a hard swat on the bare butt with a huge wooden paddle, and the boy, needless to say, would fall into the pool.  Whenever I saw that, it would scare the tar out of me, mostly because I didn’t know how to swim.  At that point, I learned how to tread water very quickly, but I never learned how to swim at that time because I made it a point to skip that class every week.  Eventually, though, I learned how to swim in college. I was determined to find a way to get myself out of school, or should I say free from the abuse that I received when I was there.  At that point in my life, I saw no reason whatsoever to attend school, and I was willing to do whatever necessary to rid myself of the situation.  I had to come up with a plan and very quickly, I might add.  Midway through my first year of Junior High School, I began riding my bike to school; and every day, I went on an extended ride and never made it to school.  After several weeks I was found out, and my mom decided to start driving me to school.  After my mom dropped me off, I would walk in the front door, head directly out the back door, and go for a long walk home.  Yes, my parents disciplined me; but, at the same time, they loved me, were there for me, and were sorry for what I’d been going through.  My parents knew everything that was going on. I then started to put up a fuss about going to school, so my mom would often call the school cop to come and get me and take me to school.  So, here I am in familiar territory again.  I had to come up with another plan to escape the harassment and embarrassment that I received while in school.  So here’s my new idea:  I would show up in Home Room; and, after the first period, I would walk out the door and head for home.  I did this in the coldest parts of the winter too, in Iowa.  I recall times when my feet got so wet and cold, I would find a place to sit and take off my shoes and socks.  Believe it or not my feet felt warmer when barefoot and out in the elements as compared to being in my wet shoes and socks.  Talk about the school of hard...