Holy Cow, the Holy Spirit smacked me today.

This article was revealed to me by the Holy Spirit today after a friend put me on the path to it with just a few comments. I thank the Lord that I was listening. As I read it, the feeling was akin to being hit in the gut.

It is time to remember who is calling me, stand up and act with power, humility and authority all wrapped in to one single package of simple service and action. We must trust in the Lord, maintaining our perspective, seeing the opportunities laid out before us, and then acting with our "full armor" on.

"The opposite of faith isn't doubt, IT IS FEAR." said Scott

========================

Vulnerability of Victory (commentary on 1 Kings 19)
Following excerpted from article above by By: J. Hampton Keathley, III , Th.M.

.... Examples like Elijah in 1 Kings 19 stand as warnings or danger signals, not as excuses for failure. In the lessons that follow, we will look at the failures of Elijah and how the Lord lifted him up, put him back on his feet, and back into ministry.

The all important ingredient is focus and an attitude of trust in the Lord. The following is one of the best illustrations I know of the importance of keeping a focused and right attitude:

The colorful, nineteenth-century showman and gifted violinist Nicolo Paganini was standing before a packed house, playing through a difficult piece of music. A full orchestra surrounded him with magnificent support. Suddenly one string on his violin snapped and hung gloriously down from his instrument. Beads of perspiration popped out on his forehead. He frowned but continued to play, improvising beautifully.

To the conductor’s surprise, a second string broke. And shortly thereafter, a third. Now there were three limp strings dangling from Paganini’s violin as the master performer completed the difficult composition on the one remaining string. The audience jumped to its feet and in good Italian fashion, filled the hall with shouts and screams, “Bravo! Bravo!” As the applause died down, the violinist asked the people to sit back down. Even though they knew there was no way they could expect an encore, they quietly sank back into their seats.

He held the violin high for everyone to see. He nodded at the conductor to begin the encore and then he turned back to the crowd, and with a twinkle in his eye, he smiled and shouted, “Paganini . . . and one string!” After that he placed the single-stringed Stradivarius beneath his chin and played the final piece on one string as the audience (and the conductor) shook their heads in silent amazement. “Paganini . . . and one string!”²⁷ (And, I might add, an attitude of fortitude.)

Swindoll goes on to say:

This may shock you, but I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-do-day basis is my choice of attitude . . . Attitude is that “single string” that keeps me going or cripples my progress . . . When my attitudes are right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.

Yet, we must admit that we spend more of our time concentrating and fretting over the strings that snap, dangle, and pop--the things that can’t be changed--than we do giving attention to the one that remains, our choice of attitude.

For the Christian, however, we are not talking about just a positive attitude. We are talking about an attitude that comes from a heart focused on God and that trusts in Him.