Needed Guidance

Ephesians 1:17 –

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.”

 I believe every one of us needs this prayer that Paul prayed for the Ephesian church as written in Ephesians 1:17.  If you are like me, you have to admit you just are not smart enough to figure out most issues you are confronted with in life. We desperately need guidance for our lives from the One who created life in the first place. Who would know better than He how we are to live successfully as husbands and wives, as parents and children, as employers and employees, leaders and followers and in our friendship and enemy relationships? Who would know better how to get us out of the soup and how to solve the unexpected and challenging problems we sometimes find ourselves faced with? Who would know better how to run the race we have been appointed than the One who has appointed the race?

The Greek word used in this verse is from the word “sophias” .  This word sophias is used when speaking of a supernatural insight versus human wisdom. This is the kind of wisdom that can only be received from the Spirit of God. We also have the word “revelation” in this verse which is used to refer to something that has been hidden and is suddenly, almost instantaneously revealed. It reminds me of the phrase found in an old hymn, “I once was blind but now I see”. 

It is kind of like when I opened the blinds in the dining room several days ago, I noticed a hole in the door of our shed. I told my husband and he responded, “that hole has been there since the day we purchased the house”.  I had not seen it until I opened those blinds that particular day.  In applying this example to spiritual truths in regards to the word “revelation”, when God pulls back the veil that covers our spiritual eyes, we suddenly see truths. They are not new truths. They have always been there, but we are just now able to see them.  

When we walk by our natural insight without the hidden insight that only God can reveal,  our understanding is darkened. We think we see, but we don’t. The result is that many times we will go the wrong way, make the wrong choice. If you have been struggling and need guidance in your life, you need to pray this prayer that Paul prayed for the Ephesian church. It is important that we pray for God to give us His wisdom and reveal truth and understanding to us concerning our situations in life because we truly are not able to pull back the veil on our own. This is why we also see in this verse that Paul prays for God to “give” the Ephesian church the wisdom and revelation they need. There is no other way to get it but from Him. We must humble ourselves before God and quit thinking that we are so smart on our own. We are not.

If you need guidance for a situation in your life today, just ASK God to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Just as quickly as I opened those blinds that day revealing that hole in our shed that had always been there, God can remove the veil that hides the truth you need. It is already there and when the veil is removed, it will instantly bring understanding and the solution you need.

Praise be to God and our Lord Jesus Christ!

Changing Our Lives – Making them Better

Today I share with you the post I put on my coaching blog because it had a lot of biblical principles shared within it. I thought you all might enjoy it. You may want to consider registering to follow my coaching blog as well. I am trying to get the feed to work with it on FB but to date have not been successful. You can register on my site at www.sarahgoebel.com at the Coaching News &  Blog tab.  Thank you for your interest in my blog posts and I look forward to your comments.

Did you know that if you are tired of the story you have been living, you have it within your power to create a new one?  I discussed in the last post the first step in the process of change and that is you must recognize authorship of your story and take ownership of it. Without recognition that you yourself have responsibility for creating your story, you will not be able to successfully assess your thoughts, behavior and the results of your behavior to determine what you can and should change.

Today I would like to look at a few principles involved in taking ownership of the life you are living.  To do so we will look at the role our assumptions and motivations play in creating our life stories.  

In the Bible, God tells us that we can call things that be not as though they are. What is He talking about here? He is saying if you have things in your life that you want to change, begin to envision that change and speak it. It is not a magical formula but a process that must be persevered until the desired result is being experienced in your life. As you envision it and speak it, you will begin to believe it in it’s possiblity. Then your behavior begins to change to bring that belief to pass.  God is saying that what you believe opens or closes possibilities for your life. Your beliefs and assumptions about yourself, others, life and God have a tremendous impact on your behavior, performance and how you achieve your life or business goals. Ultimately, your beliefs construct your storylines, opening or closing the possibilities which influence your performance.

Another Scripture that comes to mind is Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” God is saying whatever you believe you can be, have or do is a possibility for you to experience in your life. Your beliefs and assumptions will manifest themselves in the decisions you make, the things you say and the things you do. On the other hand, whatever you do not believe limits the possibility for that to be a storyline of your life.  In other words, there are empowering beliefs and there are limiting beliefs. Let’s take a look at what an empowering belief might look like.

1.  I will carry through the decisions that I make.
2. I have the ability and the perseverance to achieve my goals.
3. I am a positive person and those around me learn to respond positively to me.

 A limiting belief would look like this.

1. No one ever supports me in what I want to do.
2. I am not good enough to earn that amount of money.
3. I am unworthy of good things.

Let’s look at the first example above of a limiting belief. When you believe no one ever supports you, your behavior will become such that it will cause people to be unsupportive towards you. Looking at the third example above of an empowering belief, your behavior will line up with the belief and you will have people responding to you in a positive way.

Romans 12:2 tells us that we are to be transformed by renewing our minds. Whatever beliefs you renew your mind to will become the storylines of your new life story.  Your thoughts will transform your behavior and your behavior will transform your life. We are able to know someone’s beliefs and values by looking at their behavior because behavior is a result of what we believe.

So it is important to acknowledge that you have been constructing and are able to construct what you experience. You are the one responsible for your own choices and those choices have created your storyline. If you continue making the same choices you will continue creating the same storylines. If you begin making different choices, you will begin to write a new life story.

 God says in Deuteronomy “ I set before you life and death.”  Then He goes on to say, “choose life”. You make the choice as to what you are going to believe, feel and do. When you choose empowering beliefs you are choosing beliefs that lead to successful behavior which will result in a successful life and career.

As a certified and licensed New Life Story Coach, when in step two of this coaching program, I help my clients to assess their storylines and determine the underlying assumptions and self concepts they were created from. I also help them learn to take their thoughts captive and analyze them as to whether they are thoughts that are empowering or limiting and then discard those that are not going to further the new story they desire to create. I also guide them in the examining of their emotions to determine the assumption or thought it is attached to and whether that assumption is relevant to their present life.  If not, the assumption can be changed and the feeling can be converted to an intention.

You can take control of your thoughts and feelings and create a new life experience. I would love to help you on your journey.

My next teleconference group program begins in August. Cost is $75.00 for 3 3-hour sessions. Group size is limited so you may want to reserve your space by emailing me at CoachSarah@sarahgoebel.com.

In addition to The Holy Bible, insight for this blog post  comes from (Live a New Life Story™ The Art and Science of Change, Reinvention, and Success by David Krueger, www.MentorPath.com).”  Sarah is a certified and licensed “Live a New Life Story” coach and will be using these materials in her upcoming teleconference coaching class.