Seeking first with Courage: a recipe for success!

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)


The hardest thing in life sometimes is to bring yourself to that paradoxical place of accepting the uncertainty of life's possibilities, facing your fears head on, and making the decision to follow a non-prescribed path, a path that offers no concrete natural assurance that your heading in the right direction. Bewildered yet? Don't be. Your path is in front of you as you look up to God.

Most young people I know secretly fear becoming a failure, and before they can take the necessary risk of stepping out into unknown territory, they get stymied with the plethora of decisions to be made regarding their future. Then life happens.

The truth is though we all can choose how we handle those moments. We can choose to not step out and end up remaining uncomfortably numb to the prospect of real adventure, often to the jealousy and envy of others, or we can step out and see what we are really made of.

Crisis after crisis reveals the truth of our hearts. It's my personal view that a crisis is always an opportunity for growth, but sometimes our own prejudices and predeterminations get in the way of seizing those opportunities, that is often the reason why we aren't "further down the path" of our own destiny. Just saying.

Therefore In order to move forward down that said path of destiny, we must get a true picture of it spiritually, which is given to us if we seek God first. I also believe it is essential to repair our own vision at times when our vision of our lives gets myopically distorted by the mundane circumstances of the day to day. It is vitally important how we see ourselves and our lives in context to our dreams, desires, and most importantly our calling in life, for any distortions in our vision will result in distorted feelings and reasonings about why we are where we are in life. The key to this repair of vision is honesty, a willingness to be open to listen to our heart, and humility.

That being said, I want to challenge your definition of what you think failure is. Failure is not making mistakes in life and learning from them. Failure is not taking risks and falling flat, and getting back up and trying harder next time. Failure isn't losing the job, not getting the girl, ending up broke, and having nothing to fall back on. Failure is none of those things. Failure only happens when you give up entirely and stop making the effort you know you need to make in order to keep going.

A few years ago I decided to pursue a career in music production, and to be honest I was fighting the creeping notion at that time that music was more of hobby to me rather than an actual pursuit. I wanted to be an artist and had aspirations and ambitions, but it wasn't till my level of discomfort got high enough that I actually decided to do something about it. At the time I was a line cook working in Blowing Rock North Carolina, writing songs in my bedroom studio when I wasn't working. I hated the kitchen, I wanted to be an audio chef instead. Instead of making salads and sauces, I wanted to make beats and melodies in the studio. So I took the plunge and enrolled at a music School 2000 miles away. Success.

The decision to go back to school was predicated upon the realization that I knew I wanted something better, mainly a career where I could focus my time and my energies towards the single pursuit of my craft, instead of what i had been doing, which was squandering my resources on a disgruntled half-life that had me feeling like I was living on the wrong side of the tracks. Needless to say I have had many jobs, some that were tolerable and others that I have abhorred, most of which have left me feeling exhausted, robbed of inspiration, and demotivated. At that time I had reached my breaking point. I had had enough, it was time for a change, and a major shift in the right direction.

By the way, I just want to add that I am not an entitled individual anymore, I have worked hard to get where I am in life, made many sacrifices, and I will continue to do so to get to where I want to be in life, but there is no shame in admitting the honest truth that it's better to choose the prudent path rather than stay in a rut and suffer the effects.

That being said, I think a common struggle amongst creative types is the struggle to come into healthy self-acceptance. After all it's easy to get caught up in the comparison trap of attempting to measure your value or worth as an artist with other artists based on various assessments of "what it really takes" to be an artist. However any artist that knows himself, knows that in order to be a true artist, your yourself must be open up to life and it's vast degrees of experience, which often defies predetermined assessments and half-baked definitions.;-)

For me, my secret struggle and fear has been this nagging thought that I will be condemned to work a crummy job and continue to pine away in a dreary and fruitless lifestyle that offers no substancial hope for a meaningful artistic life in sight. Now I know that seems a bit exaggerated and disproportionate, considering the gifts and musical talents God has given to me, however I think that this is precisely the picture that has been driving me somewhat mad for a while, if I am being honest.

Until I began to search inwardly for God presence,  I could not meaningfully connect with my own sanity, however the answers we seek are only to found in God in Christ, where our true self is to be found.

With God you always get more than you bargain for. In that deeper place I found the reflections of my own convictions offering me an uncommon richness of wisdom that flowed from a deep hearted courage and counsel, and the wisdom that was given to me was "The solution is Courage, which has now come!"

The solution is courage!!!! It has now come!!! The Lion is roaring again!!

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." ( Joshua 1:9)

"Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is." ( Amos 5:14)

Do we believe that God will be with us wherever we go? Do we believe we can face anything in life because God is truly with us? Let these truths remind and refresh your spirit and imagination in the fertile potential of what you can become, for when you seek good and exhibit real courage, you become who you are intended to be!"

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

In order to to break the cycle of discouragement, wantonness, and indolence, our hearts must be excited about the rewards we have coming! Remember the prize of the high calling, Paul had a respect for the recompense of the reward! This is a covenantal promise!

“Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” ( Genesis 15:1)

We must not be overcome by fear anymore, for now is the time to cross over from potential to promise, in order to allow the dream to become the destiny! God will work all things for the good for those who love him, and are called according to his purpose, so let us not feign contentment, when we have a possession to possess!

"How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you? ( Joshua 18:3)

Possessing the promised land is never an easy thing, but it's worth contending over, and fighting for, because God is faithful to FULFILL the promise he has made over your life!