Posts Tagged: daily affirmations

“How to Have a Good, Godly Day: Guidance, Focus, and Energy”

On August 7, 2023 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Is. 30:21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is vthe way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” (ESV)

“Prov. 4:25     Let your eyes look directly forward,

                        and your gaze be straight before you.” (ESV)

“Is. 40:29        He gives power to the faint,

                        and to him who has no might he increases strength.” (ESV)

In my daily report to my sponsor, today’s affirmation is as follows: “Today, I am depending on God for guidance, focus, and energy for the entire day.” These are three huge issues in my life every day. I am too self-willed to ask for God’s guidance, too impulsive to seek focus, and too lazy to even want to be all that energetic. This is not putting myself down; this is the sober (and unfortunate) truth. I affirm things, not because I practice them, but because I think that they are true and important and worthy of practice.

So far, God seems to be honoring my desire for guidance, focus, and energy today. Guidance, focus, and energy are helpful in all sorts of ways. Here is one simple illustration.

I came upstairs to work at my desk. Among other things, I wanted to work on a post for my website. However, almost immediately, I wanted to play a game of 10-minute chess. Of course, each player has 10 minutes, so a game can take up to 20 minutes. Furthermore, playing one game of chess is like eating one potato chip or one chocolate chip cookie.

I thought about my affirmation and passed the desire to play “just one game” of chess through these three filters of God’s guidance, focus, and energy. Was God guiding me to play chess? Somehow, that didn’t seem to be the case. Was chess something that was worthy of my focus? The question answered itself. Would playing chess be a good use of my energy and/or energize me more? I knew the answer before I had finished asking the question.

So, no chess right now.

Daily affirmations really do help me to live in a more sane and healthy manner. I am so thankful to one of my sponsors who proposed this to me. I recommend it to you as well. However, you have to actually refer to your affirmation during the day and use it wisely. If you’re at all like me, that may not be an easy thing to do.

Of course, one day’s guidance, focus, and energy is not enough. But it is enough for today. Tomorrow I’ll work with the same filters. Who knows? I may just become a very God-guided, properly focused, energetic person after all!

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“THE WORD FOR THE YEAR IS KINDNESS!”

On December 31, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. (Lao Tzu.  Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/kindness”)

“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”  (Colossians 3:12-13)

In 2017, my word for the year was “FOCUS!”  I’m not sure how I did, but my wife says that I have done better on focusing.  My wife is a very kind and compassionate person, but she isn’t prone to lying, so I assume that she is right.

The word for 2018 is KINDNESS.

My sponsor encouraged me some time ago to craft my own personal daily affirmations.  This year he upped the ante: He suggested that I craft a master affirmation for the entire year—one that would enrich the daily affirmations.  Below is my response to him this morning.

“I have thought about and prayed about your suggestion that I have a master affirmation for 2018.  I have decided that I like the idea a lot.  (I suspect that God likes it too.)

So, after some thought I have decided to pair it with another suggestion from a weekly newsletter I get from Jon Gordon (“Positive Tips” website.)  Gordon suggests choosing one word for the year.  . . .

The word for 2018 is “KINDNESS”.

So, with all that as preface, here is my master affirmation for the year:

THE WORD FOR THIS YEAR IS KINDNESS: KINDNESS RECEIVED AND KINDNESS GIVEN

AFFIRMATION FOR THE YEAR:  This year, by God’s grace, I am consistently kind and obedient to God, appropriately kind to myself, and kind to all living things (which includes other people).”

Of course, it is much easier to be kind to God and others, when I realize that God is kind, and that God has shown me a great deal of kindness.  And I do recognize God’s kindness, at least to some degree.  So, the first thing I need to do is to meditate on God’s great kindness to me.

But even a realization of God’s kindness and the desire to be kind are not enough.  Kindness takes daily practice.  No one learns to cook or play the piano without regular, consistent practice.  Why should kindness be any different?

I need to keep my eyes, ears, heart, and schedule open, so that I can be kind to others.  Kindness is a costly business.  Above all, it requires consistent focus.  And I can assure you that this selfish, attention-deficit-person is not good at either consistency or focus.

Who knows?  Maybe the 2017 emphasis on focus is a good preparation for 2018: The Year of Kindness!

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