John Harrell's Blog, page 97

Blessing God

If the title of this blog didn’t get your attention, check for a pulse.

How do we bless God, the King of the universe? He is the only One who gives and gives. Through His generosity, we woke up this morning. Our hearts and minds work. We can breathe.

We bless our Creator through our faith. By believing in Him, that He is good and only does good in our lives, we are blessing God.

It’s easy to believe when life is going well. Keep believing with unwavering faith when life is a shitshow and you will be blessing God…

Users

It hurts when you find out someone has used you. Conflicting emotions flood your mind, from disbelief to anger. People take advantage of nice people to advance their own selfish agendas.

So what do you do to resolve it? You do something that is counterculture: you pray for them. Praying for the offender doesn’t cancel the hurt. It acknowledges that the offender is for God to handle, not me. He is in charge of human hearts.

Over time, you will find it in your heart to forgive them. And remember to learn from the pain. Then what you went through has purpose…

How Is It Going?

We are seven weeks into 2023. Did you make any New Year’s Resolutions? It’s estimated that 95% of resolutions involve fitness. That’s a good thing.

The bad news is, about 90% of fitness goals are abandoned before the end of January. Old, bad habits return, and self-esteem takes a hit.

Getting fit and staying healthy should be fun! But so many people go about it wrong. They start jogging and eating like a rabbit. Where’s the fun in that? Not to mention you won’t get the results you desire.

Here’s some advice: get a trainer who understands your fitness goals for your body. They will make a plan, and guide you through exercises which will strengthen you and benefit you in the long term. You need to lift weights, and you need to eat. Lifting will make you hungry as hell. Don’t starve yourself! Eat!

If you have given up on your fitness goals for 2023, I encourage you to try again. The only failures are the ones who quit…

Pretty on the Outside

Be careful about who you allow into your life. There are lots of people who have outer beauty, but are without substance on the inside.

Learn how to discern the good from the bad. Pray about it. God will answer if you believe He will…

Proactive

Are you a proactive person or are you reactive? It might depend upon the situation.

Proactive people get things done. They don’t wait around to see what life sends their way. Being proactive means going after what you want.

All of us are reactive sometimes. Life isn’t predictable, so when plans go awry we adapt.

If you aren’t living the full life you desire, you can change things if you’re willing…

Toxic Forgiveness

Toxic forgiveness means you have acted like you have forgiven someone, but you really haven’t. I’ve been guilty of it. In some instances, it was better to act like all was forgiven just to keep the peace.

This does more harm than good. It causes unresolved anger to turn to bitterness and resentment. These emotions will shorten your life.

It’s okay to not forgive someone until you are ready. Forgiveness happens at the right time. It can’t be forced…

Indifference

Love and hate are powerful emotions. Great things happen through the power of love, while hatred destroys what is good.

Being indifferent means you don’t care. There is no emotional attachment, no feeling.

As an example, I’m indifferent to which team wins the Super Bowl this year. Poor example, but you get what I mean.

Channel your energy into the things you love. You can move mountains, if you believe you can…

Liars

All of us have been lied to. It’s sickening when we discover a lie from someone we trusted.

We lie to ourselves, too. We beat ourselves up unnecessarily over past mistakes and failures. We tell ourselves we are doing better than we are.

Lying is a spiritual disease. Pray about it…

Unseen Battles

Are you aware there is a spiritual battle going on around us that we can’t see? That’s right. When horrible things happen, there is a spiritual cause. Just because we can’t see it doesn’t make it less real.

We have an invisible enemy who desperately tries to destroy us. He has many weapons: death, disease, addiction and more. He doesn’t hesitate to use any and all of them.

The good news is, we worship a God with unlimited power. No demon can stand up to Him, nor can they thwart God’s plans for our lives.

We access God’s unlimited power through prayer. Use it. Often…

Stories

Have you ever been caught in the middle of two friends arguing about something?

I have learned there are two sides to every story. Perceptions affect reality. Emotions do, too. The truth is usually somewhere in between both sides of the same story. Listen, and pay attention…