Are You Making Emotional Choices or Kingdom Decisions?

The word “choice” is defined as, an alternative, the best part of, a variety from which to choose.  When we make emotional choices that are led by our emotions, it will only bring about an emotional result.  Our emotions are dictated by conditions.  The emotions are influenced by the sense realm; meaning, what you can feel, touch, see, hear and smell will influence your emotional status.

Your emotions are not liable and they can’t be trusted.  You can see something or hear something that can literally alter your whole mood.  Has that ever happened to you?  It has happened to me on more than one occasion.  Therefore, when we make choices based on our emotions, the choices we make can lead us into a worse place; because it was based on our mood at that present time.

The word “decision” is defined as a firmness of mind, the act of making up one’s mind.  The benefit to making Kingdom decisions is that it will bring about God’s agenda, plan, purpose and assignment for your life.  Now, I’m not talking about church stuff; but the Kingdom of God lives on the inside of you.  When we make Kingdom decisions, we are advancing the Kingdom on the inside of us.  God wants to advance His plans, purpose, and agenda forward in our lives.  People should be able to eat from the fruit of your life. 

Why do we seem to get ahead only to go backward?  Why can’t we reach that next plateau in our lives or business or ministry?  Why can’t we get over that hurdle to reach the next level?  Could it be that we are making choices that are influenced by our emotions?  Let me give you an example.

Peter, when he asked the Lord to bid him to come out of the boat to come to Jesus; that was a Kingdom decision.  Why, because Peter dared to step out of the box and made a decision that would advance him in the realm of the Spirit.  Once Peter was on the water, he began to look around and seeing the condition of the waves, began to fear and then to sink.  Peter made a firm decision to step out on Jesus’ word to “come”, but once he looked at his condition, the emotional choice was him taking his eyes off Jesus and looking at the condition.

How many times do we hear God’s word or instructions and make the decision to do what we hear, only to shrink back, turn around or just stop moving forward because we are looking at the conditions and circumstances.   God wants us to keep moving forward; having a firmness of mind knowing that He that started a thing will finish it.  Examine what is influencing your actions.  In everything He tells us to do; His purpose is to advance His Kingdom within us.

Listen to my next broadcast, “Bringing Your Dreams to Life” blogtalk radio, Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 8:30 am. www.blogtalkradio.com/karenpresleymin. The title of that message is: “Is Your Thought Life Sabotaging Your Dreams”

Pastor Karen Presley

www.karenmpresley.com

Find out more details on our Metamorphosis 1 Year Coaching Program starting in the new year.  Click on the link for more details http://www.karenmpresley.com/pages.asp?pageid=108647

Karen Presley's Blog: Marketing Strategies

Karen Presley's Blog: Marketing Strategies

Marketing Strategies

In today’s generation, the buzz is all about social media.  Marketing is crucial to the success and growth of any business, ministry or organization.  Whether you are starting a home-based business or maybe you have a storefront business or maybe you have a level-marketing business; marketing is important no matter what product or service you are offering.

What is marketing?  It is basically advertising or informing others that you have a product or a service to offer.  It’s letting others know that you can solve their problems.  Well how will others know about you unless you make yourself known to the public?  Well let’s talk about some of those strategies to get your business in front of potential customers.

Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, Websites, LinkedIn, YouTube are some of the most popular sites that a lot of people are using.  Although I have accounts with all these social media sites, I never used to use them.  One day a lady called me about my publishing company and I asked her, “how did she hear about me.”  She stated, “my blog.”  It was then that I realized that I needed to be consistent with what I was doing online. 

I will speak further about social media on my next blog; but for now I want to speak about the printing marketing material.  Business cards, brochures, flyers, and rack cards are still necessary to growing your business.  As a business owner and entrepreneur, we must meet the demands and accommodate to where are customers are.  Yes, social media is the happening thing, but printing your marketing material is just as imperative.  All of your customers are NOT online and you will miss a large percentage of your potential customers if you do not have printed marketing material as well as an ONLINE presence.

Make sure your material clearly defines your product/service and the verbiage is plainly articulated on your marketing material.  You want to make sure that people can clearly articulate what your business offers.  Remember, people are busy and don’t have time to decipher what you do.  Let your customers know what problem you can solve for them and how they can reach you.  Wording is just as important as the design and the paper stock.  It all speaks to your business.

We’ll go into this a little further on our next blog.  Sign up for our workshop “Building Your Business Beyond a Hobby” Saturday, October 8, 2011 – 10:20am – 2:30 pm.  Visit: www.karenmpresley.com for more details

The Benefits of Acknowledging God

A life without God’s guidance will lead to frustration, fear and cause an imbalance life.   Have you or do you feel tired of the hustle and bustle of the day to day responsibilities on your things to do list?  If you ever find yourself at your wits end or overwhelmed, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  Let God establish His order in your day to day routine.

The Scriptures are filled with God’s promises to lead and guide us with His wisdom.  Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  So what happens when we do not acknowledge Him?  We find ourselves doing what we know to do, and sometimes we are not prepared for things that come up in our lives that we didn’t predict.  Not acknowledging God says, we become our own god and we are independent of His guidance in our lives.

Acknowledging means to admit as true and to recognize the authority or claims of; meaning when we acknowledge God in our day to day routines, we are admitting that we are nothing without Him.  We are admitting that we are in need of His guidance, His wisdom, His counsel and His direction.  Sometimes when we do something on an everyday basis, it becomes routine and familiar; so subconsciously we think that we can handle it.  We must realize that we can do nothing without the Lord’s help.

“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:  I will guide thee with mine eye.” Psalms 32:8.  Spending time with the Father in prayer and His Word assures that the well of the Lord will never be empty.  Not only will He keep you refreshed, but He communicates to you everything you need for your day and week ahead of you.  That is a promise that the Father made to His children; He will instruct you in the way to go and then He’ll teach you in that way.

We live in a society where everything is on rush, speed and fast pace.  No one takes time to breathe.  Everything and everyone needs your attention NOW; and these are the things that can steal our moments with God.  However, God will show you how to remove all the excess weights in your life; remember we control our schedule and God will show you what you can and cannot do.  This is what is going to keep you balanced, happy, calm and relaxed; spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically.

My life is very full; I run a graphic and print shop, I have a non-profit outreach ministry, where we do outreach activities, I have my speaking business where I’m a life coach to people as well as a workshop facilitator and I’m a full time pastor with a mandate to uproot and plow through the layers of faulty foundations that causes people to be stuck.  The only way I am able to do what I do, is by acknowledging God, spending time with Him and resting in the grace that He’s given me to do His assignment.  I don’t do anything that I don’t sense the grace for.

 Put God in the driver’s seat today.  He knows every route and even the alternate route when traffic is backed up.  He never sleeps nor slumbers; so you can rest in Him knowing that He that started a work in you will complete it.  He’s just waiting for you to acknowledge Him so He can drive your vehicle.  Everyone’s vehicle is different, some may be in a bike, motorcycle, car, van, plane, train, or boat; whatever the mode of transportation is let God drive it.  He knows how to get you through life without calamities.

Pastor Karen Presley

http://www.karenpresley.org/

Understanding God's Seasons

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Ecc 3:1.  The word season in the Hebrew means Zaman; it’s an appointed or an affixed time.  If everything has a time then we must understand that as we go through life, there are divine appointments waiting for us.

God is not limited to our timetable.  We live by the chronos which is another word for time or the Gregorian calendar.  We measure time by 24 hours in a day; 30 days in a month; 12 months or 365 days in a year; however, God is not moved by the chronos.  God moves by “kairos” time.   Kairos time is a set apart moment/season.  They are God’s divine appointments where time and destiny meets.

Inside of every season are divine appointments.  God links His timing to His will; which is able to interrupt our chronos.  If we are going to be prepared for the kairos moments that are happening even as you are reading this blog; we must prepare ourselves to discern the times, seasons and events from God’s perspective and not our own.  We have a responsibility like the Children of Issachar in 2^nd Chronicles who understood the times and the seasons.  

How do we prepare?  Spending time in the word and in prayer prepares your spirit to discern the prompting and voice of God.  It sensitizes you and makes you familiar with the stillness of God.  God will not speak over your chaos and the noise around you.  The talk of the news and what’s going on can’t be more prevalent than God’s presence.  Yes, it’s ok to stay abreast of the national crisis in the world; however, you must see and hear with your spiritual eyes and ears.  Not allowing the negative comments to be bigger in you than the truth of God’s word.

There is a daily shaking in the world system that strikes fear and confusion in those around us.  We face an uncertain future; however, I believe God is offering the believers tremendous opportunity to break through the norm and see the Kingdom of God expand.  This is the time to press into God and hear the clarion call that has already gone forth as God prepares His bride to bring forth the greatest level of His glory on the earth.  Romans 8 talks about how all the earth is travailing, and groaning in expectation of the manifestation of the Sons of God.

This is the time to stay focus on the big picture and not the day to day obstacles that are stealing our attention from the greater purpose.  Do you remember “Get Smart” the TV show?  Maxwell Smart would walk through these doors and one by one as he reached the door it would open.  Maxwell never stopped walking.  He didn’t pause or hesitate to see if the door would open; he just kept moving forward with full anticipation that the next door would open.

I like to call that the seasons of God and when we walk through another door it represents the kairos moments.  If we are good stewards over our chronos, by keep moving forward with what God put in your heart to do then we will step into the divine appointments that God has for us which will transition us into another season.

Pastor Karen Presley

www.karenpresley.org

The Making of an Extraordinary Woman

We live in a society where ordinary, the norm, just making it has become the status quo. Because of life and our experiences a lot of us have become so accustomed to just getting by or doing whatever it takes just to survive.


God never called us to survive but overcome. We must learn to rise above every obstacle that presents itself, in order to seize the opportunities God has before us. Allow me to share the movie, “The Secretariat.”

Diane Lane in the movie, “The Secretariat” grew up on her parents stable and she loved horses. As she grew, she put her dream aside, as so many people do, to marry and raise a family. After the death of her mother, she found herself back at her family’s stable for the funeral and discovered that they allowed some things slip. She felt impressed in her heart to stay behind and handle the business of the horses, as she sends her family back home. Her passion was ignited again, the thing she laid down for her family has now found itself in the forefront of her heart.

During these times in the 1970’s, men pretty much dominated in the horse racing industry and women were to be seen and not heard; but this didn’t stop the gracious and tenacious owner of the race horse “The Secretariat otherwise known as ‘Big Red’.” She followed her passion, her dream and overcame the odds of that time period where women were not taken seriously. She did her homework and she stood up and overcame every obstacle that was presented. She was a housewife who’s family farm was 6 million in debt, about to lose the farm, needed money, made fun of by countless men; but she had a DREAM. She believed in a horse that no one else did. All the men who were educated and trained in this field had counted Secretariat a looser, but not Diane. She held onto every dream and that caused here to win a triple race that has never been done in 25 years.

She had to go against every NAYsayer, doubter, and every person who fought her along the way. Family didn’t understand, brother wanted to fight her, men were laughing at her, but the power of her faith caused her to overcome the temporary discomfort and be one of the extraordinary women of her times. She did what NO man has done and that made her great.

What are you afraid of? What have you told yourself or maybe someone told you that has hindered you? I want you to get that dream back to the forefront of your mind and say, “All things are possible to them who believe.” I need you to feed your faith and take courage that what is on the inside of you shall live. I believe in you. If you are reading this blog, it is not by coincidence, this word is for you to put into place the first step that will move you forward to achieving the greatness that is on the inside of you.

Let me coach you!  If you are in need of help, coaching, mentoring on how to move from point A to B, please give me a call so I can assist you with walking into your greatness.

http://www.karenmpresley.com/
Karen Presley Enterprises, LLC
202.251.5616

The King's Speech: A Story of Overcoming the Demons Within

In the 2010 Oscar-winning historical film “The King’s Speech,” King George VI (Colin Firth) reluctantly takes the position of the throne and must overcome his stammer in order to speak with authority and eloquence expected of a king.  He hires Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian speech therapist to assist him with his problem.

This movie blew me away and how it paralleled what we in the Body of Christ must go through in order to assume our rightful position as kings in the earth.  Revelation 1:6 says, “we are kings and priest unto our God,” that means we stand in the position of king, the power of king and the authority of king.

In this story, King George VI had to speak on occasion as his father was dying.  His brother was off doing his own thing and didn’t want any part of the royal responsibilities.  King George VI would clam up with fear and anxiety every time he went to the microphone to speak.  

After much failure with other speech therapist; his wife finds Lionel to help him.  Lionel was different, a little unusual; but effective.  King George found himself trying to tell the therapist what to do and he fought him on many occasions.  Isn’t that what we do with God; or the man/woman of God that is given to us to assist us in our destinies?  King George wanted the mechanics from Lionel; meaning he wanted to do exercises that would help him with stuttering but he didn’t want to get personal which would deal with the real issue behind his stuttering that Lionel had spotted.

King George was angry and held a lot of fears, resentment and hurt and bitterness on the inside of him; due to his father disappointment and the things he experienced growing up.  So now that King George VI is an adult, the demons of his childhood are now trying to rob him of his rightful position as king.

After King George’s father dies; he found himself opening up to Lionel and allowing the things that he had buried on the inside of him to finally be released.  This too is what we must do as believers in order to walk in the fullness of what God has called us to.  

God is raising up leaders who have His heart for his people and His counsel that will bring the believer into a place of wholeness so they can walk in Kingdom Assignment.  We too must face the demons of our past and our childhood that is trying to rob us of our present.  It wasn’t until King George VI trusted Lionel, his therapist, with those deep dark secrets, that King George could finally start walking out of his past.

We must learn from this very profound story of one man’s life of how he overcame the demons of his childhood in order to walk in the full authority of what was handed to him.  As believers, we stand in the position of king, the authority of king and the power of king; but until we too face the demons of our past, they will rob us of fulfilling Kingdom Assignment.

Trust the man/women that God has placed before you to assist you in overcoming your past; that you might walk in the fullness that God has for you.  You can’t do it on your own; that is why God puts people in your path.