Thanks so much for joining me for a little break today. I know it’s
not always easy to get away, but I pray this will be a wise investment
of your time today. Grab your coffee and come on in and let’s get back
to our WOW.I’m still stunned at the reality of the necessity of walking in the truth of these words, and my desire for them to manifest in my DNA and rid me of anything that is not from Him, with Him and for Him. And while we’re at it, Father, could you help me to quit comparing myself to other authors and speakers! (Go ahead and pray that one for me and for you!:) )
Here’s the Words of Wisdom: Philippians 2:3-4 (don’t you love that easy address?) Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit – I wasn’t going to take the same detour as last year, but I think I’d better so we can receive all that is intended! Since this is New Testament, I’ll go to the Greek concordance. The word that is pulling at my attention is ambition. So, ambition – wait, there is no “ambition” in the concordance. Well, that’s weird. Okay, so it must be a translation thing. So, that’s okay; I’ll go to my Holy Bible (1865 copy) which says: “Translated out of the original tongues,” which says: “Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory.” Interesting! Now let me look up strife. This is getting fun! :)
The word strife translates to eritheia and “denotes self-seeking ambition, self-will being an underlying idea with an emphasis on drawing followers.” It also says: Seeking to win followers creates factions, and factions are the result of jealousy.
Oh, my, the taste of conviction is bittersweet as I
think about tweeting on Twitter and connecting on Facebook, and dealing
with all the other forms of social media that help in the
platform-building process for an author. And as I rewind my book-signing
experiences, I can’t help but admit that He’s used them all,
individually and collectively, for His purposes. I’m totally smiling
right now because I remember one recent book-signing at my nail salon.
This woman was getting her toes done and she was totally engrossed in a
book, a book that has gone to the New York’s Best Seller’s list in
record time. I literally almost broke out in tears at the inadvertent
rejection and my mind spilled out questions that only He could answer.
Just before I jumped in the pool of pity, I received a text from a team
member sharing that someone who had been to our recent workshop had
rededicated her life to Christ afterwards. I pulled myself away from the
pity pool and my phone announced another text, sort of like a P.S.:
“Oh, after she read Back to Single.”My heart smiled while my mind begged for forgiveness for coveting the success of this author who was reaching people in the flesh while He is reaching hearts, albeit one at a time, through Back to Single. And somewhere in this WOW is the key to balance in this mind-boggling challenge of how to get what He has written through me out to the hearts of women all over without sounding as though I’m all about me.
Oh, how true it is that the Word is alive and Holy Spirit inspired. Please join me tomorrow for the conclusion to our October WOW.
Humbly,
Evinda
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