First, stop looking to be another person’s copy and two,  begin to celebrate your own original and unique making.  You are not in competition with anyone when it comes to being you.  As a matter of fact, the faster you become comfortable in your own skin, the faster your train leaves the station.  Hang with me here.  We are attracted to another person’s success, looks or celebrity because we perceive that their life is so much more glamorous than our own.  We project our life against theirs and guess what?  We choose theirs! But our fascination is misplaced.   The allure these people have is that they have learned how to capitalize on being themselves!  That is what makes them appear so much more charming and attractive.  They have embraced their making!

It is the celebration of your precious and unique gifts which will birth your joy and make you attractive to the right people and circumstances.  So how about this?  Switch your focus.  Rejoice in how God has designed you! Now watch what happens.    Ask the Lord to help you discover your distinction.  Believe that you were created with a purpose and destiny worthy of blessing and significance.  Thank God for it.

Meditate on His Word daily and let Him confirm to you again and again that you are His valuable creation.  Soon, everything within you will be filled with the knowledge of His love and yes, His approval.  And one day, there it is.  You look in the mirror, and you are thrilled with what God has made.  “Hello world.  Nobody does me better!”

Unlike a New Year, a “New Day” is a choice, and, of the highest quality. It’s a choice not just to pray daily, but throughout our day. It is choosing to forgive first and ask questions later, to stay encouraged about our future and courageous about releasing the past.

A New Day is deciding to dream more, believe more, receive more, doubt less, worry less, complain less and then GIVE. Give extravagantly. Give what only you can give…Your smile, Your hug, Your love.

2010 is not blessed, prosperous or otherwise. 2010 is what you make it. It’s 8760 hours waiting to be filled and fueled by the kind of person who believes that they are here on purpose, and they have all they need to fulfill that purpose. And I believe that person, is you.

I celebrate your life and your year of uncommon blessing!

Rev. Ralph D. Gerard
Pastor
Ephesians 2:10

I’m inviting you to a party in south Florida! 2010 is just days away and Joanna and I could not be more stirred up in our faith than we are right now! As I speak these words, the spirit of destiny is upon me and I want to share a very important moment with you.

I know that for our family the key word for us in 2010 will be CHANGE. America has shifted in the last year. Never in our nation’s history has there been such a spotlight on the differences between secular and sacred, darkness and light, right and wrong. I literally tremble with excitement as I see a fearless, yet wise and well-equipped church flowing in the love of God and Power of the Holy Spirit!

Please mark this day on your calendar, Saturday, January 9th – 6:30 PM – Heron Bay Marriott in Coral Springs, Florida. That night, Joanna and I along with Christa Joy and Rapha Simeon will be in town! January 9th also happens to be our 28th wedding anniversary and Joanna and I are inviting you to be our special guest!

We have extraordinary music guests joining us and then I’ll be sharing a very particular word that will be streaming live around the world over our Dream Church Radio Network. Immediately afterward we look forward to splendid fellowship over snacks and refreshments.

Cannot wait for this night! Saturday, January 9th 6:30PM Heron Bay Marriott. 954-753-5598. Click HERE for their website.

See you in Coral Springs!

Pastor Ralph and Joanna Gerard

For most people, it just had little staying power and even less results.

What happened is that they had connected with one of God’s principles.  They  had gotten excited, inspired, fired up for ninety minutes, “Yes, I can,” If I can see it, I can have it,” “All of my dreams Can come true…” Wonderful!    Except, no God.  Close! When you give the “Universe” credit for God’s works the results are always the same, empty.  Power comes from God alone.  The universe [all of them], are God’s servants.  Look at Psalm 119:89-91  “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.  Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides. They continue this day according to Your ordinances,  For all are Your servants.” The reason there was no lasting fruit with The Secret is that no one was told what the secret really was.  Actually the Bible calls it a “Mystery.”  “…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.  To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:26-27.

The Mystery is a Person!  The Secret is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  He is the Source of all power, and when you apply His principles with faith and expectation you discover something much greater than the universe.  You discover that you are a child of  The Source.  And as such, the universe bows to His Word in you!  The Secret works!  But only for those who realize that it is Christ’s love that makes the abundant life possible.  As long as we attempt to take the glory for our achievements we will struggle in one form or another.  But what rest and peace we find the moment we acknowledge that all we have or ever will possess comes from the hand of our loving heavenly Father who designed our purpose long before the world existed.  This one you need to see for yourself…Ephesians 2:10. Shalom!

Life is a compilation of moments.  This present moment you are somewhere reading this blog which will be immediately followed by your next moment, and the next, which will eventually lead to the moment you retire to bed tonight, and so on.  On Monday of this week I had an unexpected moment while hiking with my family on an easy trail we had hiked previously this summer.  On a downward curve in the trail and just after alerting my “crew” to watch their footing for small loose rocks, it happened. Before you could say, “Whoops,”  I was on the ground in excruciating pain.  I knew instantly this was not going to be a “get up and walk it off” moment.  I was in trouble and my family knew it!

As God would have it, just on the other side of the lake two men were fishing who witnessed my “moment.”  As outdoorsmen, they knew this was not going to be good.  Within minutes they were there, one on each side of me, and practically carried me the quarter mile to our vehicle.  We all talked along the way, even made a few jokes.  It was already dark when we got to the truck.  Once they were sure we were safely inside I saw one of the men extend his hand to the other and say, “Hi, my name is Roger.”  The other gentleman replied, “I’m Bill.”  That’s when we all realized how cool this moment had become.  A stranded family experiencing an unexpected moment being rescued by two complete strangers who by entering this family’s moment, created their own unique…moment.

To make a short story longer, we had traveled north of our home for this expedition so it took ninety minutes to arrive at the emergency room of the hospital closest to where we live.  Within minutes I was in an examination room then promptly admitted for tendon surgery the next day.  Did I mention that Moments Matter?  Let me allow you to get to your next moment.

Here’s the punch line.  I could not have asked for a better hospital experience.  Scottsdale Healthcare, Thompson Peak, Off the chain!!  Every doctor, nurse, staff, perfect. Surgery was in and out, not one issue.  Even the food was great, and this, coming from the unabashed “foodie” that I am.  There’s a few weeks of rehab ahead, but as this has been, so shall it continue, led by the Lord who is Master of  causing “all things to work together for good…”

This blog comes to you from my last moments in the hospital as I await my wife to be “sprung.”  So how’s your week been going?  Not exactly the way I had planned mine.  Here’s the take home lesson.  In life it’s not what happens to you.  It’s how we respond to what happens to us that determines how we enter the next moment.  You can build positive or negative.  Good attitude and expectation or otherwise.  Our choices order the quality of our future.  So take it from someone fresh off an unexpected moment.  The God you serve may not have ordered it, but He will allow you to make the most of it, and, with heavenly style.  It’s you choice.  I believe you will make the wise one.

And don’t miss our next moment together, today at 6PM/EST on Ralph Gerard Radio.

You’re A Champion!

Ralph D. Gerard

Stay tuned, the best is yet to come…

Pastor Ralph Gerard

We have been talking about winning attitudes for guaranteed success in every area of  life.  We have celebrated a positive attitude which says, “No problem is too great to solve. “  Also, how being courageous about your place with God will drive fear out of your mind and out of your house!  And we also uncovered the Enthusiastic Life.  Our world changes when we get excited about living “our life,” not copying another’s.

I cannot wait for today’s program.  Today we are going to once and for all Whack Worry!  Worry is the expectation of pain.  It is like paying in advance on a bill you do not owe!  Let’s kill this giant, shall we?

And Do Not miss Freedom Friday tomorrow with my special guest, Rick Howard, host of http://travelwithrick.com.  Rick is a winner with the attitude to prove it.  He is a prolific internet entrepreneur/personality, public speaker and a trendsetter in the world of social media.  We want to excite you about confidence and the power of positive expectation in business and in life.  Get your notebooks out.   You are going to love how we close the week.

It makes our day when we hear from you.  So leave a post, send us an email;  let us know what is going on in your life.  And feel free to type more than 160 characters… We look forward to hearing from you and remember, tell your friends that Lives Change For Good, at Ralph Gerard Radio.

You’re a Champion,

Ralph Gerard

Let’s have the omnipotent God whose ways are beyond understanding.  The God who said, “Let there be…”  then there was…galaxies, planets and stars by the trillions.  Let’s have the God who created the earth and everything in it, planned the beginning to the end, pressed play and is now enjoying the show.  Oh, and He consulted no one.  No summit.  No board of directors, no Congress or international counsel.  Nothing!  Just one colossal, unilateral, Theocratic decision.  Let’s have that God.

Now this does not mean that we do not know His nature or how He works, in a general sense.  And again, this must be said, because the day you think you have Him figured out, well, you are in for a surprise, usually big.  For although there is one “for sure thing” about God, which is that He will never violate His Word, He still retains the right to do what He wills with anybody, anytime any place.  And here is where we need some basic knowledge about Him.  Let’s get some wisdom on this.

In so many people’s minds God is ALL mercy.  That is very problematic because, if that were the case, everyone makes heaven anyway, why sacrifice Christ?  JESUS’ coming to earth would have been unnecessary.  That would also mean that at this moment Adolf Hitler is in the presence of God himself.  God is not ALL mercy.  Then we have those on the other end who believe that God is ALL justice.  Also quite problematic since then heaven’s population will consist of The Trinity and the angels.  For since all men are sinners and heaven is home  for the righteous, God’s absolute justice would ban any human being from its sapphire sills.

And let me assure you, it is God’s will that none perish.  In fact, He does everything necessary for every human on earth to make a conscious and willful commitm

ent, either for Him or against Him.  And may I assure you that any decision other than that of acceptance, is rejection.  Unbelievers will not blame God for hell.  But they will spend eternity in unimaginable agony owning the fact that they alone chose to reject Him, thus failing the greatest test in life!

When Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of All Saint’s Church in Wittenberg, Germany around 1517, a new day had come for those who would seek God.  The religious stranglehold which the Catholic Church had placed on both sinner and saint would begin to collapse.  Soon the world would understand the mystery of the ages; that man is saved from sin and justified by faith alone, “Sola Fide!”  That was it.  The word was out.  Martin Luther had heard God, and there it was, in the Bible, right where it had always been.  Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.  Not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Justification by faith alone is the article on which the church stands or falls.  Ignorance and religion want to keep Christianity in the dark ages, but to no avail.   We’ve moved on.  It is time to join the party.  It’s the real thing now!

Religion requires an understandable God and universe.  A god you can wrap your intellect around and either logically or scientifically quantify.  It’s amazing that people talk about all their concerns and problems with Christianity then tell you that they have no problem believing the virgin birth or the physical resurrection of Christ.  Well, you really cannot have it both ways.

Here is a very accepted viewpoint by many who want their kind of JESUS.  It goes like this: “JESUS was a great man and a holy teacher and God flowed through Him, but He was not God.” Really?  Have we thought this through to it’s logical conclusion?  If JESUS was not God how then could he have been a great man or a holy teacher, much more, have God flow through Him?  For He said He was God and that His Father, who is in heaven sent Him to be the Savior of the world.  If He is not who He said He was then He was a liar at least or a decieved crackpot at best; but certainly not a holy man of God and holy teacher. Religion is still the problem alienating people from God today.  Biblical Christianity is what JESUS lived, and it is what the world hungers for to this day.

JESUS forgave, prayed for, ate with, healed and loved sinners.  The multitudes flocked to Him.  It was the Pharisees and the Sadducees whom he railed against;  those religious hypocrites who heaped impossible laws upon helpless humanity.  And that hasn’t stopped either.   And  sure enough, according to God’s plan, it was those same religious leaders who led the revolt to the court of Pontius Pilate. You know the rest.

Since that day, it is Christ’s shed blood that has now made the way for us.   It is our turn to go and touch our world with the same love and power which He demonstrated.

Pastor Ralph D. Gerard

Do not be fooled. This day, this moment you and I are yielding our lives to something which drives our thinking, our feelings and our decisions. And as the song says, “It may be the devil, or it may be the LORD, but you gotta serve somebody…” Life changes the moment truth is confronted and allowed entrance into our hearts. Truth is knocking. Open the door. Don’t miss RG Radio today. You believe that something radical must take place in your life. If not now, when? Catch you on or in the air.

Pastor Ralph Gerard

God’s will for humanity is that we should all live maximized lives. That doesn’t mean overly busy, but rather, highest quality. Life on earth as it is in heaven; blessed, healed, productive and joyful. Walking with God is an adventurous journey. Consider RGR a daily partner who will add wisdom, encouragement and growth for your daily life. We look forward to being with you.

Of course we love to hear from all of our guests, listeners and partners at RGR. You can post a comment right here on my blog or email me personally at Pastor@RalphGerard.com. It would be our joy to agree with you in prayer as well as answer any questions you may have. Thanks for coming today and please, tell somebody you know about Ralph Gerard Radio. “Fresh Voice, Eternal Truth…”

You’re A Champion!

Pastor Ralph D. Gerard