Have you reached a plateau?

Since I posted the piece on "Your Harbingers" earlier this month, I have been thinking about plateaus.  Not sure why but even one of my Twitter followers brought up the topic of plateaus.  At the same time, this Friday, July 20, we enter the Hebraic month of Av, a month with several thousand years of significance.  So what is all this about plateaus?

My best understanding perhaps of plateaus is in athletics and weight training.  You train for a period of time and see progress with ever increasing weights and then you hit a 'plateau'.  No matter what you do or how hard you train, the gains seem to all but stop.  Over the years, I concluded that when you break through those plateaus you learned to lift the weight in a slightly different way.  You may not know what is different but it is.  The way you squat a 315 lb weight is different than 450lbs and is still different than 520lbs.  Can I tell you exactly what is different?  No, but it is.  What I can say is that the weight is always the same, you have to change.

Where Moses stopped to look into Canaan more than 3000 years ago

Reflecting on the Hebraic month of Av coming, I recall the scripture in Genesis 13.  Israel had just come out of Egypt, had arrived at  Canaan (the first time), and men had been sent to scout out the land.  History/tradition indicates that when they returned in Genesis 13:25-26, it was the 9th of Av. So, what might this have to do with plateaus?

It would seem that the majority of the scouts had reached a plateau in their life expectations.  Even after obtaining freedom for the most powerful country in the world at that time, their response was, "We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit!  The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak." (Gen 13:27-28 The Message)  Seems that they max'ed out and had to learn a slightly different way to view obstacles.  It took another 40 years.  Do we want to wait that long?

Other than the lesson we might learn from the scouts, what about the rest of the people that allowed the scouts to influence their life direction.  The scouts' plateau limited everyone else as well, so it became everyones' plateau. Perhaps the month of Av comes to mind because as Chuck Pierce recently stated about Av, "the month ahead can be our “high point” or “low point” month, so we must remain vigilant in our choices."  Not only the choices we make ourselves, but the choices we allow others to make for us.

I believe one of the key choices we make or will need to make in the near future in our own life transition is whether we are going to operate from an abundance mentality or a poverty (lack) mentality.  A poverty mentality says - this is all I will ever be able to lift, this is all I will ever be able to earn, this is all the love I will ever receive - I reached a limit, the world has reached a limit.  There is no more.  Someone else must lose something for me to get anything.

An abundance mentality says, while I may have to learn to operate in a slightly  different way, I will lift more weight, I will earn more and experience increasing prosperity, my God has more love than I can contain, I will have a life without limits - there are no limits except those I place on myself or allow others to place on me.

Where are your plateaus and what do you need to do to get past them?  What are your choices?

Your Harbingers

I only wear lifting gloves when I do deadlifts in the power rack and primarily for some padding for the wrist wraps.  I have had the gloves for many years but a couple weeks ago the brand name caught my eye with a new meaning - Harbinger!  Let's start with a definition of Harbinger - a person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.  It's like a warning.

I recently finished reading The Harbinger by Jonathan Carn which gave me a new view of the meaning of harbinger and the implications to the United States, but that is a different message.  You need to read the book - click the graphic.

My initial thought when I saw Harbinger on my lifting gloves was a warning to the weights that would try to resist me.  A prophetic warning that there was no point in resisting - the weight would move.  What a change of mindset when lifting heavy weights.  I have always said that 90 percent of any heavy lift is in your head.  However, the prophetic implication grew much larger over the next couple weeks.

We have now entered the Hebraic month of Tammuz - The Month of Reuben.  I want to share a quote with you from the last paragraph on the month of Tammuz from Chuck Pierce's book "A Time to Advance".  "Tammuz is the month of covenant rights, which are linked with power and strength.  Covenant alignment becomes very important.  Look carefully at those with whom you shake hands.  What covenants are you entering this month?" (Emphasis added.)

What you do with your hands is very important to your life plan and life transitions - they can be harbingers (warnings) to the things that stand in your way.  Your hands seal covenants  which either increase or consume your power and strength to move through life and the obstacles that attempt to stand in your way.  The obstacles (weights) will move and they have been fore-warned.  Be aware of how you use your hands and what you lay them to.  Tammuz is the month that Israel laid their hands to building the golden calf which compromised their transition to the promised land.  Do not lay your hands to any golden calf projects.

Let us not forget the source of the harbinger power and strength in our hands  as revealed in 1 Chronicles 29:12, "Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything.  Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength."  Use the God given power and strength of your hands with care.

Relief to Relief or Glory to Glory

The past week has been very busy but I have been reflecting on something that Matt Sorger said at The Tab the evening of June 24th.  My new book that is in editing production right now (due for release around January 2013) is about Life Transitions and how we move from glory to glory (position to position).  It is rooted in understanding and being focused on God's Life Plan for us.  There is a progressive realization of that plan - it is not instantaneous.  It is not for the weak of heart but for those firmly grounded in the strength that comes from God.  We do not have to do it alone.

Matt Sorger made a comment during his message that caught my attention.  While not a direct quote, it went something like, "...live from relief to relief..."  I have really had to think about those words and ask the question, "Are you living (have I been living) from relief to relief rather than from glory to glory?"

So, what does the difference look like?  It is the difference between the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda near the Sheep Gate (John 5:2-9) and the woman who suffered with a flow of blood (Luke 8:43-48).  In one case, we wait for someone else to move us into God's promises and in the other case, we push through any obstacle in our way to obtain what He has promised.  Are we waiting or pursuing?  Are we going through our life transition from relief to relief or from glory to glory?

Matt Sorger caused me to reflect on my own life transitions (life plan)  and answer the question for myself.  We have a saying in powerlifting, "Go Heavy or Go Home."  I might re-phase here to, "Pursue It or Lose It."  I think I will "Pursue It."

Thank you Matt for the challenge.  Now you need to evaluate your life plan and how you are moving.  Are you pursuing like the woman or looking for a handout like the invalid?  Merely moving from relief to relief or moving from glory to glory?