"Do You Want To Make The Most Out Of This Time?" by Pablo Giacopelli
From Jerry and Denise: We first connected with Pablo through Kevin Miles, the publisher of the first edition of The Missing Commandment: Love Yourself, who also published Pablo's first book. Pablo lives in Tel Aviv, Israel and has had the opportunity to successfully coach some of the best female players in the world of tennis. Although he has enjoyed significant success as a tennis player and coach, his passion is to help people find freedom from performance and to be able to rest in God's mercy and grace. Pablo also helps people connect their hearts to Jesus and the Holy Land through his "Uncommon Spiritual Retreats."
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During one of the most traumatic and unexpected times of my life, God spoke only a few words into my heart. These words have lived with me ever since and they have often been what I have focused on when the boat has been rocked by the many storms I have faced thus far.
Over the years I have had the opportunity to look deeper and discover what these words really meant when they were first uttered to a young shepherd boy that had gone on to become a King. At the time he was facing an uncertain world around him. By nature, he was a warrior often used to "handling the situation." Yet this time his normal approach was not going to change and align things in his favor no matter how hard he tried. This time he needed a different approach which God gave him when he told him, as he told me in a similar situation:
Be Still and Know That I am God.
I know you have been seeing these words quite a lot lately on social media and I think this is great. The problem is that if you don't really understand what these words mean, they will inevitably become another way to try to change and control what is happening.
In the Hebrew language, which is what the above statement was originally spoken in, these words mean:
Relax Your Grip So You Have A Chance To Understand That I am God.
Read that again.
The above words are an invitation to understand that in spite of what is happening around us - God is still with us and continues to be whom He has always been.
This is an invitation that is meant to take place within us and not outside of us. You see when things happen, we have a choice to either try and regain control by forcing them to change or we can observe them and remain still and at peace.
In many of our lives, things are being taken away from us. Many of these things that we are by now realizing were the very reason for which we lived and have kept us going. It doesn't take much to see how so many of us are tightening our grip and trying to desperately keep them around somehow. It is as if we are being undressed little by little or maybe we are being given an opportunity to see how shallow and worthless the things we use to cover ourselves really are.
When we are still within, we find life and all that we need for that life to be healthy, happy, peaceful, and free inside of us. Our identity is no longer found on the things we do or have outside. So when they suddenly begin to go away, we are able to let them go as our security is no longer found in them but in someone greater within us.
Relaxing our grip enables us to do this as this causes flow in our lives in a way that having a tight and controlling one doesn't. These are times where we are all being invited to discover not how to respond to what is going on but why we always respond the way we do when things don't work the way we think they should.
The Bible says that life begins in the heart and not in what we do and how well we manage to do it. We have an opportunity today to begin shifting that place within us where our responses originate from. Set no goals or finish lines if you choose to begin your journey down this road of transformation as these will only negate and stall the adventure before it even begins.
This is a time for intimacy and understanding individually - not to impress others corporately through the results we have managed to achieve.
I am convinced that as you relax your grip a solid foundation will begin to emerge from within you. This will give you confidence and enable you to impact your future, now, as you finally begin to let go of this illusion we all struggle with called being in control.
Remember - In the Kingdom, we are the most in control when we have none.
Pablo Giacopelli
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BOOKS AND MEDIA: "Loving God, Loving Myself" and our Expanded Edition of "The Missing Commandment: Love Yourself," are available at jerryanddenisebasel.com and Amazon.com.
COUNSELING MINISTRY: If you or anyone you know is in need of finding a safe place for emotional and/or spiritual healing and restoration, please contact us at The Father's Heart Intensive Christian Counseling Ministry. Check out our web site at fathersheart.com or email us directly at fathersheartmin@gmail.com. We are located in the North Georgia Mountains in a retreat-like setting and counsel individuals or couples for periods of two to five-days in length.
