Stop Settling!

Fear makes you a Squatter in the Land of Settle & Mediocre!

It’s the quicksand of the runner and it’s the pit that cages the Lion.

Do you remember when you used to dream? What it felt like before you got on the treadmill of life where your past mistakes and scars were a neon sign of yesterday’s promises. There is a moment where all of a sudden you awaken to a new day and God catches you on fire again. The miraculous and the supernatural will always be stifled when you settle for mediocrity.

One thing that causes us to settle is FEAR. Fear is a powerful weapon and it has the ability to cause us to quit…give up…and settle for less than what God has for us. How many dreams and victories have we missed out on and how many times have we stayed in our bondage and mental prisons and dysfunctional mindsets, because it’s easier to settle for comfort zones and normal than the road less traveled. Settling is a repercussion of allowing the voice of victory that once rang loud in your ears to become an echo of what could have been, because fear stands between us and the promised land.

 “ALLOW THE OBSTACLE TO BECOME THE WAY”

Maybe you are reading this today and feel that you need permission to step out of mediocrity into the miraculous and abundant fulfilled life. Can I remind you of Isaiah 60:1, that says, “Arise and shine for the glory of God has risen upon you.”  It is time to stop settling and catch aflame again!

For so many of my years of growing up, I allowed teachers and friends to put me in a box and I allowed their words to define me and cause me to accept less than what I knew God had for me. So many said I was quiet…shy…soft spoken…average intelligence…meant to stay in the shadows.  The Worst part is…I BELIEVED THEM!  I am so grateful for my husband and other godly influences in my life that pushed me to pursue more and to allow God to stretch me beyond my comfortable and tell me…YOU CAN DO MORE…YOU CAN DO BETTER…YOU CAN DREAM BIGGER!  DON’T SETTLE! GO FOR IT!!  If you stop here, you will always live in the field of “What IF’s”! I challenge you to surround yourself with people who bring a great report of how you can take the land, and maybe remove yourself from those who always bring a report of defeat.

 In Numbers 13 and 14 (NET), you find the twelve spies from the children of Israel who were sent to scope out the Promise Land. Two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua came back with a faith filled report but the other ten came back with a report of “settling”. “Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up and occupy it, for we are well able to conquer it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!” Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through to investigate is a land that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw there are of great stature… and we seemed like grasshoppers both to ourselves and to them. … Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” So, they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”(Numbers 13:25-14:4)

It’s incredible that out of the 10 spies…only two saw what God wanted them to see! Joshua and Caleb told the people, “HEY….this is a great land flowing with Milk and Honey --- WHY are you AFRAID?  GOD IS WITH US!  The giants are helpless with no protection because God is with US!  Don’t be afraid!” Can you believe that they actually wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb because they believed God about what He had for them.  

The Israelites gave up on their dream and God’s promised land and would rather stone the ones that believed than to face their fears and actually let God do what He said He would do.  They didn’t trust God and were impatient and wanted to take matters into their own hands. They were willing to SETTLE for SECOND BEST and a life of MEDIOCRITY and SLAVERY when GREATNESS and FULFILLMENT were just footsteps away.  FEAR stood between them and the PROMISES of GOD.

They were willing to go back to a place of slavery than face the fear of freedom.

What is standing between you and the promises that God has given you?  Why are you settling for a just OK and an it’s FINE mentality?  It’s not ok.  We were meant to thrive, not just survive! I think the reason we are not living according to God’s best, which is the abundant, free and overcoming life, is that we are willing to settle for less than. LESS THAN… isn’t God’s best…But it’s better than nothing and it’s enough to just survive, right? NO!  God doesn’t settle for just OK! JUST EHH!  JUST SO SO!  Ephesians 3:20 tells us, ^“Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you”

As long as you can live without God’s best for your life…YOU WILL! That is a powerful TRUTH and FACT! Pat, my husband, (Evangelist/Author Pat Schatzline) always says that, “Man will always throw you a rope called settle to keep you from going into the depths of God’s love.” I ADMIT IT!  It’s HARD to be enthusiastic about going to trials and tests!  But, it’s really easy to get excited when we have everything we need and lack absolutely nothing, right?! Look at James 1:2-3 (TPT), “when it seems as though you are facing nothing, but difficulties see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can!  For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up power within you to endure all things.”

You have to get dissatisfied with MEDIOCRITY before you can experience the BEST that God has for you.  It doesn’t happen by accident or by chance.  IF YOU DON’T PURSUE IT…YOU WON’T GET IT! If you refuse to be satisfied with average and mediocrity…You will be free to pursue excellence and a life of victory! Stop being afraid of failure, or being disappointed, or not being good enough. Rather than teach people to dream and to push forward and climb higher, we have started teaching them to settle for less in order to avoid disappointment. Quit allowing the bar of expectations to be lowered in regard to WHO YOU ARE. 

I challenge you to make changes today…Even if they are small steps – small steps are better than no steps at all. 

Here are a few ways to begin the process!  To stop settling!

1.      Know Who You Are  -  (Jeremiah 1:5 – He knew you in your mother’s womb) (1 John 3:1 – You are a child of God) (Romans 8:37, you are more than an overcomer) Accept Gods love and decide that you can become more than what you have settled for. Your worth is based on who you are – A CHILD OF GOD!  Forget what others think about you or say about you. Respect yourself by living a life consistent with who God says you are. Remember that your past does not dictate who you’re called to be.  Nothing is impossible with God

2.     Flourish where you are -  Grow where you are planted! Seize opportunities and don’t run from them for fear of failure.  Push past average and normal…(Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask and it will be given, seek, and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.”) You have to put some action to your faith.  Get moving and be available for whatever God has for you.  Look for divine appointments. Conquer your fears.  Trust in God’s wisdom even when you don’t understand.  Live boldly and courageously in the face of difficulty.  Stick to your convictions even in the face of popular opinion.  God is always faithful to His promises.

3.     Grow and learn what you can – Be adventurous! Constantly seek to discover more about God and act on the ideas that He gives you.  Study His Word.  Psalm 119 says, “It is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path!”Seek and pray for wisdom.  Proverbs 4:7 tells us that “wisdom is supreme so get it and whatever you do, get understanding.” Be teachable and seek out Godly counsel.  

4.     Don’t miss your moment - Realize that your time is something that you will never get back.  Guard your time and don’t waste it mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, twitter, Instagram and Netflix.  Don’t waste it worrying, gossiping, holding grudges, trying to please everyone or just merely surviving from one crisis to another.  Make the dash on your tombstone count for something. Develop a pace in life where you have patience and stamina for the dreams and the long run.  Don’t just strive to be efficient, but also effective.  (Busyness is not a spiritual gift)

It’s the little things each day that we do that add up to great things.  Purpose takes pushing past, “I Can’t” and seeing that “With God, all things are possible” Matthew 19:26. It is time to stop settling!

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Read more about overcoming fear in the powerful new book, “Restore the Roar” by Authors Pat & Karen Schatzline.  www.restoretheroarbook.com

Watch Evg. Karen share more from this message by watching her latest episode of “The Breathing Room” below.  https://youtu.be/4fZms215wI4

The Truth About Shadows

“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.  He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” James 1:17 NLT

Can we be honest, I am sure like me, at one time or another, you have been afraid of the dark or the unseen or unknown?  I grew up in the Eighties and the truth is that horror movies were the big craze during that time period and I admit that I did watch them on occasion. Not now of course and I would not allow my children to watch them either.  It’s so sad that as a child, I spent a lot of time clinging to my blanket, afraid of something that wasn’t even real.  So many times, I would lie awake - seeing shadows on the ceiling, on the wall, in the hallway, and in reality, it was usually, just the curtain or the door or a picture on the wall.

Have you ever said to yourself, "I feel like something bad is going to happen?” These feelings are the shadows, and the what-if’s that keep us in the corner - afraid.  Sadly, so many times, these feeling have the power to paralyze us into believing we are not safe or at future risk, or that a loved one is in danger.My husband, Evangelist Pat Schatzline, calls this “the paralysis of analysis!” These looming shadows of dread and doubt become faint whispers that haunt the soul and bring fear.  And as you know, FEAR is one of the strongest weapons the enemy uses to keep us in the dark.  Once this battle of the mind takes root, it has the power to cage your spirit behind the steel bars of doubt, insecurity and fear.  

But the Bible tells us that we have the power to cast down these attacks: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.  Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (MEV) In other words, the Bible tells us we have the POWER to open up the back door to our minds and throw out the lies of the enemy.  

That is exactly what God was trying to teach Pat and I to do a year ago when the enemy sent a diagnosis of Cancer into my life. (Leukemia was my shadow). God was trying to show us during that time, that over time, our perceptions (the whispers of the enemy) can become more real than what is really taking place in our reality.  As long as we sit in fear, licking our wounds of past failures that haunt us and listening to the lies of the enemy, we won’t step into the destiny that God has for us. 

FAITH is the ANTIDOTE for FEAR! And GRADUATED FAITH is TRUST!

It’s in our blindness and our inability to see what is next, that God uses to teach us to declare, “I TRUST YOU, GOD!”   God is calling us to live by Faith, not by sight! (2 Cor. 5:7) I’ve recently learned, that sometimes, we’re afraid of what will happen if shadows temporarily surround us.  We often fear difficulties, uncertainties, seemingly impossible circumstances or devastating illness, personal loss, or challenging finances. Darkness and difficulties are inevitable in this life but look what John 16:33 says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world, you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have OVERCOME the world.”

Life will have shadows in it!  There WILL be moments of darkness where the shadows loom over you, but look at one of my absolute favorite scriptures, Psalm 23, where it reads “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want … EVEN THOUGH I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I WILL FEAR NO EVIL; for YOU are with me; YOUR rod and YOUR staff, they comfort me.” When the shadows come. don’t lie down and give up, get moving and keep walking!  Don’t set up camp or build a life there.

Here is what I have learned:

1.     Shadows CANNOT HURT YOU

2.     Shadows appear BIGGER than their source

3.     Where there is a SHADOW, there is always LIGHT

Here are 3 ways to defeat the shadows:

1.     TURN THE LIGHT ON!

Psalm 18:29-42 (MSG)tells us this, “Suddenly, God, you floodlight my life;
I’m blazing with glory, God’s glory!  I smash the bands of marauders, I vault the highest fence.  What a God! His road stretches straight and smooth.  Every God-direction is road-tested.  Everyone who runs toward him Makes it.” God is LIGHT!  He gave birth to the light!  His Shadow is the only one that matters!

2.     RESTORE THE ROAR OF PRAISE – It drives out the enemy

Praise and Worship is my nerve pill – When I got the cancer diagnosis, all we could do was wake up and Praise God and sing of His might and power and love. My praise is a melody and a weapon that sends the enemy into confusion and chaos. 2 Chronicles 20:22 (NLT), “At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the LORD caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Sier to start fighting among themselves.

3.    Take AUTHORITY over the shadows!

Ephesians 6:12 (NLT), “For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits.  

But the great thing is that our weapons are not carnal either, as we learned in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, our weapons are God weapons for pulling down strongholds and everything that exalts itself against God. So often, we try to fight, in the natural, the shadows that are looming around us in the supernatural.  How about we fight on the right battlefield from now on…IN THE SUPERNATURAL! Some shadows are spiritual and demonic forces of darkness, sent on assignment from the enemy, to destroy our peace and deter our destiny.  God has given us every weapon we need to defeat the enemy and drive out the shadows. God has given us authority over the enemy. (Luke 10:19-20 (NIV).

It’s time to Realize that the darkness all around you might just be the SHADOW of HIS WINGS. Do you know that when you reside in the Presence of God, and create a “Breathing Room” for the Breath of God to flow in your life, your home, and your marriage, then you are sheltered safely under the wings of the almighty! Psalm 91:1 (NLT), “Those who live in the shelter of the Most-High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty”. Psalm 17:8 (NIV), “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”

Can I ASK YOU?…What shadows are looming in your life….How are those shadows deterring you from your God encounter and your Destiny?

When I think of shadows, I often think about Ground Hog Day, and how sad of an existence that Ground Hog’s life is. Every Year, the Ground Hog cautiously pokes it’s head out above his little prison of fear we call a burrow.  He eases out ever so slowly and looks and listens for signs of danger.  As if to always suspect that danger is imminent.  Then, to his expectant horror, he sees this big, black, spooky, scary shadow looming in front of him.  What does he do? He’s gone as quickly as he appeared. His shadow sent him fleeing back to the safety and comfort of his prison den. It occurs to me, how many times do I retreat from life, from opportunity, from freedom and purpose and joy, just because I was frightened by the shadow called “uncertainty”, “insecurity” or “inadequacy”? Perhaps…Our fears are completely unfounded just as the Ground Hog’s are?

I think sometimes that our unfounded, illogical and absurd fears, which are ploys of the enemy to deter us from our purpose and destiny, prevent us from being and becoming the mighty LIONS that we are called to be! We are called to defeat, overcome and conquer the Spirit of Fear with the breath and power of God. What might you do, or accomplish, or conquer, if you allowed the Roar of God’s breath to rise up inside of you today?  Might you leave a legacy, that would literally change the course of events, and lead your family into hope, freedom, peace, purpose, integrity, and obedience to Christ? Would you lead a movement that would restore the place of encounter in your own life, your family and in your community, that would ignite a Holy fire that could not be quenched for generations to come?

There is a famous poem by Robert Frost, 

Two Roads diverged in a wood, 

And I – I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Have you ever thought about the fact that the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason?  The common road is well traveled because, seriously, who wants to take a path that hasn’t been cleared and leads to who knows what or where? Can I tell you, we need not fear the shadows and we need not fear the road less traveled!  As you go through the valley of shadows, be encouraged by Psalm 63:7-8 (MEV), “Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.  My soul clings hard to you; Your right hand upholds me.” Sometimes it’s not about finding the safe path with no shadows…it’s about finding the one to whom your soul can cling hard to in order to find the glorious light.  

Maybe your safe path has begun to feel a little uncomfortable and you have begun to believe there just might be someplace better.  The safe road isn’t perfect, but you have bought into the lies that it’s where the relevant people in culture live.  It’s comfortable - and at least, your SURVIVING there.  Some of you may be thinking…I CANT STAY HERE!.... BUT, I’M NOT SURE I CAN GO THERE…THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED!  Maybe that road terrifies you…Stepping out in total abandonment and trusting God. But…Maybe that’s what the Israelites were thinking in Numbers 13 and 14, when 10 of the 12 spies came back from Canaan, “the land of milk and honey”. With stories of giants and fortified cities. They heard the word…GIANTS...and immediately they were afraid. So afraid, that they longed for the oppression of the Egyptians despite Joshua and Caleb reminding them that they could step out to receive what God had promised. While there may have been Giants, the Giants DID NOT have GOD on their side. Their fear would mean an entire generation would miss out on the promised land. Their fear would keep them from the abundant life God truly meant for them.  They saw Giants INSTEAD of their INHERITANCE!

But WHAT IF, the scariest road full of shadows is the ONLY road that leads to the promised land? What if the Israelites had just remembered who God is!  He had split the red sea…and caused it to swallow up their enemy. What if they just remembered what God had spoken to them when He brought them out of Egypt? Exodus 6:8, “I will bring you to the land with I swore to give to Abraham Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD.” How about you?!…Do you want to miss out on your promises, just because the shadowy less traveled road looks scary and uncertain?

Maybe the shadows are just that, shadows; and maybe God and I are going to slay those shadows and Giants, or maybe I will learn to live courageously in the face of the shadows and the Giants.  All I know is this … if I stay on the safe, well worn, comfortable path - always afraid of the shadows looming around me, I might just avoid the giants, but it will be dry and empty there!  OR, I can take God by the hand, face the shadows, turn the light on, Restore my Roar of Praise, and take authority over the shadows in my life, so that I might live a life of abundance and provision and freedom like I have never known.  

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Read more about “When the Shadow Looms” in the powerful new book, “Restore the Roar” by Authors Pat & Karen Schatzline.  www.restoretheroarbook.com

Watch Evg. Karen share more from this message by watching her latest episode of “The Breathing Room” below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Novue_8G9Kw&t=1s