I am often amazed at the number of people that I run across who have allowed someone else or even themselves to make them feel inferior and even worthless. When God created man (woman), He created man (woman) in His image and that is priceless. I will not allow anyone to make me feel less than who God created me to be. You may not think it or even know it, but God has helped me to see that I have worth. You have got to get to the place where you see yourself as God sees you.

You cannot let anyone tear down what God has built up in you. Too often in life, people allow others to dictate their worth. That is the wrong thing to do. The scripture says that everything that God made was good and very good. That says that I have value. God is the one who lets you know your true worth. God created us a little lower than the angels. As a matter of fact, we are God’s greatest creation. That may not mean much to you, but that means the world to me.

How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself the way God sees you or do you see yourself the way others have made you see yourself? If you do not see yourself the way God sees you, then you are shortchanging yourself. You need to stop at this moment and say to yourself, “I am valuable!” Regardless of how people have made you feel, your value is priceless to God. Even if you have not been feeling the best about yourself lately, today should be the last day that you allow yourself or anyone else for that matter to make you feel less than the way God sees you. Whether you know it or not, the same Christ that was in Jesus is the Christ that is in you. That says that you have everything in you that you need to make it.

If you are in a marriage or a relationship that is making you feel worthless, get out! God did not create you to live like that. If you are on a job where they do not appreciate or value you, pray and ask God to deliver you or even to make them see your value. One of the worst feelings is feeling like no one sees your value. Even if you feel like that, just know that God sees your value and He values you.

Everything that you need to live a successful life is at your fingertips. God already has what you need at your disposal. When we think about success, we often think about material things, but that is not necessarily success. There are many people who have material things, but are still living miserable lives. Success as I have read before and truly believe is simply becoming what God wants you to become; doing what God wants you to do; and possessing what God wants you to own. That in itself is priceless! If you and I are priceless to God, what are we waiting for to become what God wants us to become; and doing what God wants us to do; and possessing what God wants us to have?

The answer lies within you. Who are you going to continue to listen to? Are you going to listen to the naysayers or are you going to listen to God? You have lived long enough with someone else’s label (lazy, trifling, drama queen, good-for-nothing) attached to who you are. Start believing God and what God has said about you. Start today and change the way you view yourself because you are priceless to God.

Can I make a confession? I am extremely guilty of utilizing my time for other people and their agendas and neglecting time for myself. It is amazing how easy it is to get bogged down with doing things for other people and fail to complete the tasks that are yours to do. Have you ever found yourself doing things for other people while the things that you need to do go undone? That is the story of my life. My newsletter is late this month because I take on tasks for other people while my personal tasks go undone. I must also confess that a small part of that is procrastination.

I think that it is always good to do for others and to help others, but there has to be a balance. You and I can get to a place where we allow our purpose to go unfulfilled when we lose our focus. How can we be effective in what God has called us to do when we are spending so much time doing non-essentials? It is time that you and I revisit our priorities. There has to be a level of balance in our lives so that we don’t neglect self.

Do you know anyone or are you that person who always puts others’ needs ahead of yourself? Are you one of those people who put your spouse or significant other’s needs ahead of yours? It is so easy to get to that place where you neglect self for others. I found myself taking on tasks for other people that really did not benefit me at all. Think about it for a minute, what are you gaining by neglecting the things that God wants you to do? The answer is very simple, you gain nothing. I have come to the conclusion that I will not continue to spend more time on other people’s agenda at the expense of neglecting my own.

Many of you who are reading this newsletter can agree with me that you would have had that book written; that business open; that college degree; or that new career if you didn’t spend so much time neglecting self. It’s time that you and I get to the place where we make time for ourselves. If we don’t intentionally make time for ourselves, we will lose out on the things that God has for us.

Let me share a few ideas with you that I believe would help you to fully understand what I mean by “make time for yourself”:

• Set aside at least 30 minutes daily solely for you
• Work on your goals and dreams daily
• Pamper yourself at least once a month
• Rid yourself of people that drain the life out of you
• Surround yourself with people who value who you are
• Make time your God regularly.

If you do these things, life will take a turn for you. Whatever you do, make time for yourself.

Rev. Knighton is a member and the administrative pastor of Greater 2nd Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Albany and pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Baconton.

There are far too many people who want and need change in their lives, but are doing nothing about it. If you and I want change in our lives, there are things that we have to do in order to make change happen. The question for this month is, “What are you willing to do with the information that you already have to change your situation?” Truthfully speaking, information without transformation leads to stagnation.”

I am in the midst of finishing a book by Steven Furtick titled Sun Stand Still.” This is a must-read book that will help you to change what you have been doing as it relates to what God expects of you. After reading this book, I have been awakened to the reality that I have been shortchanging myself as it relates to what God wants to do for me. God wants us to get to the place where we ask for the impossible. There is no need for us to know what the Word of God says if we are not going to do anything with it.

There are many people who have the information that the Bible gives us, but there is no real transformation that ever takes place. The Word of God is the one thing that transforms your life. When we get to the place where we do something with the information that we have been given, transformation has to happen. I am sure that you know someone who knows the Bible well, but their lives have not been changed at all. That is because they have not done anything with the information that they have been given. Stagnation will always be the end result if we do not do anything with what we have been given.

How does transformation happen in our lives? Transformation happens when we learn to speak what God has already said about us. We have to get to the place where we speak what God’s word says concerning us. If we ever get to the place where we take the Word of God literally, we will experience transformation in our lives. But herein lies the problem, if you do not know what the Word of God says, you will never have the transformation that you desire.

Steve Harvey was hosting TBN the other night and said something that I will never forget. Steve said, “There are two important days in your life, the day you are born and the day you discover why you were born (purpose).” That is such a profound statement because there are many people who have never discovered what their purpose is and therefore their lives have not been transformed. It will only happen when we do something with the information that we have been given that our lives will change.

What good is it to know the information if you are not going to do anything with the information?

Rev. Knighton is a member and the administrative pastor of Greater 2nd Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Albany and pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Baconton.

As we approach the spring season, there are some changes that we will see taking place. With springtime comes pollen, bugs, and a fresh and beautiful array of flowers. Spring is always a time where change is always noticeable. It is also in the spring season when the time moves forward and daylight is extended.

We are living in a time where the changes that are taking place in our society are noticeable. It is God’s desire that every one of us would make changes in our lives that are noticeable among our family, friends and co-workers. The question that I want to pose to all of you today is what changes have you made thus far in 2011? We cannot go through 2011 without making a change in our lives that can be noticed by many. We are in the third month of 2011 and we should have something that we can say we have changed about ourselves in 2011.

One story in the Bible that I love is found in 2^nd Kings 7:3-10. In this story, there were four men who were lepers that were in the midst of a famine. Lepers in that day had to remain in an area that was quarantined and they could not live in the general population. The lepers were in a place that was unsafe because of the famine. They had a serious choice that they had to make regarding the outcome of their lives. Their choices were to either retreat and go back to the place of the famine and die; stay where they were and die; or they could take a chance and go into the enemy’s territory and hope that the enemy would spare their lives. But even in the midst of the famine, they made a choice that changed their lives forever.

The choice that they made was a choice that many people would have never done and that was to get up and go into the enemy’s territory. What is so powerful about this scripture is that when they decide to get up and take a chance on their lives, God had already removed the obstacle that they feared.

I think when we get to the point where we trust God with our lives that is when God will do what He wants to do with our lives. What caused God to clear out the obstacles in their lives was faith. Faith is the one thing that we all need to get more of. When they got up to go into the enemy’s camp, God had already cleared a path for them. That says to you and I that all we have to do is step out on faith and watch God work. These lepers would have still been in the midst of the famine had they not stepped out on faith.

What are your plans for change in 2011? I have made a vow that I will not go to the grave with all of the potential that God has placed inside of me. There are some of you reading this newsletter who need to go back to school; start that business; start that weight loss program; let go of that relationship that is keeping you down; and start to give God more of your time.

No one can make the change but you. It is my prayer that our lives would blossom just like the four lepers in 2^nd Kings 7. When they decided to make a change, they received stuff that they never would have received had they stayed where they were. That is why it is so very important that we stay in tune with God so that we can become the changed person that He has ordained for our lives.

Rev. Knighton is a member and the administrative pastor of Greater 2nd Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Albany and pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Baconton.

It is obvious that we are living in some very crucial times in the history of our country. We are experiencing things in this day and time that I never thought I would see. What I am referring to is things such as high unemployment rates, high gas prices, churches going bankrupt, layoffs in education and budget cuts, lack of motivation among our young people and other like issues. What this is simply proving is that the Word of God is true concerning the last days. I am not trying to predict the end of time; I am simply trying to prepare us for the future.

Preparing for the future can be done in a number of different ways. One way is by continuously trying to educate yourself so that you can be positioned for something better. The days of getting good jobs with degrees are not guaranteed anymore. So it behooves us to do all we can to find other means of support. That may mean going back to school or even pursuing those business ideas that have been lying dormant in your life. Either way you look at it, it’s time to prepare for the future.

The question that I want you to think about is, what are you doing to prepare for the future? If your job shut down tomorrow, what skills do you bring to the table for someone to hire you? If you got a notice today that your company was moving to Mexico, what would be your next move? If your spouse or significant other decided that they didn’t want the relationship anymore, what would you do? I am convinced that we cannot live our lives as if things are always going to be like they are now. I am a firm believer that the only person that is guaranteed to never flip-flop on us is God.

I have watched many friends in the past few years that became distraught over things that changed in their lives. I knew many people that worked at one of the manufacturers that closed and most of them were not prepared for life after the plant closure. On the other hand, I know of some couples that broke up and life was miserable after the break up. That is why it is so important for us to make sure that we don’t lose focus on God.

One thing that I have discovered is that many people live their lives like they are going to be here forever. The one thing that none of us knows is when we are going to depart this world. The Bible even makes it clear that no one knows the day or the hour when the Son of Man shall appear. That simply means that we can’t predict or tell when we will depart from this world. What this does say is that we need to be trying to prepare ourselves for that day.

So, what are you going to do to prepare for the uncertainties of life? One of my favorite sayings is “life is so unpredictable.” I am sure that we can all agree with this phrase because all of us have experienced something that we weren’t expecting to happen in our lives. The main point that I want to leave with you is to make sure that God is at the center of your life and He will get you through the uncertainties of life. Also, make better use of your time and do all you can to become more marketable if something were to happen with your job. Last but not least, become more disciplined in your spending so that you don’t have to become distraught in case the economy gets worse. Remember, it will get worse before it gets better so prepare for the unexpected.

Rev. Knighton is a member and the administrative pastor of Greater 2nd Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Albany and pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Baconton.

I want to share with you the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people. Oprah Winfrey had a quote that she used a few years ago that stated, “Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher.” This is something that we must take seriously if we are to become all that God intended.

I had the pleasure of attending an honors program for some of the children at my church. While at the honors program, I saw just how detrimental the impact of surrounding ourselves with the wrong people can be. One of the young men from my church was ashamed to stand up and receive his award for his accomplishments because his peers who he was sitting with were teasing him.

This is the same young man that I had to discipline at church for being disruptive and disrespectful during Bible study. I had already drawn my conclusion of him based on the people that he surrounded himself with. He was always hanging with the kids at church who were my most challenging youth. And, because they were always getting in trouble, I thought that was who he was as well. The honors program opened my eyes to something different. What I saw that day was a young man who was tainted by the people that he surrounded himself with.

The first thing that hit me was the fact that it is a sad day in our society when you are teased for being smart and wanting to do something positive with your life. The second thing that hit me was the fact that people can be easily influenced by the wrong crowd. I have not had the opportunity to speak with this young man, but it is in my plans to speak with him about changing the company that he keeps. What that situation also taught me is that dreams can be aborted and left for dead all because of the company that we keep.

The question I have for you this month is, “Who are you surrounded by?” I am convinced that it is imperative that we make some changes to our surroundings if we want to succeed in this thing called life. Are the people who you are surrounded by helping or hindering you? Are they an asset or a liability? Are they pushing you into purpose or into pain? Can you really say that you are growing and becoming better because of them? If you can’t answer positively to these questions, you need to change your surroundings. I believe that one of the main reasons why we aren’t where we could or should be is because of the people in our surroundings. We don’t always surround ourselves with the right people who are going to lift us higher.

I am learning more and more each day that life can be bitter or sweet depending on whom we surround ourselves with. I have learned to surround myself with people who can bring the best out of me and with those who have my best interest at heart. If you and I are serious about becoming all God created us to be, we have to surround ourselves with the right people. So, check your surroundings and see if those who are in your circle are lifting you higher or bringing you down. Don’t allow your dreams and aspirations to be aborted and left for dead all because of the company you keep.

On May 18, I had the pleasure of turning 50 years old and I can honestly say that I don’t feel like I am 50. With that being said, I feel like my best days are ahead of me.

There are many people who have allowed life to make them feel that their best days are behind them and their worst days are ahead of them. I feel like my best days are ahead of me because of the wisdom that I have attained in these 50 years of living. I am convinced that all of us have made mistakes that have caused us to say, “If I only knew then what I know now.”

I am a much better and a much wiser individual because of the mistakes that I have made. Therefore, this qualifies me to be able to have a much brighter future because of what I have been through and the fact that I have learned how to forgive others as well as myself. The things that you and I have been through should help us to have better days ahead.

I am reminded in the Bible of a man named Job who had gone through a tragic time in his life, but he proved to me that even though life doesn’t always seem fair, you can still come out on top. Job was a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. The Bible says that he also had many servants and he was the richest man in his area. In one day, Job lost all of the things that he had acquired, including his children.

Not long after that, Job’s health was challenged and he had sore boils from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. The sores affected his skin so badly until his friends didn’t even recognize who he was. That sounds like a lot to have to deal with in just a few days doesn’t it? And we have the nerve to complain about what we are going through!

This man lost his family, his wealth, and his health in a matter of a few days. During the time that Job was dealing with all of this, his wife told him to curse God and die. Job responded by calling her foolish because he understood that God is the One who gives and He is the One who can take it away.

The beautiful thing about the story of Job is that he held on to his integrity. He went through his period of rage, protests, moans, and even vacillated between confidence and despair, but he never gave up. What is also to be noted is that his friends kept saying that he must have done something wrong for all of this to happen to him. Yes, you will always have haters in your circle as well.

Let me encourage you today: you can be in the will of God and still go through challenging times. As a matter of fact, you can expect to go through challenges when you are doing what God asks of you. But, that is not reason enough to give up on what God has for you. I don’t care what you have done or what you are dealing with now; your best days are ahead of you.

I speak this into your life because there are some of you who feel like life is not worth living, but the devil is a lie, your best days are ahead of you. You could be going through divorce; facing unemployment or foreclosure; facing a challenging health dilemma; or some other misfortune, but I still say that your best days are ahead of you.

One thing that I want to challenge all of you to do is to take the bitter with the sweet. In other words, learn how to deal with the ups and downs of life. If Job had not been able to deal with his misfortune, he would have never known that his best days were ahead of him. If you skip over to the last chapter of Job you will see proof of this.

The Bible says in Job 42:10-13, “When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! (11) Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring. (12.) So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. (13) He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters.”

This says to you and me that first we have to pray for those that do us wrong. The verse says that God blessed him AFTER he prayed for his friends. In other words, if he had held on to the unforgiveness towards his friends, he would have never experienced the blessings that God had for him. I believe that is why many people can’t see better days ahead of them because they are holding on to unforgiveness.

You will never have better days ahead of you until you learn how to let go of unforgiveness. Let go of what someone did to you as well as what you have done so that your latter days can be better than your first. Job’s second half of his life was better than the first half all because he learned how to deal with misfortune and he learned how to pray for those who went against him. If you and I can learn how to deal with life’s misfortunes without becoming bitter, we can experience the same results as Job.

Our second half of our lives can be better than the first if we remember these principles. Remember, your best days are ahead of you!

One of the things that I am discovering more and more about people is that they have a poor appraisal of who they are. In other words, their self-esteem is extremely low. I think it is because they have allowed someone else to tell them who they are. I think that it is important for people to get their identity from the One that created them, which is God. When you allow someone else to tell you who you are, you will always have a blurred view of who you really are. It is my goal with this month’s column to help you to really understand who you really are.

In Judges 6:11-12, there is a man by the name of Gideon who didn’t understand who he really was. Gideon comes on the scene at the time when the children of Israel had been put into the hands of the Midianites because of their rebellion against God. The Midianites had taken all of the children of Israel’s crops and their livestock. And, what is even sadder is that they would end up in captivity for seven years. But in the midst of this captivity, Gideon was visited by an angel under a tree in Ophrah. When the angel visited Gideon at this place, Gideon was threshing wheat by the winepress. Threshing wheat was always done in an open area so the wind could blow the chaff from the wheat. But Gideon was at the bottom of the hill at the winepress hiding from the enemy and fearing for his life. Where he should have been was at the top of the hill in an open area. In other words, he was hiding from the enemy and at the same time he was out of place. Here is the irony in this story. While Gideon is hiding from the enemy and fearing for his life, God speaks to him and calls him a mighty warrior or a mighty hero. Imagine that!

Here he is a farmer at the time, but God calls him a mighty man of valor. How can God call him a mighty hero when he is hiding and fearing for his life? When Gideon hears what was said about him he actually thought that God was talking to someone else. In verse 15 of Judges 6, Gideon starts to do what most of us have done in our lives. He started to make excuses about why he wasn’t able to bring the children of God to a place of victory. His excuse was that he didn’t come from the proper family to do such a thing. In other words, he saw his flaws and failures and not his power and potential. He had a poor assessment of himself.

How many times have we made excuses about what we could and could not do? How many times have we let opportunities pass us by because we didn’t feel adequate enough to make something happen? That is because you and I don’t see ourselves the way God sees us. God never addresses Gideon’s excuses but rather, God helps him to understand who he is by calling him mighty. When you and I understand that God is with us, nothing else really matters. God never sees our problems, He sees our potential. I have come to the conclusion that I will not allow anyone to tell me who I am because God has already told me who I am. If you and I can get that in our inner man, we would not allow anyone else to dictate to us who we are.

How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself as a victim or a victor? Do you see yourself flourishing or failing? You are mighty! Live like you are a conqueror!

Be blessed, but most of all be a blessing!

Rev. Knighton is a member and the administrative pastor of Greater 2nd Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Albany and pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Baconton.

I was listening to a message the other day from my mentor and friend, Pastor Arthur Jackson III from Miami. His message title was Don’t Miss It. This message was about how the Children of Israel missed the opportunity to get to Canaan (the place of more than enough) when God presented it to them. The road to their destiny should have taken them just a few days, but it ended up taking forty years.

As I sat and listened to this awesome message, I started to reminisce about my own life. I have been presented with opportunity after opportunity and I can honestly say that I missed the chance to get to Canaan (the place of more than enough) before now. If you are honest with yourself, you have missed some great opportunities as well. But the good news is that we can still make it to our place of more than enough if we do what is necessary.

It has always been my belief that no one in their right mind wants to live in lack. I would love to believe that every one of us wants to have life and have it more abundantly. I do understand that success is different for everybody, but I believe that all of us want to have the finer things in life. Wouldn’t you like to not have to worry about having money to pay bills? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you have the money already set aside to pay for your kids and grandkids education? If you are already at that point, this newsletter is not for you.

This message is for those of us who realize it is what it is, but we are going to do better. I don’t t know about you, but I want to be able to shop where I want to shop; live where I want to live; drive what I want to drive; and vacation when and wherever I please. If that is not the way you want it, God bless you! I am just foolish enough to believe that all of us would love to have life like that.

One of the first things that you and I must do is acknowledge where we are. Because the truth of the matter is that it is what it is. It is what it is simply acknowledging the reality of where you and I are in our lives. Acknowledgment is also the first step in change. So, if you are not happy with where you are, it is up to you to change it.

One of the hardest things in life to do is leave your comfort zone. Many of us are where we are in life because it is comfortable. If you want to reach your place of destiny, you have to leave your area of comfort. There are many people who go to jobs everyday that they dislike. If that is you, then that is a sign that you need to leave your comfort zone. There are others of you who are in relationships that you are totally unhappy with, but are afraid to leave. You have to get to a point in your life where you acknowledge that you are the only change agent that you have. There is no one who is responsible for making your life better but you.

The next thing that you and I need to do is map out a plan for our lives. Where are you really trying to go? What do you really want to do with your life? If you can’t answer these questions, take some me time and figure it out. You have to be able to write the vision and make it plain.

You would be surprised at the number of GROWN folk who don’t have a clue about this thing called life. Do you really believe that you were put in the earth to make someone else’s dream come true without allowing your own dream to come true? Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that some of us were put here to help someone else reach their destination, but ultimately you should be living your dream as well. Take the time to map out a plan for your life and how you are going to get there.

The last things we need to do are work the plan and expect obstacles along the way. There will never be an easy route to your destiny. It is imperative that you get this in your minds early. If you expect it to be easy, think again. Just as the children of Israel had to face obstacles along the way, we will have to do the same. You can’t be bothered when things don’t go your way, but you will have to persevere in spite of the roadblocks.

Remember, acknowledge where you are; map out a plan for your life; and then work the plan and expect obstacles along the way. If you and I do these things, things will change! Remember, it is what it is! Be blessed, but most of all be a blessing!

Rev. Knighton is a member and the administrative pastor of Greater 2nd Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Albany and pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Baconton.

I am often amazed at how we so easily bury the gifts and talents that God has given us. When I think about the many people who go to jobs day after day that they can’t stand; how they work in areas that they were not called to; how they allow their jobs to stress them out; how they don’t make enough money for what they do; but most importantly, how they have become so satisfied with that way of living. It makes me wonder if we really know what God has placed inside of us.

If you and I only understood that God placed a part of Himself inside of us so that we can be all that He ordained, we would not become so complacent with where we are. I believe that most people who are struggling to make ends meet and are living from paycheck to paycheck have inside of them what it takes to get out of that rut. The problem is that we have allowed our potential to die inside of us. I preached a message a few years ago titled “Don’t Abort Your Pregnancy.” The gist of the message was simply that God has impregnated us with potential and we can abort it, have a stillborn, or birth our potential. God wants all of us to birth the baby that He has placed inside of us. The sad news is that most people have aborted the potential that God has placed inside of them. Let me ask you a question: What are you doing with your talent?”There are those of you who should be employers but you have settled for being an employee. There are those of you who should have your own business but you are afraid to step out of your comfort zone. There are those of you who should have already finished writing that book or recorded that CD, but you are afraid of success. There are those of you who have gotten so caught up in marriage or a relationship that you have completely forgotten about your own success. All I am simply trying to do is awaken the potential that is already in you. Our biggest problem is that we don’t want to do what it takes to birth what God has placed inside of us.

Let me ask you another question. “What are you waiting on or what are you afraid of?” Everything that you need to make it happen is already inside of you. I am starting to believe more and more that there are people who are afraid of success. That may not sound right to say that people are afraid of success, but there are many people who are.

Let me talk to those of you who are either married or in a relationship. You can spend so much time trying to make someone else’s dream come true until you forget about your own. Think about it for a minute. How much time do you spend nurturing your own baby that God has placed inside of you? If you are always trying to nurture someone else’s baby and forget about your own, it will soon have a detrimental impact. I am also a firm believer that you cannot make someone else happy until you are happy with yourself. My reason for saying this is simple. If you are not happy with your job or where you are in life, there will always be a void inside of you. In other words, God has created you in such a way that there will be a void in your life until you are doing what He has birthed you to do.

I am not saying that you won’t have some lovely days, but you will still feel a void from time to time because He has created you for a purpose. Imagine all of the potential that lies dead and buried in graveyards. There are books that were never written, songs never recorded, businesses that were never opened, doctors and lawyers that never practiced, chefs and bakers that never believed in themselves, among other talents that have been wasted. It would be a shame for those of us who are still here to not take advantage of another opportunity to birth our potential.

This is already November of 2009 and if you are like me you are asking the question, where has this year gone? The truth of the matter is that time waits for no one. You and I are getting older and it makes no sense for us to continue to go to jobs that we don’t enjoy. Take the time to wake up the giant inside of you and get to your destiny. God never designed for us to live our lives having just enough, but He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. The question that I want to raise now is, “Now that you know differently, what are you going to do about it?” You cannot say that you don’t have a talent because God gave all of us at least one. If you don’t know what your talent is the only thing I can suggest to you is to ask God and He will reveal it to you. Don’t allow death to sneak up on you and you have not birthed the potential that God has placed inside of you!

Rev. Knighton is a member and the administrative pastor of Greater 2nd Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Albany and pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Baconton.