Getting Up When You Are Down

B. Johnson Manson

Description

Do the issues facing you in life overwhelm you? Are you on a treasure hunt for significance, satisfaction and cure-all answers that can lift your human fear and the burdens you carry? Getting Up When You Are Down explores one, and only one, remedy that can push back against the woes of life---HOPE!

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 10 octobre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781622874323
• Langue: English

Extrait

Getting Up When You Are Down
Manson B. Johnson


First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
Getting Up When You Are Down
Copyright ©2013 Manson B. Johnson

ISBN 978-1622-874-32-3 EBOOK

October 2013

Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com



ALL R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. No p a r t o f t h i s b oo k pub li ca t i o n m a y b e r e p r o du ce d, s t o r e d i n a r e t r i e v a l s y s t e m , o r t r a n s mit t e d i n a ny f o r m o r by a ny m e a ns ─ e l e c t r o n i c , m e c h a n i c a l , p h o t o - c o p y , r ec o r d i n g, or a ny o t h e r ─ e x ce pt b r i e f qu ot a t i o n i n r e v i e w s , w i t h o ut t h e p r i o r p e r mi ss i on o f t h e a u t h o r or publisher .

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Copyright © 2013 by Manson B. Johnson Ministries, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission from the author.

Churches, pastors and other noncommercial interest may reproduce portions of this book without the express written permission of the author provided that any single copied text does not exceed 500 word per copy or electronic transmission. Each lesson in this book may be fully copied as is and used to the glory of God and to strengthen His kingdom.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version. KJV. Public Domain.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this book are solely those of the authors
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Acknowledgements & Recognitions
Preface
Cases for Hope
My Case for Hope
Hope!
What Is Hope?
Lesson # 1
Lesson # 2
Lesson # 3
Lesson # 4
Lesson # 5
Lesson # 6
Lesson # 7
Lesson # 8
Lesson # 9
Lesson # 10
Lesson # 11
Lesson # 12
Lesson # 13
Lesson # 14
Bible Scriptures of Hope
Acknowledgements & Recognitions

I owe the deepest debt of unpayable gratitude to so many people. However, if I listed all their names, this book would be composed of nothing but a list of names of some of the kingdom of God’s most beautiful people. Of course, the purpose of the book is not merely to list the names of all the people responsible for my modest success and my great joy along my journey; but I would like to limit my acknowledgements and recognition to a few people that I love very dearly: My precious mother, who is responsible for birthing me into the world and who was one of my first school teachers, teaching me to lead and read; to my father, the late Reverend John D. Johnson, who taught me by example how to be a man and a spiritual guardian; my wife, Zelda, for helping me to stretch beyond regular human bounds; the late Eddie Mae Gray, my charming and sweet mother-in-law who was laid to eternal rest exactly seven days before I finished this book; my three adorable children, Manson, Matthew and Michelle, for never letting their mother and me have one dull moment as parents; collectively, all of the members of the Holman Street Baptist Church, who are the greatest people in the kingdom of God; Texas Southern University; Phi Beta Sigma International, Inc.; and Houston, particularly The Greater 3 rd Ward community; all the friends on the corners and in the street that have contributed to my leadership and human development; and all the special people of my family tree that are a part of my DNA.
Preface

Few people are born successful and powerful. And not all of those born with economic and educational privilege go on to succeed in life or satisfy their heart-longing goals. Not many people are born like the Rockefellers, Kennedys, DeBeers or Rothschilds. These are some of the rich people whose name stands for wealth and destined success. These and others like them are sought after by the upper class societies to fit as puzzle pieces into the generational gaps of those that run the world and get their names in the bright lights to become the people to know and to follow.
People like these become the chosen few that set the course of success for everyone else in their generation. They have the two-parent homes; they have the private privilege of exclusive economics and education. They have prized access to prominent, renowned relationships. They have unrestricted freedom from basic community fears. And they have the mental freedom, accompanied by endless resources to achieve whatever they wish to be or what others make them out to be. Theirs become the biographies to read, they are the models of patterns to be followed, and the bar to reach. They become the “household names.” They become the people made to WIN!
This book is not about those born into success, however. It is a book about those who will endure hardship to make their way to the winner’ circle. It is a guide-lesson book that can put anyone, even you, in the right lane for better end results in your life. It is for those who are classified not as the “haves,” but as the “have nots.” Still, they somehow work their way through personal trials and tribulations to reach their God-spoken goals in life. This book is meant to become another tool in one’s personal tool box to inspire people, without specifications and classification, to journey into life believing that they, too, can make a difference and achieve their personal satisfactions.
Yet this book is also for the rich who hit the glass ceiling of personal frustrations in life and cannot seem to move their lives forward. To tell the truth, there are people born into gifted lives and privileged homes that need a little inward push in the heart in order to fulfill their dreams and achieve their personal aspirations in this life. Life is strange, and nothing in life is automatic when it comes to achieving winning personal success at something that you want to develop your life around.
Success means different things to different people. If a person already has affluence, they may or may not feel that they have been successful. After all, while widely accepted, money is not necessarily the best instrument by which to measure human success. And the accumulation of voluminous amounts of creature comforts and high echelons of education are no guarantees that life will measure significant satisfaction back into a heart or soul, either. Many times, the truth is that the more things people have, the more they tend to run after other such things, hoping to locate personal satisfaction. But true success is not found in things of the world (I John 3:1-3). In the end, success must be defined and determined by each person seeking to achieve it and define what it means to them. True success should increase one’s heart towards a deep longing to have a closer relationship with God and to know His ways.
Hope is heaven’s greatest asset for human beings. My position is also that of Hal Lindsey’s, an American evangelist and Christian writer, who said, “Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air...but only for one second without hope.” Hope is a discipline within the heart and soul that every person should seek to perfect, as well as to maximize its strength. Hopelessness kills. It kills the joy in life. It kills the ability to move on after setbacks. Hopelessness is the author of depression and other mental illnesses that deflate the progress of many, both rich and poor.
Hopelessness has little to do with where and how a person is born. Hopelessness affects all human beings, regardless of age and background, as well as economic and academic status. However, hope is available in volumes to all who earnestly seek it from within. Strong hope is the only cure for the killer hopelessness. You do not necessarily need material things of this world to get hope…Hope comes from God! Hope is what every person needs to arrive at what God wants for their lives. And hope is what allows them to achieve the joys that Christ wants for them (John 10:10).
Cases for Hope

A 26-year-old lawmaker went jubilantly about his daily duties on the floor of the New York legislature. His beautiful bride of four years was about to give birth to their first child. With boxes of the best cigars waiting to be opened, one of the aides of his office finally brought a telegram to the Assembly floor with the message that his wife had given birth to a fine baby girl. An outburst of cheers and congratulations could be heard throughout the assembly hall for the young lawmaker. Cigars were handed out to all. About an hour later, that same messenger brought another telegram saying the young man should come quickly, because his wife was gravely ill.
The lawmaker left immediately to make the 5.5-hour trip. At the end of the long, cold spiritually agonizing journey, he was met at the front door by his elder brother, who broke the horrible news to him, saying, “Our mother is dying upstairs and your wife is dying downstairs.” How coincidental that on Valentine’s Day 1884, the two women who meant the most in Theodore Roosevelt’s life vanished like a passing breeze. The occurrence was so painful that Theodore lamented in his diary, “ The light has gone out of my life .” He never spoke of his wife, Alice Lee Roosevelt, again. And he did not allow others to use her name in his presence.