April 11. Can We Ask At Least Seven Times Before Relinquishing?

I was at a business conference where I heard Les Brown. I heard his story of overcoming the large obstacles and hurdles throughout his life. He challenged the audience to always ask at least seven times to advance towards your biggest goals. Often things can happen easily when the ask is mundane.

But for our largest goals, it is more difficult. Not only can entrepreneurs fail to advance towards the loftiest goals but so can their teams. Where has your team stopped advancing? It just might be that they have given up and deemed the task unobtainable.

But these challenges might be conquered by requiring us to simply count. Have we looked at the challenge seven different ways? Have we asked how we can overcome seven different times? I can imagine that most teams make it past the second "ask" and maybe the third.

But seven times seems unreasonable because we do not like rejection so we seek easier tasks where we can get a yes. But the seventh yes is much more rewarding. Where have you or your team stopped short of the seventh ask? What will you do about advancing that goal in the next seven days?

Jesus was asked how many times one is to forgive. Was it seven? No is the correct answer as it was seventy times seven. We read that in Matthew 18:22 NLT. But I ask myself, "Have I forgiven even the first seven people that might have harmed me?"

Can I say that I am not holding a grudge against another for more than seven hours, seven days or seven months? Can I say that I have forgiven someone seven different times? I am the one that continues to fall short of what Christ asked of me. Who am I to keep from forgiving even once?

As brothers and sisters in Christ it is always time to reach the seemingly magical power of forgiveness even if we must ask seven times. Let us walk with our Lord seven times this week and maybe our focus can be on the opportunity to forgive the first seven times.

Who can you forgive this week? Can you do it every day for seven days? If so, I will celebrate with you, and you can celebrate with me as well. Let us put a focus on forgiveness today and see what a joy we might have when our head hits the pillow tonight.

What is the first thing you can do about it in the next seven days?

Let us pray, Jesus, come. Come today and help to soften my heart, especially on this day. May I feel the Holy Spirit with us, not once, but seven times. I ask for the blessings of forgiveness with my brothers and sisters no less than seven times.

Like the sun will rise and set seven times in the next week, I want the joy of reaffirming love through forgiveness. Let us have an addition of love through the subtraction of forgiveness. Take it away Lord, take it away. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,