Chronicles of a Watchman by Dr. James P. Norman Jr.

Fact vs Opinion. Many times, we create confusion, when we add our own opinion to facts and come up with the wrong conclusion. Fact: A Husband cracks his knuckles. Opinion: The wife concludes, “He does that because he thinks it will annoy me.” Fact: The husband sucks his teeth after eating. Opinion: The wife concludes it is a lack of manners. Be willing to See the truth. Oftentimes, we color incoming information by our own fears, anxieties, or desires. But to deal in Faith we must be willing first to acknowledge the truth about the information. We must be able to see the truth, and to accept the truth, good or bad. Then be ready to take the measures the word of God prescribes to deliver and/or heal. Many of us are individually guilty of the same error. We do not like to admit to ourselves our errors, mistakes, shortcomings, or ever admit we have been in the wrong. The believer not only does not cheat or lie to other people, he learns to be honest with himself. Prescription: seek out tr...

Success-Type Personality Just as a doctor learns to diagnose disease and success can also be diagnosed. The reason is that a man does not simply “find” “success; or “come to” failure and success can also be diagnosed. He carries their seeds around in his personality and character. New Roles Require Self-Images You must see yourself succeeding in Christ as a person able to handle the challenges of life with the power that comes with being a King’s kid. Picture of S.U.C.C.E.S.S. is Looking at Jesus • Sense of Direction. We are designed as a goal-seeking mechanisms or souls. When we have no personal goal which we are interested in which “means something” to us, we are apt to go around in circles, feel “lost” and find life itself “aimless” and “purposeless.” Prescription: Get yourself a goal worth working for. Better still get yourself a project. (Isa. 11:2; Habakkuk 2:2; Proverb 29:18; Isa. 28:5-12) • Understanding. Understanding depends upon good communication. You cannot react appro...

The Failure Mechanism: How to Make it Work for You Instead of Against You- Part 1 The human body has its own “red light” signals and “danger signs” which doctors refers to as symptoms or syndromes. The failure-type personality also has its symptoms. No one is immune to these negative feelings and attitudes. Understanding Brings Cure No one sits down and deliberately, with malice aforethought, decides to develop these negative traits just to be perverse. (Gen. 2:7 Deut. 11:13 Mt. 10:28 Ezek. 18:4 Prov. 19:2 Isa. 55:3) May your spirit, soul, and body be preserved entire without blame. 1 Thessalonians 5:23b The word soul in several of the verses above seems to stand for the whole of man’s immaterial existence. The soul and spirit are plainly distinguished. The body allies man to the animal creation; the soul, to the intellectual, and the spirit, to the moral. The soul appears to be the connecting link between the spirit and body, and Spirit and spirit. The wreckage, done in the f...