Category Archives: Success

October 12, 2013 · 10:10 am

Success Secrets From Jesus – Day 4 – Wisdom and Understanding

WISDOM

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ And, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”
—Matthew 4:5–7

The first thing to point our here is that Satan knows the scripture! He would not have been able to quote it to Jesus otherwise! Yet, Jesus would not listen to Satan’s words because He understood that Satan had no wisdom.

Jesus knew Satan had no wisdom for two reasons:

  • He knew that it is the Holy Spirit who gives life (John 6:63)
  • He understood that the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it – Ecclesiastes 7:12 (NKJV).

Putting it together, He understood that wisdom can only come from the words spoken by the Holy Spirit. So Jesus neglected the words of Satan and focused on the life bringing words of the Holy Spirit.

Light-bulb moment: Just because the ‘right’ words are being used does not mean the words are ‘right’ for the specific circumstance/situation

Build Your Understanding of People and the Subject Matter
While knowledge start us on the road to success, it by no means guarantees success. Success requires that we build our understanding of any subject matter. Only then can we apply the knowledge we do have in such a way to bring success.

The same principle applies to people. It is important to know the underlined motivation behind the advice people are giving us. If the heart behind the advice is evil, then it is likely that the planned effects of following the advice will be evil – even if the advice sounds good.

The way to understand a person is by placing close attention to them – examining their heart and seeing if their life generally matches up with their words. Of course, if the person speaking to you is Satan, there is nothing to examine, rebuke him instantly.

Today, too many people know people but do not understand them!

Light-bulb moment: While knowledge can explain past and present behavior, only understanding can go the extra mile to explain that behavior and predict future behavior.

Here is the key takeaway: Knowledge – Wisdom  = Failure and Defeat!

Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding – Proverbs 4:7

Check out Looking to Superman – The secret to success in life on superchampinc for more practical tips the experience of Jesus teaches us on being successful.

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October 10, 2013 · 7:31 pm

Success Secrets From Jesus – Day 3 – Discipline

On day 2, we discussed how preparation is key to be able to stand the test which decides whether we are promoted or we spend more time in the wilderness. Now, we must examine the traits required while being tested.

SELF-CONTROL

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
—Matthew 4:3–4

The test Satan uses to confront Jesus after 40-days of fasting is brilliant in its simplicity. Satan knew that Jesus must have been hungry after 40-days of no food. He knew that Jesus’ flesh was crying out for some nourishment. So he asked Jesus if to use His power to turn stones into bread. In other words, He wanted to see if Jesus was going to use His powers to gratify His human desire (flesh) at His point of weakness or if He could practice self-denial.

Here is why this is test is so important: Satan knew if Jesus could not deny himself food (his human wants) at the beginning of His ministry, He would not be able to deny himself the human want of running away from the pain and suffering which was to come on the cross at the end of His ministry.

The first test was to see if Jesus was prone to self-gratification; it is was to see if Jesus would satisfy His fleshly desire.

Destiny Requires Self-Control
Just as Jesus exercised control over His flesh, we must stay self-controlled in order to stay on course toward our goal. We cannot give our attention to every whim. We must discipline ourselves so we do not allow our penchant for instant gratification to derail us. Discipline is necessary to achieve progress in life.

Imagine what would happen if we denied ourselves an extra hour of sleep and instead used it to workout? How about we cut out an hour of television in order to spend it with our loved ones? What if we all took the time to build ourselves up spiritually in the morning prior to tackling the day’s duties—how great would the our world be?

There is no success without constancy of purpose, and there is no consistency without self-control. 

Check out Looking to Superman – The secret to success in life on superchampinc for more practical tips the life of Jesus teaches us on being successful.

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October 8, 2013 · 10:29 pm

Success Secrets From Jesus – Day 2 – Preparation

PREPARATION

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry —Matthew 4:1–2

The Holy Spirit led into the wilderness to be tempted. It was not Satan. Indeed, for Satan to have led Jesus means that Jesus would have had to respond to the leading of Satan; it means Jesus’ actions would have been controlled by Satan! Why did the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness? It was to test His faith! In other words, God wanted to know if Jesus the man was ready for His assignment.

Our faith (believe) cannot be trusted until it is first tested.

For his part, Jesus did not back down and shy away from the challenge to come. He instead prepared himself for three final big tests by starting and finishing forty-days of fasting. Jesus was not released onto His purpose until He passed the test.

Do Not Despise Your Wilderness
The wilderness can be described as our place of preparation and the place where our readiness is tested. No one likes the wilderness BUT everyone must successfully navigate it. We must prepare for our purpose just as Jesus prepared in the wilderness. Why is the wilderness important? It is because preparation is the key ingredient we need to overcome any challenge we face. We must undergo a period of preparation if we are to be ready to tackle our purpose in life. We not only have to good starters but we have to finish our preparation to ensure we do not stumble when the big tests come. There are simply no shortcuts. We must start and finish our preparation just as Jesus did.

The wilderness is the gulf between barely good enough and excellent. Preparation is what allows us to successfully navigate it.

Prior preparation prevents pitiful performance.

That Jesus was not released onto His purpose (Matt. 4:17) until He first passed the test in the wilderness lets us know this: Promotion in life requires that we pass the tests of life. Since preparation is the key to passing tests, we can say the following:

The key to promotion in life is thorough preparation.

Lastly, that Jesus was hungry after forty-days of preparation (fasting) lets us know that preparation will always cost us something. While it was food for Jesus, it may very well be our denial of daily pleasure or the sacrifice of time and resources. But while preparation can have a bitter cost, its reward of success is exceedingly sweet.

Check out Looking to Superman – The secret to success in life on superchampinc for more practical tips the life of Jesus teaches us on being successful.

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October 7, 2013 · 9:45 pm

Success Secrets From Jesus – Day 1 – Devotion

DEVOTION

Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions – Luke 2:46

Jesus was already devoted to His calling when he was twelve years old. He was so devoted that He lost track of his parents. He was so devoted that He spent His time listening to and asking questions about the things of God while other boys His age may have been found playing whatever games were common in those times. Why did Jesus do this?  Here is why:

  • As God, He did it so that He could impart knowledge to the teachers of the temple as well as gauge their level of understanding (Luke 2:47).
  • As man, He did it so that He could grow in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52).

Devote Yourself and Learn

If Jesus had to devote Himself to his calling at an early age, then we have to devote ourselves to our craft, our calling, our God-given vision. The sooner we devote ourselves, the better!

The amount of time we spend honing our skill will determine our future success!

If Jesus (the Son of God) spent His time listening and was teachable, to think we know it all is foolishness! We end of making avoidable mistakes when we fail to heed the advice of knowledgeable others.

We have to remain teachable – no matter how much we think we know.

Know Your Terrain

Just as Jesus gauged the understanding of the teachers in the temple, we have to know what we are dealing with in all things.

We have to do our homework (due diligence) before embarking on any mission.

Failure to do this will leave us blind-sighted and cause us unnecessary pain. Doing our homework is what allows us to tailor our message to our audience. An example of someone who does not know his/her terrain is someone who brings a very wordy presentation (with no pictures) to teach a bunch of 5-year old kids.

Check out Looking to Superman – The secret to success in life on superchampinc for all the practical tips the life of Jesus teaches us on being successful

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September 10, 2013 · 6:00 am

The Reason You Cannot Succeed is You

We have a natural tendency to try to find someone or something to blame for our failures! If this is you, then I want you to reconsider!

In reality, the only person we can blame for our failures is ourselves. See, the moment we receive the Holy Spirit is the moment we run out of excuses. By receiving the Holy Spirit, we have received the fullness of power and love; we have received clarity and a way to carry out all the goals and dreams we could ever have! If we do not move towards success after receiving the Spirit of God, it is because we have refused to channel the power of the Holy Spirit within us.

The first step in channeling the power of the Holy Spirit is this: Believe what the Holy Spirit says about you!

The bible tells us that all scripture is inspired of the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). Hence, finding out what the Holy Spirit says about us is crucial! In light of this, God made it easy for us to find out what they Holy Spirit says about us. He provided a manual we can read. Indeed, we can read about our new status now that we have been saved (born-again).

When you read, you will find some stunning things about yourself! Some of the things you will find out about yourself (in Christ) are these:

  • You are more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37)
  • You can do ALL things (Philippians 4:13)
  • You have exceedingly great power available to you (Ephesians 1:19)
  • You are seated with Christ in a place that is far above all powers and might, principalities and dominion (Ephesians 1:20; 2:6)
  • You have an unfailing friend in the all-powerful Jesus – who will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)

Did you know these things about yourself or have you always had a wrong image of who you are? From today onwards, words such as “I am a nobody” should never enter your mind. No! You were beautifully made in the image of God for a unique and special purpose in this world. See, to give up in life is to give up on the real you. Do not let an imposter that has been created by the world rule your life. You can rise up and change your destiny in life. You can be the real you – a success!

It all starts by changing the way you view your life and by changing the way you view your circumstance. Of course circumstances are hard. Do you think your enemy wants you to be discover who you are and what you can do? Of course not! See, the hardships of life are simply the distractions the enemy tries to use to take your focus off the Holy Spirit and who you have become in Christ. Do not listen to that fool!

Instead, I want you to choose to stop listening to your own words of doubt, which are truly the words of the enemy. I want you to stop listening to the enemy and being your own worst enemy. I want you to start to surrender yourself to what your friend – the Holy Spirit – is saying to you and about you.

The Holy Spirit is your friend and your companion because of Jesus! Therefore, it is because of Jesus that the Holy Spirit only has good and profitable things to say to you and about you. He is for you and not against you…this means that you can trust Him fully! This is true especially when He corrects you and tells you to mend your ways. He says what He says because He loves you and wants to grant your heart’s desires.

If you cannot succeed, it is because you have drowned out the voice of the Holy Spirit!

Rekindle your love for the voice of the Holy Spirit today. Open the bible, and rediscover the real you!

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June 8, 2013 · 4:02 am

Read and Speak Your Way into Success and Away from Trouble

“Put on a pot, set it on,
And also pour water into it.
4 Gather pieces of meat in it,
Every good piece,
The thigh and the shoulder.
Fill it with choice cuts;
5 Take the choice of the flock.
Also pile fuel bones under it,
Make it boil well,
And let the cuts simmer in it.”

                                                                           – Ezekiel 24: 3 – 5

The children of Israel are depicted as pieces of meat that are placed in a pot (Jerusalem) filled with water in the 24th chapter of the book of Ezekiel.  In this passage of scripture, God calls the children of Israel choice meat because he specifically chose them and set them apart – like we are upon salvation.  Now, the purpose of immersing or baptizing the meat (His people) in water is so that it could clean away all the filthiness of the meat. To accomplish full cleansing, the meat was not only immersed fully in water but the fire of the Holy Spirit was also kindled so that all the unsavory parts of the meat – the stinking thinking, bad habits, and unprofitable ways of the people – would be washed out as scum.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: God does not leave us alone after our initial cleansing (salvation) but burns away all unsavory parts of our character through the fire of the Holy Spirit (fire) so that we are conformed to the image of Christ.

Yet, the scriptures tell us that God was not pleased with His people for the scum which He had removed from within them was still present with them (Ezekiel 24:6). God said to them: ‘I have cleansed you, but you were not cleansed’ – Ezekiel 24:13.

Today, the image of the meat immersed in a scum filled pot symbolizes the believer who has been cleansed of all filthiness through confession (see 1 John 1:9) but has refused to change his/her mind or turn away from the scum of the past. It is a symbol of a person who has acknowledged (confessed) their sin but has not repented (turned away) from it.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: Confession opens the door to repentance – it is not possible for us turn away (repent) from filth if we have not first been cleansed from it through confession.

To truly turn away (repent) from our sins, we must read and meditate on the word of God, for only it has the power to renew our minds and transform the way we think (Romans 12:2). Given enough time studying, we find that we no longer find comfort in the scum that was once embedded deep within us and was so familiar to us. Given enough time, we begin to naturally desire to separate ourselves from all the filth around us. Normally this means breaking some associations and doing away with some things in our lives.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: While we speak our way onto confession (cleansing), we read the word onto repentance (changing).

We have to make sure our mind and body (the exterior of the meat) do not interact with scum despite the truth that our spirit (our interior which is sealed by the Holy Spirit) can no longer be touched by scum once it is burned out from within us. Why? It is because the result of interacting with scum is uncleanliness, and the end of living an unclean life is mountains of trouble. Here is what God has to say to the meat that refuses to be cleansed:

I will not hold back, nor will I spare, nor will I relent; According to your ways and according to your deeds, they will judge you,” says the Lord God – Ezekiel 24:14

Notice that the scripture above says that it is our ways and deeds that judge us (when we do not turn away). The reason behind this is because all judgment has already been poured out on Jesus, hence the only reason we experience judgment (different from trials) is that we refuse to walk with Jesus as our Lord.

Food for Thought: Jesus is your Savior, but have you truly surrendered to Him as your master?

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May 27, 2013 · 9:34 pm

3 Things You Must Do to Thrive in Life

Renew Your Mind

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success – Joshua 1:8

If you have been looking for the secret to success, look no further! Meditating on the word of God is the secret to success and prosperity in all areas of life. This is because the word of God transforms the way you think and how you perceive yourself, your life, your situation, and your circumstance.  Since everything you do starts with a thought, and His thoughts prospers you and gives you a future (Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV), it is prudent for you to line up our thinking with the way He thinks.  Remember, His thoughts will not fail but will surely come to pass (Isaiah 14:24).

Lightbulb MomentIf you want to be successful, you must pay attention to the word of God and let is speak to you. When you do this, you will find that those things that used to be your downfall no longer bother you. Situations and circumstance will begin to shift in your favor.

Today, in all your striving, strive to meditate on the scripture throughout the day. Hang on to a verse that speaks to your circumstance and repeat it to yourself all day long. You will not regret allowing the word of God to sink into your heart. You will not regret allowing the word of God to change you.

Get Around Good and Positive People

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful – Psalm 1:1

This passage of scripture reminds us that our purpose walk towards destiny starts to slow down when we walk in the council of those without moral fiber. If ungodly fellowship is not quickly broken, our purpose walk slows down to the point where we are simply standing.  Worse still, we get tired of standing and simply sit down. Hence, we become spectators in life instead of running the race that is set before us; we sit down and miss out on destiny.

The scripture tells us to run the race in such a way that we win the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24). Friend, the problem is not in the start but in the finish. If you want to win the prize, then you must finish. If you want to finish, then you must walk in the light, stand with those with strong morals, and avoid those who have nothing positive to say.

Simply put, bad company corrupts good habits (1 Corinthians 5:33). Good company says ‘you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you’, but bad company says ‘Who do you think you are?’

If you are a strong starter but a weak finisher, then get around people who believe in you, will challenge you, and cheer you on towards your God-given goal.Lightbulb Moment Get with the ‘can-doers’ and avoid the naysayers.

Stick with God’s Plan

So I also raised My hand in an oath to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, ‘flowing with milk and honey,’ the glory of all lands, because they despised my judgments and did not walk in My statutes… – Ezekiel 20:15-16

The original plan was for the generation that came of Egypt to enjoy the Promised Land. Unfortunately, plans changed as a result of the people’s disobedience. Their disobedience determined that they would spend years in the wilderness until the original generation of disobedience perished. If fact, only two people out of the first generation that came out of Egypt made it into the promised land after 40 years of wondering – Joshua and Caleb.

While God’s plans for you are to prosper you, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV), He has given you free will to follow your plans. The problem is that your plans – no matter how good you may think they are – pales in comparison to His. While His plans will lead you into a land flowing with milk and honey within days, your plans will take much longer, while promising nothing, and wrecking a lot of havoc.

Lightbulb MomentIn truth, your total heart surrender to the will and ways of God is the proof that you want to live the best life available to you. The only way you win in life is to surrender.

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December 24, 2012 · 7:51 pm

5 Steps Towards Greatness (Part V) – Surrender

The pyramid of Khephren (Khafre)As mentioned in Part IV of this series, Jesus was not released onto the ministry He was called to fulfill until He had passed the test set for Him by the Holy Spirit.

Now, while being equipped, prepared, tested, and released onto ministry is one thing, actually fulfilling the purpose to which we are called is quite another. The essential quality we must have to run a good race and so win the prize of greatness that is set before us is the quality of surrender. We must have a heart and attitude that thinks nothing of ourselves but thinks everything of God. We must not rely on our own ability but wholly depend on His ability.

Jesus had this heart and attitude. The bible tells us that although He was equal to God, He made Himself of no reputation (thought nothing of Himself) but out of love and in humility and obedience took the form of a man and sacrificed Himself on the cross (see Philippians 2:5-9). Wow! How incredible that is for so many reasons. What a love driven surrender to purpose!

See, surrender was behind every single thing that Jesus did while on earth; surrender to the will of the Father as revealed by the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus said ‘I only do what I see the Father doing and I say only what the Father tells me to say (John 14:10, John 5:19 paraphrase).  This is why He stayed behind to spend time with the biblical scholars in the temple at the age of twelve; why He chased out the money changers and traders out of the temple; why He willingly chose to die on the cross for us instead of choosing to let the cup of wrath that we deserve pass from Him.

Indeed, Jesus has shown us that surrender is the final ingredient needed to achieve true greatness that the previous four keys simply give us a chance of attaining.

But there is more! He not only showed us the key to greatness through His life, He also taught us. He taught us that the greatest person in the kingdom of heaven is one who becomes as a child and humbles himself (see Matthew 18:4). Just as a little child is wholly dependent on his/her parents for every single thing and those parents are the center of the child’s world, so does the Father desire to be the center of our world. He wants us to center our life around Him so He can lavish us with the very best that He has planned out for us. He wants us to center our life around Him so He may grant us life and grant it to us more abundantly.

Lightbulb MomentWhen we are most helpless is when Christ is most helpful.

So here is my question to you: Are you living the abundant life of love, joy, peace and so much more? If not, it may well be that you are holding onto something that should be surrendered to God. What is it? Offense, past experiences, past hurts, a person, a relationship, an idea, some fear, pride? Whatever it is, it is time to surrender it so that you may move forward towards greatness!

Now is the time for you to once again commit to a life of surrender to Christ. There is no better Christmas present to give you than Jesus. He is the present that will deposit all other presents you could ever imagine onto your lap.

Lightbulb MomentSurrender your life to Christ who is calling you today and He will take you on an adventure you will never forget.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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December 1, 2012 · 10:53 pm

5 Steps Towards Greatness (Part I) – The Call

The pyramid of Khephren (Khafre)The scripture tells us that many people are called BUT that few are chosen (see Matthew 22:14). What a shame! It is truly a tragedy that too few of us ever achieve the greatness to which God has called every single person that walks on this earth. Here is the truth! The same God who calls us and says ‘You can be great’ desires to choose us to be great; He longs to say to each one of us ‘You will be great’. Unfortunately, too many of us are either ignorant of the steps required for greatness or we are unwilling to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in doing the work that is required to be chosen.

Now, God in His love did not make us fully responsibility for being great but made it a shared responsibility – our part being the easy part. Even so, just as Jesus had a part to play in being chosen after being called by God, we also have a part to play in being chosen. So then, what part do we play and what part does God play? This will hopefully become clear as we peek at the 5 steps towards greatness.

The Call which is the first step towards greatness and is God’s responsibility. While in heaven, God called Jesus and said something akin to: ‘Son, it is your time. I have now called you to partake of flesh and blood (become human) for the sole purpose of reconciling and restoring mankind to us. This is what I am calling you to do. Ready to go?’. See, Jesus who is Spirit became a human with a living soul for the sole purpose of doing that specific will of God. Likewise, just like Jesus, we are all spirit beings who have been called and temporarily placed on this earth to do a work and to achieve a purpose.

“For we are his workmanship (masterpiece), created in Christ Jesus unto good works (purpose), which God has before (prior to being born) ordained that we should walk in them” – Ephesians 2:10

Lightbulb MomentThe first step towards greatness is to know the specific purpose to which God has called us.

If you do not know your purpose, do not despair. Just keep your heart and ears open and God will reveal His specific purpose to you in due time. Prophet Jeremiah did not know his purpose until God said to Him: ‘Hey Jeremiah, I am now calling you to be my mouthpiece (prophet) to the people of Judah. I created you specifically for this purpose and I am now letting you know that this is the purpose for which I created you’.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations” – Jeremiah 1:5

Note that what is important is God’s call on our lives and not our call on our lives. It is only God’s purpose for our lives that streamlines our life’s energy into a single laser beam focus that is able to cut through distractions and foolishness while bringing true and sustained fulfillment into our lives. . It is only by following the will or purpose of God for our lives that we walk worthy of Him, fully please Him, and are fruitful in everything we do – for His power follows His purpose (see Colossians 1:9:10).

Conversely, our lives fall into the learned behavior of idleness without His purpose (see 1 Timothy 5:13). Now, idleness does not simply mean that we are doing nothing. Busyness that comes from following our own purpose is empty in the end and so is still idleness! Why? It is because idleness is defined as doing anything that is unimportant, insignificant, or holds no real worth. An example of this is idle banter where we are busy talking but our banter adds zero value. Since anything without God (love) is valueless and we know that God is great, we see that is it impossible to attain true greatness with God’s purpose (love) being involved.

So how do we recognize idleness? The symptoms of idleness (or lack of God-giving purpose) includes being easily offended, gossip-mongering, being a busy-body, depression, never being satisfied, being a workaholic, dilly-dallying, lack of commitment etc. Just think of how these lead to broken relationships!  So in reality, the root cause of many of the problems we encounter in this life is simply the lack of purpose or the shunning of God’s purpose. So we now see why Satan does not want us to walk in purpose (our responsibility). He knows if he can get us away from our purpose, he has a foothold in our lives and cause us problems. If you don’t believe me, just ask Prophet Jonah how Satan tried to kill him and tortured his life simply because he ran away from the purpose to which God called Him.

So today, instead of continuing in idleness, ask God to show you what He has called you to do! If you want to be great, you must know what He has called you to do at this point in your life

Food for Thought: It is impossible to be great without following the great One

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September 10, 2012 · 3:26 am

Godly Vision: A Pitfall to Avoid on the Road to Success

“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” – Habakkuk 2:2-3

In ‘How vision is critical to success’, we examined the importance of vision in navigating us through the travails of life and propelling us towards the good life that God intends for us. When we receive a vision of the plans that God has for us – plans to prosper us and to give us a future – the natural response is to begin running towards it with gusto and vigor, knowing that we shall inherit the promises if we do not grow faint and weary. The snag is that Satan also knows this and so tries to get us to become faint-hearted over time as we run. He understands that we inherit the promises through faith and diligence; hence that is what he attacks. He will try to get us to doubt the vision that God has given us. If he cannot stop us from seeing the vision, he will try to convince us that we are not worthy of the vision; that the vision is impossible for us to attain. He will stop at nothing to prevent us from reaching the high calling of God on our life. He knows our race only continues for as long as we live, and so he does everything in his power to dissuade us and to stall our progress. Of the many weapons in his arsenal, the one he likes to use often is discouragement – the bullets of which include comparison and time.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: One of the biggest pitfalls to achieving success is discouragement

If our goal is to chop down a tree, we may begin to compare ourselves to others whose task is also to cut trees down. If we see others felling their trees in record time and obtaining their prize, we may start to wonder whether something is wrong with us. How can others do it in a short time while we are taking so much longer we ask ourselves? Instead of focusing our on attention on what God would have us do, we try to carbon-copy what others are doing and so fail miserably – because we fail to understand that just as each person is unique, each tree (although still being a tree) is unique in its characteristics. At first, seeing the success of others may galvanize us to work harder on our task, but then we get discouraged when we seem to be making little progress.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: Ungodly comparison stalls our progress by causing us to take our eyes off our own vision but rather to focus it on others visions.

The mind-set of copying exactly what others are doing leads us to be task-oriented versus being goal-oriented. It leads us to try to fit a circular key into a square lock! But when we keep our eyes on our vision; we are more likely to see the obstacles to success. Many times, we realize that although we started cutting the tree at the same time as our friend, his/her dagger was already sharp while our dagger was blunt to begin with. Perhaps our friends took the time to sharpen their dagger while we did not! The truth is this: In all things, we must sharpen the tool of our mind with the Word of God, for it is the double-edged Sword of the Word of God (see Hebrews 4:12) – whether read, watched, listened to, or spoken to us – that helps us achieve our vision, when we allow its iron to sharpen our iron.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: Just as we have to sharpen our dagger if we are to fell a tree, our first task upon seeing a vision is to correct what is wrong (the bluntness of our mind) so that we may achieve the joy that is set before us.

Once we have sharpened our dagger, the second bullet Satan unleashes against us is time. He will say to us: ‘You and your friend started at the same time with a sharpened dagger and yet you have been at it for ages. This God of yours has given you an impossible task. See, you are sweating like a pig over there and getting nowhere fast. This tree is too big! Why don’t you just stop and relax yourself. I have provided you with a shaded tree, so why don’t you just come and rest a bit!’

If Satan has ever said this to you, rebuke him immediately! He does not want you clearing the path to your Father’s house but wants you to stay in the hot and sticky wilderness of your circumstance. He is lying to you about the shaded tree, for the leaves fall off as soon as you lay underneath it and it dries up. Hold on to God’s word and persevere. God cannot lie; whatever He has spoken becomes truth.

Lightbulb MomentLight-bulb moment: Time is simply a tool God uses to help us build the muscle of our character before Him so that we do not waste our inheritance once He gives is to us.

Food for Thought: While God always encourages us to never give up on Him; Satan always discourages us so that we give up on God.

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