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Stop giving up! That’s why you aren’t getting anywhere except behind. How do you expect to succeed? Or do you think real life is like what you see on the movie screen? Let me be the one to break the news to you and say that’s not going to happen. You may not get a happily ever after the first, second, or even the third time you begin to do something. That’s why you have to be clear about your vision and know why you’re doing it. That “Why” has to fuel you when everyone around you is telling you to stop, that it’s a waste of time; that God isn’t in it; that you got out ahead of God, that you aren’t meant to do this; that you’re not being realistic. Also, for the times when you are telling yourself the same things and usually worse. Something worse you can say to yourself is that you aren’t some form of enough. Not smart enough, not young enough, not old enough, not skinny enough, not white enough, not educated enough, not enough time, not enough money, not enough people that like you, you’re not loveable enough.
I call “Bull” on all of that. If it’s what you want and you know down deep in your knower. Then it’s time for you to pull aside from the world – the TV, people talking in your ear, whatever you’re reading, the social media platforms that you’re scrolling through to get answers and likes, and validation from. Pull aside by yourself and think. Don’t criticize yourself, but think correctly. Whatever you’re thinking is who you are and what you are doing. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
You already had the heart to heart with God, and you know that what you want is possible. Remember what Matthew told you that Jesus said to him and the disciples. “With men, this is impossible; but with God, all things are possible.” Don’t let fear back you down now. Stand up and fight, push through, and use that 40% reserve inside of you sitting there. That reserve that kicks in when your life is on the line. Focus on your destination and get clear on your strategy. Look at your situation. Remember, what is your goal. Where do you want to go, and what do you want to achieve? Tell yourself,” Okay, my situation isn’t ideal, but how can I still get to my destination?”
Suppose you lived in a remote location and wanted to get to a city that was one hundred miles away. You don’t own a car, so you got the money together and hired an Uber car and driver to come and pick you up and take you to the city. On the day of your trip, for whatever reason, say the Uber driver and car didn’t show up, but you still needed to get to the city, and there wasn’t anyone else that could come and get you for six months, what would you do?
Would you:
- Do your usual and blame other people and your circumstances for your life, not going the way you want it. Get upset, then discouraged, and make the appointment for six months in the future?
- Look around your environment, find materials, and build a car or a motorcycle or a skateboard to get you to the city?
- Would you gather all of the resources you had on hand, pack a bag and set out walking to your destination with the single thought of “I’m going to make it to the city somehow.”?
Look I’ve just brainstormed and given you three possible ways to respond. You can choose to respond however you want, but the choice is yours – let’s be clear on that.
What I’m saying isn’t one of those talks where I make you feel good about giving up. It’s one of those talks where I tell you the truth. What you choose or don’t choose is YOUR decision, and you have to be ready to deal with the outcome. It’s your life, and you’re 100% responsible for it. Nobody else is responsible for giving you anything, saving you or making your life easier, better, or kinder. I know this may be hard to hear, but since no one has told you this, I’m giving you this information so you can make informed choices.
I want you to have the best life possible. I don’t want you to spend years or decades blaming other people for not getting what you want or not having a good life. Stop waiting for other people. The reality is that people either don’t care enough to tell you or don’t realize that you don’t know, and you’re living your life waiting for something or someone else to make it better for you. I love you, so I’m telling you the truth. I may not be doing it with sunshine and rainbows, and stroking your hair, but that’s not me today. And apparently, it’s not what you need, that’s why God sent you to me. I’m telling you the truth so you can hear it, and hopefully, you will consciously decide to take responsibility and make good choices for your life. Or you can stay where you are and continue with what you’re doing.
You know that you don’t have enough supplies and resources to last you six months. Oh, I get it, you plan to stay there and pray. Well, guess what? You’re going to die because prayer doesn’t mean you give up and do nothing after you ask for help. When you pray, you have to believe you will receive what you prayed for, and then you will get it.
You also need works to go with your faith. Faith without works is dead. Let me say it a different way. If you don’t do the work to go along with your prayer and faith, you’re dead. Prayer does Not count for works. You have to do both, pray and work. Like instant pancake batter, you need batter and water. Without the water, you have flour, not pancakes.
The second option I gave was to choose to take what you have and make a vehicle that will get you to the city. Get you to your desired destination. You can decide I’m not going to die out here by myself, if you don’t know how to build a car or you don’t have the materials to do so, do you have some wheels or something that you can make a skateboard with or maybe you have a wagon or something; use what you have.
A third option if you don’t have anything that you can use as a vehicle, is your feet. So you decide to walk and trust that you’ll make it to your destination. You might not even have feet, and all you can do is crawl, crawl, and get moving. You said that you believe. Get moving with whatever you have and keep telling yourself that you are going to make it to the city.
I’m adding a fourth option – create a plan yourself and do the work. You don’t like anything that I’ve come up with so far, then strategize on your own and get to work. Faith without works is dead.
Keep moving with whatever you have and tell yourself that you are going to make it to the city. See your destination in your mind. See yourself arriving there to accomplish what you started to do. Let’s use an analogy of playing baseball. When you get up to bat and swing, you might not hit the baseball on the first pitch, but if you don’t quit and keep swinging, you will get a hit. Even if you strike out your first, second, third, or fourth time up at bat, if you don’t quit, you will hit the ball. Your first hit might not be a home run, but it’s powerful enough to get you to first-base. Now you’re in the game, and you can get points for your team by running the bases and getting safely to home base. That hit will keep you in the game and give you another opportunity to swing the bat to hit a home run. But if you stay in that remote location that you’re in, you’re definitely not going to get to the city.
Faith without works is dead. I don’t mean that half-hearted work that you do for your employer where you are watching the clock and socializing with co-workers because you hate your job and doing that lazy work –the stuff that you do just enough of not to get fired, not that kind of work. I mean the type of work you put in when there’s something that you really want. The type of work where you dream about the event, you circle the date on your calendar, you decide what you’re going to wear and pull your clothes out and either wash and iron them yourself or send them to cleaners ahead of time and have them hanging on your closet door ready to put on. I’m talking about the committed to making it through; I want to live, I’m fighting for my life when a killer breaks into your house type of work.
The kind work where you have carried a baby for nine months and the baby isn’t ready to come out, and your only mission is to birth that child, no matter the pain. The kind of work where your sole focus is that your sweet child is coming out of your stomach, as my mother would say, “Come hell or high water!” That expression means that even if hell opens up and tries to consume you or floodwaters rise up and try and drown you, nothing will stop you from your destination, from your goal. Nothing is going to stop you from birthing that child. Nothing is going to stop you from getting to the city.
You may not look pretty or even be clean when you get to the city (unless you brought those nice clean and pressed clothes you prepared), but this is a fight for your life. Your goal is to get to the city, and nothing will stop you. You’ll see God, he’s been with you the entire journey. Praise through the journey, worship through the journey. Be grateful through the journey. Declare through the journey, continue to ask through the journey. Encourage yourself through the journey; maybe this journey requires fasting to get to the city, then fast through the journey, meditating on the Word through the journey, and visualizing through the journey. When you decide, believe, and do the work – which is the definition and the practical application of faith and belief, then you receive what you’re believing for.
God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or think according to the power that’s active in you. The power in you is not some mysterious occurrence; it’s the power you were given at the New Birth when you were Saved and accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior – that power. You know the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. It’s embedded in your spirit, and you have to activate the power and determine at what level you will utilize your ability. What do I mean by utilize? Utilize is making practical, effective use of something – the way vitamin C helps your body utilize iron in your food. Utilize is to employ like you are employed at your job – put your ability to work – put your power to work. Your work ethic determines how exceedingly abundantly above your ask or thoughts God can do for you. The exceedingly abundantly is dependent on you. You do a little dab, or just enough to get by, then that’s how much you get, and what God can do in that situation. I’ll say it like this, the amount of the exceedingly abundantly is dependent on how much you work your ability.
Remember it’s not a magical situation where things instantly happen. There are suddenly’s, that happen, but those are miracles, and I’m not talking about miracles I’m talking about your responsibility for your life. Miracles do happen, but I wouldn’t suggest you base your strategy around getting a miracle. Do what you can do and let God decide if a miracle is needed in the exceedingly abundantly.
God told Joshua to say, think, visualize, and meditate on His Word day and night and do the work. And THEN Joshua would make Joshua’s journey successful and prosperous, and from that belief and work that Joshua would understand what to do and who he was created to be to succeed.
Now you know, it’s on you. What option are you choosing? Die in the remote location or believe, pray, work your ability, and get the exceedingly abundantly? I’m headed for the city.