Release the Champion Within (Part One)

Did you know on the inside if you is a champion waiting to be awakened and released? Like a sleeping giant, the champion within is of no worth, until he is awakened and released. One thing I have learned in my 50 years of life is that winning in life is an inside job!

Most people are controlled by external, rather than internal forces. We allow our environment, our circumstances, our failures, the economy, what other people do or say to us, the hurts and abuses of our childhood, the government, etc, to control the direction of our lives. We allow these things to dictate how we think, how we speak, and how we behave. As a result we never maximize our potential, live our dreams, step out by faith and take a risk, and become the person God has created us to be.

Now I am not, by any means, downplaying the reality of these things, but as humans we tend to use these external forces as excuses for our lack of effort. We allow the negative circumstances of life, the problems we face, the rejection we encounter, the struggles we have, to discourage and dissuade us from being all we can be. At one point or another we all struggle with the disease of “excusitis.”

Someone once said, “It’s not what happens to me that’s important, it’s what happens in me that’s important!” In other words, how do I allow the negative experiences of life to affect me on the inside? Do I allow them to discourage or challenge me? Do I allow them to make me want to quit or keep trying? Do I allow them to I allow them to become obstacles or stepping stones to winning in life?

True champions view setbacks as a temporary annoyance on the road to success. Even the most successful people on earth experience setbacks. Think about the great home run hitter Babe Ruth. Did you know he struck out almost 3 times more than he hit a home run? But we don’t think of him as the strikeout king, we think of him as the homerun king, a distinction he held for more than 50 years. He never allowed the fact that he struck out so much, keep him from swinging as hard as he could, every time he came to the plate!
What about you? Do you give up when the going gets tough? When obstacles or setbacks occur in your life to you quit?

The most successful sales people understand they will get many no’s before they get a yes in the sales process. My wife, Holly, is a great marketer. She not only has a powerfully wonderful outgoing personality, and never meets a stranger, but when she hears the word no, it doesn’t faze her. I asked her one day what her key was. I will never forget her answer. She said, “When someone tells me no, what they really mean is, not yet!” As a result when she made her living as a marketer she was very successful. She got accounts no one else was able to get, simply because she wouldn’t take no for an answer! In my estimation, she had learned to release the champion within.

As a young boy, Michael Jordan, dreamed of playing in the NBA. He believed he could be great. When he tried out for the basketball team in his freshman year he didn’t make the team. (How would you like to be the coach that cut Michael Jordan?) But, he didn’t let that discourage him. Rather than being down on himself and giving up, he redoubled his efforts. He spent the next year working hard on his game and developing his skills. He used the setback as a stepping stone to his future. You know the result. He became the greatest basketball player to ever play the game. Today, the greatest in the game right now are always compared to Michael Jordan.

Whether you realize it or not, you have what it takes to be a champion in life. Your personality type, your talents, your dreams, your desires, your knowledge, the skills you’ve developed, your strengths, and what you are passionate about, are all indicators of who you really are and what you can really do. You have on the inside of you the potential for greatness. You already have everything you need, on the inside of you, to win in life. To be a champion.

Unfortunately, most people never fully realize their full potential in life. Sadly, most people wake up to who they could have been, what they could have done, or how they could have made a positive difference in someone’s life or in the world, just before they die. I have known far too many people who on their death beds didn’t talk about what they had accomplished in life, but rather talked of the regrets they had of what they could have done but didn’t. But, this doesn’t have to be you and me.
So how do we release the champion within?

First of all we have to be aware of the champion traits within.

Second we have to awaken the champion within. In the New Testament, Paul the Apostle encouraged his young protégé, Timothy, to stir up the gift that was in him.

Third we have to believe we can be a champion in life.

Fourth we must activate the traits of the champion within.

Fifth we must never stop growing.

Sixth we must never stop living as the champion we are.

You have what it takes to win in life. There is a champion on the inside of you just waiting to be released. Over the next few blogs I will share ideas and concepts with you that you can adapt to your own personal life. In doing so you will begin to release the champion within!

Advancing In Adversity

Advancing in Adversity from Sam Verret on Vimeo.

In life we all face difficult times. How you face adversity determines whether you allow it to make you bitter or make you better! The choice is yours. In this teaching G Samuel Verret teaches you how to advance in spite of the adversity you are facing.

How to Have a Great Day

Far too many people are caught up in reliving their yesterdays or fantasizing about their futures, but few are living in and enjoying the now. Several years ago I spoke on the subject, “The curse of yesterday and tomorrow.” I spoke about the fact that if all you think about is your yesterdays or your tomorrows, and then it becomes a curse to your today.

 

Today is the most important day of your life. Your destiny is determined by what you do today. The attitudes and ideas you have today will help to determine your successes tomorrow.

Think about the following statements:

• Today is the day of Action.
• Today is when the battle shall be won.
• Today is yesterdays tomorrow.
• Today is all you have.
• Today is the time for winning.
• Today you will take a step toward your goal.
• Today must not be wasted.
• Today is under your management.
• What will you do with today?

If you are going to experience great success then you must learn to live in the present. You must quit just dreaming about tomorrow and reminiscing about yesterday. Determine to live today with all the gusto you can muster.

 

Determine that nothing is going to keep you from having a great day today. Nothing is going to keep you from recognizing the opportunities that each day presents you with.

 

Believe that something good is going to happen for you today. Having a positive mindset determines the course of your life. Jesus said, “as your faith is so be it unto you.” In other words what you believe is what you will receive. This is true in both a negative and a positive sense. If you start your day with a negative mindset, expecting the worse, then that is what you are going to experience. Conversely, if you start the day with a positive attitude, expecting the best, then that is what you will enjoy.

 

Make the decision to begin looking for and believing for the best in your life every day. Begin to say to yourself “something good is going to happen for me today.” Repeat it often until it becomes a part of how you really feel.

 

Begin each day with prayer. Prayer is simply spending time communing with God. It is what gets God involved in your circumstances. As my mom used to tell me, “Things go better with prayer.”

 

The Bible is full of teachings as to the power of prayer. Jesus said these things about prayer, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) He further said, “Hitherto have you ask nothing in my name, ask and you shall receive that you joy may be full.” (John 16:24) “What thigs you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them.” (Mark 11:24)

 

Organize your day. Much time is wasted by people who don’t take the time to plan their days. As someone has so rightly said, “Time is money.” Start each day with a list of prioritized things that must be accomplished. Learn to manage your time so as to get the most out of each day.

 

Look for opportunities to use your skills and abilities. God has created you with certain talents and abilities that make you unique and important. There is nothing more fulfilling than doing what you were made to do and using the talents that God has blessed you with. On any given day you will encounter many opportunities to use what God has given you. Be who God made you to be not what others want you to be.

Have a positive attitude. It is very important that you maintain the proper perspective if you are going to enjoy the winning life. Many have said that attitude is more important that aptitude when it comes to being successful. While aptitude is important without a positive attitude it is powerless. Having a positive attitude is a prerequisite for using what you know in a productive manner.

 

Your attitude determines how far and how high you will go in life. We have all met extremely talented and brilliant people that are not accomplishing their dreams because of a poor attitude. On the other hand, we’ve all met less talented and less brilliant people that are accomplish great things because they have an upbeat positive attitude. The attitude you possess is your choice. Make the decision to start each day with a positive outlook and high expectations.

 

Do something kind for someone you come in contact with each day. When I was in the Boy Scouts as a young man we were expected to do a good deed for someone everyday. That was part of our motto as Boy Scouts. I still remember the positive feeling I had every time I did something nice for someone else. While most of my deed of kindness were not a big deal, it was a nice feeling to see how good you made the other person feel.

 

I have paid peoples meal tabs without them knowing who did it. I have paid toll for the people in the vehicle behind me for no reason at all. I’ve pasid for the groceries of people in line ahead of me just because I wanted too. Now, none of these things are to brag on myself, but to simply illustrate what I am talking about. Try it and see if you don’t get the same feelings of joy that I’ve experienced. If you want to have a great day, help someone else have a great day!

 

Live each day as if it’s your last. Enjoy each moment. Enjoy the company of others. Learn to appreciate the sunshine, the flowers blooms, the birds songs and everything else that you come in contact with. Make each moment count. Do the things that will bring lasting results, thins that will benefit and promote others. If you are going to experience success in life then you are going to have to begin to live in the now. Oh by the way, Have A Great Day!

 

 

 

 

 

You’re Not A Failure!

Motivational speaker and author Van Crouch says, “You’re not finished when you’re defeated, you’re finished when you quit.” Winners in life understand that failing is part of success. You can’t know victory if you don’t have a battle. There is nothing like the joy of something good happening for you like you do after you’ve experienced something negative.

The truth is “Bad things happen to good people.” Jesus once said, “In this world you shall have tribulation.” (John 16:33) In other words, you are going to have some bumps on the road to success. Things aren’t always going to be rosy. People that see themselves as winners simply pick themselves up after a setback and move on. If you have a dream, and you are actively pursuing it, you are going to fall short from time to time. It’s not what happens to you that is most important; it’s what happens in you!

Failure is not an event, it is an opinion. You are not a failure until you say you are. Every time you fail you simply learn how not to do something! We learn a lot from trial and error. Jay Leno, host of the Tonight Show, spends his Sunday evenings going to comedy clubs and practicing his jokes for upcoming monologues. Some go over well and some bomb. But he is not deterred. Just because a joke fails doesn’t mean he is a failure. He learns from his mistakes and continues to hone his craft. The result is success when he performs his monologue on a nightly basis.

Winners are not people that never get knocked down; they are people who refuse to stay down. There is something in the heart of a champion that won’t let them give up regardless of what they are going through. We’ve all witnessed it watching sporting events. Just when you think there is no way a team or an individual has a chance to win, they find a way to win anyways. They understand that they aren’t finished as long as they don’t quit. Failure is not in the falling down but in the giving up!

Two of my favorite people from history are Thomas Edison and Abraham Lincoln. It is reported that Thomas Edison did 10,000 experiments before he found a filament for the light bulb. Someone once said to him, “so you’ve failed 10,000 times.” His response, “No I found 10,000 things that didn’t work!” Abraham Lincoln failed at business and numerous forays into the political arena before he was elected the sixteenth President of the United States of America. He goes down as perhaps the greatest or at least one of the greatest Presidents of all time. The common denominator between both of these great men of history is they never viewed themselves as failures.

Here are some questions to ponder in your pursuit of accomplishment.

• How do you see yourself?
• Do you see yourself as a success or a failure?
• What do you do when what you are attempting doesn’t seem to be working?
• Do you give up and quit?
• Or, do you get up and find a way to do it anyways?

My challenge to you today is that you begin to see yourself as the winner God says you are. Refuse to let setbacks hold you back from fulfilling your life purpose and accomplishing what you are capable of. Choose to use failures and setbacks as stepping stones to reaching your goals and enjoying a successful life! Say like the Apostle Paul of old, “I can do all things through Christ which gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13) You are not a failure!

What Is Your Dream?

We are back on track.  Have had some trouble getting our blog posted.

Yesterday, across the United States, we celebrated the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. Of all the men who have lived in my lifetime, perhaps none has been more influential on our society, than Dr. King. This one man, through the power of a dream, set in motion the thoughts, ideals, and actions that brought about unprecedented change to the very culture of our nation, and many nations around the world.

On August 28, 1963, in Washington DC, Dr King delivered a speech that goes down in history as one of the greatest speeches ever made. The “I Have a Dream” speech has been rightfully compared to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, as not only one of the finest speeches ever made, but also as a turning point in our country.

Someone has said, “The world belongs to the dreamer.” Everything that has ever been created or developed started as a dream or idea in somebody’s mind. Take a look around you for a moment. The computer on which you are reading this blog started as a dream. The chair you are sitting in was somebody’s dream. The clothing you are wearing is the result of someone’s dream. The car you drive started as someone’s dream on a drawing board. You get the point. Without a dream nothing is created or accomplished.

You will never enjoy success in any venture if you don’t have a dream. Having a dream of what you want to do, accomplish, or become in life is the foundation for personal success. The key to your future is found in the dream you possess and pursue. Centuries ago the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon wrote, “Without a vision (dream) the people perish.” One translation says, “They cast off restraint and run wildly.”

There is no future if there is no dream. In order to become all that God created you to be, you must begin to see beyond what is to what can be. See beyond the present.

Here are seven things I’ve learned about dreams:

Dreams give you purpose. Life is meaningless without purpose. In order to be fulfilled in life you must have a purpose or reason for being. Your purpose in life is found in the dream of what you want to accomplish.

Dreams give you direction. They help you to have the right priorities and objectives. They give you something to aim at. Dreams help you do what you were created to do.

Dreams help you focus. Through having a dream you are able to fully concentrate on what needs to be accomplished. We are all faced with many things in life that can distract or deter us from what we were created for. Dreams help us to not be distracted.

Dreams motivate and inspire you. They are what give you a passion for life. When you truly have a God-given dream you think about it all the time. It fills every waking and sleeping moment. You become obsessed with it. It encompasses everything that you do. You eat it, sleep it, drink it, talk about it, study it, read about it and pray about it. It is what gets you up in the morning. It is something you can’t wait to get up and pursue.

Dreams keep you going in spite of adversity. When you have a God-given dream it doesn’t matter what opposition comes your way, it can’t stop you. Adversity cannot slow you down, deter you or keep you back, when you have a dream. It doesn’t matter what comes your way, lack of finances, health problems, interpersonal relationship problems, a dream gives you a reason not to quit or give up. A dream will cause you to be persistent. “Quitters never win and winners never quit.”

Dreams are the seed to your future. What you dream about today determines where you will be tomorrow. The key to your future is found in the dream you have today. Instead of accepting life as it now is, get a dream of where you want to be and what you want to do.

Dreams must be acted on. I saw a sign not long ago that said, “Don’t just dream it. Do it!” Dreams can produce powerful results, but only if acted upon. At some point in order to accomplish great things, you must put legs on your dreams. They can only be effective if acted on.

Action Steps:

1. What is the BIG dream God has placed in your heart?

2. Are you pursuing it? If not why?

3. Do you have a plan in place for seeing it become a reality?

4. What is standing in your way to it becoming a reality?

5. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to see it become a reality?

 

Technorati Tags: winning in life,dreams,planning,winning ways ministries

You’ve Got to Go For the Root – Letting Go of What’s Holding You Back

The number one deterrent to success in any area of life is self-imposed limitations derived from past negative mental conditioning. The reason for the action steps in the last blog was to assist you in discovering the obstacles standing in your road to success in life. It is important to understand that every single limitation you have is imbedded in your mind. It is in how you have been programmed to think about yourself, God, others, your potential, your life purpose, health, finances, relationships, vocation, and future.

These limiting thoughts though, are not based on truth, they are based on lies. Lies you believe to be true. I have learned this first-hand. For a number of years I had behaviors that were incredibly damaging to my life. Try as I might I couldn’t overcome them. Counseling, prayer, accountability groups, behavior modification, nothing worked in helping me overcome them.

One day when reading “Shattering Your Strongholds,” by Liberty Savard, I read a chapter that addressed finding the root of the problem as the only way to truly overcome negative behaviors. Since nothing else to this point had worked, I decided to spend time searching for the root cause of my destructive behaviors. Sure enough, when I uncovered the root, I found the answers. I discovered the lies I had believed, and I was able to replace them with truth that brought me freedom. When I replaced the lies with the truth, my behaviors literally changed overnight!

Everything that happens in life, good or bad, positive or negative, is the result of something else. There is a natural law in effect that is just as powerful as the law of gravity. It is the law of cause and effect. In Philosophy it is known as Causality. Causality is the relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is a consequence of the first. The Bible calls it sowing and reaping. Galatians 6:7 declares, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows that shall he also reap.”

According to scripture, words are seeds. (Read Mark 4) Whether the words are from God or the enemy doesn’t matter. They are still seeds. The purpose of a seed is to produce a harvest in your life. The words (seeds) that dominate your thinking will produce after their kind in your life. This works in both the positive and negative sense. Positive, faith-filled words produce positive faith-filled results. Negative, fear-filled words produce negative fear-filled results in your life.

If you were told all your life that you will never amount to anything, you grow up believing you are incapable of being who God made you to be. The result is you never truly become the person God created you to be. Why? Because the seed, based on the lie, has been planted in the soil of your mind and is producing after its own kind. It has conditioned you to accept failure, low self-esteem, and living below your potential, as your lot in life.

On the other hand, if you were told that you could do anything God created you to do, and become everything God created you to be; you expect to be productive in life. Your expectation, created by the seeds planted in your mind, produces the harvest of being productive and successful in life. You will always rise to the level of your expectation.

So the key to letting go of what’s holding you back is to uncover the root and destroy it. By uncovering the root to your lack of growth, effort, and negative results, you uncover the lie that’s holding you back, and are able to replace it with the truth. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32

Here’s a simple method, which I was introduced to by my wife, that has had a profound effect in my life. As you uncover the root (lie) of what is holding you back, write it down. Then find the truth, what God’s word says about you, and write it under the lie. Then write down an action you can take to ingrain the new belief in your mind.

For example:

Lie: You’ll never amount to anything in life.

Truth: I am created in the image of God. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Other people just like me have accomplished great things in their lives.

Action: Find something you’ve always wanted to do, but have never attempted because of the lie you’ve believed. Study up on the subject and take a step of faith to accomplish it.

Lie: What you are attempting to do is impossible.

Truth: All things are possible to him that believes. Other people have accomplished what they were told was impossible. The Wright Brothers were told by their father “if God wanted man to fly He would have given them wings.” Yet they believed they could do the impossible, and they did.

Action: Spend time reading about ordinary individuals that did extraordinary things such as Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, and Sam Walton.

By doing this you are exposing the lie to the truth of God’s word and taking the power the lie has had on you away. You are getting rid of the lie and replacing it with the truth, which makes you free.

After you have written the lie you have believed, and replaced it with the truth of what God says, you need to keep the list with you and review it on a daily basis until the new seed begins to produce new thoughts. In turn the new thoughts begin to produce new actions which lead to new results in your life. This is the key to what the Bible calls “renewing the mind.” (Romans 12:2)

It is a fact, “Change your thoughts and you will change your life.” From this day forward as you begin to change your thoughts, by dealing with the lies you have believed about yourself, and replacing them with the truth, you will begin to see more positive, life changing results.

Action Steps:

1. Review the list of limiting beliefs you uncovered in the previous blogs action steps.

2. Write down the limiting belief, which is a lie, on a piece of paper.

3. Write the truth of what God’s word says right below the lie.

4. On a daily basis for at least 21 days (how long it takes to form a new habit) read and speak the truth out loud.

5. Write down and implement actions that will help imbed the truth in your mind.

Technorati Tags: Limiting Beliefs,ocercoming,winning in life,positi thinking,faith

What’s Holding You Back?

You are created with incredible potential. Perhaps one of the greatest burdens a person can bear is undiscovered, undeveloped, and undeployed potential. So, why if we have such great potential, do we not maximize or live up to it? Perhaps it’s because we have allowed invisible barriers to hold us back.

If you are going to enjoy the “good success” God has promised you, then you are going to have to discover what is holding you back and work to eliminate it from your life.

Several years ago a study was done to determine how we become conditioned to failure and rejection over time. A large northern pike was taken alive and placed in a large aquarium. The water temperature and surroundings were designed to be like the natural environment from which it was taken. Then, live minnows were put in the tank. In the wild the pike fish survive by eating minnows. The pike thought he was in heaven. When he was hungry he ate all the minnows he cared to eat

A few days later, the researchers played a trick on the Pike. They placed a large glass cylinder of water into the tank, and then filled it with minnows. The Pike tried to get to the minnows only to bump his snout against the invisible barrier. He tried over and over day after day to no avail. Finally he gave up and settled on the bottom of the aquarium.

The researchers then removed the cylinder allowing the minnows to swim freely. To their amazement the Pike never attempted to eat any of them. They would swim right past his face, brush up against him, but he never moved. Due to the painful experience of hitting his snout on the invisible barrier he was persuaded that he would never have another minnow. In the end, he starved surrounded by minnows.

Many of us are just like the poor Pike. We have allowed ourselves to be conditioned to accept what comes our way. We have given up because of the setbacks and obstacles we have encountered on the road to success. We have developed a belief system or mindset of mediocrity or failure. Sadly, what holds us back are not physical barriers. They are invisible barriers; barriers in our minds. Wrong belief systems, fear, negative attitudes, unrealistic expectations, past hurts and rejection, unresolved issues, poor self-image, preconceived notions, the opinions of others, and bad theology, just to name a few.

The writer of the book of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1 TLB) In order to follow the path God has laid out for you, to accomplish the goals you set, to finish what you start, to see your potential realized, to see your dreams manifested, you must let go of whatever’s holding you back.

Now, here’s the good news. Things don’t have to stay the way they are. You have the ability, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to let go of what’s holding you back. You have the ability to become everything you were created to become. You have the ability to be successful in your personal, spiritual, social, physical, vocational, familial, and financial life. It starts with getting rid of the stuff that’s holding you back.

Some may say, “That sounds good, and I know it’s true, but it’s easier said than done.” And, you’re right. In my next blog, I will share with you some secrets and principles for letting go of what is holding you back. But first you must take the following action steps. They are designed to help you uncover the invisible barriers that are holding you back. After all, you can’t let go of what is holding you back, until you know for sure what it is!

Action steps:

1. Do you really want to be successful in all areas of your life?

2. If yes, are you willing to do what you need to do in order to be successful?

3. Take out a sheet of paper and evaluate the following areas. Be honest!

a. What kind of attitude to I possess? Is it negative or positive?

b. What is my work ethic? Am I lazy or ambitious?

c. What preconceived notions do I have about myself, my career, my purpose, my finances, my relationships?

d. Do I allow fear to dominate and control my life? What am I afraid of?

e. What past hurts and rejections do I constantly think about and blame for my lack of success?

f. How do I view myself? Do I feel good about myself and believe in the abilities God has given me? Or, Do I dislike myself? Why?

g. What have I been taught, from a Theological standpoint, that have influenced my belief systems in a negative way?

h. What do I believe about, God, success, money, relationships, family, work, and life? Why do I believe these things?

Your Best Days Are Ahead

“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” Wilma Rudolph

Born in 1940, Wilma Rudolph’s life started with challenges that would keep many people isolated in a lifelong prison of self-pity and despair. As if being born 4 months premature, with one leg shorter than the other, were not enough, at age 4 Wilma contracted double pneumonia and scarlet fever. Wilma’s mother spent the next several years nursing her through one illness after another: measles, mumps, and chicken pox.

When she was 6 years old, her family discovered that her left leg and foot had become weak and deformed. She was taken to the doctor where it was discovered she had contracted the crippling disease of polio. In those days there was no cure for polio and she was told she would never walk again. For two years her mother and other family members spent their time massaging her leg and taking her twice a week for physical therapy some 50 miles away from home.

At age 8 Wilma was fitted with a leg brace enabling her to walk to school like the other children. It was then she discovered her love for sports. She could usually be found spending her afternoons shooting baskets with her 19 brothers and sisters. Through her “never say quit” attitude, Wilma never allowed her disability keep her from having fun. The daily exercise proved to be not only pleasurable but good therapy as well. At age 12 she was able to discard her leg brace and walk and run normally.

Undaunted by her lifelong health struggles, Wilma went on to become an outstanding student athlete in both high school and college. Her love for running led her to track and field. In 1956, as a 16 year old high school student, she competed in her first Olympics where she won the bronze medal in the 400 yard relay. She returned to the Olympics in 1960, where she became the first American woman to win 3 gold medals in one Olympics, setting one world record on the way.

With all the setbacks and challenges she faced as a child growing up, how was she able to accomplish what she accomplished?

As a young girl facing all these difficulties, her mother always encouraged her by singing songs to her about God’s love, and telling her that God had created her to do something special in life. It was during these times that Wilma began to dream of doing something great and actually believe she would. She worked hard at overcoming her setbacks and disabilities. She worked hard at developing her athletic skills. She believed that regardless of what she had experienced, and what she had gone through, through faith in God and hard work, her best days were ahead of her.

In life we all face things that can break us or make us, cause us to become bitter or drive us to be better. The choice as to whom we become and what we accomplish is ours. One of my favorite Ann Landers quotes is, “Our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become."

Maybe you’ve experienced a setback such as, the loss of a job, health problems, divorce, rejection of friends, mistakes you’ve made, etc. Perhaps you feel like the guy I was playing golf with one day. He couldn’t hit a good shot or make a putt all day. By the time we got to the 14^th hole he was so frustrated and negative, he started talking to himself or anyone that would listen. It culminated in him declaring, “If it weren’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all,” and then throwing his clubs as far as he could throw them, and storming off the course!

In my 50 years of life I have discovered that life isn’t always fair. As the scripture says, “It rains on the just and the unjust alike!” Things don’t always go as we would like them to go. Sometimes we feel like the Old Testament Patriarch Job, who said, “Mans days are short and full of trouble.” If anyone knew that truth, he did. In one fell swoop he lost everything he had, including his health. However, what’s interesting about Job is, he never quit believing for better days, even when his wife and friends encouraged him to do so. The Bible says he maintained his integrity towards God, maintained his faith in a better day, and in the end God blessed him by restoring double all he had lost.

Regardless of what you have experienced in the past, you’ve got to believe your best days are ahead of you. History is filled with two types of people, those who give up when the going gets tough, and those who refuse to quit. You can read the accounts of the lives of those who kept on keeping on; no one remembers much about the ones that quit.

Your best days are ahead of you. Days of success and not failure. Days of abundance and not lack. Days of health and not sickness. Days of purpose and not confusion. Days of joy and not pain. But, you say, “You don’t understand how tough things are for me right now.” Maybe not, but this I do know to be true, if you can believe for better days, and diligently work towards them, you will begin to experience them. Jesus taught, “I you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.” The first step to enjoying the better days that are ahead of you is simply believing they are yours.

Action Steps:

1. What setbacks have you allowed to stop your forward momentum?

2. How is your faith? What do you really believe for?

3. What steps can you take to begin to overcome the setbacks and negative circumstances in your life?

4. Decide today to spend at least 30 minutes a day reading or listening to inspiring stories of others that have faced similar circumstances as you, and how they overcame.

Tomorrow we will talk about the things that may be holding you back from success and how you can sever their power over you completely!

Technorati Tags: winning in life,success in life,motivational,positive,faith

New Year! – New You!

Many years ago I read the story of the old man of the mountains that was reputed to be the wisest man alive. People would come from all around, and pose their questions and problems, and without fail, he would have the right answer to their questions and the solutions to their problems.

One day two young men decided that they were going to trick the old man and prove to everyone that he wasn’t the wisest man around. So one of the young men caught a little bird and held it in his hands. As they approached the old man, the one holding the bird said, “Old man, I hold in my hand a little bird. Is it dead, or is it alive?”

They were convinced regardless of how the old man answered he would be wrong. If he said the bird was dead, he would simply open his hands and let the little bird fly away. If he said the bird was alive he would squeeze the little bird to death and open his hands to show the old man a dead bird. Thus they would prove the old man to be wrong either way.

The old man just stood there silently considering the question. After further prodding from the young men, the old man replied, “It is as you will.” In other words he realized the power of life or death for the little bird was in their hands. It was their decision whether the bird lived or died.

So it is with your life. You, and you alone, are the determining factor as to whether your life will be better or worse in 2010 than it was in 2009. You hold in your hands the keys to living a rewarding, abundant, joy filled, and successful life. 2010 can be the greatest year of your life or it can be the worst. The choice is yours.

You can squeeze the victory and joy out of it by refusing to grow. By not being willing to make positive changes in your life. By wallowing in self-pity and discouragement. By joining the ranks of the critical, cynical, and complaining. By paying attention to the negative, bad news reports, of the media or those around you. By living in the past. By blaming everyone and everything for your mistakes and shortcomings. By living in a realm of fear, worry, doubt, and apprehension.

Or, you can live a rewarding, abundant, joy filled, and successful life, by opening up to new ideas, new ways of thinking, and new ways of doing things. You can determine today to set new goals for this year and work diligently towards seeing them become a reality. You can choose today to forget the past, after all, there’s nothing you can do to change it anyways. You can make the decision to open up to hope and faith and see God’s hand of favor and blessing released in your life. “It is as you will.”

Throughout this year I will be sharing with you keys and principles for living that will radically change your life for the good, if you will apply them to your life. If you are serious about becoming a new you in 2010, be sure to subscribe to this blog, and read it on a daily basis. Pass it on to friends who also desire to become a new person. Lastly, make it a habit to not only read the blog, but to also do the action steps. Knowledge alone is not very powerful. However, knowledge with action produces powerful, life changing results!

Action steps:

1. Write out what changes in yourself you desire to see this year.

2. Are you satisfied with the where you are in life right now? (Whether, Spiritually, Physically, Mentally, Relationally, Vocationally, or Financially.)

3. If not what areas are of most concern to you right now?

4. What are you going to do to better yourself in 2010?