The Best Life

A person will not rise about the level of his or her closest friendships.  Prov 27:17 tells us, “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”  Make sure you are rubbing shoulders with people who have vision and are living the best life – where am I going, where are they going?  If your friends are growing you’ll grow.  It’s important that you take a look around you and consider who your friends are, who it is that is sharpening you.

Henry Ford said one of the great discoveries a man makes is to find he can do what he thought he couldn’t.  It’s us who put the limits on what we can and cannot do.  And it’s up to us to rise above.  I have to quote yesterday’s verse again, 2 Timothy 1:7 “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (NIV).

Often bad experiences of where we have tried and failed cause us to become fearful of trying again.  But it’s important that you keep going, Proverbs 24:16 says, “though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again”.  Falling isn’t the issue, the issue is when you stay down.  Get back up.  Learn and keep growing until you can knock down the giants in your world.  It will enlarge your capacity and ultimately make your bigger as a person.

I mentioned discipline yesterday, and want to reinforce it’s importance today.

Many people avoid discipline and don’t even like talking about, but the truth is discipline is not your enemy.  A man without discipline of character can never be said to belong to himself, he belongs to whatever takes him captive.  What’s got you held captive?

2 Timothy 1:7 tells us, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (NIV).

So, it’s in you – you just need to activate it.  A disciplined person is a healthy person, one who is control of his life, one who has a vision and is prepared to pay the price to see it come to pass.  A disciplined person is one who is prepared to do those things that aren’t enjoyable, aren’t fun but must be done – and with a good attitude.

Discipline is your friend given to you by God.

Zechariah 4:10 reminds us to embrace small beginnings.  There’s no quick way to succeed in life, when someone wins fast something is usually left out.

In life there are often mistakes.  If you have spent time building the right foundation, should you fall, then you’ll have something solid to come back to.

Ask yourself the following question, “If I take shortcuts, what do I cut short?” If you cut out experience, you lose the process of the journey that you cannot obtain unless you actually go through something.  When you can say, “I’ve been there and done that”; then you’ve actually gained something – you’ve gained experience.

If you cut out gratitude, you can easily become ungrateful.  Paying the price for something causes us to be grateful for what we’ve gained.

Maturity shouldn’t be avoided, either.  Maturity is a result of the journey of life and is something that cannot be obtained in an instant, it takes a variety of experience over a period of time.

Sometimes in life you can find yourself doing things that have no value other than the discipline of doing them.  This too should not be cut out.  Nor should exposure, if you cut out exposure you miss the big picture that is developed on the journey.

Finally, and most importantly, you cannot cut out a reliance on God.  People who take shortcuts usually do it alone and don’t have a reliance on God, so when things go bad they don’t have a confidence in God because they didn’t rely on God in the first place, they didn’t let God show them how He’ll come through for them.

For some reason we’ve always been taught to work on our weaknesses. Yet, if you want to reach your potential you need to play your strengths not your weaknesses. People who reach their potential spend their time asking themselves what am I doing well, rather than what am I doing poorly.

Avoid taking a position you cannot play – it will destroy your self-confidence. Are you doing what you do well? Or are you doing what you can do, rather than what you do do well.

If you focus on strengthening your strengths, imagine how strong you’ll become. The key is to bring others around you to develop your weakness. This allows you to devote yourself you those things you do well which will ultimately strengthen your strengths.

It’s all about your attitude!  Negative, closed minded, small thinking people never reach their potential.  If your attitude is one that you expect to be rejected then you will be.

Do you expect great things to happen on your area, where you work or study?  If not, why not?   God is for you, not against you.  It’s important that you expect great things to happen.

Romans 12 reminds us of the importance of renewing our mind.  When you look at certain situations what do you see?  Because what you see is what you get and what you look for is what you’ll find.  Make sure you are someone who has a great attitude and it always expecting great things to happen.

You’ll never get to where you could or should be without, sometimes, going against an expert’s advice. I once heard it said that an expert is someone who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.

Beethoven’s music teacher told him he was a hopeless composer. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he was told he had no creative ability. Thomas Edison was told his ideas were not worthy of scientific men. Woolworth, at age 21 got his first job in a retail store and was told he couldn’t wait on customers because he had no sense. But thank God they went against the expert’s advice and went with what was pulsating in their veins.

The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 9:24 to run the race to win. We should always do that. Just make sure you’re running the right race and that the experts are actually wrong on this one.

Pressure will force you to do one of two things: walk away or get out of your comfort zone and grow.  People who don’t reach their potential never get out of their comfort zones.  But, if you are to reach your potential you must embrace the pressure of the moment, or the pressure of the position and allow this to be your opportunity to grow.

1 Tim 1:12 tells us, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.”  In the midst of pressure, don’t walk away, remember that you will overcome this because Christ has strengthened you.

2 KEEP GROWING
The only way to reach your potential is to keep growing.   If you don’t grow you start shrinking – that’s when you can easily becomes negative and critical.

Exercise your mind and become a big thinker.  Once you get a new idea it stretches your mind and it never shrinks back.  Your mind is like a parachute; it needs to be open to work.  Read and get around people who are bigger than you.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; as long as you learn and keep on going forward.  Always remember, “I’m not the same person I was yesterday, I’m bigger today than I was when I started.”  You won’t grow if you’re afraid to make mistakes and don’t think bigger than yesterday.

Psalm 139:14 tells me that you am fearfully and wonderfully made.  God has, in his genuineness has packed you with potential and now it’s up to you to make the most of it. The Apostle Paul tells us – in 1 Corinthians 9:24 – that we should run in such a way to win the prize.

If we are not reaching our potential then we cannot help others reach theirs.  It’s only when we are at our best that we can give our best.  With this in mind, over the next 16 days I will outline 16 points to reaching your potential so that you can run to win and come out on top.

1    BE YOURSELF
Don’t try to be someone else, be yourself and reach your potential, not someone else’s.  Again, Psalm 139:14 makes it clear that there is nothing wrong with you.  You have made wonderfully – so be yourself.

There will always be someone who is smarter, better or funnier; don’t allow this to diminish your potential because it makes you feel insignificant.  Be who you were created to be and allow God to work through you.  You are unique, you are one of a kind, there is no one else on the planet like you.  You have be predestined by God and created in His image – so be the person He created you to be – YOU!