Published by admin on 11 Mar 2016 at 01:33 pm
HOW TO SUCCEED IN LIFE
No matter where you were born, or when, there’s just something inside you that wants to succeed. Whether you realize it or not, even your basic instinct to survive tells you that you weren’t created to fail. A person can face seemingly impossible circumstances, and yet, in the vast majority of times, they will survive, somehow, someway. Many count that up to “luck”, but it isn’t luck at all; it’s how you were created, purposely by God.
You can go to even the poorest countries, and somehow, the people will do whatever it takes to survive, despite the fact the place might be almost barren in the way of resources. God created you with the ability to survive, He gave you gifts and talents to help you in whatever circumstances you may find yourself in. That isn’t an accident, He did that on purpose. It isn’t something you have to “get”: it’s already IN you. But YOU must put those gifts to work, else you COULD fail to survive.
So, is life just about “survival”, or could there be more? Could it be possible that God wants you to go above and beyond basic survival and actually SUCCEED and be blessed in life? Well, that depends on who you ask. You see, most are satisfied just to “get by”, but some, like me, are different, they want to go BEYOND and THRIVE. What drives me to be that way? Glad you asked! Let me explain it like this:
We will say you go to a car dealer with cash in hand to buy a car. Now, any car on the lot will get you where you want to go, so does it matter which one you choose? How about letting the dealer pick your car out for you, are you OK with that? If so, fine, I have no problem with that, it’s your money. But if I go to buy a car, I want to choose the car myself, AND the color, AND the accessories. You see, I’m kind of picky, and not particularly fond of just taking whatever life chooses to hand me.
So, here’s my thinking: if there was only ONE kind of car, and they were all the same color and came with the same equipment, it might make car buying easier, but certainly not as enjoyable. But being there are MANY makes and models out there, in every imaginable color, and level of equipment, so we must choose. Making choices is part of how we were created, God MADE us that way, and for a reason. God gave us something called “free will”, which means we aren’t robots, we can think for ourselves, and determine what we will or won’t do. We can choose to succeed in life, or we can choose to fail. Believe it or not, the “default setting” built into us from the “factory” is to “succeed”.
God created Adam and Eve in the distant past and gave them “DOMINION”. Now, exactly what is “dominion”? Well, in a nutshell, the one wielding dominion calls the shots and makes the decisions as they see fit. You can read about it in Genesis 1:26-27:
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Tell me, does that sound to you like God created Adam and Eve to just to “survive” and take whatever life chose to throw at them? No? Then why would you think that you, as an offspring of Adam and Eve would be expected to just “survive”, and be content to just “get by” when God Himself created you to DOMINATE? God created them to rule and reign over this earth and everything in it, and as humankind, that is YOUR heritage. But here is the problem: Satan entered the scene and deceived Eve and she caved in to his lies, and she in turn talked Adam into buying the lie, and because of the choice of their own free wills, they turned the world’s first success into the world’s first failure, and mankind has chosen failure over success ever since. But that isn’t how GOD created mankind to be. I said, THAT ISN’T HOW GOD CREATED MANKIND TO BE!
God never gave dominion of the earth to the devil and his crew. No, the devil DECEIVED his way into dominion. He didn’t have the God-given ability to TAKE it from Adam and Eve, so he had to convince them to voluntarily GIVE him their authority, and he did exactly that. Down to this very day, many people still believe it isn’t God’s will for them to be blessed, be in health, prosper, and be happy in life. Therefore, the vast majority of people are downtrodden and miserable, HOPING for something better in life, but seldom ever achieving it. Why? Because of what they BELIEVE! Satan can’t keep you captive to his misery if you CHOOSE to believe the Word of God. But there again, YOU must make the choice to take God at His word, because remember, God gave you free will, and He will not make your choice for you. That’s YOUR job.
All I have the power to do is to inform you that you have a choice in the matter; but I can go no further. And by the way, that’s also how the devil works: he will inform you of choices that you have available, but he can go no further. He can’t FORCE you to do anything against your will, but rather, he will present stuff that you would ordinarily refuse to accept or do, and make it look desirable, and the more you dwell on it, the more you just HAVE TO HAVE IT! For example, a person who has never smoked sees someone smoking, and they tell them how enjoyable it is, how it looks “cool”, and talks them into trying it. So, that person lights up, and takes a puff, and IMMEDIATELY gags and hacks, as their body says DON’T DO THIS!! But it’s “cool” and you want to “fit in”, so you force your body to accept what it naturally wasn’t created to do, and eventually, the body stops protesting and it becomes the “new normal”.
Well, you know the rest of the story, pretty soon they become addicted to smoking, and even if they WANT to quit, they have swallowed the devil’s hook, and it won’t come out without a great deal of effort and discomfort. And the natural instinct is to avoid discomfort, so they give up before they even start to get free from this unnatural condition. So, rather than do whatever it takes to get free, they just give in and suffer the consequences because it seems easier to give up than to take a stand. And that’s exactly what the devil is expecting YOU to do, after all, it has worked for him so very well for all these years since Adam and Eve.
As I said earlier, SOME aren’t willing just to “survive”, but are determined to “thrive”. I learned a long time ago that health, blessing, and joy were and ARE God’s intended “default condition” for mankind, and not just for “mankind”, but for me personally. So I decided to stop thinking like a failure, and get into God’s Word and find out what He really intended for man in the first place. Well, that means going back to those two verses in Genesis 1:26-27 and going from there. That was my first CORRECT choice in a long time. I had made MANY choices throughout my life up to that point, but they were mostly based on faulty information.
You can make choices based on a lie, and it will really mess you up in life, as it did me. And like I said, most are willing to just stay where they are and they will just float downstream like a dead fish, because it doesn’t take much effort to do so. But I’m not a dead fish, so I refuse to be washed downstream where I really don’t want to go. And I’m hoping YOU aren’t a dead fish, or else I’m just wasting my time here trying to help you.
The first course of action is to stop believing your circumstances rule your life. No, your HERITAGE rules your life. You were created to OVERCOME, to have DOMINION, to go OVER in life, and not UNDER. God created you to be the head, and not the tail. You know, if you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes. Every day you’re looking at the south end of a dog going north. Now, if that’s your idea of “life more abundantly”, then go for it, the world is full of followers, going wherever the devil leads them in life, and it always ends in destruction, only his followers never see then cliff they’re about to go over until it’s too late, because they are only paying attention to the dog just in front of them.
God created you to succeed, but in order to do that, you will have to make some different choices. The first one is always the hardest, to actually break away from the “crowd” mentality and let God clear your mind and reveal to you what He created you to be in the first place. Free will is a good thing. You really ARE free to choose God and His blessings, and the only thing stopping you from being the success you always wanted to be is YOU!! The devil wants you to keep making choices based on his lies, that you can never break free and have a blessed life. Jesus told us in John 10:10, The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Now, take an honest look at your life right now: is the life you’re living REALLY the life you always wanted? If “life more abundantly” is not an accurate description of your life, then you can readily see there’s an alternative to what you’ve been living. If you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, having all your best efforts thwarted at every turn, working hard, but somehow never seeming to be able to get ahead, then listen friend, you came to the right place. I’m not here to condemn or judge you, that isn’t my job. Rather, my job is to tell you God has something BETTER for you, something MUCH better. And you can begin RIGHT NOW by giving Christ Jesus the Lordship over your life.
You will notice Jesus said, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. That means life more abundantly is AVAILABLE to you, but He won’t make you take it. It’s a choice on your part. Now you know the TRUTH, and you can base your life choices on the truth instead of the devil’s lies. You are created to SUCCEED! And if you will follow Jesus, He is inviting you to run BESIDE Him, and enjoy the view that only an ABUNNDANT life affords! What do you say? Are you ready to begin “life more abundantly”? Jesus is waiting to make a success story out of YOU!
Stephanie C on 11 Mar 2016 at 4:05 pm #
Thank you Pastor Jerry
Donna on 14 Mar 2016 at 4:25 am #
Thank you Pastor Jerry. You always have a good word to give. I look forward every week to reading your newsletter.
Keith McEvoy on 27 Mar 2016 at 12:50 am #
I cherish what youve got to say and the way you say it.