Leadership

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You are made for God’s purpose. Over the last ten weeks, I’ve given some ideas and one example of a faith purpose God has given me. I believe that God has a purpose for everyone and my hope is that maybe a few ideas presented can be modified to help you achieve your own unique family, financial, career, fitness, and fun goals. God wants us to have fun else why would He set aside more days for celebration than for fasting?

Expect good to happen when planning with God. Your God given purpose might be to be the best parent or grandparent you can be. It might be to study and learn a discipline in college, grow in a career, or grow a business. It might be to find a mate for life, start a family, and be the best parent you can be. Whatever God given purpose you have, my hope is that some of the ideas brought out in this series of writings will help in some way to make your dreams come true. When they do, write them down so you can go back to them and know that you’ve done it before and you can do it again; building a winning tradition through your life and for those who have the opportunity to follow.

God has given us the chance to determine our destiny. King Solomon said that as you think in your heart, so you are. Jesus brought glory on earth by being focused at completing the job God game him to do. When greatness is expected from someone, they begin to believe they can succeed and they seem to rise to the level needed to become great. That’s why we need to praise young people for small accomplishments. Research has found that there is an unconscious positive effect when a teacher believes a student will do well. It helps their performance.

What prophecies control your life? Don’t let other people or external negative expectations dominate your attitudes about yourself. You can’t force others around you to change their attitudes about you but you do have the freedom to change your own thoughts and attitudes about yourself. We see this in sports. How many times have you heard people say a team can’t beat another? Yet, the team wins because they expected to win and were motivated to pay the price with practice, dedication and concentration toward the victory.

I heard someone say once, if you pay attention to God, you are prepared for the world. If you pay attention to the world, you will become stressed and confused. For a Christian, the way to pay attention to God is found in three tools that God gives us. The first is His word. The bible is useful to teach us what is right. As the athlete gains stamina and strength with exercise, the Christian gains faith by reading the bible. Faith grows the more the bible is read. The second tool is the Holy Spirit. Through prayer we can receive directions and develop plans to be more self-disciplined. The third is the church where we have the opportunity to develop teamwork by learning together, caring for others together, and enjoying the company of friends together.

A good game plan is so important to winning in sports. A team will set out to execute the game plan in practice. Similarly in life, a purpose and plan is important. Receiving a definite purpose from God helps set objectives you’re willing to commit your life to achieving. It establishes a direction for your life and helps you to know where your desired destination is. I once heard a story of a swimmer that set out to swim from Catalina Island to California’s mainland. It was a foggy morning with vision only about fifty feet and the fog didn’t allow the swimmer to see the shore line. They gave up half a mile away. Later, the swimmer was asked why they gave up just half mile from the goal and the answer was that they would’ve finished had they been able to see the shore. They gave up because they couldn’t see the reference point to where they were going. As Christians, we have the Bible as our game plan and it tells us that heaven is where we are going and Christ is our reference point.

My hope is that all discover the freedom in Christ Jesus because the clear way to victory has been provided. Our hope as a believer is to be righteous through the spirit. Then as our faith expresses itself through love, we all win.

In last week’s writing titled “Determination”, a video from the movie “Rudy” was used to help explain the main points. This week, I would like to point out another clip from the movie. This time it’s about the reward after you’ve given it your all and being able to always remember the win. Rudy was told he lacked the size and talent to play but he convinces coach Ara Parseghian to give him a spot on the football practice or scout team. His teammates had seen the hard work he had put in over the last two years and pushed their coach to let Rudy suit up and run on the field for their last home game of the 1975 season. The clip starts with the crowd chanting to let Rudy in on the final kickoff. Take a few minutes to view this video at this link by pasting the following into your browser: http://youtu.be/mZ7ZpLgkVxA.

The choice is yours. You are the one that will choose the prophecies and expectations that govern your life. You are the one that will act with boldness, with determination, and with positive expectancy. A good idea is to write down your past and present wins. As you record your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly wins, your self confidence will grow and you will believe in your potential. As a result, a winning tradition will be established.

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