What do you want to be when you grow up?
I’m sure everyone at some point in their life has been asked this question. And most often, when we were younger our answers were based on what sparked our interest at the time. My childhood answers ranged from wanting to be a famous gymnast to an actress to a unicorn. Don’t ask.
By the time we are 18 years old, many of us attempted to answer that question by determining our college major. And often we found (after four very expensive years) that we still had no idea what we wanted to be.
But I am sure you can agree that the one thing we all have in common is this one desire: each of us has a desire to be successful.
What defines success for each of us may be different, but I would be shocked to hear someone say “I have no desire for success. I am totally fine with not striving in any area of my life.”
Webster defines success as: a favorable or desired outcome.
Although success encompasses different things for each of us, I believe we can all agree with Webster. Success means reaching our desired outcome and often that means having access to what matters the most in our lives.
Recently I was getting my children ready to attend a back-to-school event that my husband hosts annually in our home town. As we were preparing for the event, my oldest daughter Ryann (4 yrs old) began asking me questions about it.
“Mommy, will they let me eat food at my daddy’s event?”
“Mommy, will they let me jump on the jumpy’s at my daddy’s event?”
“Mommy, will they let me get my face painted at my daddy’s event?”
I calmly answered each of the questions by saying, “Yes Ryann. This is your daddy’s event. That means you have full access to all of the fun stuff that is going to be there.”
Okay. Maybe I didn’t respond calmly, but you get the point.
And isn’t this a great lesson for us as adults?
As each of us longs to live a life that is meaningful, impactful, and yes…even successful, we often forget that we have full access to everything we need to be who God created us to be!
We do not have to ask for permission to walk in our destiny.
We do not have to ask for permission to enjoy the blessings of life.
We do not have to ask for permission to live the life God has designed for us.
Maybe you don’t believe me. But I’m sure you’ll believe the Word:
John 10: 10 says that God’s purpose for His children: “…is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”(NLT)
Psalm 24:1 says: “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it….” (NIV)
James 1:17 tells us: “So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven.” (The Message)
Psalm 84:11 promises: “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” (NKJV)
Jeremiah 29:11 declares: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (KJV)
Unfortunately, just like Ryann, we often find ourselves asking for permission to truly enjoy the promises that our Daddy has for us. We are asking permission to be who God created us to be.
But starting today, let’s commit together to live a life of success, which means a life that gives us full access to the promises of God.
It is our inheritance as children of the King.
Scripture Of The Day: “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” – John 10:10 (NLT)
Showing posts with label a life of success. Show all posts
Showing posts with label a life of success. Show all posts
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Out of Gas
Have you ever run out of gas? I have. It is such a frustrating feeling! It’s so frustrating because in almost every case it could have easily been avoided...because you don’t run out of gas on accident. You always run out of gas on purpose.
By putting off that quick pit stop at the local gas station (for a variety of reasons), you’re now stuck on the side of the road with no power to go anywhere. As bad and as frustrating as this is, what is even worse is when we ‘run out of gas’ in our relationship with Jesus.
Still living on the momentum of what Jesus did in our life 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 1 year ago (or even a week ago!), we have little passion for Him today. Long satisfied with a revelation of Jesus that has far out lasted it’s freshness, we have become indifferent, powerless and bored.
“Bored?”
Yes, bored.
I believe if we really got gut level honest, boredom would be a prevailing sentiment throughout a majority of Christians. Bored because there is no power. Bored because there is no momentum. Bored because there is no movement.
But the reason there isn’t power, momentum and movement isn’t God’s fault (though we often blame Him!). We aren’t moving because we’ve run out of spiritual fuel. We’ve become stagnant. We’ve allowed our God connection to devolve to a ‘Get out of Hell and Go to Heaven Free Card’.
That has become the sum total of our Christian faith...reducing Jesus to a cheap ticket.
As challenging as it is to face this truth, there is good news.
We CAN get our tank re-filled.
We CAN get back to authentic prayer
We CAN get back to a humble pursuit and seeking of the Presence and Power of God.
We CAN get back to esteeming the Word of God like…the Word of God.
It will require removing distractions, making hard choices, managing our life better. But if we can’t live an inspired Jesus-centered life that is bigger, more important, and of more value than all life’s crazy clutter…should we even be professing Jesus Christ in the first place?
The time has come for us to get off the side of the road and get back on the move. Let’s Go.
Scripture Of The Day: “..Revive us and we will call upon Your Name.” - Psalms 80:18 (NKJV)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Divine Interruption
Turn on the television. Glance at a magazine cover. Click through some blogs and you will find subliminal and obvious images, depictions, opinions and messages about success. Merriam Webster’s definition of success as a noun is a favorable or desired outcome, as well as, the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence. Random House’s definition of success as a noun is the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors in addition to the attainment of wealth, position, honors or the like.
Think about the images you see again. Mansions, fancy cars, designer clothes and stacks of money are considered ultimate success by many. Yet throughout the bible, we find people who considered God’s desired outcomes and prosperous termination of their attempts or endeavors as the measure of their success.
My foster family owned many of the things people use to define their success—nice cars, nice clothes and a nice-sized home. My first week living with them, my new parents took me out to breakfast to get to know me and one thing my Dad said that day never left me. He said, “What you have doesn’t define if you’re a success; doing what you set out to do for the right reason and who you are inside, does.”
At that time (before it was popular) I planned to become a forensic psychologist and catch serial criminals of the worst kind. I wasn’t a success yet because my motivation was to seek vengeance for their victims and shame the criminals. My plans were to be an FBI sensation, expert witness and write books about the most diabolical cases I solved (like the ones I’d read since middle school). Marriage and children were optional. I wanted to be rich and famous for putting away evil people.
God interrupted the plans I made for my life. When I think about the condo, convertible luxury car and crime-fighting future I described to my parents that morning, it was a story of success based on the definition of someone else. It was based on the pain from my past and the circumstances that landed me in foster care. It was based on the admiration I thought I’d receive if I had things I saw in magazines, movies and on television. Watching my parents love each other and experiencing love from my new family even after I hurt them began to change what I viewed as success. Encountering the forgiveness and redemption of God after walking away from Him wiped society’s definition of success out of my mind. It made me wonder if as a child of God how I defined my life’s success should be based more on if I accomplished the things I wanted in life or if I embraced God’s purpose for me.
If I chose to allow what I originally wanted for my life to determine whether or not I am a success, I failed miserably. My plans didn’t include being irreversibly in love with the Creator of the universe, an intercessor, worshipper, wife to a God-fearing husband, and devoted mother to an imaginative daughter. The books I write focus on how much God loves the hurting instead of exacting vengeance on the people or situations that hurt them.
Entering into an intimate relationship with God opened my eyes to the ability to determine my own definition of success. I prayed for God to save me, and today I pray that everything I do prospers His purpose for my being here, and based on the fact that He loves me, I know I live a life of success.
Scripture Of The Day: “Save now, we beseech You, O Lord; send now prosperity, O Lord, we beseech You, and give to us success!” - Psalm 118:25 (AMP)
Think about the images you see again. Mansions, fancy cars, designer clothes and stacks of money are considered ultimate success by many. Yet throughout the bible, we find people who considered God’s desired outcomes and prosperous termination of their attempts or endeavors as the measure of their success.
My foster family owned many of the things people use to define their success—nice cars, nice clothes and a nice-sized home. My first week living with them, my new parents took me out to breakfast to get to know me and one thing my Dad said that day never left me. He said, “What you have doesn’t define if you’re a success; doing what you set out to do for the right reason and who you are inside, does.”
At that time (before it was popular) I planned to become a forensic psychologist and catch serial criminals of the worst kind. I wasn’t a success yet because my motivation was to seek vengeance for their victims and shame the criminals. My plans were to be an FBI sensation, expert witness and write books about the most diabolical cases I solved (like the ones I’d read since middle school). Marriage and children were optional. I wanted to be rich and famous for putting away evil people.
God interrupted the plans I made for my life. When I think about the condo, convertible luxury car and crime-fighting future I described to my parents that morning, it was a story of success based on the definition of someone else. It was based on the pain from my past and the circumstances that landed me in foster care. It was based on the admiration I thought I’d receive if I had things I saw in magazines, movies and on television. Watching my parents love each other and experiencing love from my new family even after I hurt them began to change what I viewed as success. Encountering the forgiveness and redemption of God after walking away from Him wiped society’s definition of success out of my mind. It made me wonder if as a child of God how I defined my life’s success should be based more on if I accomplished the things I wanted in life or if I embraced God’s purpose for me.
If I chose to allow what I originally wanted for my life to determine whether or not I am a success, I failed miserably. My plans didn’t include being irreversibly in love with the Creator of the universe, an intercessor, worshipper, wife to a God-fearing husband, and devoted mother to an imaginative daughter. The books I write focus on how much God loves the hurting instead of exacting vengeance on the people or situations that hurt them.
Entering into an intimate relationship with God opened my eyes to the ability to determine my own definition of success. I prayed for God to save me, and today I pray that everything I do prospers His purpose for my being here, and based on the fact that He loves me, I know I live a life of success.
Scripture Of The Day: “Save now, we beseech You, O Lord; send now prosperity, O Lord, we beseech You, and give to us success!” - Psalm 118:25 (AMP)
Monday, September 5, 2011
The Success Measuring Stick
What is considered a life of success? Often you hear people defining what they believe it means to be successful. For some it’s finishing college and working in their desired field. For others it may be finding that special someone, getting married and raising a family. For others the size of their house, the model of car they drive or the amount of money they have in savings and investments may be their measuring stick.
Everyone has their own thoughts on success. However I can’t help but wonder what our lives would be like if we put all of those things aside and equated success with living a life pleasing unto God?
What if instead of chasing the promotions or the bigger car, we made running after God a priority?
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
What if we measured our success by the fact that we were teaching our children through our words and actions about Christ and they were walking in those teachings … instead of measuring our success by how many pairs of Nikes or how many toys we can buy them?
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
What if we really believed that our bodies were temples of God and considered living a life of success taking care of those temples – eating right, exercising and rejecting anything or anybody that tries to defile them?
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1
It’s just a thought … it doesn’t mean you can’t desire the “finer” things in life. I’m just suggesting that we re-evaluate our measuring sticks for success and spend more time focusing on things that will draw us closer to Christ … and watch how everything else will fall into its proper place.
Scripture Of The Day: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” - Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Evaluate Your Success
If you ask ten people what their idea of success in life looks like, you will most likely get ten different ideas and versions of success. The world we live in and the environment around us shapes us and we unconsciously develop an image of what a successful life looks like. From the time we start going to school as kids we begin thinking of what success looks like. If we are not mindful, we will live our lives conformed to the image in our mind and strive towards having the successful life we see in our minds.
Too often we will compare ourselves to people who seem to have more than us and will always try to acquire the same in our lives. This is a very dangerous way to live. Yes, it is dangerous. Dangerous because it distracts us from what God has called us to do. It is a very subtle thing because we will be busy doing different things but they might not be things that God wants us to work on.
One of the definitions for the word 'success' is the attainment of popularity or profit. This definition is one that does not line up with the Word of God because a man or women can live a successful life without ever attaining popularity or profit. There are many examples both in the Bible and in the word today. It is not wrong to be popular or to make a profit, but it is wrong to evaluate a successful life solely based on popularity and profit. In Genesis 39:2 the Bible tells us that "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian." At that point in his life, Joseph was neither popular nor making a profit. He was at one of the worst stages of his life and yet the Bible says that he was successful. He was successful because the plan and purposes of God were being accomplished in his life.
As Christians we need to evaluate our level of success based on how well we are doing and accomplishing the purpose God has for our lives. It is not wrong to dream big and do great things but the motives need to be judged. Is the dream or desire just to be popular or to look better than another person? Is the dream truly inspired by God and the desire to do great things to glorify God?
In Mark 8:36, The Bible says, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" Gaining the world is not the problem here. The problem is with forfeiting or losing the soul. We will lose our soul when we compare ourselves to others and start running a race that we are not called to run. We need to discipline ourselves to run the race that is set before us and resist the temptation to run someone else's race! (Hebrews 12:1)
A successful life for a Christian is one when the person has done all that God wanted done in his or her life. That is when we will hear the words "Well done, my good and faithful servant." That is undoubtedly a successful life.
Scripture of the day: "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian." - Genesis 39:2 (NKJ)
Too often we will compare ourselves to people who seem to have more than us and will always try to acquire the same in our lives. This is a very dangerous way to live. Yes, it is dangerous. Dangerous because it distracts us from what God has called us to do. It is a very subtle thing because we will be busy doing different things but they might not be things that God wants us to work on.
One of the definitions for the word 'success' is the attainment of popularity or profit. This definition is one that does not line up with the Word of God because a man or women can live a successful life without ever attaining popularity or profit. There are many examples both in the Bible and in the word today. It is not wrong to be popular or to make a profit, but it is wrong to evaluate a successful life solely based on popularity and profit. In Genesis 39:2 the Bible tells us that "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian." At that point in his life, Joseph was neither popular nor making a profit. He was at one of the worst stages of his life and yet the Bible says that he was successful. He was successful because the plan and purposes of God were being accomplished in his life.
As Christians we need to evaluate our level of success based on how well we are doing and accomplishing the purpose God has for our lives. It is not wrong to dream big and do great things but the motives need to be judged. Is the dream or desire just to be popular or to look better than another person? Is the dream truly inspired by God and the desire to do great things to glorify God?
In Mark 8:36, The Bible says, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" Gaining the world is not the problem here. The problem is with forfeiting or losing the soul. We will lose our soul when we compare ourselves to others and start running a race that we are not called to run. We need to discipline ourselves to run the race that is set before us and resist the temptation to run someone else's race! (Hebrews 12:1)
A successful life for a Christian is one when the person has done all that God wanted done in his or her life. That is when we will hear the words "Well done, my good and faithful servant." That is undoubtedly a successful life.
Scripture of the day: "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian." - Genesis 39:2 (NKJ)
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