The 3 Essentials: All You Need for Success in Life (22 page)

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Authors: Casey Treat

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Who Told You That?
Ever since mankind began, there has been a battle going on in the mind. In Genesis 3, we find the very first recorded warfare:
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (vv. 1-5)
The serpent comes to Eve with two goals in mind: to bring doubtful questioning and to offer her new thoughts. He asks her, “Has God said?” in order to try to get her to distrust God. Eve begins to debate with the devil (never a good thing), and now her mind is open to the attitudes of the world and new thoughts are beginning to flood into her mind. Once he sees she is starting to waver, he tempts her further telling her that she will be like God if she eats of the fruit of the tree. Now what she should have understood was that she already was like God! Both she and Adam were made in God’s likeness and image (Genesis 1:26), and she already possessed all the wisdom she would ever need. But now her perspective was changing and she was getting knowledge from the world and beginning to believe maybe God has holding out on her. Were there things to know about life He had failed to mention?
Deceived into thinking there was wisdom she was missing out on, she disobeyed God and ate of the fruit. Verse 6 reads, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Immediately, their eyes were “opened,” just as the serpent promised, but the new thoughts, new perspectives, and new visions beginning to flood their minds were from the world, not from God. They began to see things in a different way. They looked at themselves and noticed their nakedness—not that they hadn’t been naked before, but now they saw their physical state through a mind-set of the world. They had thoughts they hadn’t had before, feelings they hadn’t felt before, knowledge they hadn’t known before.
They heard the footsteps of God as He was walking through the garden. With this new knowledge came a new action: they got scared and they hid. Who knows how many times they had heard God walking toward them, had even walked right next to Him? They had never been scared or embarrassed of their nakedness before, but with these new thoughts came new emotions, and they now were hiding (seed thought, then emotion, then action, then fruit). “Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself’ ” (vv. 9-10).
Of course God already knew what had happened, and where Adam was, but He wanted Adam to realize all of what had just occurred. When Adam answered Him by telling God he hid because he was naked, God asks Adam one of the most profound questions in the entire Bible: “Who told you that you were naked?” (v. 11). God stopped Adam and asked him to think about what he had just said.
Who told you that you were naked?
Adam and Eve had been naked since the day God gave them breath and they had never been ashamed of their nakedness before. Why all of a sudden were they hiding, afraid to be in His presence? Doubting His acceptance? Distrusting their relationship? Because of the new thoughts and new knowledge they now were receiving from the world.
So many of us have beliefs about ourselves that are completely contrary to what God believes about us or to what the Bible says about us. What if we were to take all of our thoughts of doubt, insecurity, and low self-esteem and then ask ourselves: Who told me that? Who told me I was fat? Who told me I was stupid? Who told me I was lazy? Who told me I would never amount to anything? Who told me that?!
Just like with Adam, I think God looks at us living our lives on so much smaller a scale than what He planned for us, and He wants to stop each of us and ask, “Where are you?” Or “Why aren’t you living boldly in the fullness and the abundance I have provided for you?” And when we answer Him (like Adam did) with our excuses—“I can’t help the way I am,” “I’ll never be able to do what I really want,” “I can’t do that because . . .”—He answers, “Who told you that?” Any thought, any belief, and any perspective you have about your life, your world, and your
self
that does not line up with what the Bible says is wrong! If God did not tell you “that,” then you believe a lie, and you will never experience the amazing destiny God has planned for you. Any area of your life that is below the perfect will of God is simply because you believe a falsehood about that area, believing a thought that did not come from Him or His Word.
The devil is not inventing any new tricks to tempt mankind away from the things of God. He uses the same line he used on Adam and Eve. Today, he still tries to suggest to every one of us thoughts of doubt in God, thoughts of distrust in His promises, thoughts of valid excuses why you can never change or be the person you want to be. And the world, with its carnal mind-sets and victim mentalities, follows right behind Satan with its communication about how you need someone else or something else to fix your problems for you, how you will never measure up to its standards, and how you are a helpless victim who deserves to be taken care of. All of these thoughts are designed to hold you in bondage and to keep you living a small life—and against what Jesus Christ died on the cross to give to you.
It’s all lies, and it is up to you to stop and ask yourself where your thoughts and beliefs are coming from. If you do not have a New Testament scripture to back up every thought you have about your life, your ability, your relationship with God, and all the promises He has given to you, then what you believe is not from God. But, if you will choose to engage in the battle going on in your mind, you can change it! Just as the passage from 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, we can capture, or grab hold of, any thought or belief we have that does not align itself with the Word of God and “cast it down.” We can replace that thought with a life-giving promise of God and start on the road to renewal. If we will renew the spirit of our minds, we can renew our self-esteem, renew our marriages, renew our careers, renew our relationships, renew our finances—renew our lives! Let’s go for God’s best in our lives. Let’s renew our minds, so we can start to experience God’s perfect will in every realm of our lives.
18
The Nonnegotiables
I
couldn’t remember the car accident, I couldn’t remember the ambulance ride, I couldn’t remember the doctors, the police, or even escaping out of the hospital. I was far too wasted from a drug-and alcohol-induced stupor. Looking back, it’s a miracle I am alive today to tell the story, but I’m so glad I am. This experience was a turning point in my life, as I began to think,
Maybe there’s a reason I’m alive . . . Maybe there is a God who actually has a plan for my life . . .
After thirty-plus years of developing a ministry and cultivating a relationship with God, I believe this is one of the most important biblical truths to which every Christian must renew their mind. Once I grabbed hold of this truth and truly believed it in my heart, my life started a dramatic transformation, and my journey toward God’s perfect will for my life began.
As I close out this section of the book on renewal, I want to share with you five nonnegotiable truths to which we must renew our minds if we are to experience a successful life on Earth.
1. God has a plan and a purpose for your life.
If you want to possess all that God has planned for you, you must believe there is a reason you are breathing air, a reason you are taking up space on this planet. You are not an accident, you are not a mistake, and you are not a product of evolution. This is how the world thinks and is how I thought for the first nineteen years of my life. I was taught I was a random mutation of evolution, and as a result, I didn’t believe my life had any particular purpose. If there was not a specific reason for my existence, then what difference did it make how I lived? If it felt good to my flesh, then I did it. How could it be wrong when it felt so right? This kind of thinking is how people in this world can live from divorce to divorce, can casually abort the unwanted baby, and can live careless lives full of drugs and alcohol. It’s the kind of thinking I had until after about my third car wreck.
I had already totaled my dad’s pickup truck and my Mustang; so this time, I was driving my brother’s little white Comet. Driving down Interstate 5 in a completely intoxicated state, I blacked out and crossed from the outside lane of traffic, over four lanes, to the inside guard rail. I crashed into the sidewall and began to roll end over end two or three times and then flipped the car sideways eight times. Now, I don’t remember any of this, but I know about it because of the accounts on the police record given by eyewitnesses. I was taken by the police to Lakewood Hospital where I was examined for injuries. The doctors determined I had no broken bones and, somehow, had escaped the wreck with only a few minor bumps and bruises. Free from damage, I was now free to be taken into custody. But when the doctor left the room to inform the officers it was safe to haul me off to jail, I left the hospital! I have no recollection on how I did this, but I walked right out of the hospital and headed somewhere, probably home.
Later, I woke up from my blackout on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant that used be called the Flame Restaurant. I didn’t know how I had ended up there, or how long I had been lying there beside the road, but I did know that my car (or my brother’s car) was gone. I called home and said, “Somebody stole the car! They must’ve hit me over the head and gotten away with Dale’s car!” My mom came to pick me up, and when we got home, the phone rang. It was the police.
“Excuse me, ma’am, have you seen your son, Casey?”
“Yes. He’s right here.”
“Well, tonight he was in a car accident and he has escaped police custody.”
I couldn’t believe it when my mom told me what they had said. Escaped custody? I didn’t even know I was
in
custody! I was so messed up, I didn’t know I was in an accident or had been to the hospital. Needless to say, the police came to the house and took me away in the squad car, and I still could not remember anything, not even a day or two leading up to the accident. I was totally wasted and had blacked out the entire event.
Days later, my brother, Dale, and I went to the junkyard to look at the car. It was completely totaled, and I was shocked at what I saw. There was not an inch on the body of that Comet that was not smashed, and I remember thinking,
Dang! I guess I was in an accident, a pretty bad one, too. I can’t believe I didn’t die—how did I survive such a terrible wreck?
I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and a few days later I remember wondering if maybe God was saving me for something? A few weeks later I was sentenced to Washington Drug Rehabilitation Program, met Julius, and got born again. Julius said to me, “Big Red, God has a plan for your life.” I believed him, and soon after started Bible school, I met Wendy and we began our ministry together.
Romans 8:28-29 says, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” There is a plan and a purpose for your life. No matter where you have come from, no matter what you might be experiencing right now, you must believe God has a specific purpose for your life. It doesn’t have to be anything grandiose by the standards of the world, but because of your life, someone is going to be affected, someone is going to get healed, someone is going to come to know Christ, and because of you, someone is going to realize that God has a purpose for their life, too. You must renew your mind to this truth if you are going to walk in the confidence of God’s promises for your life.
To be predestined does not mean you are controlled by God or that you are a programmed robot. It simply means God laid out a detailed plan for your entire life, and now you have the opportunity to choose it or to reject it. You can decide to know His plan and purpose for you and receive the blessed life He has offered, or you can walk away from it and live your life on your own. Ephesians 3:3-5, 11 says:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just
as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will . . . In Him also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
(emphasis added)
God chose you before the foundation of the world! Before He created our universe, God chose you. He lives in the
now
and is not bound to the same limitations of time that exist on Earth. He sees the past, present, and future together as if it is all now, and in that state he saw you and your heart. He saw your desires and what you would choose, and He chose you. You do not need to step out of your house each day hoping and praying that everything will “just work out”; you can wake up knowing you have a plan and a purpose for your life. God has already worked the details out according to the counsel of His own will. You don’t have to be afraid you don’t know all the details of your future—because God
does,
and He’s got your back!
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]” (AMP). God has a
good
life prepared just for you. He didn’t say it would be an easy life, but He promised it would be a good, rewarding, and exciting life. You might go through difficulties and challenges, but you can walk forward in the confidence that God has already provided a way for you to succeed in every circumstance.
Don’t allow the devil to convince you that you were unplanned, unwanted, or that your life is meaningless. Your parents might have told you that, but never for a second did God think that. Those are lies from the enemy designed to stop you from living with purpose and a determination to be great. If you will renew your mind and believe you have a plan and purpose for your life, you will be able to accomplish amazing things which will bring glory to God and will leave a legacy to those around you.

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