The 3 Essentials: All You Need for Success in Life (29 page)

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Authors: Casey Treat

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Day 27: The Process of Overcoming
1 John 5:1, 4—“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
• Untruth: I need to “get it all together” before I can move forward in my destiny.
• Untruth: God cannot use me effectively until I’m completely whole.
• TRUTH: You will never “get it all together.”
I’m not trying to discourage you, but you are never going to come to a place in your life where you say, “Wow. Check me out; I’ve got it all figured out, so now, I can go help some people.” Actually, I’m hoping this will encourage you: I’ve been walking a strong Christian walk for almost thirty-five years, and I am still finding areas of my life I need to renew and flaws or hurts in my soul I need to get healed. If every one of us waited until we were perfect before we started on our pursuit to help other people, nothing for the Kingdom of God would ever be accomplished.
This kind of thinking is just a way to put off the work of the ministry or to make excuses for why we are not doing anything for God. The truth is the moment you became born again, you were a big step ahead of many people around you. And to lead your friends to Christ, you only need to be one step ahead of them! Now, obviously, I’m not advising you mentor a group of men trying to overcome sexual addictions if you just stopped a habit of watching Internet porn yesterday. But you
can
invite someone to church, and you
can
testify to someone about how God is setting you free in your life. Wherever you are in your walk with Christ right now, you have the ability to be a blessing to someone else.
Even the apostle Paul acknowledged he had not “arrived” when he said in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” But he never let his awareness of his downfalls prevent him from going full throttle for Jesus. Let’s have this same mind-set, forget our inadequacies, and press forward to help people know Jesus.
Day 28: God’s Way
Isaiah 55:7-8—“ ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts . . . For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord.”
• Untruth: I need to accomplish everything my way, because God’s ways might not be good (or fast) enough.
• Untruth: It’s okay to pick and choose the scriptures by which I want to fashion my life.
• TRUTH: God’s ways are
always
better (and more profitable) than yours.
Who do you think is smarter—you or God? I suppose none of us would be so arrogant to say we think we’re smarter than the Creator of the entire universe, but sometimes I wonder if we don’t secretly think it at times.
Consider this: anytime you know what the Bible says about a particular area of your life, but you don’t do what it says, you believe your way is more profitable than God’s way. At that moment, you must think you have more understanding and wisdom than God Himself. For example, the Bible tells us to treat our spouse and children with love and respect. Whenever you or I don’t treat our family members as God instructs us to, we’re basically saying that our way is “more right” than God’s ways. We probably wouldn’t say this out loud (for fear of getting struck by a lightning bolt), but it
is
what we are communicating by our actions. The same is true of how we treat people we don’t care for, what we do with our money, our level of concern for those in need, and every other area of life that the Bible addresses.
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned over the decades I’ve been saved is that God is smarter than me! Even if we took all of the wisdom that every human has ever amassed and combined it all together, it wouldn’t come close to comparing with the wisdom of God alone. If we only rely on our own understanding and our own capacity to negotiate through our destinies, then we will never be able to accomplish all God’s purposes and plans for our lives. We will only experience supernatural strength, power, and prosperity in our lives when we surrender our lives to Him and allow Him to lead and guide us—in
His
way and in His timing. We will do well if we follow His counsel, and this is done by abiding in and operating by the principles in His Word.
Day 29: Intimacy with God
Isaiah 40:31—“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
• Untruth: I can’t afford the time to rest in God or to spend the time necessary to refresh my soul.
• Untruth: As soon as I’m done with this season of my life, I’ll be able to relax and press into the things of God.
• TRUTH: You cannot
not
afford to spend time with God; He is the only antidote for stress.
In the Old Testament we read about God’s people fighting against human foes. These foes were enemies of the work of God who would seek to bring a halt to what God was doing. While the New Testament tells us we’re no longer to fight against people, we do still have other enemies that try to stop God’s work in each of us. One of the greatest enemies we face today is the giant called stress.
Stress has become such a normal way of life for many of us that we aren’t even aware of how damaging it really is. It comes with many names, such as anxiety, worry, fear, and nervousness. It never quits trying to attack and it will invade the life of anyone who allows it to. But there’s good news! We can overcome and defeat this enemy by God’s Spirit and God’s Word. When we spend time in His presence, we magnify Him over all our circumstances, and when we study His Word, we fill our hearts with God’s way of doing things.
In John 16:33, Jesus said we would face trials and tribulations but that His peace can be ours even in the midst of great challenge. When you find yourself having stressful thoughts and you feel the effects of anxiety coming on, it’s important to think on the promises of peace God gave us in the Bible. Meditate on scriptures such as these: “The Lord will give strength to His people; He will bless His people with peace” (Psalm 29:11). “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15). Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. Allow His peace to bring change to your life today.
Day 30: The Savior Jesus
John 3:16—“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
• Untruth: People who are doing amazing works to help people will go to Heaven.
• Untruth: People who live wonderfully moral lives but do not believe Jesus is the Christ will go to Heaven.
• TRUTH: Jesus is the only Way to the Father.
I placed this one last, because at the end of the day, this truth will determine the success of our lives here on Earth. Regardless of how much personal growth and renewal we have experienced for ourselves, if we are not taking as many people as possible with us into Heaven, then it was all in vain. And the false belief that people who don’t believe in Jesus will go to Heaven may be the greatest stumbling block for many people to overcome. We don’t want to believe that good, honorable, and generous people will spend an eternity in Hell. It’s a very popular philosophy today (and has been almost since the beginning of mankind) that we can earn our way to Heaven, and we are seeing even Christian leaders revising their teaching to embrace ideas centered upon the worldly notion that all people are fundamentally good and on a path to Heaven, regardless of who they believe Jesus was.
In the Gospel according to John 14:6, Jesus boldly says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Earlier in this Gospel, Jesus told Nicodemus that God gave His only Son for the world, and any person who would believe in Him would have eternal life, and those who would not would perish. In 1 Corinthians 3:11, Paul writes, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” These are only a couple of scriptural references of many that reveal Jesus as the only Son of God, Messiah, and Way unto salvation.
It’s understandable and compassionate to want every person to spend their eternity in Heaven, especially those individuals who have offered their lives to serve mankind. This is, in fact, the very heartbeat of our Heavenly Father. It is God’s desire that “all men become saved and come to the knowledge of truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). However, God is so holy, righteous, magnificent (and any other superlative you want to add here), it is impossible for any human being to do enough good works to elevate himself to the status of God in order to have relationship with Him.
Salvation is a tremendous gift from the Father, and it cannot be earned; it can only be received. Ephesians 2:4-9 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
Let’s not water down our message or give in to the popular belief that Jesus is not
the
way and
the
truth. The salvation of humanity is dependent upon bold individuals who will proclaim the reality of God’s Word, even if it is unpopular. Let’s be those kinds of Christians, and let’s not rest until we have ushered as many souls into Heaven as possible!
Faith. Vision. Renewal.

 

There is a life waiting for you that is free from the burdens of stress, worry, and fear. There is a way to live your dreams and to experience deep fulfillment in your marriage, your relationships, your career, and your finances. No matter who you are, where you’ve come from, or what season of life you might be in right now, one thing is certain: God loves you dearly and wants to bless you in a supernatural way. All you need to do is learn how to operate in His ways and with His thoughts.
“The 3”—Faith, Vision, and Renewal—with these three spiritual forces working together throughout your life, you will have the strength to overcome any obstacle, the endurance to walk through every storm, and the audacity to rise above any circumstance. They have worked in my life for over three decades, and I have seen them transform the lives of countless individuals in my church and around the world. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will work for you, too. You can possess faith to move massive mountains, crystal-clear vision for success in life, and yes, even
you
can change!

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