Wise Words for Today

Vision is the force that invents the future, because it is the ability to see your dreams and desires before they manifest in the natural. If you can’t see it in your heart and mind, you may just only be having a temporary thought, idea, or fantasy. Wishing that something might someday happen for your betterment is nice, but it is not enough. Having vision is seeing the invisible and making it visble with a tenacity and determination to never let it go….The key to having vision is “seeing” with spiritual eyes. When you “see” a vision, you “see” your desired future state, and it becomes the purpose of everything you do, motivating you every hour of every day.

Art Sepulveda

(from Focus: What’s In Your Vision?)

 

New eBook Almost Completed

Mick Turner

Two days ago (Saturday) I reached a major goal in my life. I completed the text for my latest ebook, finished with the editing and rewrite and it is now ready for conversion into electronic format. Other than the conversion, all that remains is designing a cover.

The ebook is entitled, Radical Encouragement: Reflective Essays on Christian Optimism.

There have been times when, due to other commitments, I wondered if I would ever bring it in on time. God must have given me the needed push because I did finish it two weeks ahead of my deadline date. A second ebook entitled, The Blessings of Biblical Success, is also near completion. It should also be ready for conversion in about two weeks.

Between this blog, my everyday living duties as a parent, my work at the newspaper, and the work on these two ebooks, I have been burning up the keyboards of late. Sometimes my mind feels like it is in overdrive and those are the good times. At other times it seems like it has turned into puddy.

I will post links to the book when it is available for download.

Blessings,

Mick

 

The Five Foundations of Positive Success

Mick Turner

If you are to be successful in pursuit of your goals and vision, you need to internalize these cardinal concepts, which I have termed the Five Foundations of Positive Success, into your core character. If one studies the lives of great men and women throughout history it is readily apparent that they, one and all, manifested these positive traits of great character in all that they did. Without a doubt, it was these very principles that led to their successful accomplishments. What are the “Five Foundations of Positive Success?”

 

Desire – Dedication – Devotion – Discipline – Determination

 

It is a foundational principle of success that every positive accomplishment that was ever made began as a desire in the mind of an individual. Desire is that initial impetus that gives birth to our dreams and it is desire that motivates us to achieve those dreams. All great things begin with positive desire.

 

Dedication is an act of the mind. From the outset, make a firm decision to follow your dream, no matter what it takes. If you dream is consistent with the will of God, benefits others, and brings glory to the Creator, then rest assured that it was He that placed this dream in your heart. Make a resolute commitment to believe in yourself and your abilities. It is a fundamental law of spirituality that God never places a dream in your heart without also providing you with the ability to achieve that dream. In addition, keep in mind that dedication is a mental act and is based on positive desire and positive thinking.

 

Devotion is an act of the heart. You will find that getting your emotions involved in your goals and dreams can be of great benefit. One of the most valuable lessons I learned early on in my ministry efforts is: If you don t fall in love with your vision, you will not advance toward its realization. Emotions flow from the heart and they can provide fuel to energize personal motivation. Emotions have been described as “energy in motion” and that is essentially what they are. Desire, coupled with faithful devotion, is the basis for creating a supportive environment for positive action in your life.

 

Perhaps the most valuable lesson I have learned over the years concerns the necessity of discipline in all areas of our lives. Without personal discipline, the achievement of Christian success is impossible. Without personal discipline, your dreams will eventually crash and burn so never, ever, short-change the importance of being a disciplined disciple.

 

Discipline is an act of the will requiring sacrifice and strength of character. It is important to realize that improving your level of competency in any field often necessitates experiencing short-term pain in order to achieve long-term benefit. This is a foundational truth for Christian success. In practical terms, your goals will often require that you, through acts of disciplined will, give up certain activities to devote more time to the pursuit of your vision and success.

 

Determination combines the mind, the emotions, and the will. In practical terms, determination means facing difficulties with optimism rather than pessimism. It means pursuing your dreams under all kinds of circumstances, good and bad. Determination implies that you keep going even when things get rough. When you possess determination, you maintain a positive attitude even when your progress is slow and particularly when other demands and responsibilities crowd in on your plans.

 

Determination does not come easy. It requires your conscious attention and consistent effort to apply your mind, your heart, and your will as well as the other four “foundations” of desire, dedication, devotion, and discipline.

 

The “Five Foundations of Positive Success” form the bedrock upon which the structure of any worthwhile goal is built. Without this quintet of character assets your chances of personal success is minimal. However, at times when we begin to incorporate new, more positive ways in which to approach life in general and our goals in particular, we encounter unexpected resistance arising from within ourselves. When this happens we have to keep in mind that our old, habitual ways of doing things are usually deeply ingrained. Making things even more difficult is the fact that, in spite of our best intentions, we often hold on to these negative patterns of thought and behavior simply because they are familiar. More baffling is our tendency to do this even though these very tendencies of negativity bring us less than positive results.

 

These deeply imbedded negative thought patterns and character traits are what the Apostle Paul called “strongholds.” Strongholds can be formed in several ways including traumatic, emotionally charged events, repetitious patterns of negative thinking, assaults from the Enemy, or a combination of any of these. No matter how particular strongholds are formed, they are often difficult to deal with.

 

As Christ-followers, our primary tools for tearing down strongholds, and preventing new ones from forming, are to utilize the spiritual weapons outlined by the Apostle in the sixth chapter of the Book of Ephesians. In addition, we must understand and accept that we cannot deal with strongholds with our own power alone. We need the help of the Holy Spirit and we elicit this assistance through prayer. Ask God to help you tear down an especially stubborn stronghold and also ask a trusted brother or sister in the faith to pray for you as well.

 

In addition, we must become acutely aware of our patterns of thinking. The reason for this centers on the fact that strongholds are constructed, like everything else, with the building blocks of our thoughts. Our goal is to consistently intercept the negative thoughts associated with particular strongholds and stop them in their tracks. Paul calls this “taking thoughts captive for Christ.” The success of many disciples has verified that the next step in dealing with strongholds is, after intercepting the negative thoughts, is to immediately replace them with positive thoughts.

 

Bear in mind that this cognitive process does not occur overnight. It took a long time to form these counter-productive ways of thinking and responding to life and it will take time to eliminate them. Yet always maintain your sense of hope and keep in mind that one positive thought overcomes the effect of many negative ones. Just as turning on one light can overcome the darkness in a room, lighting up your mind with a single positive thought can illuminate and eliminate dark patterns of thinking. Remain patient, keep praying, and trust God to provide the help he promised. If you keep at it, your success is assured.

 

To conclude, we have perhaps now traveled full-circle. In our discussion of the “Five Foundations of Positive Success” we discovered that it was often cognitive and behavioral strongholds that formed much of the resistance we encounter when attempting to put these vital principles into practice. Now, I would like you to understand the fact that, in addition to the spiritual tools outlined above that we can use to deal with strongholds, we can also use the “Five Foundations” as well. Think about it. Desire, dedication, devotion, discipline, and determination are all needed in combating these deeply embedded aspects of our thought life and behavior.

 

These five key principles we have been exploring are not optional if we want to achieve and maintain success in any field of endeavor. Further, these five principles are in many ways like “mirrors” in that each one of the five reflects the other four. The Five Foundations of Positive Success exist as a unified and interdependent whole. When you apply one principle, you automatically apply all of them in a number of ways.

 

I encourage you to continue to explore what these cardinal principles of success mean to you and to pray in earnest to the Father to help strengthen each of these vital characteristics in your being. It will be well worth your time and effort.

 

© L. Dwight Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved

 

You Are Gifted For Success

Mick Turner

As human beings, each of us has seemingly inborn talents. Some of us are outstanding athletes while others have natural gifts for music. Some seem to be born standing in front of an easel as their artistic genius flows from their hearts, through their hands, and on to the canvas. Still others display business savvy from an early age, earning money from a variety of projects that others never dreamed of.

 

Yes, all humans have talents, yet as Christians, we have something further. We have what scripture calls the “gifts of the Spirit.” Different from the talents that seem to bubble up within us from no discernable origin, gifts of the Spirit are God-imparted talents that allow us to be successful at whatever area of endeavor we choose. These divine blessings are God’s way of equipping us to do the work we need to do to further his kingdom mission here on earth, but also apply to our other pursuits as well.

 

Many sincere believers make the mistake of assuming the their spiritual gifts are intended for their work within the Body of Christ, but have no application outside of the church. Nothing could be further from the truth. This widespread misapprehension regarding spiritual gifts stems from our culture’s tendency to separate the spiritual from the secular. The fact is, for a Christian, there is no separation as our entire life is dedicated to God’s use. Many times, our spiritual gifting will come in the exact areas where we already possess inborn talents. God takes these special talents and hones them to a level we could have never reached on our own. At other times, areas of spiritual gifting may be totally new talents, given to us by the Holy Spirit. I have also seen cases where the Spirit prods a person to explore new interests and subsequently the believer ends up discovering a previously hidden talent.

 

In either case, if we are to be successful in our profession and in our daily walk of faith, it is imperative that we set aside enough time to discover what our gifts actually are. Many people make this process far more complicated than it need be. First, we can look at the course of our lives, asking God to give us the wisdom of discernment to see those areas where we:

 

Were (and still are) naturally talented.

 

Felt most alive, vital, and complete when engaged in their pursuit.

 

Feel a strong, almost magnetic pull to become involved.

 

In addition, there are numerous tests and aptitude scales that are specifically designed to reveal your areas of spiritual gifting. You can go to your favorite search engine and easily find what you need.

 

Once you find out what your specific gifts are, I believe the next thing you need to do is to spend time in prayer expressing gratitude to the Holy Spirit for giving you these gifts and, after that, consecrating yourself and your spiritual gifts to God’s service. After you have done this, ask God for personal revelation regarding how to sharpen your gifts and where your specific combination of gifts are most needed. All too often, articles about the spiritual gifts leave out this vital step. I think this is a mistake. Expressing gratitude, then asking for guidance in terms of its use is a priority when we receive any gift from God.

 

The next thing you should do is accept the fact that no gift comes fully developed. No matter what your level of talent is in any field, you can always improve. The most common areas available for sharpening your spiritual gifts are through practice and application. Perhaps no other endeavor is as worthwhile as using your gifts. It is often said that the best way to learn something is to teach it. It can also be said that the best way to improve a skill is to use it. The actual application of a spiritual gift can make it even better. This is especially true if there is an aspect of applying your skill where you are aware you need to improve.

 

For all the scandal, controversy, and tragedy surrounding the career of baseball legend Pete Rose, there is no denying he was one of the best hitters to ever play the game. Rose was once asked how he became so successful. Without hesitation, he responded, “I practice what I am not good at.”

 

There is a lot of wisdom in Rose’s answer if you have ears to hear.

 

During the five years I spent teaching English in China I have observed that the one central thing that seemed to separate those who improved their language skills from those who did not was the effort put into it. The harder the student worked and the more positive the attitude with which he or she approached their study, the more their English skills improved. I could cite many examples of this truth but time and space does not allow for that in the context of this article, so I will choose but one example.

 

I first met Jane when she was a sophomore English major at the university where I was teaching in southern China. She was a pert and energetic girl with a pleasing smile and positive disposition. After having her as a student in my writing class for several weeks, I noticed that not only her writing skills were among the best in her class, but her oral English skills were also excellent. I soon found out why.

 

I have always been an early riser, usually getting out of bed no later than 5:30 AM. I often went for early morning walks around the beautiful, lotus filled pond that was a landmark of the university. Much of the year the weather was hot and humid in this southern city and the early morning hours provided an opportunity to commune with the natural environment before the heat of the day began in earnest. I usually arrived at the lake around 6 AM and every morning during my walk I usually ran into Jane. She was either reading aloud from an English text, or reciting her lessons in English, or listening to English language tapes on her Walkman.

 

From the beginning I was impressed by her diligence, her fortitude, her discipline, and her willingness to make personal sacrifices in order to improve her language skills. Further, it was these very positive character traits that enabled her to succeed where others did not. In the spring semester of her sophomore year Jane went on to achieve a high score on the TEM Four examination, a major test that determines whether or not the student is allowed to continue his or her English study without penalty. In addition, her marks were among the highest in all of her classes. In her junior year she placed first in the campus- wide English speech contest hosted by the Business College at our university. She eventually graduated with high honors and is now employed by a major, multi-national company. Why has Jane been so successful? The answer is quite simple. She put forth positive effort!

 

In addition, Jane made it a point to practice those aspects of her English skills where she felt she was insufficient. Like Pete Rose, she practiced what she was not good at. Your spiritual gifts will rarely come into you at maximum efficiency. God gives you a talent so you can improve on it. Don’t bury it like the unwise servant Jesus told us about in the Parable of the Talents.

 

Sunday Adelaja, the great pastor who helped bring the Protestant faith to the Ukraine during the collapse of Communism is a man who well understands the importance of hard work in achieving one’s goals and dreams. Adelaja tells us:

 

If a man does not work, he gives nothing of value to the world. He is a thief. He is useless to God. We are made to bless each other through our labor. Work is good! You will not fulfill your potential in God’s kingdom without hard work. Failure in life never means a person lacks gifts. But it may mean he failed to put his gifts to work. God gives everyone a chance to become successful. The resources you need to impose the kingdom on your sphere of influence are inside you. Each person will give an account before God of how he used these talents and how much of his potential he fulfilled.

 

Did you catch it? You will not fulfill your potential in God’s kingdom without hard work. There is not easier, softer way. Success of any kind, but especially Christian success, only comes through disciplined, diligent application of your God-given talent and resources. If you fail to use your talents, if you go to your grave with the blessing you could have contributed to the world, if you die with your song still inside you, you are robbing the world of something of immense value – something only you could contribute.

 

You are gifted for service my friend. And no matter what form that service may take, you can rest assured of one absolute certainty: the Holy Spirit will empower you not only proceed, but succeed. He will make sure you not only survive, you will thrive.

 

© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved