Christ Strengthens Me
Over the past 39 years I have observed and worked with many thousands of people. I have personally watched them get excited about a great and viable business opportunity, decide to become involved in it, fall flat on their faces, get discouraged, begin to doubt if they themselves can really become successful within the opportunity, and finally give up (on themselves) and quit. What they don’t understand…(if they really did understand they would never quit on themselves)…is that every time a person gives up on themselves and quits passionately pursuing their own dreams, goals, and purpose for their life, a little bit of themselves, their self image, and their self-esteem dies with them. The end result of this “kiss-of-death-quitting-process” is mental “death” to the quitter. It is just that simple. Dreams cannot live and grow in a dead mind.
I have noticed that most people live with the attitude that quitting is no big thing. They reason, what ever is being sacrificed as a result of their giving up couldn’t possibly carry any future negative repercussions,…could it? Permit me to tell you that quitting, once started, can and will soon become a habit, just the same as is losing. Once a quitter realizes what they have done to themselves as a result of their giving up,…they justify quitting again and again in their future efforts by lying to themselves and trying to convince themselves that it really wasn’t a big deal. They say something foolish like “Yea, I quit, but it didn’t kill me. I will be OK.” Or they will say “There will be another chance coming in the days ahead. I will make a go of it sometime in the future.”….Oh how foolish those words really are.
The sad truth of the matter is that most people don’t realize that they, at best, are going to get only two chances to really make something big and great happen through the use of their own life while they are alive. Not everyone will get two chances. Keep in mind that YOU are not the exception. You maybe will get two chances,….but no more.
YOU for sure will get one big chance (the opportunity-of-a- lifetime) to make something great happen in society with the use of your life. Such being the case, permit me to advise you not to waste or throw away a chance when it is presented to you….there may well never be another chance that comes along to you. Don’t ever glibly, for any reason, discard your “opportunity-of-a-life-time.”
Hell is defined as the day you meet the person you could have been.
By making wise choices and great decisions, you will insure not throwing away great opportunities to do something good for mankind with your life while you are here on earth.
True success is Christlikeness. Jesus Christ was the greatest Leader whoever lived.
This truth of life is precisely the very reason you keep reading and hearing me say that to become a great success and leader of other people, you must develop a Spiritual Root in your life. That root will be nourished and watered by the Creator of the Universe. It was He who made you, and preplanned a great and glorious purpose for your life. The net result of the development of that Spiritual Root in your life is that it serves as a direct connection between you and your Creator. It becomes the direct link between you and the One who preplanned what you should be doing with the use of your own life.
The Apostle Paul said it as plainly as ever could be said….“I can do all things–through Christ who strengthens me.” You may then ask, just how does He accomplish that statement of truth. Does He come here on earth to me personally with flesh, bones, hair, and blood and stand at my side to encourage, uplift, and assist me in accomplishing that which He desires me to do? Yes, He does! Because His Spirit (The Holy Spirit) enters into human beings (Born-Again Believers) whose lives He controls positively and for all time and eternity.
So what happens to the lives of people who are wise enough to develop a Spiritual Root to their own lives, is that when Christ is living inside of them, i.e. they have become “born-again believers,” then the Lord Jesus Christ will indeed strengthen them when:
1. They listen to and understand the advice of smarter people.
2. They accept help from people who can do a better job than they can.
3. They seek the guidance and counsel of experts in law, finance, taxes, and marketing.
4. They are good people, smart people, people in whose lives Christ is living so that He can be their strength!
This all means that you should not be defensive when you come under constructive criticism from or by good, wise, and beneficial counsel. Whenever such an event happens to you, ask yourself, could this criticism possibly be the Lord Jesus Christ coming to correct Me?
To become successful you must always have the attitude that:
1. Some people are smarter than I am.
2. Some people know something that I don’t know.
3. Some people are more skillful, gifted, and creative than I am.
Therefore, I resolve to be and remain open to them, rather than closing my mind and my life to the great and rewarding contributions they can make to me and my behalf.
May I suggest that you immediately begin to properly prepare the “Grounds of Your Own Mind” for success by developing a mighty dream and cause for your life; that you properly fertilize and irrigate those grounds on a daily basis with the Word of God and through prayer; that you sow the seed of your planted Spiritual Root to your life by becoming “born-again”; and finally that you nurture and cultivate the Spiritual Root until it grows to its maturity and provides you, your loved ones, and your own body and mind with great and glorious fruits and food for the rest of your life.
When you really know who you really are in Christ, you are then properly prepared for true and lasting success to begin to occur in your life. It is then that you will really begin to start reaching God’s desired purpose for the use of your own life.
I am not blowing smoke at you. If you don’t believe what I am telling you, then prove me wrong. I exhort you to read and study the great successes and failures throughout human history. By so doing, you will only confirm my findings.
Success is never an accident. It is always a well planned and properly prepared-for event.
Peace And Love to All of You…………………….Poppa Bear