Transcription
Prophesy to the point of it causing some pain in your life. Face the pain in your life with prophecy. Move that pain and move toward that pain rather than letting that pain move towards you and intimidate you. High risks produce high rewards. And yes, you have to suffer sometimes. And yes, you're going to make mistakes sometimes. And yes, you might have to start over sometimes. But don't give up.
Well, welcome once again to Think Like a Champion, a podcast dedicated to helping you win in every way and enjoy every day. Thanks to everyone who likes or subscribes or shares this podcast. And in fact, whatever platform you're on right now, subscribe to the to the podcast on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify. And if there's an area to leave a review, I would love to hear from you.
Now, we're going to get right back into our why and into our how. What is the vision that that God has for you? What is your purpose in life? And how do you fulfill it? I have five ways that you're going to be able to fulfill your God-given purpose in your life today. Let me first lay out an overall overarching theme of walking with God and what his in general what God's purpose is for each and every one of our lives.
Daniel 11:32 says, "Those who know their God shall be strong and do great exploits." One translation says, "They will take action." And of course, to do great exploit starts with taking action. There has to be action involved in order to fulfill a purpose. And so the actions that we take should be moving us towards greatness, towards great exploits, towards accomplishing great things. The actions we take should be spending time getting to know God better and walking with him and worshiping him and working things out with him.
Vision and purpose will always come from relationship. He says those who know their God will be strong. So knowing God will strengthen you and not just knowing about him. It's knowing him as a p as a person, personal relationship with him. Knowing God, not just knowing about God. When somebody knows God, they will be strong and they will carry out the actions that bring them into a place where they they are performing great exploits, great accomplishments, great victories. And this kind of life always happens when you're feeding the right aspects of your life. You can choose to feed your your bad appetites or your good ones. And when you when you begin to feed the appetites of greatness, the appetites of vision, the appetites of having a purpose to live for, it it extinguishes fear. It extinguishes boredom. It extinguishes depression. It extinguishes anxiety.
Because vision always answers the question why. God blesses us. That's the what. But it's to be a blessing. That's the why. He saves us by his grace. That's the what. But he does it so that we can do great things for others. That's the why. Uh a man without a vision, I told you the other day, is a man without a future. And a man without a future is a man who will always return to his past. And Mark Twain said, "The two most important days in your life are the day you're born and the day you find out why." Well, you've already been born, so that that that amazing day, an important day is already achieved. Now, let's find out why.
Because when you realize that all of our lives have a similar vision to to know God and do great exploits for him. And in knowing him, what happens? We become a better version of ourselves by knowing God. By taking action, by walking with God, by learning and growing, by pushing ourselves spiritually, emotionally, physically to higher heights. How do we do that? How do we create this person that we admire the most and that we give that person to the world? How you would agree that if you're giving 10% of yourself to your children, that's not really great. That's not going to produce great things, great exploits. You see, what you give yourself to, it matters what kind of condition you're in when it comes to giving yourself to that thing. So, giving yourself to the raising of your children should start by you taking care of being your best, having the best um strength and wisdom and purpose and and attitude and habits in your life, having these things so that when you do give your time and attention to your children or to whoever God brings into your life that you see as a responsibility and a responsible part of your life, the better you are as an individual, the better you can give yourself to those people that you're responsible for because being in the service of others and serving others and it's the only worth it's the only life that has worth. It's the only thing that gives life meaning that that a life worth living is a life in the service of others.
So how do we do that? How do we become this person? How do we transform ourselves? And of course, so much of it is God doing a work inside of us. But there are also things that we can do ourselves. And I want to read them to you. I'm going to read from a passage of scripture. And don't be don't be fooled by the first part of this verse because it says in 1 Timothy 4:12, "Let no one look down on your youthfulness." Now, you may be watching and you're not young. You're not maybe you're not a teenager. Maybe you're not in your 20s anymore. Neither am I. But these things apply to anybody. And if they pli apply to the young, how much more do they apply to everyone else? He said, but rather in your speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example to those who believe. Now, he's telling us how to be an example. And he's saying that in our speech, in our conduct, in our love, in our faith, and in our purity or innocence, show yourself an example to those who believe. And then he says in verse 13 something very powerful which is a part of the steps that we can take to become the person that God created us to be to be. You already are that on the inside. What we're doing is we're trying to take that perfect person that's on the inside. take that whole complete person that's on the inside and bring that person out into our habits and into our mindsets and into our attitudes and into the actions that we take. And he says in verse 13, "Until I come, give attention to the public reading to exhortation and to teaching." So there there has to be a a a playbook that we operate from. There has to be a something that we're reading from so that we're reading from the same page that God is writing. And that is the the beautiful scriptures. He says um give yourself give your attention to reading and exhorting and speaking forth these words and teaching others these things. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you. This is really so vital. Do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you. He says and he goes on to say which was granted to you through the words of prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. And then he says, "Take pains with these things. Take pains with these things. Be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things. For as you do this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you." He's not talking about eternal salvation there. He's saying you will preserve yourself. You'll endure for a long time when you follow these steps. And I'm going to give them to you very quickly here. Um, beginning with number one. Now, I want you to see that he tells us to have public reading of scripture. So, speaking life, speaking the scriptures out of your mouth is the first step in becoming the person that God created you to be. Your words are going to carry you. Your words are going to get you over the finish line. Your words are going to dominate your thoughts. Your words are going to move your body. Your words are going to move your soul. Your words are going to move the pile. Your words are going to move mountains. Your words are your words carry the power of movement. And Jesus said, if you'll say to this mountain, "Be removed and cast into the sea," it will obey you. Think about that. He said, "If you speak to a mountain, it will obey you." That shows our words create movement. Our words move things. And so we have to use our words and use our words to to prophesy life. So number one, prophesy. Prophesy. It takes prophecy. It takes you declaring. It takes you speaking forth. You don't have to be a spiritual prophet. That doesn't need to be your calling or your or your full-time occupation. But we're all called to prophesy. It's speaking forth words that God has already said. And as we speak those words, our life is following our words. It's moving our life in a direction. This is number one. Prophesy. Prophesy to yourself. You want to be the person that you um that you admire the most. Be a person who speaks to yourself and speaks life over your body, speaks life over your over your over your emotions and over your mind, over your finances. Um I I followed this guy for several years. He was a great bodybuilder in the 80s and the 90s and he says he he says when he's in the gym all his all those years he was in the gym he said he would speak speak to his muscles and he's just say I command you muscles I command you to grow now he also went to the gym he also said that in the right context he didn't say I command you muscles to grow but then he didn't do any exercise he commanded his muscles to grow that's prophecy and then he did the things and took the steps to fulfill that prophecy. But there's something powerful about saying that. I command my finances to grow. I command my my peace to grow. I command wisdom to grow in my life. When you start speaking those things, prophesying, command your day, command your morning, start your morning by commanding it to be good. I command my day to be good today. I command good things to happen in my life. I command forth my angels to come follow me. the goodness of God and the mercy of God are going to follow me all the days of my life. You start speaking life. You start prophesying like that. This is how you become the person that you were created to be. And then it brings you into God's purpose for your life. So number one, it takes prophecy.
Number two, it takes pain. 1 Timothy 4:15, he says there, he said, "Take pains with these things." In the New American Standard Translation, take pain with these things. Prophesy to the point of it causing some pain in your life. Face the pain in your life with prophecy. Move that pain and move toward that pain rather than letting that pain move towards you and intimidate you. Face it. Face your insecurities. Face your fears. That's the pain he's speaking of. Face your pain.
Number one, how do we do that? How do we become the person that God created us to be? How do we become the person? How do we create the person we admire most and give that person in the service of others? How do we do that? Well, we prophesy, number one. Number two, we take pain with these things. We apply pain to it. No pain, no gain. It's always been said. And there there is truth to that. And don't get me wrong, Jesus doesn't want you living in the pain of sickness and disease. And doesn't want you to live in the pain of poverty. These are things that you can work yourself out of. And these are things that God's grace are sufficient for us in and we can receive healing and we can apply healthy principles to our lives and become healthy people. But I want you to see that the kind of pain we're talking about is the the kind of pain that we face our fears and insecurities without making excuses and without alibis. It's the most painless thing in the world to make an excuse. It's the most painless thing in the world to come up with an alibi, a reason to justify your laziness. That is the easiest thing in the world to do. The harder thing to do is the painful thing to do is to refuse to allow yourself to make excuses and refuse to allow yourself to create alibis of why you're still the victim. Envision overpowers being a victim. Have a vision instead of being a victim. Be a person who number one begins to prophesy. What do you see? What do you see your life becoming? What would you like it to look like? Begin to speak that into existence. Calling those things that be not as though they were. We have to realize how powerful our words are. It doesn't take you long in in a day. If you're in a relationship with somebody, say one hurtful thing, say one offensive thing, and you'll see how powerful your words really are. We don't think sometimes that our words are powerful and yet they can make they can crush a person or they can build somebody up with just a few words and a tone that is either bad or good. So don't minimize the power of words. So prophesy.
Number two, it takes pain. Face it, move toward it. One translation of this verse where it says take pain with these things. Take pain with these things says be diligent.
The next thing I want you to see here is he says meditate and ponder. It takes a personal pre price. So number one, it takes prophecy. Number two, it takes pain. Number three, it takes a price. Personal price. Verse 16 says, "Pay close attention to yourself." What a powerful verse. He says, "Pay pay close attention to yourself." What does that mean? It means I'm not to be focused on somebody else's failures or shortcomings or mistakes. It's so easy to start looking at other people's mistakes and failures and allowing those things to be an excuse to make ourselves stay in our comfort zone and oh, I would never do that. But you would never get out there and take risks either to succeed. It takes high risks produce high rewards. And yes, you have to suffer sometimes. And yes, you're going to make mistakes sometimes. And yes, you might have to start over sometimes, but don't give up just because you have to start over. Don't give up. He says, "Pay close attention to yourself." This is the personal price that it takes to be great in life, to be great at something. It takes a personal price. It takes you paying a price that you've never paid before. It doesn't matter what price somebody else is paying. Pay a higher price than what you paid last year. Pay a higher price today than what you paid yesterday. So it takes personal price.
Number four, I think it is um it takes purpose. It says in verse 10, you have to be intentional for it is it is for this for it is for this we labor and we strive. Notice what he says there. If you go back in this passage of 1 Timothy 4, it is for this that we labor and strive. There's the purpose. We have to be intentional. It is for this. And what is the this here? He said it is for this that we labor and strive. Why are we laboring and striving? Why are we paying a personal price? Why are we willing to endure the pain of of stopping the alibis and stopping the excuses? Um what is the what are we prophesying about? What is the why? Why are we doing these things? What is our intention? He says because we have set our hope on the living God who is the savior of all mankind, especially of believers. So the the purpose is to have hope in our God. We set our hope on the living God and we we believe that that living God is the savior of all mankind. When we start prophesying over ourselves, when we take the pain to stop making excuses, when we ponder and pay this personal price of looking to ourselves and and not condemning ourselves, but building ourselves up and identifying where we can improve, that's the personal price. Then what is the purpose for all of that? It is to see mankind saved. to see mankind experience the living God who is the savior of all.
And then what else does it take? It takes practice. If you go down to verse 15, he says in one translation says, "Take pains with these things. Be absorbed in them and so that your progress may be evident to all." One translation says, "Practice these things. Practice these things. Practice these things. Immerse yourself in them. Immerse yourself in prophecy. Immerse yourself in facing your pain. Immerse yourself in paying the price. Immerse yourself in finding the purpose. Immerse yourself in practicing these things. He said in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Practice these things. Practice these things. Practice these things. And then he says in verse 16, persevere. Persevere. It takes perseverance. It takes not giving up. Stay with it. Stay with it. Stay with it. Stay with it. It takes perseverance. Don't give up. Don't quit.
And then it takes power. He says, "Do not neglect," back in verse 14, "do not neglect the spiritual gifts which are in you for through the prophesying and the laying on of hands." So he talks about these personal these this power, these spiritual gifts. That's the power. And then what do we get as a result? We get in verse 15, progress. Progress. He says you get progress. What is progress? Literally this word, it results in progress. 1 Timothy 4:15. I want you to think about this word progress because I want to give you a definition for it because it's very powerful. It means literally the advancement by chopping down whatever is impeding your progress. the advancement through chopping down. So progress is a man taking an axe and chopping down a tree until it falls. It's advancing towards the chopping down of whatever is in the way. the old wildernesses that you know the people the pioneers went and pioneered over these over decades and centuries armies that had clear the way of forests and to reach their destination. Pioneers clearing the forest to reach their destination to find a a new life out in the out west. What what they had to do is they had to chop down what was in front of them. And this is the word progress here. It's to chop down the things that are impeding your advancement. In other words, when we whenever we face opposition, we usually try to go around it. We usually try to go over it, go under it, ignore it, go back the other direction. But what we need to do is chop it down. Chop down the thing in front of you. When you face opposition, chop it down. I'm not saying that God doesn't warn us of certain things, but most of most of what we take as opposition, we overspiritualize it and we say, "Oh, God must be closing that door." Kick some doors in because if God really wants to close it, even if you kick it down, it'll get reclosed. You see, it never hurts to move forward. It never It does hurt. It causes some pain. But my point is is you never lose when you go forward. You never lose when you kick down doors. You never lose when you clear away the opposition that's in front of you.
What a powerful word that he says when you apply these simple things. Prophesy to yourself. Face the pain. Um pay the price of doing it consistently because that's where the price is. And to not make alibis and excuses. And then you understand the purpose. Why am I doing this? Because it's easy to quit when you forget that it's for the sa salvation of all mankind. We ultimately want to endure and persevere so that we can lead others to this Jesus who saved us. And it takes practice, right? And it takes perseverance. It takes power. We can't do this without the Holy Spirit and the power of God and the power of our church family and the power of words and the power of the gifts of the spirit. And that produces progress. Progress. We start chopping things down that are getting in the way of our progress. Start chopping them down and you're going to see great things happen in your life.
We're out of time on today's podcast, but I want to pray for you. I pray that everyone who is connected here to this podcast will begin to see the purpose for which you've been created. I pray that each person would begin to stir up the gifts in their life. Stir up, Lord. Stir up the the gift of prophecy in each person to prophesy over their lives. Lord, stir up the the courage to face their pain. Stir us all up to have the courage to pay the personal price to practice, practice, practice at the things that your word says produces fruit. Lord, we thank you for in speech and conduct and love and faith and purity that we can be examples to those who believe. And Father, we thank you for the perseverance and the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to make supernatural progress so that we can become the person that we admire most and become the person that you created us to be so that we can give ourselves in the service of others in Jesus' name. Amen. I believe your days are going to get better and better. Your path is going to get brighter and brighter. Remember to subscribe to Think Like a Champion on YouTube, Apple or Spotify. Wherever you're watching or listening, let's stay connected. And I can't wait to see you next time on Think Like a Champion. God bless.