ARTICLES ON DESTINY
DATE: 19 January 2003
SPEAKER: Pastor Tayo Adeyemi
TITLE: Pressing toward the mark - Part III
TEXT:
Philippians 3:13-14
- Be focused.
- Take action and be a finisher.
- Check your progress.
- Be willing to change.
- Maintain Good Relationships
Our relationships play a more significant role in our lives than most of us are aware of: Charles "Tremendous" Jones said: "Five years from today, you will be exactly the same except for the books you read and the relationships you keep". This means that the only difference between who you are today and who you were five years ago are those two factors: The books you read,The relationships you keep.
So, let me urge you to be deliberate about those two aspects of your life this year. If you read one book a month, this year you would have read 12 books. In five years, you would have read 60 books. As you cannot read everything that is published, you cannot make everyone your friend. You cannot be everybody's buddy. Stop trying to please everyone.
When you are going somewhere in life, all kinds of people will be attracted to you - and you have to have a mechanism for filtering them. If you relate with everyone who wants to be close to you, your energy will dissipate, you will be spread thin and your life force will be depleted. You cannot be all things to all MEN. So what do you do?
Establish your own standards - your own fundamental core values. Be clear about the principles by which you wish to live your life.
According to the law of sympathetic resonance, those values will attract some people to you. But then, these values will also repel some - and that's okay. Jesus clearly established the conditions by which people will relate to Him. When two of John's disciples started to follow Him, He asked them "what do you seek?" John 1:35-39 Many of us would avoid a lot of heartache if only we could learn to ask that simple question. Matthew 16:24 - "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me"
1 Corinthians 15:33 You are affected by the company that you keep. Wrong relationships can be detrimental to the fulfillment of your vision. They can rob you of the life force that you need to invest in your vision. They can produce doubt and distractions. You have the responsibility to surround yourself with positive relationships and to mange them well. Mark 2:1-5,11,12
Jesus healed this paralytic because of the faith of his friends They loved this man so much that were willing to release their faith into his vision. They believed so much in his vision to be healed that they were willing to do what he could not do for himself. They were so committed to his vision that they did not let any obstacles stop them - they were willing to do whatever it took. They were willing to go all the way! Look at the people you have surrounded yourself with - how committed are they to your vision? It takes positive relationships to take you beyond your limitations.
You will soon find out in the course of pursuing your vision that you have personal limitations. Everybody is limited in one area or another. There are times when God responds to your needs based on the company you keep. But also, there are times when God wants, to respond to your needs, but the people around you prohibit him. Remember Abraham and Lot? Genesis 13:14-15
Have you ever noticed a radical change in your life when you let go of certain relationships? Some people are a fragrance and some are an odour, and sooner or later, you will begin to smell like the people you hang around. Proverbs 13:20 LEARN TO RECOGNISE FOOLS So, surround yourself with people who can take you beyond your own limitations.
However, also remember that friends are there to carry you for a while - not forever. Their objective is to take you to the place where you can carry yourself. Every human help has an expiry date - if you seek the help beyond its expiry date, you will spoil the relationship. When the call comes to "take up your bed and walk": you'd better take up your bed and walk. One more thing about maintaining positive relationships. Be kind to people on your way up, because you might meet them on your way down. In reality, nobody expects or desires to go down - but in life, stuff happens.
Don't burn bridges on your way up. Never conclude that you'll never need a particular person. Appreciate those who have helped you and contributed to your success. No man is an island - there is no such thing as a self-made man. You can't always please everybody, but as much as it lies with you, be good to people. Sow good seeds. If people hate you, let them find it difficult to point out why.
- Guard Your Character
As you pursue your vision, constantly stop and ask yourself; "What am I becoming in the process?" Don't compromise on character. Your vision does not have to be accomplished at all cost. if you don't run according to the rules. You will be disqualified - even though you finished first. It is more important to finish well than to finish first.
2 Timothy 2:5, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 If you focus only on winning; and disregard the rules - you will lose everything. And what's more? You will hate who you have become. Matthew 26:14-16; 27:3-5 Judas' focus was money - and he did not care what got destroyed in his pursuit of money. He did not consider what he was becoming. He was driven and motivated by money.
Money became the ultimate objective for everything he did. Did he get the money? Yes. Was he fulfilled? No. Was he happy? No. Therefore he could not have been considered a success. Success is not about what you get, it's also about who you become.
He got the money and it became a reproach to him. He loathed the very thing he craved. He got the money, but he did not like the person he had become in the process, So he threw away the money and destroyed the person - He lost everything! It happens everyday in society. Why do people do drugs and engage in other self-defeating, self-destructing habits?
Because they don't like what they have become. Remember, if you want something badly enough, you will get it - though it may destroy you eventually. Guard your character. Don't pursue success at any price - there is a price that is too high to pay. I have seen people change as they got promoted and became successful - I have seen arrogance set in. I have seen them compromise the standards they so clearly cherished. I have seem them become what they don't like.
- Don't be afraid of setbacks
John 16:33, There will be problems, there will be setbacks, there will be reversals in life. You have a choice - you can either make them your stumbling blocks or your stepping-stones. The choice is yours. There will be seasons of dryness in your life
They will come to strengthens and prepare you for the next level of glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18, 4:16-18 When we go from glory to glory, the bridge between glory and glory is afflictions Affliction has its own weight and glory has its own weight
The weight of glory is more valuable, but not more pleasurable than the weight of affliction. The weight of affliction comes to train us for when we have to carry the weight of glory. Booker T Washington said: "A man's success in life should be measured, not by the height he has attained, but by the obstacles he had to overcome to attain it" Everybody wants a mountain top experience, but the reality is nothing grows on the mountain. All the growth happens in the valley.
Take hold of these ten principles, use them, teach them to others, keep them before your eyes - and you will see yourself move steadily and surely towards your vision.
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