ARTICLES ON SUCCESS
DATE: 16 December 2001
SPEAKER: Pastor Tayo Adeyemi
TITLE: HOW TO HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR - PROGRAMMING YOURSELF FOR SUCCESS FROM JANUARY TO DECEMBER PART I: FINISH THE YEAR BEFORE YOU START IT
TEXT: JEREMIAH 29:11
This is a very important verse. Get hold of this verse in as many translations and versions as you can possibly can and pray it into your life regularly. Before we start let us define a few words.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR"
"Happy" in the New Testament is the Greek word "MAKARIOS", which means to be blessed or enlarged; E.g. as in Matthew 5:3-11. Also in John 13:17 "If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them" (KJV)
Success here does not speak of what you park in your driveway or garage, or what you put in your closet or what you have in your bank account.
To be successful is…
a.To live out your purpose in life
b.To be all you can be and
c.To do all you can do.
"Happy" in the New Testament is the Greek word "MAKARIOS", which means to be blessed or enlarged; E.g. as in Matthew 5:3-11. Also in John 13:17 "If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them" (KJV)
Success here does not speak of what you park in your driveway or garage, or what you put in your closet or what you have in your bank account.
To be successful is…
a.To live out your purpose in life
b.To be all you can be and
c.To do all you can do.
Another definition of success is "Measurable progress in a reasonable amount of time"
In Isaiah 46:9,10 , God declares the end from the beginning. He concludes things that are not yet done from ancient times.
We humans understand the wisdom in finishing things before we start them. When should we start building a house? As soon as we have finished it.
In Luke 14: 28-30, Jesus spoke of the man who started a project without first finishing it; and became an object of ridicule. "This man began to build and was not able to finish". If you don't finish something before you start it, you are not likely to finish it after you start. You may end it, but you won't finish it. To end something is not the same as to finish it.
Everything around us was finished in the mind of its creator before it was started. The houses we live in, the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, the furniture and appliances we use at home and at work etc. By the same token, a successful year is a year that you finish before you start.
Is it possible to finish a year before I start it, especially considering that it is in the future and I am here in the present? Yes it is! To start with, your year has already been finished somewhere - in the mind of God. Jeremiah 29:11; Isaiah 46:10.
Make no mistake about it. God has already made up His mind what everyday will be for you in 2002. Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:15,16. When you are able to take hold of what is in the mind of God and translate it into your own mind, it becomes easy to finish your year before you start it.
God has an idea how your life is supposed to go. Psalm 37:23; 40:2 There is a pathway that God has ordained for you to walk in, in 2002.
You now have a responsibility to locate that pathway. Long before Joseph rose to prominence in Egypt, God had already shown him what he had concluded in his mind. It was so real, Joseph could virtually reach out and touch it - yet it took him 13 years to accomplish.
Now, after God showed him the end, Joseph now had to begin the journey. And soon, he discovered that it was not a very easy journey. God kept quiet about that part. But something sustained him - we call it faith.
What is faith?
Hebrews 11:1 - "The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Your future will be as tangible to you to the degree of the measure of your faith. When challenges come, it is the "substance" and "evidence" that keep you going.
Hebrews 12:1,2 - "The race that is set before us" is what God has written in His book concerning our lives. Our faith must be authored or ignited or originated or awakened… But it must also be finished or perfected.
There is something called finished faith or concluded faith. This is the faith that takes hold of the end of a matter before it even starts. Finished faith is finishing faith. Finished faith is not what you get at the end of your life, it should be what gives you the impetus to start. My faith is finished, so I can start. Romans 10:17.
Faith comes by hearing i.e. by picking up a signal or a rumour, what rumour? Romans 10:16 - "Who has believed our report?" This report is the picture of your future, which God gives to you.
Your faith is awakened by the report and the report is brought to life by the word of God (Rhema). When your faith is awakened, that's when it is authored. But then it must be finished! Your faith is finished when you use the joy that is set before you.
In some way, everybody has an idea what their future will be. For some it is hazy, for others it is very clear. For some it is subliminal or even subconscious but it is there. It is our understanding of what the future will be that drives us to do what we do.
Whether we are aware of it or not, our thoughts, choices and actions are working in harmony to bring into existence what we have mentally concluded the future to be.
Your decisions and actions today are creating the future as you see it! The tragedy is that most people do not see the future clearly and they do not see it as God sees it. Joseph saw his future as God saw it and he knew that a one-night stand with Potiphar's wife would not get him there.
You can design a whole new future for yourself that is completely different from your past or your present. When you get hold of the future that is in the mind of God, you can translate it into energy today.
YOU CAN BORROW INSPIRATION FROM THE FUTURE ANDTRANSLATE IT INTO ENERGY TODAY.
" WHERE THERE IS NO HOPE IN THE FUTURE, THERE IS NO POWER IN THE PRESENT" - John Maxwell
You can finish next year before you start it. You can finish a day, week or month before you start it. How do I know? You have done it before!
Have you ever prepared for an "important day"? A job interview, a presentation at work, an examination, a celebration or party?
How did you prepare? You anticipated what would happen and you tried to get ready for it. Now you didn't always get it 100% right - but you were better off than you would have been had you not prepared.
In Isaiah 46:9,10 , God declares the end from the beginning. He concludes things that are not yet done from ancient times.
We humans understand the wisdom in finishing things before we start them. When should we start building a house? As soon as we have finished it.
In Luke 14: 28-30, Jesus spoke of the man who started a project without first finishing it; and became an object of ridicule. "This man began to build and was not able to finish". If you don't finish something before you start it, you are not likely to finish it after you start. You may end it, but you won't finish it. To end something is not the same as to finish it.
Everything around us was finished in the mind of its creator before it was started. The houses we live in, the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, the furniture and appliances we use at home and at work etc. By the same token, a successful year is a year that you finish before you start.
Is it possible to finish a year before I start it, especially considering that it is in the future and I am here in the present? Yes it is! To start with, your year has already been finished somewhere - in the mind of God. Jeremiah 29:11; Isaiah 46:10.
Make no mistake about it. God has already made up His mind what everyday will be for you in 2002. Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:15,16. When you are able to take hold of what is in the mind of God and translate it into your own mind, it becomes easy to finish your year before you start it.
God has an idea how your life is supposed to go. Psalm 37:23; 40:2 There is a pathway that God has ordained for you to walk in, in 2002.
You now have a responsibility to locate that pathway. Long before Joseph rose to prominence in Egypt, God had already shown him what he had concluded in his mind. It was so real, Joseph could virtually reach out and touch it - yet it took him 13 years to accomplish.
Now, after God showed him the end, Joseph now had to begin the journey. And soon, he discovered that it was not a very easy journey. God kept quiet about that part. But something sustained him - we call it faith.
What is faith?
Hebrews 11:1 - "The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Your future will be as tangible to you to the degree of the measure of your faith. When challenges come, it is the "substance" and "evidence" that keep you going.
Hebrews 12:1,2 - "The race that is set before us" is what God has written in His book concerning our lives. Our faith must be authored or ignited or originated or awakened… But it must also be finished or perfected.
There is something called finished faith or concluded faith. This is the faith that takes hold of the end of a matter before it even starts. Finished faith is finishing faith. Finished faith is not what you get at the end of your life, it should be what gives you the impetus to start. My faith is finished, so I can start. Romans 10:17.
Faith comes by hearing i.e. by picking up a signal or a rumour, what rumour? Romans 10:16 - "Who has believed our report?" This report is the picture of your future, which God gives to you.
Your faith is awakened by the report and the report is brought to life by the word of God (Rhema). When your faith is awakened, that's when it is authored. But then it must be finished! Your faith is finished when you use the joy that is set before you.
In some way, everybody has an idea what their future will be. For some it is hazy, for others it is very clear. For some it is subliminal or even subconscious but it is there. It is our understanding of what the future will be that drives us to do what we do.
Whether we are aware of it or not, our thoughts, choices and actions are working in harmony to bring into existence what we have mentally concluded the future to be.
Your decisions and actions today are creating the future as you see it! The tragedy is that most people do not see the future clearly and they do not see it as God sees it. Joseph saw his future as God saw it and he knew that a one-night stand with Potiphar's wife would not get him there.
You can design a whole new future for yourself that is completely different from your past or your present. When you get hold of the future that is in the mind of God, you can translate it into energy today.
YOU CAN BORROW INSPIRATION FROM THE FUTURE ANDTRANSLATE IT INTO ENERGY TODAY.
" WHERE THERE IS NO HOPE IN THE FUTURE, THERE IS NO POWER IN THE PRESENT" - John Maxwell
You can finish next year before you start it. You can finish a day, week or month before you start it. How do I know? You have done it before!
Have you ever prepared for an "important day"? A job interview, a presentation at work, an examination, a celebration or party?
How did you prepare? You anticipated what would happen and you tried to get ready for it. Now you didn't always get it 100% right - but you were better off than you would have been had you not prepared.
HOW DO YOU FINISH A YEAR BEFORE YOU START IT?1.Establish your Goals
Your goals are not just a "to do" list. Your goals are about results - your goals are not complete unless you can answer the questions "why?" and "how?"
Your goals are not just a "to do" list. Your goals are about results - your goals are not complete unless you can answer the questions "why?" and "how?"
2.Commit yourself to paper
Don't trust yourself with anything you have not written down. Habakkuk 2:2.3
3.Periodically reflect on your goals and review them
Take time at the end of every day, week, month and year to reflect on how it all went.
4.Apply yourself to achieving your Goals
Go to work on the goals, go to work on yourself. You cannot approach the future casually- no more than a footballer can approach the goal casually, or a basketball player the net.
There are forces that are determined to stop you. You must resist them. You must press.
Philippians 3:14 "I press towards the goal…"
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