WHAT DO SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DO DIFFERENTLY

As we begin 2012 every person is very excited about the year. New plans, new ventures. Many have resolved to work harder, to pray harder, and we have written resolutions down.
At Gaba Community Church we began the year with a week of fasting and prayer and surely we all feel set to change our walk with God and also change our income.
As good as resolutions are great, life does not move with good feelings or 5 point resolutions. There are many things that lead to positive results and today we shall talk about:
TAKING THAT FAITH STEP
Before we go on to how to take the step let us talk about why many of us fail to take the step.
a) Fear
b) Procrastination
c) Past failures
d) Friends

A) FEAR
God has not given us a spirit of fear;
Fear paralyses, fear robs us of joy of adventure. Many of us want to play it safe. We do not like the unfamiliar, we want the comfortable parts of life.
But God never promised comfort. He called us for an adventure with Him.

2Timothy 1:7
7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
God’s Spirit in our hearts gives us courage and not fear.
But we need to remember that fear is a natural instinct which every one has, but when it comes, stop, look at the situation check in your spirit, is this me or is it God. Find out what God says.
My experience has shown that when I take that step and choose to venture usually fear for the unknown comes first but as I move forward, my feelings change from fear to excitement.
Please take this quote to inspire you:

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
―Corrie ten Boom

B) PROCRASTINATION
What is procrastination? The best way to describe it, is to say a habit of postponing tasks that need to be attended due to fear, laziness, or doubt. It is to keep putting off a task for another time. It is usually based on a desire to take the comfortable route because of fear to confront a situation.

James 2:14-19
14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but have no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

Time is a great gift that God gave all of us, and time is acommodity that cannot be recovered if we lose it. Therefore what you can do today do not send it to tomorrow, commit yourself to facing the harder tasks today, earlier in the day and also before you commit yourself to leisure. These can be:

1. Begin the day with prayer and the word.
2. Read and study that important book before reading a newspaper.
3. Invest your money now and do not wait.
4. Do not wait for another day to prepare the garden. Take that course now and not next year. DO IT NOW.

“Faith is about doing. You are how you act, not just how you believe.”
―Mitch Albom, Have a Little Faith: The Story of a Last Request

C) PAST FAILURES
Everyone of us has something in the past that we do not want to think about. It may be a moral failure, a failed business venture, a relationship that broke up leading to a heart break.
Failure is common to all of us. No child will ever walk who never stumbles, you can never learn to ride a bicycle if you fear to fall. Failing is real and is like the best way to learn to do better.
If you failed, the issue is not the failure but the failure to try again. The man who invented the light bulb failed over 500 times.
– King David failed morally but he rose up to become the man after God’s heart.
– Peter denied Jesus 3 times, he decided to return to fishing but rose up to become the 1st evangelist.
– Abraham failed to wait and ended up with Ishmael but he was able to get Isaac the son of promise.
Use your past to build your present.
Let your failed past create in you a resolve to do better next time. Use your past to prepare better for the next attempt. Remember failure is not final. Rise up and take that step forward.

D) FRIENDS

We have a proverb which says, show me your friends and I will tell you your character.
Who are your friends?
Who influences you?
If you want to succeed in life then learn to choose your friends. Look for people who:
– INSPIRE YOU
– WHO CHALLENGE YOU TO DO BETTER
– WHO ARE BETTER THAN YOU
– PEOPLE WHO FILL YOUR EMOTIONAL TANK INSTEAD OF DRAINING YOU.
– SOME OF YOUR FRIENDS MAY BE: BOOKS, TV PROGRAMS, BLOGS e.t.c

WHAT NEXT?

“Having faith in God did not mean sitting back and doing nothing. It meant believing you would find success if you did your best honestly and energetically.”
―Ken Follett, The Pillars of the Earth

“A journey of a 1000 miles begins with one small step”says a Chinese proverb.
Knock on that door.
Make that crucial telephone call.
Put in that application.
Do not wait.
Celebrate each positive step. Give a big Halleluiah to God, report your progress to a friend.
Smile at the challenges and positively evaluate them. But rise up and move forward.

Hebrews 11: 8- 9.

8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
TAKE THAT FIRST STEP.
YOUR FUTURE IS LOCKED IN THOSE POSITIVE STEPS YOU TAKE!