Thursday, September 16, 2010

Your Powers to Success

“Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Genesis 1:26

I was a loser!

As a young child growing up in Mabolo, I can still remember vividly the day I attempted to climb the stairs of the two-storey poultry farm of our rich neighbor. (We were squatters in a vacant lot close to it.) I waited until nobody was watching, and then I slowly crawled my way going to the second floor. Two or three treads away from the top, I chickened out and reluctantly went down back to where I started. I was afraid of height.

Losing is not when you are stuck against a wall and can’t seem to find a way around it. It’s when you retreat back to your shell, and quit. I had my share of failures. More than I want.

Why we fail? Aren’t we created in God’s image and likeness? God is definitely not a loser, right? So why?

Sin has everything to do with it. When Adam and Eve were created, they were like pure, sparkling water put inside a crystal clear glass; they were perfect. They were created to rule all over earth. Yet, they both erred in one of their gifts or powers – their will. When they disobeyed God, it was like oil was poured into that glass. Purity gone, power diminished. In effect, they surrendered their inherited kingdom, this world, to Satan. (Not to scare those who do not realize it yet, but Satan rules this world ever since the fall. But God promised that it will end…)

Yet everything is not lost. Man may not be the ruler of the world anymore, but God still created us to become winners in our own right by giving us innate powers or gifts. And one of the reasons that we lose in life is because we either ignore our gifts or don’t use them properly.

What are these gifts from God that can help us succeed?

WILL
You have the power to choose. You can choose to succeed or to fail, you can choose life over death. It’s your choice. The gates of hell can’t force you to do anything if you choose not to. Even God listens and respects your choice. You are not really exercising your power if you allow others to choose for you or if you allow your circumstances to force you to choose the wrong choices. Choose what you know if right before the eyes of God, and you can’t go wrong.

BRAIN
Your brain can do a lot of wonderful stuffs for you such as creating ideas, learning new things, solving problems, and weighing your options. If you want to succeed in all areas of your life you 'must' use your brain, and avail of all its incredible functions. Don’t allow other people to think for you; do you own thinking. You can access the knowledge of others, but it is your duty to yourself to filter the information that you received – store what is right and useful, throw away the garbage. In the end you are responsible for your own actions no matter what are your excuses.

HEART
I am not necessarily referring to the fist-size organ in your chest, but your ability to feel emotions, and understand the emotion of others. With this power you can relate to others in a deeper level. You are not using this power if you ignore your own feelings and that of others.

WORDS
We use our words to communicate with each other. But there's more to it. God created the world with His words. Since you are created in the likeness of God your words are powerful too. It’s like a stone thrown into still waters; it creates ripples of blessings or curses. The only thing is that most of us do not see its impact into our life or the life of others specially our love ones. We see it everyday so we take it for granted. Here’s a very obvious example. Express your appreciation sincerely to someone you know. Or curse and berate someone close to you for a mistake he or she did. What do you think will happen? I can tell you with certainty that this person will ‘do’ something in response to the words you released even long after you have forgotten it. And the effects could even last for years.

The power of the words is that it begets result, sooner or later. So choose your words wisely.

HANDS
I am not necessarily referring only to your two hands, but to your overall ability to transform ideas into tangible things; your ability to create something meaningful and useful from thoughts. You are not using this power if you procrastinate or if you are being lazy.

SENSES
Your sense of sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing give colors to your world. In effect, you can create colorful and wonderful ideas which when work upon by your hand will produce something beneficial and useful to you and to others. You are misusing this gift if you numb yourself by alcoholism, by substance abuse, and by other excesses that distort your senses. God wants you to create beautiful things, so take good care of your senses.

TALENTS
This is your innate ability to do a particular activity easily. Most often than not, you do it instinctively or you just feel your way easily. If you are good in singing then sing, if you are good in teaching then teach, and so on and so forth. Spend your time and energy developing your skills. Don’t be stubborn and try to be someone God did not cut you out to be. Know your talents and flow into that direction. Most important of all, use your talents to express your love to God, to yourself and to others. Not just yourself because that would be a misuse of your talent. It could be as bad or even worse than ignoring your talents altogether.

God wants us to succeed not just in the physical aspect which sad to say it what most of us only see, but most importantly, in our spiritual life. I am sure because I am a father myself, and I can say without blinking that I only want what’s best for my children. I want them to be successful when they grow up. How much more is our Father in heaven who is all good and holy?

Friends, when we are three treads away from our success and a defiant wall stood in front of us. Don’t quit. Your Father in heaven is there in your side, encouraging and cheering you up. He is also urging you to use your innate powers that He has bestowed upon you since birth. Please be a good child and obey…you don't have to be a loser. You can be a winner!

No comments:

Post a Comment