HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT OUT OF LIFE
How’s that for a headline? Is there anyone that doesn’t want to get what they want out of life? And some do. But most don’t. Why? Because writing a headline is easy—making it happen isn’t. Unless you’re born into money, status, or hit it big by accident (which some do!), you’re going to have to make it happen. So how do you make it happen? My favorite success manual gives more than one recipe but one stands out—the story of Jabez.
You might remember “Jabez’ Blessing”, a little book written a number of years ago that brought a lot of blessing to the author. I skimmed it, thought about it, revisited the passage, and improved on it. Several times over. The bottom line of the book was that Jabez wanted to prosper so that he could help others. Although one wishes to be altruistic, there is no such altruism in the passage. Jabez wanted to prosper. Period. His mother named him “sorrowful” and he wanted to, (as the old southern colloquialism says), “get above his raisin’.” He did “get above his raising” and so should you. Even if you were raised well—which most of us weren’t.
On this side of “The Door” I’ll share three principles. “Behind The Door” I’ll show you how to make them happen. There’s always a cost to making it happen.
DEFINE YOUR COAST
What do you want out of life? Until you can define it you will never have it. The paradox is that until you know that there is a coast you will never reach for the coast. It’s easy to be satisfied when you don’t know that there is a larger world than the one that you live in.
How do you define your coast?
In a few days I’ll be speaking for a large church in a major metropolitan area. Because I’m involved in other business while there I told them that I would book my hotel. I perused Priceline. By-passed the two and three stars. Clicked on four and five. Took their express deal (sixty percent off), something that isn’t as risky as it seems if you know how to work their system. A few moments later I had my reservations at a four-and-half star hotel that I’m familiar with. All for the price of a lesser hotel. My coast is defined as four star. How do you define your coast?
There is another success admonition found in the Bible. I heard it first as a young preacher listening to R.W. Schambach. It resonated. I have half a dozen iterations of the text, including a four part series—“Enlarge the place of your tents, Let them stretch for the curtains of your habitation.” Enlarge yourself. Look beyond your place in life. As my friend, the late, great Clifford Turner was fond of saying, “If better is available, good is not good enough.”
DREAM
When I was a poor kid growing up on the wrong side of Dallas I used to see ads in the paper for the downtown Fairmont and Adolphus hotels. I dreamed of staying in places like that. They were a world apart from my reality. But dreams held on to have a way of becoming
reality. When we planted the Dallas church we stayed at the Fairmont so many times that they automatically gave us free upgrades to a suite at a bargain basement price. (If you know me you know that I want a deal!) Last year I booked another Priceline express deal and stayed at the Adolphus. Dream. Then follow your dream. “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broked winged birth that cannot fly.” Langston Hughes.
What’s your dream? Joseph’s brothers said, “Behold this dreamer cometh.” But Joseph held on to his dream through multiple adversities until his dream manifested in ways, that I am sure, were beyond his wildest dreams. Spend some time today dreaming about the life that you want to live. Dream big. Build castles in the air, remembering the words of Henry David Thoreau—“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost, there is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”
DO IT!
How bad do you want what you want? (“Badly” would be proper English but “bad” punches the point through.) Most people don’t want what they want as badly as they believe. Because if you want a thing badly enough, after you’ve defined it, and dreamed it, you will do it.
When you join me “Behind The Door” I’ll give you some practical, mental, and spiritual ideas on how to do it. Because you’ve got to do it. If you have the password you can go “Behind The Door” right now. If you don’t have the password hit the “SOWING” button and sow a seed of any amount into the ministry and we’ll send you the password via email. The default setting on the “SOWING” page is twenty dollars but you can increase that if you want (many do) or decrease it (no one does!)—either way the password is good for then entire month so write it down. I’ll meet you “Behind The Door.”
