Achievable!
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet with a professional motivational speaker. My goal for this meeting was to connect and get some speaking engagements in different places. My vision is to build a global ministry that inspires and encourages people to live their life to the fullest, no matter what circumstances, limitations and struggles they are going through.
The meeting didn`t turn out as I expected. Rather than getting any speaking engagements, I was told things like “You`re not good enough for that yet” or “You haven`t got a degree or title that qualifies you for this“. During the meeting, which lasted about two hours, I smiled at him boldly; at the same time thinking to myself “You’ve known me for two hours and you’re already saying that I haven`t achieved anything. You’re definitively not helping me!“
The point is, as I`m a person with a very strong will, full of courage and determination, I know, that in all the things I’ve been through during my 27 years of being chronically ill, I have achieved more than some people ever do when they are healthy or have certain qualifications! My “You should have died 5-6 times” medical report doesn`t exist because of titles, but from faith that ALL things are possible through Christ!
I was disappointed – I expected a bit more from a professional motivational speaker – yet I was strong enough not to believe those “lies”. I left the meeting and focused on more positive thoughts about myself.
Two weeks later, one of my friends asked me to speak at Westpac Bank’s headquarters in Sydney, where she works. I hadn’t done anything to get this opportunity; neither had I looked to start speaking in the corporate world.
In this blog, I want to encourage you with three thoughts, to inspire you to live outside your own mind, limitations and circumstances, so that you can focus on achieving what is not yet seen. We all have a lot of potential, no matter what you want to be, where you come from or who you are right now!
1. We don`t need titles, we need faith.
Hebrews 11:1 says: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.“ (NIV)
The Bible is full of people who lived by faith. It was by faith that Moses went to speak to Pharaoh and to lead the Israelites out of the country. Many years before, he would have had the opportunity to be the son of Pharaoh`s daughter which is a title in itself. He didn`t first get a degree in public speaking in order to do the things he did. Abraham brought his son Isaac to the altar as a sacrifice, because God wanted to strengthen Abraham`s faith through this. Abraham had faith and the assurance that God would provide another sacrifice, and God did! Abraham hadn’t been on a course about how to barbecue beforehand, because God knew how to do it! Noah built the ark in the middle of dry land even there had been no rain for years and people were laughing at him – this too required a lot of faith. He hadn’t done an apprenticeship in carpentry. Abraham’s wife Sarah could not bear children for over ninety years. But it was by faith that she believed the promise God had given her. She gave birth to a boy and a whole nation came from him. Paul went through many hardships during his mission trips, because he had faith, passion and assurance that he was doing it for the kingdom of God and he wrote 2/3 of the New Testament.
There are many more women and men who lived by faith. They all somehow became leaders, public speakers, presidents, parents, coaches, actors, and musicians, or even businessmen in a big company! Some didn`t even receive the promise while they lived – it came in the next generation. Titles and trophies are always perishable, but faith is eternal and God uses ordinary people for extraordinary things! The only man who had a title before he started anything was Jesus. He carried the title of “King of Kings“ and “Lord of Lords“ but only because he was God himself!
Question: What are you believing for in your life?
2. Start small.
I do not have anything against titles or trophies. We all love them and I do have some. But the point is, titles and trophies don’t define who we are. We are defined by what God believes about us and what is in us! God gives us a destiny, a dream, a calling, which we can make happen with His help. Even if you`re not seeing anything of it yet or your dream is far away, it starts with a small seed and with faith. We are able to believe that the seed gets larger and larger until it grows into a tree! Billy Graham once said: “Our faith grows by expression. If we want to keep our faith we must share it – we must witness“ 1 I love this statement from the evangelist Reinhard Bonnke: “I don`t want to have money in my account, I want to see souls in the Kingdom”. 2 Titles and trophies bring money and fame, whereas faith points people to Jesus!
In Colossians 3:1-2 it says: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.“ (NJKV)
In Western society we are often so focused on what is around us, on what people have and on what they do. But when we start to see what God has in store for us, we will see how he opens the heaven, and those things in heaven is all we need, to make impossible things possible. We never start big, we always start small and it`s not about what or how much we have, it`s about what we do with it!
Question: What do you have in your hands? What are you doing with it?
3. Speak life into it.
Being chronically ill for so long, I have learnt whatever I don’t have yet, I speak life into the things to what I want to have or want to be. I see myself already there even if I`m far away from it. Today, because I know what my calling is, I see myself preaching before thousands of people for God`s sake (not my glorification), to inspire, encourage and value people so that they can find and get to know Jesus! This dream is far away and I don`t even know how to do it, but God knows and that`s all I need to know!
One of my favourite scriptures is Ephesians 3:20: “ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us“ (NIV)
Friend, think big and dream high! The more we ask or imagine the more God is going to do in us! There is nothing that God hates more than when we live in smallness, self-pity, comparison, complaint or disappointment. I love what T.D Jakes once said in a sermon: “You`re gifted for what God has called you to do because you are a gift of God”.3 You are enormously gifted as well as being a great gift to this world! Don`t hold it back by believing lies that tell you otherwise. Do whatever God has called you to do with your gifts and talents. Then you will see how heaven comes down to your life!
Question: In what areas of your life do you need to speak life into it (again)?
I hope that I have given you an injection of encouragement and inspiration! I`m praying that in whatever situation you are in, you can stand up again and again, and fight the good fight for HIS sake with the things HE has given you! The Bible says, the righteous will fall seven times but God will help him/her up again.
Live big, dream high, and achieve more!
God bless
Nathanael
#Achievable #Blog6 #Itsallabouthim