CAST NOT AWAY CONFIDENCE

"Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward." Hebrew 10:35

God wants us to live with confidence and approach life boldly. We must be decisive. Make a decision today to start being decisive. It will never happen to you if you don't.

Put your confidence in Christ and who you are in Him, not in what people think of you. We cannot depend our worth on what others are saying or how they are treating us. People who are hurting will hurt others. If you have come into contact with people who are hurting, they may hurt or reject you. They may have transposed their pain onto you, when in reality you are not the real problem at all.

Know yourself. Know your heart, and don't wait for other people to dictate to you the truth about your value. Don't assume you are wrong every time someone does not agree with you. Believe that God's wisdom dwells inside of you. Believe you can make decisions. There is no point at all in believing something negative about yourself when it is just easy to believe something positive - and it's certainly a lot more helpful and beneficial.

A believer without confidence is like a car sitting on the road with no fuel. It looks good but goes no place. People who are indecisive are the same way. They may have all the qualities needed to be successful, but if they refuse to make decisions, they go nowhere and accomplishing nothing. Progress begins with a decision.

LIVE UPON THE POWER BEHIND EVERY DECISIONS YOU MAKE

Almost everything that happens in your life is the result of a decision or lack of decision. "In your moments of decision, your destiny is shaped," – Tony Robbins. No doubt, it's an awesome tool we use hundreds of times a day, usually without giving much actual thought process.

The reality is making good, or a great decision, leaves us with a tremendous sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. While making bad decisions usually demoralize and reduce our self confidence.

As with most things, if we follow a few simple rules then we can greatly enhance the power of our Decision-Making skills and move closer to our desires and goals much, much faster.

However, before discussing these simple concepts or rules - there's some important things we need to understand about our decisions:

1. Be driven by your core values and beliefs within your subconscious mind. You cannot make a decision that violates your core values or beliefs.

2. You need to have a clear picture of what you want and where you are going (clearly know your goals and desires). Having that knowledge will help many areas of your life – Not just your decision making.

3. You have to make decisions. If you don't, someone else will. And it will most likely be favoring there's, and leading them towards their goals, not yours.

A common example of this is when you see an opportunity and can't decide to act on it. The next thing you know, someone else has made their decision to act on that opportunity and it's gone.

So, what are the simple concepts or rules that will make your decisions so much more powerful? This leads the RULES HOW TO MAKE POWERFUL DECISIONS AND GET WHAT YOU WANT (Hope to share them to you next time around). Q

STOOL FOR SUCCES

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do.

Attitude determines how well you do it." Lou Holtz

There are three basic areas of your life that needs to be considered whether or not you are successful in your endeavors. Unless these three are evenly connected you will not be successful. If you have only one or two, still not be successful. You must have the entire tree working together. Consider them like the three legs of a “stool of success.”

First is ability

"If a man has talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If he has a talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it, he has gloriously succeeded and has a satisfaction and a triumph few men ever know." Thomas Wolfe.

The ability you have is the level at which you are able to actually do things. And this is what I call your skill level. It is really good if you have a high level of skill. And the better you have it developed, the better it will be for you. The effectivity and efficiency of your performance is strongly dependent on your high skill levels. This will bring you success in your chosen field.

Even in the area of giving and helping, the Bible says that “every man according to his ability, determined to send relief…” – Acts 11:29. Whatever talent you have, develop it till it becomes a skill. If you have good attitude and motivation but poor skills, people will like you, maybe even stick for you, but go to someone else with the skills they need.

"The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts," - Booker T. Washington. And this is so true. People will judge you on what you accomplish, not what you know or what you talk about.

That truth is that if you know a lot or talk a lot but do not accomplish anything, people will wonder what happened. So the question is whether or not you will take the actions necessary to deliver on your best potential.

Second is motivation

“We exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all,” – 1 Cor. 5:14, emphasis included.

Paul in his word is motivating. He was in the level at which he was able to find a reason for action. This is the internal drive that you find that enables you to exercise your abilities. To the degree that you can find a way, or ways; to keep yourself motivated, you will see yourself right in the thick of things, carrying out your actions to the best of your abilities and succeed accordingly.

"If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves." – Thomas A. Edison. By doing what you are able to do that you know are right and timely, the more you can motivate and get motivated.

Third is attitude

"Whether you stay six weeks, six months or six years, always leave it better than you found it." Jim Rohn.

Your Attitude will always show.

Attitude is a mental state that you have while carrying out your actions to the best of your ability. It is the way you view the world around you and choose to see it, either positively or negatively. When you can maintain a positive attitude about yourself, others, and the circumstances you find yourself in, you will see yourself achieving greater things.

Attitude is very important. You can be the most skilled and motivated but with a rotten attitude, people will stay away and hinder your success.

Likewise, you may have great skills and attitude but no motivation; surely you'll be sitting on the couch like an idle slothful person while the best achievers are out there making money and make your dream their footstool. “Idleness is stupidity of the body, and stupidity is the idleness of the mind,” - Suetonius

To conclude this chapter, I want to share with you the three rules for success by Lou Holtz: 1) “Do what's right: Be on time, be polite, and be honest; remain free from drugs; and if you have any questions, get your Bible. 2) Do your best: Mediocrity is unacceptable when you are capable of doing better. “To do nothing is the way to be nothing,” – Nathaniel Howe 3) and treat others as you want to be treated: Practice love and understanding.” The most beautiful and wonderful in this life is not the once you see but the once you feel.

WISDOM PRODUCE GOOD CHOICES

"For the LORD giveth wisdom." Proverbs 2:6
There is a great need in our life for moral foundations. Our world has made the choices of moral purity into an absurdity. Adultery and fornication are almost taken for granted. It is assumed that people will live together before they get married, that they will experiment with drugs and alcohol and that no one is to deny himself any pleasure of the flesh for many reason.
The book of Proverbs personified and presented wisdom as a teacher. Wisdom comes from God. We do not get wisdom through observation or experience. By observing we can only be as wise as those we observe. Through experience we can only be as wise as our intellect and experiences will lead us. To be really wise, "let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" James 1:5. God does not penalize us for asking for wisdom. He gives it liberally to all who ask. This is a prayer that will be answered. Wisdom will lead us away from the way of the evil man. This "way" refers to a life-style or a philosophy. Behind every choice we make there is a philosophy. To change the choices we must change the person making them. Jesus said in Matthew 12:35, "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things."
Good choices naturally proceed from good heart, and evil choices proceed from evil hearts. This does not mean that bad people cannot do good things or that good people cannot do bad things, but it does illustrate that what is in the heart is vital to consistently making good choices.

ACCEPT YOURSELF FOR BEING UNIQUE

You need to realize that you are unique in yourself and will never be exactly like someone else. There is vast variation in creation and not boring sameness. As a matter of fact, if we look around we see how extremely creative our creator is. We enjoy different trees, flowers, birds, weather. We can all observe that all of what God created has many varieties, even people.
Never struggle to be a carbon copy of someone you admire. You are unique, and there is something you can do that no body else in the entire world can do exactly the way you are able to do. I need to learn the very important lesson of not comparing myself to any one and competing with them or their abilities. I must learn to be "what I am for what I am" before I can do the things I am originally created for.