HOW DO I GET BETTER?
DAVID’S SEVEN STEP PROGRAM… BITTER VS BETTER.
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT: 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15 (MSG) Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won't be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.
**STAY WHERE YOU ARE? DO YOU REALLY WANT TO BE A BETTER PERSON?
Today we have many people selling programs to success and a happier lifestyle. Many of these ideas are very good and will lead you to a better you. WE DESIRE TO BE BETTER AND APPLY OUR HEARTS TO WISDOM. Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how we respond to what happens to us. I have seen ideas to better prayer life? Better Bible study? How to be a better spouse? How to be a better parent? ANY BOOK WRITTEN TO MAKE YOU A BETTER PERSON WILL SALE.
Let me add one other point, WHAT IS THE ENEMY OF BETTER? My thoughts are the ENEMY OF BETTER would be this: GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF BETTER. Often times when we get adequate at something we STOP OUR PROGRESS. I am a good spouse so I will stop there. I am a good church member, so I stop growing and improving.
To illustrate this point let me use the point of a guitar player. A person starts playing the guitar, their fingers hurt. They have trouble making the chords, SO MANY WILL QUIT. Others go beyond the pain and learn a few chords. 5 years from today they will know the same few chords to play a few songs and sound adequate. They get GOOD (?) and that is the end to their progress. They get good enough to play and use a capo, they refuse to learn any more chords. THEY ARE GOOD, GOOD ENOUGH TO GET BY…
Then we met a few people that piece together the chords, the pain and the cost. They are not satisfied with GOOD, their desire is to build a BETTER GUITAR PLAYER. So the practice. THE DIFFERENCE IS NOT PLAYING, PLAYING GOOD, AND PLAYING BETTER IS ON SECRET: PRACTICE. The more time you give to practice the better your playing will be.
THERE WILL GROW A DESIRE IN SOME PEOPLE TO NOT JUST PLAY GOOD, NOT JUST BETTER, BUT BECOME THE BEST THEY CAN BE. It is the not selling out for good or better it is THEIR GOAL TO BECOME THE BEST THEY CAN BE. We call these devoted people gifted, but let’s get real, they PUT MORE EFFORT, TIME, PAIN AND DISCIPLINE …
THIS SELF-DISCIPLINE WILL GROW UNTIL THEY BECOME ARTIST. Roy Clark, Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel, Jerry Reed
Would never settle for good or better, THEY GAVE WHAT IT TOOK TO BECOME A CUT ABOVE THE REST. WE WILL PAY BIG MONEY TO GO WATCH THE DISCIPLINED in baseball, basketball, doctors, musicians, performers --- ALL BECAUSE THEY STAYED WITH A PLAN AND WENT FROM GOOD --- TO BETTER --- TO THE BEST.
ARE WE SATIISFIED, CONTENT TO STAY WHERE WE ARE? ARE YOU WORKING TO BECOME A BETTER PERSON? DO YOU READ SELF-IMPROVEMENT BOOKS? ARE YOU A BETTER SPOUSE? ARE YOU WORKING ON BECOMING A BETTER PARENT? DO YOU STUDY HOW TO BE BETTER? ASK YOURSELF: WHAT KIND OF CHURCH WOULD YOUR CHURCH BE, IF EVERY MEMBER WERE JUST LIKE ME?
IT IS YOUR CHOICE TO KEEP DOING THINGS THE SAME OLD WAY… BUT GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOU TO GO BEYOND GOOD, REACH BEYOND BETTER, UNTIL YOU GROW THE FRUIT OF BEST.
**THERE IS A JOURNEY FROM GOOD TO BETTER TO BEST. DAVID KNEW WHAT FAILURE WAS. DAVID LEARNED A LESSON ABOUT THE JOURNEY AND HE OFFERS US A SEVEN STEP PLAN TO BE THE BEST. SMART PEOPLE LISTEN TO SMART PEOPLE… LISTEN TO DAVID’S HEART… 7 STEPS TO A BETTER YOU…
**STEP #1: FRET NOT…
FRET: to gnaw or eat at, to cause to suffer, emotional-mental strain, AGITATE, vexed, worried, to wear away, to press…
WORRY: focus on problems and fears, think something bad is going to happen, upset, anxious, concern, mental distress.
Psalm 37:1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
Dark clouds will gather and try to hide the sun from our visual field. Then our trials seem so heavy --- know this season of trials can bring us to the heart of God. Great troubles can make great hearts focus on God.
TELL ME 50 BENEFITS OF FRETTING AND WORRYING?
How can we quiet fretting, worrying, and fear?
Stress, worry, fretting can cause high blood pressure? Headaches? Ulcers? Obesity? Depression?
MAYBE ULCERS DO NOT COME FROM WHAT YOU ARE EATING? MAYBE THEY COME FROM WHAT IS EATING YOU?
Fret? A friend of mine has a car that will not start, the rats gnawed away the wiring. So does worry!
Worry and fret over the problems, or grab you a Bible and study the God promises.
Worry is like a mill stone… the millstone will grind the corn, if there is no corn to grind and you keep running the millstone, the millstone will grind away at itself.
**STEP #2 TRUST GOD AND DO GOOD…
Psalm 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Doubt and worry are a type of atheism… the opposite of TRUST.
Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Only God can unfold a rose.
Only God can take the carbon of coal and with time and pressure make that lump of coal a DIAMOND…
The DIAMOND HAD TO TRUST GOD’S PLAN.
Is my relationship so rooted in my TRUSTING THE FATHER’S PLAN for me?
Do we so trust God that we need not an understanding of what God is doing? Do a trust God’s bigger picture and GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING? God must be bigger than my eye sight! God’s plans a bigger than mine! If I love God and trust Him, I will say, GOD YOU CAN HANDLE THIS!
Hear this… Reuters reported a 63 year old man in London, England needed bladder surgery. He did not trust the doctors nor the hospital staff. He had heard many horror stories in the medical field. So the man studied medical books, and when the pain got so bad, the man decided to DO HIS OWN BLADDER SURGERY. He did. In a few days the man was dead, he died of a massive infection. The coroner’s office report stated the a very minor surgery would have corrected his problems. SEEMED THE MAN TRUSTED HIMSELF INSTEAD OF PUTTING HIS TRUST IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS.
Job 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
I fear today we invest our trust in everything but a MIGHTY GOD that is all powerful and all knowing… QUIT TRUSTING YOUR OWN EFFORTS. TRUST GOD’S PLANS.
**STEP #3: DELIGHT IN THE LORD…
DELIGHT: A STRONG FEELING OF JOY, HAPPINESS, great pleasure, what makes you happy, triumph, the need has been taken care of, a complaint has been taken care of, being well pleased…
Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Where do we find joy? Contentment?
Psalm 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
WHAT YOU LOVE YOU WILL FIND TIME TO DO?
Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
HAS LIFE BEEN REDUCED TO WHAT I HAVE TO DO? Do I have to clean the house? Does my mouth say mean, cruel things? KINDNESS and LOVE change life to a delight.
Psalm 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
Do we do what we do out of a sense of duty? Your attitude will determine your altitude? Fly low? Fly high?
LIFE IS BEST WHEN YOU ACCEPT: I GET TO DO THIS? FIND JOY IN LITTLE THINGS.
1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
**STEP #4: COMMIT YOUR WAYS…
COMMITMENT: A PROMISE, TO GIVE, TO BE LOYAL, and attitude to work very hard, to support, to agree, to pledge, obligated,
The pig and the chicken woke up one morning and had a discussion about what they would eat for breakfast. The chicken said I know: LET’S HAVE EGGS AND BACON…
The pig said: That is dedication for you, but that is total commitment for me.
Psalm 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
A story is told from HAITI. A man wanted to sell his hut. The asking price was $2,000. No one seemed to be interested in buying the hut. Another man came up and offered him $1,000 that was all the man could raise. So after a time the man agreed to sell him the hut for $1,000 with one stipulation. He retained the right to of ownership of a big nail over the doorway. The buyer agreed to pay $1,000 and the owner retain the position and the one large nail. The agreement was made.
After several years the original owner decided he wanted to buy his hut back for $1,000. The new owner absolutely refused to sale his hut, he and his family loved it. The original owner demanded to buy it back. After several refusals the previous owner killed a dog and hung the dead dog’s body over the door. The agreement was still intact. The man owned the nail and the area around it. In the heat of the summer the dog started decaying. It was unbearable in the hut. The stink made the hut unlivable. Finally with no legal leg to stand on, the man sold the hut back to the original owner. He had no choice… he had to honor the commitment he made.
The moral of the story is clear. IF WE GIVE THE DEVIL AND INCH, HE WILL BECOME THE RULER. When we give our enemy a little space, he will soon return and hang his rotten evil on our door. Jesus Christ refuses to live where rotten sin hand around… make a total commitment to God. Leave no dark places for the enemy to return….
**STEP #5 REST
Psalm 37:7 Rest in the LORD…
REST: peace of mind, pause, free of anxieties, to finish work and stop working to relax, not be disturbed…
STOP IF YOU MUST, BUT WHAT EVER YOU DO, DON’T QUIT. Many pause to rest and never return to their post of duty. WHEN THINGS WRONG AND NO ONE UNDERSTANDS YOUR BURDENS --- STOP AND REST BUT NEVER QUIT. There are times the money will not be enough, don’t throw in the towel, press forward. There are times when tears will flow like a river, refuse to stop. There will be days when you fail and feel like a failure, you can’t fail if you rest, get up and try again. The referee may count to 9, jump up and show the world GOD CAN HANDLE THIS.
**STEP #6 CEASE FROM ANGER
Psalm 37:8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
JESUS SAID: BE ANGRY AND SIN NOT… Jesus also stated: DON’T LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON YOUR WRATH. Keep your temper, no one else wants it. Anger operates on short fuses. Anger is the lack of forgiveness. DOING BEATS STEWING…
YOU MIGHT FEEL BETTER FOR A WHILE AFTER TELLING SOMEONE OFF, BUT YOU DO DAMAGE THAT CAN NEVER BE CORRECTED. Anger breeds anger… hurt people hurt people. Angry parents raise angry children. Keep control of your spirit. Jesus is watching, and so are many others.
**STEP #7: WAIT--- Today we live in a microwave world of instant or frozen foods. Hurry up! Fast food!
Psalm 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
WAIT: to stay ready and expecting, to keep hoping, to delay,
PATIENCE: forbearance, to stay calm and not annoyed with difficult people, to bear trials and pain without complaining… wow?
PATIENCE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST TOOLS IN HIS TOOL BOX. Be honest patience can be an effective weapon in God’s hands. MY FRIEND, YOU MAY GET ALL WORKED UP AND IN A HURRY, BUT KNOW THIS, GOD NEVER GETS IN A HURRY. WAITING AND PATIENCE REQUIRE THAT YOU TRUST GOD…
We are so demanding, GOD DO THIS RIGHT NOW! Time means little to an eternal God. We seem to focus on our problems and trials. Life is trying to TEACH US PATIENCE…
Want an apple today? You needed to plant that apple seed 7 years ago. While we can count the seeds in apple, we must realize ONLY GOD CAN COUNT THE APPLES IN A SEED. Some plow? Some plant? Some water? But GOD GIVES THE INCREASE WITH TIME AND FAITHFULNESS.
Ever heard of the CENTURY PLANT (Agave Americana) that grows in the desert areas of the south west. This plant loves the hot, dry climate of rocky soil. The plant can grow 6 feet tall and it grows to a 12 feet diameter and grows leaves up to a foot wide. The name CENTURY PLANT is a bit of exaggeration, but it takes 20 to 30 years for the tree’s reproduction cycle to be accomplished. While the CENTURY PLANT lives and grows it is only every 20 to 30 years the plant spouts new buds. These new buds can grow 7 inches a day until it reaches up to 40 feet high. THE GROWTH OF THE CENTURY PLANT ONLY COMES AFTER A LONG, LONG WAIT.
David learned that LIFE and GROOWTH comes to those that learn to PATIENTLY WAIT.
Psalm 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
Psalm 37:9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.
CONCLUSION: I was a young boy and read on a box of TIDE: NEW AND IMPROVED. Seemed those words are often on TIDE products. God desires us to rise above the spirit of sameness and become STAGNATE, POLLUTED CISTERN WATER, JESUS IS LIVING WATER, FRESH, COOL WATER. DIG YOUR WELL DEEP. Build a better you! If you make you better, you will make your family better. You will never be better with a plan, David has a 7 point plan that will make us better people. Will we listen?
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
