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You Get What You Order Series
Contributed by Don Hawks on Oct 15, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: What is the best way to get what you want? Ask for it! Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you!" In many ways life is like a restaurant, because YOU GET WHAT YOU ORDER! The second guid
Matthew 7:7-8
‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
INTRODUCTION:
You’ll decide what you want and it will happen; your life will be bathed in light. Job 2:28 (Msg.)
• Who am I and what am I going to do with this life that God has given me?
3 EXERCISES FOR SETTING CLEAR GOALS FOR AN ABUNDANT LIFE---
1--_______________________________________________________________
a—Write down what I desire in life to make it more fulfilling.
Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Habakkuk 2:2-3
b--Visualize myself experiencing the goals.
So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
….whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it]. (Amplified Version) Mark 11:24
c--Read my goals 3 times in the morning and 3 times at night.
And then God answered: "Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn’t lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time. Habakkuk 2:2-3 (Msg.)
2--_______________________________________________________________
I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind. Ecclesiastes 1.14
Do you really want to think about life as just a mere chasing after the wind and just focus more on what you do NOT want in your life?
Man who fixes his own lunch story
3--_______________________________________________________________
Faith without works is dead. James 2:20
“Every artist was first an amateur.” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson.
a--Change how I think.
Look deep into my heart, God, and find out everything I am thinking. Don’t let me follow evil ways, but lead me in the way that time has proven true. Psalm 139:23-24 (CEV):
I have trained myself also when things aren’t going well to talk to myself. I say things like
• “God is in control”
• “It will work out.”
• “This too shall pass.”
• “This is upsetting but it’s not the end of the world.”
b--Get up and take action.
But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves* in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. James 1:22-23
c--Persist until I reach my goals.
Committed and persistent work pays off; get-rich-quick schemes are ripoffs. Proverbs 28:20 (Msg)
CONCLUSION:
• "If money weren’t an issue, what would I do?"
• How will I spend my days doing things that are meaningful?
"If everything seems under control, you’re not going nearly fast enough."-- Mario Andretti
For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. – Mark 4:28
ANSWERS:
1—Take the time to consider and think about my life goals.
2—Decide what I need to stop doing in my life now.
3—Decide what I need to start doing in my life now.