They go from strength to strength. Psalm 84:7 NIV

In an old Peanuts cartoon Charlie Brown says to his friend Linus, 'What would you do if you felt that no one liked you?' Linus replies, 'I'd see what I could do to improve.'  To which Charlie Brown replies, 'I hate that answer!'

There are three reasons we hate that answer and want to freeze life where it's at:

(1) When it took everything we had to get to where we are, 'Let's go' is not what we want to hear.

(2) We are creatures of habit; we form our habits, then our habits form us.

(3) Change makes us feel insecure; deep down, we fear we don't have what it takes.

Near the top of Mount Everest is a marker which reads, 'He died climbing.' (What a great way to be remembered!).  Growth is an uphill climb.  If you want to keep growing you must never stop climbing: 'the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day' (Proverbs 4:18).

How do we grow and change? 'They go from strength to strength.'  In his book Teaching to Change Lives Dr. Howard Hendricks asks teachers these soul-searching questions. 'How have you changed lately?  In the last week, let's say?  Or the last month?  Can you be very specific?  Or must your answer always be incredibly vague?  You say you're growing, okay-how?'  'Well,' you say, 'In all kinds of ways.'  Great; name one!  You see, effective teaching only comes through a changed person.  When you stop changing, you stop leading.'

Today ask God to pinpoint the areas in which you need to change and grow.

Because you say so, I will. Luke 5:5 NIV

When we start to do things God's way instead of our own, we experience three great benefits.

First, we have peace: 'Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you' (Job 22:21 NLT).

Second, we have freedom: 'Offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits' (Romans 6:17 TM).

Third, we have power: 'Submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you' (James 4:7 NKJV).

Stubborn temptations and overwhelming problems are defeated by Christ the moment we surrender.  As Joshua approached the walls of Jericho he encountered God, fell down and worshipped, surrendered his plans and said, 'What does my Lord say to His servant?' (Joshua 5:14 NKJV).  Joshua's surrender led to a spectacular victory.

Here's a paradox: victory comes through surrender!  Surrender doesn't weaken us, it strengthens us.  Surrendered to God, we don't have to fear surrendering to anything else. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, said, 'The greatness of a man's power is in the measure of his surrender.'

Eventually everybody surrenders to something.  If not to God, we will surrender to the opinions and expectations of others, to money, to resentment, to fear, to our own lusts or ego.  We are free to choose whatever we surrender to, but we are not free from the consequences of that choice.

E. Stanley Jones said, 'If you don't surrender to Christ, you surrender to chaos.'  The supreme example is Jesus.  The night before His crucifixion He surrendered to God's plan, saying, 'I want your will, not mine.'  And He is our example!

Called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 NKJV

Nobody can give you a vision for your life, but here is how to find yours.

(1) Look within you.  What moves you?  What are you excited about?  Paul said, 'I am compelled to preach' (1 Corinthians 9:16 NIV).

(2) Look behind you.  What has life taught you?  Experience provides us with the wisdom needed to fulfil our destiny.  What does your past tell you about your future?

(3) Look around you.  God never calls us alone.  Moses needed 70 elders.  Jesus picked 12 disciples.  Paul spoke of those who worked with him.  Fulfilling your destiny requires having the right people in your life.

(4) Look ahead of you.  Helen Keller said, 'The only thing that's worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision.'  What do you see through the eye of faith?  St Augustine said, 'Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of faith is to see what we believe.'

(5) Look beside you.  What resources are available to you, for example, books, CDs, conferences and mentors?  If your vision is not bigger than you, it is not of God.  And the greater it is, the more resources it will require.

(6) Look above you.  Jeremiah writes, 'They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord' (Jeremiah 23:16 NKJV).

We are 'called according to His purpose', not according to the need, or the fact that the door is open, or that our talent will be appreciated and well rewarded.  Your vision must fulfil your God-ordained destiny, nothing else.  So, do you need to recognize your vision, resurrect your vision, or re-focus on your vision?

Make allowance for each other's faults. Colossians 3:13 NLT

When it comes to forgiving, you can't say it better than Tim Stafford did: 'I would rather be cheated a hundred times, than develop a heart of stone.'

The Bible says, 'Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.'  You don't get to choose who you will forgive.  Love is a command, forgiveness is an act of obedience.  'He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother' (1 John 4:21 NIV).  You can't be closer to God than you are to the people you love least.  God sets the bar high because grudges are like cancer, and forgiveness is the laser that removes them.  Bitterness chains us to the past, destroys families, divides churches and sours relationships. Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the handcuffs of hate.  Take your hurt feelings to God and say, 'Point out anything that offends you' (Psalm 139:24 NLT).

It takes courage, but that's the kind of prayer He answers.  It gets easier as you grow in Christ; in the meantime you have to work at it.  As a child of God His Spirit lives inside you. You are no longer a slave to sin (Romans 6:14).  God knows it's hard to forgive deep-seated hurts, but He will give you grace to do it.  To 'make allowance' means to take a charitable view and consider extenuating circumstances.  People change and grow over time, so don't insist on clinging to a limited, outdated view of them.  Try to see them as they are today.  Most folks are doing their best based on the knowledge and understanding they have now, so give them a break!

You have been wandering around long enough; turn. Deuteronomy 2:3 NLT

God's plan for your life always involves your gifts, His timing, and being in the right place. But three things can keep that from happening: fear of failing, unwillingness to leave your comfort zone, and being swayed by the opinions of others.  There came a point where, in order to enter the Promised Land, God said to Israel, 'You have been wandering around long enough; turn' (Deuteronomy 2:3 NIV).  When you reach this point it's crucial that you say yes to God and be willing to step out in faith.

During a famine God said to the prophet Elijah: ''Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.  You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there."  So he did what the Lord had told him and stayed there.  The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook' (1 Kings 17:3-6 NIV).  God's plan for your life is always connected to a place. Jesus 'had to go through Samaria' (John 4:4 NIV).  Why?  To meet a woman who was destined to reach that city with the gospel.

You can't just go where you like, God will honor you when you are where He wants you to be.  God has promised to bless you, but sometimes He has to reposition you in order to receive His blessing.  It was when Ruth moved to Bethlehem that she met Boaz and married him.  It was when Bartimaeus went to where Jesus was that he received his sight.

Where you are matters!

I will instruct you in the way you should go. Psalm 32:8 NIV

Paul writes, 'I go not knowing the things that will happen to me except that the Holy Spirit testifies, saying that chains and tribulations await me.  But none of these things move me' (Acts 20:22-24 NKJV).  It's only human to want to know where you are going and what you are getting into.  But God will inform you on a 'need to know' basis.

Like Abraham, when you follow Him, you do it 'not knowing' where the Lord leads, but believing what He promised, confident that no matter how He does it nor how long it takes, He will keep His word to you (Hebrews 11:8).

Being in God's will doesn't exempt you from problems.  God doesn't promise a carpet on the race track or a bed of roses on the battlefield.  But you can be 'confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion' (Philippians 1:6 NIV).

God knows every step of the journey, the blessings and dangers, where you have been, where you are going, and the best path to take.  He never intended you to figure out the steps without Him.  How you get on mission and succeed are God's responsibilities.  Your responsibility is to seek His guidance and obey His instructions.  He said, "I will instruct you in the way you should go and watch over you." (Psalm 32:8 NIV).

Your job is to trust Him with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  His job is to set your path straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).  There is no requirement for you to figure it all out.

He knows how weak we are. Psalm 103:14 [3] NLT

Any weakness you refuse to deal with will draw you towards the wrong things 
and set you up for defeat.  To live victoriously you must recognize that, 
first, your weakness can emerge at any time.  What you allow to take root, 
will grow within you.  What you fail to master now, will master you later.  The 
Psalmist prayed, 'Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when 
my strength is gone' (Psalm 71:9 [4] NIV).

Second, God's Spirit will repeatedly warn you. Jesus told Peter: 'Satan hath desired to
have you, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art 
converted, strengthen thy brethren' (Luke 22:31-32 [5] KJV).  Imagine the  Lord praying
for you.  He does!  'If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
Righteous' (1 John 2:1 [6] NAS).  He intercedes for you, clothes you in His righteousness,
and draws you back to Himself.

Third, God will continue to use you even while your weakness is growing within you.  He
provides opportunity after opportunity to reach for His help.  Jesus warned Jerusalem, 'How
often I have longed to gather your children together but you were not willing, your house is
left to you desolate' (Matthew 23:37-38 [7] NIV).  When you neglect God's grace, what's left?
Your consequences!  You ask, 'What can I do?'  Turn to God.  He's neither shocked by 
your weakness nor unwilling to help you.  Acknowledge your weakness.  Become an 
enemy to it.  Let God's Spirit empower you.  Not only can He deliver you, He 
can turn your greatest weakness into your greatest weapon.

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen. Romans 8:33 NLT

When you tear someone down, you are on thin ice with God.  The Bible says: 'who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen?  Who would dare point a finger?  The One who died for us is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us.  Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us, no way!' (Romans 8:33-35 TM).  Your fellow-believers are not perfect, but God says they 'belong to his dear Son' (Ephesians 1:6 NLT).  There is nothing you can bring against them that God doesn't already know.  Stop and think; by discrediting them you are questioning the One who redeemed them, implying He made a mistake and doesn't know what He's doing.  You say, 'But shouldn't I speak up when something is wrong?'  Yes, but be careful about overstepping your bounds and condemning the person.  Your attitude should be one of helpfulness, forgiveness and reconciliation.  Anytime you try to judge what you have no authority over, you are out of your jurisdiction!

Paul writes, 'Who are you to judge someone else's servant?  To his own master he stands or falls.  And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand' (Romans 14:4 NIV).  It is God's job to judge others, and He doesn't need your help to do it!

Let God transform the way you think. Romans 12:2 NLT

Behind everything you do, there is a thought! So if you are serious about changing your life, you must change how you think. That's not easy, and it doesn't happen instantly.  Picture yourself in a boat with the automatic pilot set to go in a certain direction, then you suddenly decide to go somewhere else.

First option: willpower.  Grab the wheel and force it to go where you want; by sheer willpower, overcome the autopilot.  But you will feel constant resistance.  Your arms will get tired, and when you let go of the wheel, guess what?  The boat will go the way it's programmed to go.  Get the idea?  That's what happens when you try to change your life through willpower: 'I will force myself to quit drinking, cheating, or overeating', and so on.  Your willpower can only produce short-term change, but it creates constant stress because you haven't dealt with the root cause and reprogrammed your mind.  The change doesn't feel natural so eventually you give up, revert to your old patterns and say, 'I guess this is just the way I am.  I will never change.'

Second option: God's power.  There is a better way!  The Bible says, 'Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.'  Change always begins in your mind!  The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel determines the way you act.  You say, 'How can I change the way I think?'  By programming your mind each day with God's Word.  'How can a man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to Your word' (Psalm 119:9 NKJV).

The Lord has pleasure in [our] prosperity. Psalm 35:27 NKJV

Ignatius Loyola prayed, 'Teach us, Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not count the cost, to fight and not heed the wounds, to toil and not seek for rest, to labor and not ask for any reward save that of knowing we do your will.'

Success is knowing and doing God's will for your life.  Here are four laws that govern it.

First, be clear about the cost.  For everything you gain, you give up something.  How much are you willing to sacrifice for your dream?  Your answer will determine your future. Sometimes the greatest obstacle to tomorrow's success is today's success.  Paul writes, 'What happens when we live God's way, we find ourselves able to marshal and direct our energies wisely' (Galatians 5:22-23 TM).

Second, focus like a laser.  Chart a detailed course and establish deadlines.  List the things you need to do each day, set regular checkpoints, and when necessary be accountable to someone.  'Walk making the most of your time' (Ephesians 5:15-16 NAS).

Third, see yourself achieving it.  Maureen Dowd says, 'The minute you settle for less, you get less than you settled for.'  The Bible says that God 'calls those things which do not exist as though they did' (Romans 4:17 NKJV).  So start to think now like the person you expect to be then!

Finally, keep learning.  Look for opportunities to learn.  Paul told Timothy, 'Give attention to reading' (1 Timothy 4:13 NKJV).  The person who won't read is more to be pitied than the person who can't read.  Meditate constantly on God's laws and you will succeed in whatever you do (Joshua 1:8).

The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come. Malachi 3:1 NKJV

Sometimes God shows up dramatically: like an unexpected check in the mail, a door suddenly opening, or the Lord protecting you from a situation that would otherwise destroy you (See Psalm 91:11).  Other times He shows up quietly, replacing your anxiety with assurance, whispering, 'Fear not I am with you' (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV).  And when those around you say, 'You're different today, what's changed?' you reply, 'I don't know, I just have peace about it.'  That's because, 'the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come' (Malachi 3:1 NKJV).

Here are two Bible stories which illustrate this: The first story demonstrates how God intervenes in situations where you are misunderstood and mistreated.  'After they had been severely flogged, about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns.
Suddenly all the prison doors flew open' (Acts 16:23-26 NIV).  Midnight prayers and songs of praise help you see beyond the problem, to God, the great problem-solver.  By taking the focus off yourself and putting it on Him, your whole outlook begins to change.

The second story demonstrates how God intervenes when we are overwhelmed by the sheer size of the challenge.  Faced with leading two million Israelites into the Promised Land, Moses prays, 'show me now Your way' (Exodus 33:13 NKJV).  And God replies, 'Here is a place by Me, I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand' (Exodus 33:21-23 NKJV).

When God tells you, 'Here is a place by me,' get into it and stay there!  Even when you can't see Him clearly, you will feel His presence, experience His goodness, and know that everything is going to be okay.

What I feared has come upon me. Job 3:25 NIV

Nick was a tough guy with a bad outlook.  He worked on the railways.  One night after all his fellow workers had gone home he accidentally locked himself in a refrigerated carriage. Worried that the temperature was below freezing, he yelled for help, but to no avail.  The more he thought about his situation the colder he felt, until eventually he started shivering uncontrollably.  Convinced he was dying, he wrote a letter to his family outlining what had happened.  The next morning they found Nick's body.  An autopsy revealed that he had indeed frozen to death.  But the investigators discovered something puzzling.  The carriage in which Nick was trapped was out of order and had been disconnected.  The night he froze to death the temperature in the boxcar was just below room temperature.  But because he expected to die, he lost the battle in his mind.

What you believe about your life is more important than what anyone else believes.  Job said, 'What I feared has come upon me.'  Be careful what you anticipate; negative expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies.  God has promised to help you, but you get the deciding vote.

By focusing on the negative you are agreeing to let satan defeat you. Jesus said, 'According to your faith will it be done for you' (Matthew 9:29 NIV).  Another translation puts it like this: 'Become what you believe' (TM).

So get into agreement with God's Word and focus on His promises instead of your problems.  When you do, your faith will take you to new levels of victory.  But it's up to you to take the first step!

Let your eyes look straight ahead. Proverbs 4:25 NKJV

Behind every success story you will find sacrifices made to fulfil a dream, principles that govern lives in public and in private, the ability to turn a single victory into a system of success, and finally a relentless quest for personal growth.

One Bible teacher writes, 'As a boy I loved to watch the older men play checkers.  One day one of them invited me to play.  At first it looked easy.  I captured one, then another of his checkers.  Then suddenly he took one checker and hopped across the board yelling, 'King me!'  With that king he proceeded to wipe me off the board.  That day I learned about long-range vision.  Nobody minds losing a few checkers as long as they are headed for king territory!'

What sustained Moses in the wilderness?  His vision! 'He persevered because he saw him who is invisible' (Hebrews 11:27 NIV).  A God-given vision will keep you going when nothing else will.  The Bible says, 'Let your eyes look straight ahead.  Ponder the path of your feet.  Do not turn to the right or the left' (Proverbs 4:25-27 NKJV).

What do you see in your future?  You will never seize it until you see it!  So, write down your vision and the reason you want to fulfil it, and what you are willing to go through to make it happen.  Then write down every challenge you can think of that you will have to overcome in order to pursue it.  Do that, and you will be prepared for much of what comes your way.  The difference between winners and losers is in how they view failure.  Losers see failure, winners see beyond it!

Pray about everything, tell God what you need. Philippians 4:6 NLT

The four-year-old son of a missionary family in Africa spotted a picture of a little pink dinosaur in a magazine and set his heart on having one.  His mum knew it was impossible (the magazine was three years old), but her son never doubted God would come through for him.  Ten months later, on Christmas Eve, a box from home arrived.  At first glance it seemed to contain something special for everyone except a four-year-old boy.  Then they reached the bottom and they were stunned.  The lady who sent the box had no way of knowing God would use her to answer a little boy's prayer.  Before taping up the box, at the last minute, she tossed in the one item impossible for his parents to provide, something so insignificant no rational adult would ever have been foolish enough to ask God for, a pink plastic brontosaurus from a fast food restaurant promotion!

Sometimes we feel foolish bothering God with little things, but we shouldn't.  The Bible says: 'pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.' (Philippians 4:6 NLT).

God is interested in every detail of your life; if something is important to you, it's important to Him.  In Bible times two sparrows were sold for a penny (on sale you could buy five for two pennies!) yet Jesus said, 'not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it, the very hairs on your head are all numbered' (Matthew 10:29-30 NLT).

When you learn to trust God in little things, you will be able to trust Him in big ones.

Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper. Proverbs 13:4 NLT

By the time she was 16, Romana Bañuelos had been deserted by her
husband and left to raise her two children alone.  Living in Mexico, she
was poverty-stricken, untrained in any profession and unable to speak
English.  But that didn't stop her.  She had a dream, one she refused to
let go.  With only a few dollars in her pocket she headed for Los
Angeles, where she used her last seven dollars to take a taxi to the
home of a distant relative.  Romana refused to live on the charity of
others.  Immediately she found a job washing dishes, followed by a
second job making tortillas from midnight until 6 am.  From her two jobs
she was able to save $500, which she used to invest in her own tortilla
machine.  Over time, and with a great deal of hard work and study, she
became the owner of Ramona's Mexican Food Products, the largest Mexican
food products business in the world.  And that's not all. She was
hand-picked by President Dwight Eisenhower to become the thirty-seventh
United States Treasurer.  Romana Bañuelos exemplified what Eisenhower
had to say about dreams and discipline propelling our future: 'We
succeed only as we identify in life, or in war, or in anything else, a
single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend to
that one objective.'

Whether you flip burgers or trade futures, remember these words: 'Lazy
people want much but get little, but those who work hard will
prosper.'(Proverbs 13:4 NLT) God will only add His blessing to your best
effort, so today, give it all you have got!

Go! I am sending you. Luke 10:3 NIV

Jesus sent His disciples out on a mission saying, 'Do not take a purse or bag and do not greet anyone on the road' (Luke 10:4 NIV).

Observe three things He emphasized:

(1) 'Do not take a purse.'  No hoarding!  God will bless the man or woman who says, 'Every penny you give me above my needs, Lord, I will use to fulfil your purposes.'  Imagine standing at the judgment seat of Christ with your riches uninvested, your assignment unfulfilled, and your sphere of influence unreached for Christ.  What could you possibly say?

(2) 'Do not take a bag.'  No excess baggage!  God's Word says, 'let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.  And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us' (Hebrews 12:1 NLT).  Whatever can get your attention can influence you, and whatever can keep your attention can master you.  Satan dreads the completion of your assignment, so you must fight to keep your focus.

(3) 'Do not greet anyone on the road.'  Don't waste time!  Question any relationship that doesn't contribute to your destiny.  Paul was single-minded on this issue: 'if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him' (2 Thessalonians 3:14).

The hour is too late and the need too great.  In the old days, in certain agricultural states in America they closed the schools for a few weeks and everyone was sent into the fields to gather the harvest. Why?  Because to wait is to be too late!