Starting Your Best Life Now: A Guide for New Adventures and Stages on Your Journey (5 page)

In the tough times we find out what we’re really made of.

WALK THROUGH THE FIRE

In the Bible, we read of Job, a good man who loved God and had a heart to do what’s right. Yet in a few weeks’ time, he lost his business, his flocks and herds, his family, and his health. Things could not get any worse, and then his own wife told him, “Curse God and die.”

But no, Job knew that God is a God of restoration. He knew God could turn any situation around. And his attitude was,
Even if I die, I’m going to die trusting God. I’m going to die believing for the best.
Sustaining faith is what got Job through those dark nights of the soul when he didn’t know where to go or what to do. And, when it was all said and done, God not only turned Job’s calamity around, He brought Job out with twice that he had before.

W
ORK WITH
G
OD IN THE REFINING PROCESS.

HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO TOUGH TIMES?

When adversity comes knocking at the door or calamities occur, some people immediately think they have done something wrong, that God surely must be punishing them. They don’t understand that God has a divine purpose for every challenge that comes into our lives. He doesn’t send problems, but sometimes He allows us to go through them.

Why is that? The Bible says temptations, trials, and difficulties must come, because if we are to strengthen our spiritual muscles and grow stronger, we must have adversities to overcome and attacks to resist. Trials are intended to test our character, to test our faith. If you will learn to cooperate with God and be quick to change and correct the areas He brings to light, then you’ll pass that test and be promoted to a new level.

Quiet your heart and receive God’s Word:
“But [God] knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” ( Job 23:10).

God often allows you to go through difficult situations to draw out those impurities in your character. You can pray and resist it, but it’s not going to do any good. God is more interested in changing you than He is in changing the circumstances. You may not always like it; you may want to run from it; you may even resist it, but God is going to keep bringing up the issue again and again until you pass the test. Faith tells you the best is yet to come.

LIVE
to Give

God is a giver,

and if you want Him to pour out

His blessing and favor in your life,

then you must learn to be

a giver and not a taker.

God will not fill a closed fist with good things.

BE A GIVER

I met a man not too long ago who was deeply depressed and disappointed with himself. Through a series of bad choices, he had lost his business, his family, his home, and his entire life savings. After I had prayed with him, I told him, “If you really want to be restored, you need to change your focus and go out and help somebody else in need.”

He showed up at church a few weeks later, beaming with joy. He said, “Joel, I spent the last two weeks taking care of cocaine addicts, and I’ve never been so fulfilled. I spent my whole life living for myself, building my career, doing what I thought would bring me happiness. But now I see what really matters.”

DO YOU SEE WHAT REALLY MATTERS?

One of the greatest challenges we face in our quest to enjoy our best lives now is the temptation to live selfi shly. Because we believe that God wants the best for us, and that He wants us to prosper, it is easy to slip into the subtle trap of selfi shness. Not only will you avoid that pitfall, but you will have more joy than you dreamed possible when you live to give and not to take.

God is a giver, and He created us to be givers. The spiritual principle is that when we reach out to other people in need, God will make sure that our own needs are supplied. If you want your dreams to come to pass, help someone else fulfi ll his or her dreams. If you're down and discouraged, get your mind off yourself and go help meet your friend's need. Sow the seed that will bring you a harvest.

Quiet your heart and receive God’s Word:
“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35
KJV
).

Perhaps you feel you have nothing to give. Sure you do! You can give a smile or a hug. You can do some menial but meaningful task to help someone. You can visit someone in the hospital or make a meal for a person who is shut in. You can write an encouraging letter. Your friend needs what you have to share. God created us to be free, but He didn’t make us to function as “Lone Rangers.” We need one another.

H
AVE AN ATTITUDE THAT SAYS,
W
HO CAN
I
BLESS TODAY?

Evil is never overcome by more evil.

WALK IN LOVE

If anybody in the Bible had a right to return evil instead of love, it was Joseph. His brothers hated him so much, they purposed to kill him but then sold him into slavery. Years went by, and Joseph experienced all sorts of troubles and heartaches. But Joseph kept a good attitude, and God continued to bless him. After thirteen years of being in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, God supernaturally promoted him to the second highest position in Egypt.

When Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt and suddenly found their lives were in Joseph’s hands, can you imagine the fear that gripped their hearts? This was Joseph’s opportunity to pay them back. Yet Joseph extended his mercy. Is it any wonder he was so blessed with God’s favor? Joseph knew how to treat people right.

G
OD WANTS
H
IS PEOPLE TO HELP HEAL WOUNDED HEARTS.

CAN YOU RETURN GOOD FOR EVIL?

How you treat other people can have a great impact on the degree of blessings and favor of God you will experience. You may have people in your life who have done you great wrong. You may feel as though your whole life has been stolen away by somebody. But if you will choose to forgive them, you can overcome that evil with good. If you do that, God will pour out His favor in your life in a fresh way. He will honor you; He will reward you, and He’ll make those wrongs right.

The Bible says we are to “aim to show kindness and seek to do good” (1 Thessalonians 5:15
AMP
). We must be proactive. We should be on the lookout to share His mercy, kindness, and goodness with people. Moreover, we need to be kind and do good to people even when somebody is unkind to us. The last thing they need is for you to respond angrily.

Quiet your heart and receive God’s Word:
“Love . . . is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]” (1 Corinthians 13:5
AMP
).

Keep taking the high road and be kind and courteous. Walk in love and have a good attitude. God sees what you’re doing, and He is your vindicator. He will make sure your good actions and attitude will overcome that evil. If you’ll keep doing the right thing, you will come out far ahead of where you would have been had you fought fire with fire.

This world is desperate to experience the love and compassion of our God.

KEEP AN OPEN HEART

Are you kind and considerate to people? When that coworker walks by you and doesn’t give you the time of day, are you friendly anyway? When someone speaks harshly or rudely to you, how do you respond?

Everywhere you go these days people are hurting and discouraged. They’ve made mistakes; their lives are in a mess. They need to feel God’s compassion and His unconditional love. They don’t need somebody to judge and criticize them. They need somebody to bring hope, to bring healing, to show God’s mercy. Really, they are looking for a friend, somebody who will take the time to listen to their story and genuinely care.

WILL YOU BE A FRIEND?

Our world is crying out for people who love unconditionally. Certainly, when God created us, He put His supernatural love in all of our hearts. He’s placed in you the potential to have a kind, caring, gentle, loving spirit. Created in God’s image, you have the capacity to experience God’s compassion in your heart.

Jesus always took time for people. He was never too busy with His own agenda, with His own plans. He wasn’t so caught up in Himself that He was unwilling to stop and help a person in need. He could have easily said, “Listen, I have a schedule to keep.” But no, Jesus had compassion on people. He freely gave of His life.

If you want to live your best life now, you must make sure that you keep your heart of compassion open. We need to be willing to be interrupted and inconvenienced if it means we can help meet our friend’s needs. Sometimes if we would just take the time to listen to them, we could help initiate a healing process in his or her life. So many people have pain bottled up inside them. They have nobody they can talk to; they don’t trust anybody. If you can open your heart of compassion and be that person’s friend—without judging or condemning—and simply have an ear to listen, you have the opportunity to make a difference in that person’s life.

Quiet your heart and receive God’s Word:
“If anyone . . . sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in him?” (1 John 3:17
AMP
).

Learn to follow the flow of God’s divine love. Don’t ignore it. Act on it. Someone needs what you have.

Be on the lookout for people you can bless.

In the time of need, sow a seed.

REAP A HARVEST

Don’t let anybody convince you that it doesn’t make any difference whether you give. In the Bible, a roman named Cornelius and his family became the first recorded Gentile household to experience salvation after the resurrection of Jesus. Why was Cornelius chosen for this honor? Cornelius was told in a vision: “Your prayers and charities have not gone unnoticed by God!” (Acts 10:4
TLB
). I’m not suggesting that you can buy miracles or that you have to pay God to meet your needs. But I am saying that God sees your gifts and acts of kindness. It pleases God when you give, and He will pour out His favor on you.

HOW MUCH SEEDArE YOU SOWING?

All through the Bible, we find the principle of sowing and reaping. “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7
NKJV
). Just as a farmer must plant some seed if he hopes to reap a harvest, we, too, must plant some good seed in the fields of our families, careers, and personal relationships.

If you want to reap happiness, you have to sow some “happiness” seeds by making others happy. If you want to reap financial blessing, you must sow financial seeds in the lives of others. The seed always has to lead.

God is keeping a record of every good deed you’ve ever done, including ones within your family. You may think it went unnoticed, but God saw it. And in your time of need, He will make sure that somebody is there to help you. Your generous gifts will come back to you. God has seen every smile you’ve ever given to others. He’s observed every time you went out of the way to lend a helping hand. God has witnessed when you have given sacrificially, even giving money to others that perhaps you needed desperately for yourself. God has promised that your generous gifts will come back to you (see Luke 6:38).

Quiet your heart and receive God’s Word:
“A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25).

Here’s something extra from the apostle Paul: “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:7–8).

W
HEN YOU ARE GENEROUS TO OTHERS,
G
OD WILL ALWAYS BE GENEROUS WITH YOU.

CHOOSE
to Be Happy

Learn to live one day at a time.

By an act of your will, choose to

start enjoying your life right now.

Enjoy everything in your life.

Life is too short not to enjoy every single day.

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS

I’ve heard parents say, “Well, as soon as my children get out of diapers, I’m going to be happy.” Others say, “As soon as they go off to school, I’ll have some free time, and I’ll be happy.” And some say, “Once the kids graduate, I’ll start enjoying my life.” Meanwhile, life passes by. “As soon as I get that promotion, as soon as I close this business deal, as soon as I retire . . .”

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

The apostle Paul wrote more than half of the New Testament while incarcerated, often in prison cells not much bigger than a small bathroom. Yet Paul wrote such amazing faith-filled words as “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4
NKJV
). Notice that we are to rejoice and be happy at all times. In your difficulties, when things aren’t going well, make a decision to stay full of joy.

You need to understand that the enemy is out to steal your joy. The Bible says that “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10
NKJV
), and your enemy knows if he can deceive you into living down in the dumps and depressed, then you are not going to have the necessary strength—physically, emotionally, or spiritually—to withstand his attacks.

It is a simple yet profound truth: Happiness is a choice. You don’t have to wait for everything to be perfect in your life. You don’t have to forgo happiness until you lose weight, break an unhealthy habit, or accomplish all your goals.

Quiet your heart and receive God’s Word:
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22).

Choose to be happy and enjoy your life! When you do that, not only will you feel better, but your faith will cause God to show up and work wonders. To do so, you must learn to live one day at a time; better yet, make the most of this moment. It’s good to set goals, but if you’re always living in the future, you’re never really enjoying the present in the way God wants you to.

By an act of your will, choose to start enjoying your life right now. Enjoy your family, friends, and health; enjoy everything in your life. Happiness is a decision you make, not an emotion you feel.

L
EARN HOW TO SMILE AND LAUGH.
Q
UIT BEING SO UPTIGHT AND STRESSED OUT.