Read Online Be All You Can Be: A Challenge to Stretch Your God-Given Potential by John Maxwell - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: John Maxwell
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know what happened. He poured all his energy into not falling, and that’s exactly what happened to him. I think that’s what often happens to us when we face giants. We look at the Goliaths in our lives in the same way the army of Israel looked at them, and our thoughts focus on not being defeated. That was all they could think about—not being killed, not being destroyed. When we focus on the pitfalls rather than the prize, we often fall right in. We should never allow ourselves to lose sight of our goal, for we may never see it again.
S TONE N UMBER O NE —C HECK Y OUR C AUSE
How did David kill Goliath? With a slingshot and a stone. We need some stones to ward off the giants in our lives too. Stone number one—check your cause. That is the first thing I would encourage you to do. Identify your purpose. What is the cause that makes you need to tackle your problems? Is it worthy enough to consume your energy, effort, time, commitment? Is it worth the risk you’ll be taking? You can be sure that David had a cause. When he arrived on the scene, the first thing he found was a very frightened Israelite army. The second thing he saw was Goliath—and he realized why they were scared to death. David had a giant of a problem to deal with.
I’ve found that little minds have wishes, and great minds have causes. Many of us are like Woody Allen, who said, “No matter what I’m working on, I’d like to be doing something else.” I know a lot of people like that! They have never developed a purpose great enough to hold them steady or a commitment strong enough to make a real difference. Behind every great accomplishment is a purpose, not a wish. Our purpose is what keeps us from giving up. Behind every enjoyable experience is a purpose, because purpose puts the seasoning in life, and makes it tasty and exciting.
Here’s an acrostic that may help you understand and remember what a sense of purpose will do for you, how it will lift you out of the realm of the ordinary. A purpose will cause you to:
Pray more than the ordinary person.
Unite more than the ordinary person.
Risk more than the ordinary person.
Plan more than the ordinary person.
Observe more than the ordinary person.
Sacrifice more than the ordinary person.
Expect more than the ordinary person.
A purpose will cause you to spend more time in prayer. If your purpose is bigger than you are, you’ll continually need to ask God for his wisdom and strength. Prayer is how the power of God is unleashed. We need to look at prayer as taking hold of God’s eagerness, not overcoming God’s reluctance. Throughout the Scriptures we are challenged to boldly claim victory through prayer: “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jer. 33:3). “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:13–14). “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you” (Mark 11:24). Through prayer we have the power and privilege to be used by God for a great purpose. The disciples of the first century knew how to pray and claim in faith the power of our omnipotent God to help change the course of history. We serve the same God today.
A purpose will cause you to unite—to look for others with similar goals. A good example of this is found in Genesis at the time of the building of the Tower of Babel. Because the people were united in a purpose, they were able to do things that had never been done before—extraordinary things.
A purpose challenges us to risk more. We’re willing to put ourselves out a little farther on the limb; we’re willing to get closer to our Goliaths.
If we have a purpose, we will do extraordinary planning to see it accomplished. If a cause is bigger than we are, it will require our best organizational skills.
S TONE N UMBER O NE —C HECK Y OUR C AUSE
How did David kill Goliath? With a slingshot and a stone. We need some stones to ward off the giants in our lives too. Stone number one—check your cause. That is the first thing I would encourage you to do. Identify your purpose. What is the cause that makes you need to tackle your problems? Is it worthy enough to consume your energy, effort, time, commitment? Is it worth the risk you’ll be taking? You can be sure that David had a cause. When he arrived on the scene, the first thing he found was a very frightened Israelite army. The second thing he saw was Goliath—and he realized why they were scared to death. David had a giant of a problem to deal with.
I’ve found that little minds have wishes, and great minds have causes. Many of us are like Woody Allen, who said, “No matter what I’m working on, I’d like to be doing something else.” I know a lot of people like that! They have never developed a purpose great enough to hold them steady or a commitment strong enough to make a real difference. Behind every great accomplishment is a purpose, not a wish. Our purpose is what keeps us from giving up. Behind every enjoyable experience is a purpose, because purpose puts the seasoning in life, and makes it tasty and exciting.
Here’s an acrostic that may help you understand and remember what a sense of purpose will do for you, how it will lift you out of the realm of the ordinary. A purpose will cause you to:
Pray more than the ordinary person.
Unite more than the ordinary person.
Risk more than the ordinary person.
Plan more than the ordinary person.
Observe more than the ordinary person.
Sacrifice more than the ordinary person.
Expect more than the ordinary person.
A purpose will cause you to spend more time in prayer. If your purpose is bigger than you are, you’ll continually need to ask God for his wisdom and strength. Prayer is how the power of God is unleashed. We need to look at prayer as taking hold of God’s eagerness, not overcoming God’s reluctance. Throughout the Scriptures we are challenged to boldly claim victory through prayer: “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jer. 33:3). “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:13–14). “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you” (Mark 11:24). Through prayer we have the power and privilege to be used by God for a great purpose. The disciples of the first century knew how to pray and claim in faith the power of our omnipotent God to help change the course of history. We serve the same God today.
A purpose will cause you to unite—to look for others with similar goals. A good example of this is found in Genesis at the time of the building of the Tower of Babel. Because the people were united in a purpose, they were able to do things that had never been done before—extraordinary things.
A purpose challenges us to risk more. We’re willing to put ourselves out a little farther on the limb; we’re willing to get closer to our Goliaths.
If we have a purpose, we will do extraordinary planning to see it accomplished. If a cause is bigger than we are, it will require our best organizational skills.
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