Sunday, September 23, 2018
Born A Winner
Just as surely as success begins with an attitude, failure begins with an attitude. Failure does not begin when what we have done does not succeed. Failure begins by saying, "I quit."
Thomas Edison tried 10,000 experiments on one idea—none of which produced the results he wanted. Yet he refused to accept failure. Edison said, "I have not failed 10,000 times, I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work."
When we think like that, we cannot be defeated by the devil. Instead, we will continue to press on until the promise of God becomes a reality.
A child of God is born to be a winner. Unfortunately, too many have been conditioned to lose.
For some, religion has stolen the desire to win. Others have let the hard knocks of life change them. Multitudes of others have never recovered from the broken relationships and the disappointments that have squeezed the joy and strength from them.
It seems that for some people almost anything cannot be done. They have become can't do people.
We may be among those who feel that life has dealt an unfair blow. But we have to be careful how we react to those situations that have hurt or discouraged us. There is an enemy to our soul; his name is Satan, and he is not fair. He will use anything possible, even someone close to us, to steal our peace and confidence in God.
We cannot allow Satan to beat us. We have God dwelling within us, Who will rise up and cause us to be all He has called us to be, do all that He has called us to do, and receive all that He has declared we could receive.
We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. God's Word will turn us into the kind of people who believe that whatever we set our hands to do can succeed and prosper.
A winner is not someone who has never suffered a setback. He is someone who knows that when the setback comes, he must get up and continue forward. If we refuse to quit, we cannot lose.
Are we can do or can't do people? Paul was "a can do" man. Second Corinthians 4:8-9 in the J.B. Phillips paraphrase says: "We are hard-pressed on all sides, but we are never frustrated; we are puzzled, but never in despair. We are persecuted, but are never deserted: we may be knocked down but we are never knocked out!"
Think about it—the most natural thing to do when we have fallen down or been knocked down is to get up. We would not just lie on the ground. We jump up as quickly as possible and hope no one saw us fall. So what should we do if something in life knocks us down? Refuse to stay there. Get up! That's the natural thing to do. It's the attitude every winner must maintain in life.
2 Corinthians Chapter 4
King James Version (KJV)
4 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.