28 Jul Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way (Because Tenacity is a Necessity to Fulfill your Destiny) Part 12
We have a very large contingency of police officers who come to Joy Church (I’ve had to cut way back on my illegal activity…lol!). It is just one of those “God things”…they truly feel safe at Joy Church. Within this large contingency of police officers, we have many S.W.A.T. officers who must undergo special and rigorous training in order to be a part of this select unit.
Well some of these young officers know that their pastor (me!) loves to challenge himself physically. So they are frequently telling me of the different physical training exercises that they do as they know I enjoy trying them at home. Recently they told me of a Navy Seal training regimen that they have undertaken so I could try it.
In this Navy Seal challenge, you must do 50 full extension push-ups, 15 pull-ups, 50 full extension sit-ups, 25 dips, 40 military presses with 45 pounds and 160 butterfly kicks on your back. You must do them without resting. The record time was 3 minutes and 59 seconds by a S.W.A.T. officer who could just about be my son. I had to give this a try!
On my first attempt I came in at four minutes and one second! A few days later I had to give it another shot and I shaved my time down to tie the record at 3 minutes and 59 seconds! Not bad for this 53-year old pastor! Why do I tell you this? Because I am certainly not perfect but I am very tenacious! I believe tenacity is a necessity to fulfill your destiny!
Over the last few weeks we have shared on this subject. Our key verse was II Timothy 1:7, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.”
Then we began to teach on 10 Truths Towards Tenacity:
- Tenacious people don’t waste time feeling sorry for themselves (Rom. 8:31).
- Tenacious people don’t hand the reigns of their emotional well-being to another (Phil. 4:4).
- Tenacious people embrace change (Ps. 55:19).
- Tenacious people don’t waste energy on things they can’t control (Phil. 2:14).
This week let’s continue with this last one and in conjunction with it let’s discuss:
“4 No Moan Zone Milestones”:
- Focus on what you do have not what you don’t have (I Thes. 5:18).
Here the Bible tells us, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Notice the Bible doesn’t say “For everything” but it says “IN everything.” You don’t thank God for things the devil does! Let me explain. Let’s say you are on vacation and because I am such a kind fellow I decided to surprise you. While you were gone let’s say I went over to your house and I mowed the lawn, trimmed your bushes and cleaned your gutters.
Upon your return, you noticed all these acts of kindness. Well, because you are such a grateful person you wrote me a thank you note. In this note you wrote, “Thank you Pastor Jim, for mowing my lawn, trimming my bushes, cleaning my gutters and shooting my dog!” I receive your note and I am taken aback because while I know that I mowed your lawn, trimmed your bushes and cleaned your gutters, I most certainly did not shoot your dog! IN everything give thanks…not FOR everything!
The Bible tells us, “Set not your eyes on that which is not” (Prov. 23:5). Again the principle here is not to focus on what you don’t have, but focus on what you do have! Since the Garden of Eden, that still is one of the devil’s biggest tricks. Here God sets Adam in the beautiful garden filled with thousands of wonderful trees and the enemy tries to get him to focus on the one tree he can’t have! Remember this: Focus on what you do have not on what you don’t. Focus on how far you’ve come, not on how far you need to go!
Next week we’ll continue our series!