12 Principles for Claiming Your Destiny
Everywhere I go, I meet people who want success in their life.Believers, unbelievers, and people from all walks of life—all of us know instinctively that success beats failure, and we want to succeed.I believe that God is a good God and He has given everyone in this world life for a purpose—to bring something into the world that was not here before, to do something that needs doing, and to succeed in shining a light that has never shone before.That light is you. And this means that I believe YOU have the potential to succeed, no matter what anyone has said or done to try and stop you. You are a success going somewhere to succeed—and it’s time for you to believe it.
PRINCIPLE #1
Know What You Want—Be Clear and Shape Your Own Destiny
You’ve got to know what you want! You can be talented. You can be brilliant. You can have every gift in the world. But you can’t be successful if you don’t know what you want. To be successful, you must not only know what you want—but keep knowing it!
PRINCIPLE #2
Use Those Lonely ‘Wilderness Times’ to Get Clearer Focus on Your Calling and Goals
“It’s not the time to abandon hope or question faith. Lonely times are for getting focused on God and, personally, I’ve learned to use these wilderness times to become clearer about my calling and my goals. I’ve found that it’s in these times that I find out what to do, when to do it, where to do it, and how to do it.”
PRINCIPLE # 3
Do Not Seek Approval from People—Listen to God’s ‘Still, Small Voice’
“When you are dealing with and weighing opposing voices about your goal, your mission, your dream or the desire of your heart, remember this about voices: People’s voices are always loud and abrupt. God’s voice is still, small—and His voice always has a calm and steady strength in it.”
PRINCIPLE # 4
Is There Not a Cause? Passion is the Power that Creates Life and Helps you Achieve Success
“I think King David is a good example of how being passionate about your cause can change the course of your life. David asked a simple question to those who were around him in 1 Samuel 17:29. He was young and had gone out to bring food to his brothers when they were dealing with Goliath and the Philistine army.They didn’t approve of him being there and taunted him that he just came to see the battle. I love David’s response because it was simple and true. He said, “Is there not a cause?”Even though David was just a teenager, he understood what to do in a difficult situation. He knew Goliath had defied the nation of Israel. In his mind, King Saul and the army of Israel had lost their passion and forgotten their cause.Many people today who do not achieve their goals have that same problem. If you want success in life, you must stay passionate and remember the cause. It’s called “stay the course!” Protect this principle at all costs.
PRINCIPLE # 5
Don’t Settle for the Land of Better—Aim to Dwell in the Land of Best
“God didn’t create you to just barely get by. I believe He created you to achieve total success in this life—spiritually, physically, and even financially if you want that. In any area you want to succeed, the desire to reach your goal is necessary.This is why one of the ways you can hinder your future success is to become overly satisfied when things get a little better. When things move from bad to a little better you must resist the urge to stop believing that God can do even more for you.Years of bad teaching has many believers thinking that success in and of itself is bad—that it’s greedy to believe for something better, and that’s simply not true. God loves you and wants you to have the best. You just have to want the same for yourself to move beyond a little better.”
PRINCIPLE # 6
Don’t Judge Others—It Opens Up Your Life to Major Leaks
“Judging others is a waste of spiritual energy. The best way to fail is to fall into the trap of judging others. When you let yourself focus on the negative things someone has going on or has said about you, you’re doing only one thing—getting distracted! It’ll pull you right off course every time. You can’t focus on what you need to do when you’re focusing on judging somebody else! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: never let a distraction become an attraction.”
PRINCIPLE # 7
Listening Will Help You to See Your Situation in New Ways
“When you learn to listen instead of always talk, you will find that you gain new concepts, insights, and ideas. Listening is about being still and absorbing what is around you. It’s a state of receiving. It’s about listening to other people, of course, but it’s also and most importantly about listening to God.”
PRINCIPLE #8
Respect the Royalty in Yourself and Others
Revelation 1:6 it says, “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Himbe glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”That verse tells you who you are—it defines your future. As believers, we must give God glory. We must honor His right to dominion forever and ever. That’s a big statement!How do we do it? Well, one of the ways we can keep bringing glory to God and establishing His dominion is to step into our rightful roles of authority.As believers, we have been made by God to be kings and priests for Him. That’s why we must have respect for each other. That’s why we must honor one another, if nothing more than for our authority under God.When we don’t respect and honor one another, God can’t be glorified. We actually dishonor His authority when we dismiss our own.
PRINCIPLE # 9
Always Keep Encouragement Close to Your Heart
Everybody needs to be encouraged sometimes. We all get weary from time to time—and what helps you to “faint not” and keep on going can sometimes be simple encouragement.Encouragement will help you to breathe in difficult times. It is like oxygen for a weary soul. Seeking it out and keeping it close to your heart is critical to achieving godly success. So, don’tfool yourself into thinking it’s unimportant or something that doesn’t really matter. Encouragement matters! It gives your soul the restful boost you need to move forward.
PRINCIPLE # 10
Always Be Generous—Take as Many to the Top with You as You Can
Have you ever heard someone say, “It’s lonely at the top”? I’m sure you have. Lots of people work hard to achieve success only to turn around one day and realize that they’re all alone with their blessings. Why? Because those kinds of people made it to the top only thinking of themselves, but true success is never a solitary adventure.This principle will help you to not only achieve success in your own life, but to do it without alienating people in the process. It’s number ten on my list and it is this: Always be generous—take as many with you to the top as you can.
PRINCIPLE # 11
Never, Never, Never Report the News—Make the News
God said in the Word that we have dominion over all the works of His hands. So since we have that gift, we have the power to make the news, so to speak—and not just report it.In other words, you are in the driver’s seat. God has given you the right to forge ahead in life without fear, knowing that you have everything you need by the power of His Spirit to take dominion in life and succeed. But you have to know it and use it. Power and dominion are yours—and they are as much a part of who you are as the human body God gave you. When you know who you are, it changes how you act!
PRINCIPLE # 12
Never Waste Your Energy and Zeal on Projects that Don’t Work
Whatever big idea you have, before you make the choice to go full steam ahead toward it, you must decide within yourself that the idea is more than just a good idea—it must be a God idea.A good idea is a fifty/fifty proposition. You have no clue if it will work. Because if you have a good idea but you don’t know that God is in it, you won’t have the faith or confidence you need to see it to completion. Ideas take work and I’ve found, as a believer, that there is little joy in ideas that God is not behind. I need full faith in an idea to see it to completion—I need to know that it’s more than a good idea. It must be a God-idea!A God-idea is one that you’ve consulted the Lord about and gotten the “go-ahead.” That’s the kind of idea that will create energy and cause creative juices to start flowing in others, even in sinners. It’s a project that will work! You can be more passionate, more resilient and more dedicated when you are dealing with a God-idea than you ever can if you’re just working on a good idea.
