Overcome Any Challenge: 5 Habits that Separate Victims from Victors
I remember one particular man of God who’s gone on to be with the Lord.
Someone had a dream that one of their family members died, and they said, “The Lord showed me they’re going to die, and He’s just trying to prepare us.”
The Lord used this man, and he said, “God does not give you these dreams so the devil can come in and steal a life away. He’s warning you that the enemy is trying to kill that person, and you need to stand in the gap and intercede for them.”
Then there are also times when the enemy brings dreams to strike fear in your heart. Bishop David believes that 80 percent of Christians’ problems can come from not understanding the source of dreams. In other words, the enemy is behind the inspiration of some of those dreams.
We need to be careful what we watch or read before we go to bed. Many people watch the news before bed and most of the time, it’s driven by fear, and much of it is fake news full of lies and deception. We have to be careful what we’re saturating our minds with. I like the Word of God to be in my thoughts or to listen to some good, anointed teaching or worship music before I go to bed. I don’t want to prime the pump for the enemy to come visit me with dreams or things like that. They call them nightmares or night terrors for a reason. They emanate from the realm of darkness.
The second type of dream is of the conscious mind. There are times when you can skillfully devise and construct a dream with your conscious mind, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. The Lord is so willing to give His children good and wonderful things. And in God’s presence, there is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).
God may speak directly to you, apart from your conscious ability, through dreams—also called night visions. These types of dreams can contain direction, encouragement, or warning from the Lord.
Joseph dreamed two dreams that came directly from God and revealed that God was ultimately going to put him in a position of authority. One thing you must understand is that just because you hear from God doesn’t mean everybody’s going to get excited about it. Joseph shared those dreams with his brothers and his family, and they got so mad they decided to kill him. Then one of his brothers stepped in and said, “No, we can’t do that.” So they sold him into slavery instead.
He was sent off to a foreign country, and you know the story. God took what the devil meant for evil and made it work for good.
Joseph was exalted in the land of Egypt, and the only one greater was Pharaoh. When he revealed to his family who he was, they were afraid and trembling. They thought they were dead for sure. They thought Joseph was going to kill them. The fact of it was that Joseph said, “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20 NKJV).
I have to say that for Linda and me in the early days of ministry, it was scary in the natural. When we came into leadership at Church For All Nations, we were in child-like faith in obedience to God. Honestly, we had never had good, effective leadership modeled for us. It’s been said we were handed a sinking ship.
We had so many challenges. I would think about the challenges and what we were facing, and I saw it as a huge negative. Now, when I look back on it, I’m so grateful for what we went through because out of it, I learned what the power of vision can do. Out of tragedy can come triumph. Out of devastation can come a tremendous amount of power. But the biggest thing I’ve learned is that Linda and I would not be who we are today had we not gone through what we went through.
Many of you are facing difficult situations right now, and I want to encourage you. The Word says in Hebrews 12:3 to consider Him (Jesus) lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. As you begin to seek the Lord, the Spirit of God will begin to inspire you and you can dream consciously of a better, more powerful future.
King David said in Psalm 27:1 (KJV), “The Lord is my light and my salvation [meaning my deliverance]; whom shall I fear?” In Psalm 46, he said that if the mountains slid off into the ocean, he would not fear. His heart was fixed, established, trusting the Lord. God did not give us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7), but a spirit of faith. I have an anticipation inside of me, and our greatest days and your greatest days are ahead!
Success is in our court, and over the years, I’ve observed that successful people or those who accomplish great things have certain characteristics. I want to share with you briefly the five characteristics of great achievers.
1. Focus on a Specific Goal.
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going (Ecclesiastes 9:10 NKJV).
Focus allows something powerful to happen. As a kid growing up in West Texas, we would take a magnifying glass out in the sun and focus it on a little pile of grass or kindling until it got so hot it caught fire. You can succeed at any endeavor you focus on.
2. Refuse to Quit.
Do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:12 NKJV).
Sometimes people give up right before their miracle. They don’t realize if they would just stay with it, a little bit ahead of them is their breakthrough. Winners never quit, and quitters never win. Great achievers, those who accomplish things, stay in relentless pursuit of their victory.
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks.
And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus (Matthew 14:28-29 NKJV).
Peter wasn’t afraid to take the risk of walking on the water. We all know that when he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink. But let’s not forget the scripture that says he walked on the water to go to Jesus. I’ve heard it said, “I’d rather be a wet water walker than a dry boat rider any day.” Some of our greatest victories will come because we were willing to step out in faith.
4. Be Willing to Bear Pain.
Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin (1 Peter 4:1 NKJV).
You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3 NKJV).
Peter Daniels defined success as the willingness to bear pain. Anything of value is going to cost you something. It is true: no pain, no gain, and life’s battles are always in proportion to the potential victory to be gained. We must be ready for those times in life when the call is to persevere, to resist the devil and push back against the forces of hell.
5. Have a Servant-Leader Approach to Life.
Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all (Mark 10:43-44 NKJV).
Jim Rohn once said, “There are two columns in life— problem solvers and problem creators.” We are servants who lead, but we are also leaders who serve.
When we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, we see that He did all five of these things. He set His face like flint on fulfilling the will of God. He refused to quit. Scripture says He was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. There was so much grief and pain He had to endure because he came to His own and His very own people rejected Him—not to mention the suffering and pain of the cross. He was unafraid to take risks and was most certainly the greatest servant-leader of all time.
In Genesis 13:14-15, the Lord told Abraham to look up right from where he was, to look north, south, east, and west. God told him everything he could see, he could have. A lot of you are asking God if you can have certain things, but I’m here to tell you the Lord is asking you right now, can you see it? If you can see it, you can have it. Look at your future with your second set of eyes.
There are more with you in the Lord than against you! If God be for you, no one can successfully remain your enemy. I am living proof of that. Everything the enemy brought against me has worked for my good, and I believe the same for you.
