4 Life-Launching Truths
By Steve Backlund
“Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). The quality of our lives depends on our identifying what we believe God has said to us in promises, identity, and wisdom. Many of these “words from God” will not be exact quotes from the Bible, but will be truth in our own words that are supported by scripture.
In my previous blog, I shared six of my powerful quotes that have been made real to me. This week I am going to add four more truths. These four have helped launch my life into purpose, peace, enthusiasm, and healthy relationships. They can do the same for you too.
1. Both successful people and non-successful people do not feel like doing things, but successful people find a way to do what they don’t feel like doing - I have written seventeen books. Most of the time I wrote, I did not “feel” like writing, but I have created personal systems some (listed below) which motivated me and made it difficult for me not to write:
Consequences of paying people money if I don’t write
Scheduling meetings with others to keep the project moving forward
Commiting to write a blog or newspaper article that has has a deadline for me to produce
2. Faithfulness is not just showing up. It’s how we think when we show up - Showing up when we don’t feel like it is a big part of maturing in life. We won’t keep a job or have strong relationships without doing so. This is good, but it is only the beginning level of faithfulness. True faithfulness is not about our actions, but it is about our thinking through our actions. When we show up full of faith in our family, job, ministry, or meetings, we attach faith to these times and believe powerful things are going to happen.
3. Our hope level determines our influence level - It is difficult to influence that which we do not have hope for (whether it is ourselves, others, or our nation). I believe after love, hope is the most powerful leadership quality there is. If something is going to change, someone has hope (the belief the future will be better than the present, and we have the power to help make it so). If I believe things are only going to get worse for me, you, our cities, and our nations, then we are part of the problem. Romans 15:13 says our heavenly father is the “God of hope”. The Greek meaning for hope is “the confident, joyful expectation that good is coming.” In other words, we could read the start of Romans 15:13 like this: “Now may the God who is confidently, joyfully, expecting good is coming fill you . . . “ That God-concept will generate ideas, solutions, possibilities, and power where others will see only the problem.
4. The pattern in most relationships and callings is this: excitement, disappointment, and then either connection or disconnection - There is often a feeling of euphoria when we start a new relationship, new job, move into a new house, get a promotion, get accepted to a school, etc. This excitement can often blind us to the fact that there is no perfect person, place, or opportunity. After the initial glee wears off, we discover things we do not like that tempt us to live in disappointment. Many do not understand this is normal. It is part of the process of learning to not base our decisions on our feelings, but on what we believe we are supposed to do. The wise person is aware that everyone is tempted to allow disappointments to reduce their commitment to their most important relationships and assignments. Yes, there will be times where we will need to move out of toxic environments, but regularly withdrawing our hearts because we are disappointed is a tendency we cannot take with us if we want to grow in inner victory and influence.
Which of these four spoke to you the most? Why? What positive steps can you apply from that truth?