THE POWER OF CHANGE
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” —Muhammad Ali
Until we fully accept that the pain of change isn’t as bad as the pain of staying the same, we may never change. Deep down, we know there’s a gap between where we are now and where God wants us to be. Maybe a Grand Canyon. Instead of waiting for the pain of a diagnosis, start a new plan now, even if you are in good health. Change and innovation is critical to overcome challenging times like we are facing right now and are bound to face throughout our lives.
It is important to change, in order for your body to remain unchanged. If your lifestyle is bad right now or you know you have unresolved health issues, deep inside you know that one day you’re going to be lying on a surgeon’s table and before the gas renders you fully unconscious you’re going to say to yourself, “I knew it!” The pain you’ll end up with will be far greater than the pain of changing right now. In fact, while the consequences of not changing equal only unpleasantness, the consequence of the right change will bring only more victory. That’s why one of the greatest champions of all time said, “Suffer now, and spend the rest of your life a champion.”
What is the first thing that God ever created? Before God created anything, He created wisdom. Wisdom became the architect of everything that exists. “The LORD brought me [Wisdom] forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began…I was the craftsman at his side” (Proverbs 8:22–23, 30).
Wisdom is the application of acquired and assimilated knowledge and understanding. In other words, it’s doing the right thing at the right time in the right way. That’s wisdom. God desires that we would have wisdom to do the right thing at the right time, but we’re intimidated and we’re stopped. The apostle Paul wrote to his young protégé Timothy over and over, “Stir up the gift that is in you.” “Don’t let people intimidate you.” “Don’t worry about being young.” “Don’t worry about small beginnings.”
Then he said: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). Paul knew that Timothy could be intimidated, so he said, to paraphrase, “God gave you the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, not a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.” A sound mind means wise judgment. God gave you wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to do the right thing at the right time in the right way. What takes us to the place of wisdom is discipline. In competition, we hear commentators on television say, “They had the will to win.” But the will to win is not what wins games. What wins games is the will to prepare to win when nobody else is there.
Discipline is the application of wisdom in your life right now, when nobody else is around. It’s saying, “I need to discipline my life. I need Winning MY Race 66 to be in the Word. I need to eat the right things. I need to live a whole life. I need to live in wholeness.” The Word of God says that shalom, the word peace, literally means “wholeness,” the presence of God. What discipline did for Timothy was bring him to a place of faith that gave him confidence.
When you discipline your life, you’ll be confident. God said to us in John 14:12 that we will do the same works that Jesus did. That is your Father talking to you. He said, “You can do this.” You, where you are, what your desires are, what your dreams and the application of your life are, all that you desire to do with what you are, all of the reason and purpose for God placing you on this earth, God says, “You can do this.” Your Father in heaven loves you passionately. Apply wisdom. Don’t lean into a spirit of fear. But lean into His presence and the Holy Spirit, because YOU CAN DO THIS.
With God, all things are possible
Dr. Ben