The rich and satisfying life you are destined to live starts with what you want to do with your life.  God gave you His life, His nature, and His ability so that you could tap into the force that created the universe.  You can harness that power as an aid to help you live your dreams.  God created you to have fellowship with Him through the process of realizing your God-given dream.  God has already provided you with an abundance of life; now it is up to you to create your own abundant life here on earth.

The best way to predict your future is to create it!  Creating your future starts with knowing what kind of life you want, knowing what your future is supposed to look like, and knowing what you must become in order to receive everything you want.  The following seven questions will help you identify what it is you want to be, to do, and to have:

1. What kind of life do you want?

2. What have you always dreamed of doing, but were afraid to attempt?

3. What kind of work would you do if you did not need the money?

4. What are your unique talents, gifts, skills, and abilities?

5. What has God called you to do?

6. What does your ideal day look like?

7. What one great thing would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Writing the answers to those questions is proof that you can live your dreams.  You just need to identify what kind of life you want.  If you can see it with your imagination, you can experience it in your life.  Your answers to those questions will help you identify what you love to do and encourage your passion for the desires that God has placed within you.

This article is an excerpt from our book, Beyond Positive Thinking: Success and Motivation in the Scriptures.  To order your copy click here.  With every book you order, we will send you a complimentary companion CD.

The qualification to receive the desires of your heart is to delight yourself in the Lord.  To delight yourself in the Lord is to be in Christ and to enjoy that reality.  To delight yourself in the Lord requires that you make a decision to live according to God’s will for your life.  God’s will is that the reality of who you are in Christ becomes the dominant desire of your heart.  To delight yourself in the Lord includes making a decision to live according to who you are in Christ.

To delight yourself in the Lord includes who you are, what you have, and what you can do because you are in Christ Jesus.  The benefits of being in Christ are threefold.  First, who you are in Christ – you are a child of God.  Second, what you have in Christ – you have eternal life and an inheritance.  Third, what you can do in Christ – you can realize your God-given dream!

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You can learn more about who you are in Christ and how to live out that reality by ordering our new book, Beyond Positive Thinking: Success and Motivation in the Scriptures.  With every book you order, we will send you a complimentary companion CD.  To order your copy, click here!

Our Success Scripture this week is an excerpt from our new book, Beyond Positive Thinking: Success and Motivation in the Scriptures.

It is exciting to know that it is God’s will to give you your heart’s desire.  It is encouraging to know that it is God’s will to make all your plans succeed.  Your heart’s desire includes what you have a passion to be, to do, and to have.  Your success includes the improvements you want to make in your life.

Your heart’s desire may include a closer relationship with your family or a stronger marriage.  Perhaps your heart’s desire includes improving your health.  You may desire more prosperity in your business or career.  You may desire to give more money to your church or your favorite charity.  Perhaps identifying your God-given dream and implementing God’s plan for your life would be your heart’s desire.

The Beyond Positive Thinking book will help you with your New Year’s resolutions.  With every book you order, we will send you a complimentary companion CD.  To order your copy, click here.

Spending quiet time with God every day cannot be overemphasized.  Jesus knew this, and as busy as He was, He always found the time to rest and spend time alone with His Father God.  In the fast paced world we live in, it is sometimes too easy to just go, go, go all the time.  Rest is a time of receiving from God. When we take the time to rest, we are putting ourselves in a position to receive from God.

Who wants you to be successful in life more than anyone else?  Who knows the plan for your life?  Who created you to fulfill your unique destiny?  Who wants your fellowship so you can realize your God-given dream?  When are you going to take the time to receive the answers to these questions if you do not take the time to rest and listen to God as He yearns to speak to you?

As you head into 2012, take some time to be quiet and crystallize your thinking according to God’s plan for your life, and specifically, what you will accomplish in 2012.  Take some time to write your dreams and goals, meditate on them, and develop a plan of action that God will reveal to you.

Taking time to rest will enable you to accomplish far more in less time.  This is one of the reasons Jesus was able to accomplish so much in His three and a half years of ministry.  Remember, success isn’t the end of the journey, but the journey itself.  Take the time to rest and receive from God this year!

Have an Ephesians 3:20 New Year!

The degree to which you keep your mind full of God’s thoughts is the degree to which you will experience the peace of God.  The battle between peace and anxiety is being waged in your mind.  If you are continually thinking about the problems in your life, you are on your way to the end of those problems.  Conversely, if you are thinking about the solution, you are on your way to the end of that solution.

You can experience God’s peace simply as a result of your thinking.  Simply by thinking God’s thoughts in your mind.  Simply by holding a God-like image in your mind.  Simply by visualizing who you are in Christ in your mind’s eye.

Every miserable day that you have ever had is a result of the thoughts you have been holding in your mind.  Negative thoughts can enter your mind at any time, but it is up to you to decide whether you are going to meditate on them, and as a result, act on them.

The biblical response would be to replace negative thoughts with God’s thoughts.  When you do this, you are trusting God, and His peace will be perfected in  your life.  The solution: Keep your mind filled with God’s Word, which contains God’s thoughts!