A Winner Gets Up – By Pastor George Lehman
It’s all about living with a winning attitude.
The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the effort you apply.
No effort – Zero is achieved
Little effort – little is achieved
Great effort – Great achievements
God works with us, but we need to be working with God.
God works with winners.
Psalm 145:18 (NIV) – The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.
1 Corinthians 9:24(NLT) – Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! (No one runs to lose!)
Throughout your life you will most certainly experience many knock-down moments. (Not if, but when they come.)
Life is a journey – often difficult and sometimes incredibly cruel but we are all well equipped for it. If only we tap into our talents and gifts that God has blessed us with and allow them to blossom. – Les Brown (We are not “Immune to it”)
Growth is best when there is much manure.
Setbacks are setups for great come backs. The ceiling of difficulty and hardships will become the floor on which you will walk in your breakthrough.
People are confronted with sudden unimaginable struggles, debilitating disease or injury, divorce, job loss, the death of a loved one, financial collapse, addiction, betrayal and so much more.
Can I encourage you if you’ve been knocked down too…
While going through stuff does not have to mean feeling helpless and hopeless.
Despite their circumstances, many men and women have discovered ways to not just survive their crises but actually thrive in it. Winner’s do this.
I’ve seen many people grow stronger from the experience!
No matter how devastating the crises or problem, they’ve used their circumstances as steppingstones to new beginnings.
Getting knocked down hurts.
The SPLAT:
A man who meets a guru on the road asks, “Which way is success?”
The bearded sage doesn’t speak but instead points to a place off in the distance.
The man, thrilled by the prospect of quick and easy success, rushes off in the appropriate direction. SPLAT!
He limps back, bruised, and stunned, assuming he must have misinterpreted the message. He repeats his question to the old man, who again points silently in the same direction.
He obediently walks off once more. This time the splat is deafening, and when he crawls back, he is bloody, broken and irate. “I asked you which way is success!” he screams at the old man. “I followed the direction you indicated! And all I got was splattered! No more of this pointing! Talk!”
Only then does the old man speak: “Success is that way. Just a little after the splat.”
We have all experienced “the SPLAT”. But winners get up and move on to success.
It’s really what we do after the “SPLAT” that makes all the difference.
This most times is what separates committed life changers, momentum-makers from average, ineffective people.
This world will always give you the opportunity to quit, but only the world would call quitting an opportunity.
– Clint Brown
The point is a man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits!
Nothing and nobody can keep you down unless you decide not to rise again.
There are no hopeless situations, there are only men who have grown hopeless about them.
Paul said this about getting knocked down…
2 Corinthians 1:8-11 (Msg) – We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province.
It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us.
As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God — not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead!
And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing.
You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don’t want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God’s deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.
We must understand there is your limit and then there’s God’s limit for you.
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second wind.
God always has a way out for His children.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (Msg) – No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
Romans 8:28 (NIV) – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Notice, “All things” means… ALL THINGS! In Good or bad circumstances
When you feel weak, vulnerable, unsure, or insufficient, it is not the time to panic or fear, but to trust.
God does not want us to trust in our resources or ‘make our own plan’ when it’s time to meet a need in your life, but to rely upon His resources.
We are called to be STRONG in the Lord and in the Power of His Might. His arm is mighty to save and strong to deliver.
Your knock down is more than just an ordeal to endure.
It can also be part of a process that leads to growth, maturity and strength for a lifetime and beyond.
Quote:
My faith in God has nothing to do with the number of times life has knocked me down.
It is based on the fact that every time I have been pushed to the
ground my God has picked me back up.
Proverbs 24:16 – For a righteous man falls seven times and rises again.
Let us do a default reset – back to “I’m a Winner.”
