CHAPTER 15: DOING BETTER THAN YOUR BEST 2022
I need to make Chapter 15 clear right off the bat. Doing your best is something we all do. We all try and achieve “doing our best.” The problem is — our best, simply put, is not good enough. My best can get me into trouble. The trick is to do better than my best. Only way to do that, is with God. All I gotta do is ask Him. Why don’t I do that all the time? Well, by the time I get to the end of this lesson, you’ll know about listening and assessing incorrect voices and vices in your head. How does that happen? In steps, little by little we break away from common sense, until we are all alone with stupid. What’s the first step towards stupid?
A concept I call “it’ll do, Lou.” Meaning, it’ll do is good enough. Let me tell you folks, it’ll do is not good enough. Why? Because God did not create an “it’ll do” person. He created you in the image of Him.
Genesis 1:27
New International Version
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
What else gets in the way? The bad guy gets in the way and I want you to remember that so that at the end of the lesson you have a better understanding of the following scripture.
1 Peter 5:8-9
New King James Version
8 Be [a]sober, be [b]vigilant; [c]because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
We are plagued by lazy, stubborn, entitlement, ego, pride, all of it gets in the way of just doing the job and staying the correct course. Phrases like “shoulda been, coulda been, suppose to be, used to be”, all of those kind of sayings get us into a head space not well suited for the way “it is”. I gotta deal with the way “it is,” right now, right this minute, right here, that’s all. Move accordingly and do what needs to be done with the “way it is.” Accept it and deal accordingly. Be blessed by what God has given in this minute, problem solve, work, complete tasks, push forward. What else gets in the way? Fear, terror, phrases like, “it won’t work, I doubt it, no way, can’t happen, dead in the water, not, no, never worked before, embarrassment will get you every time if you’re not quick to push it aside.” All of that, a real show stopper. In the book of Luke is a story of a loving father, having a possessed child, a son who is thrown into dangerous convulsions since birth, pleaded with Jesus to heal the boy and cast out the demon within his child.
Mark 9:23-24
New King James Version
23 Jesus said to him, “If[a] you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
That is the example. “Help me with my unbelief.” You see, Jesus gave the man a stronger Faith, and that is what healed the boy.
We are designed by God to deal with the life He has designed for us. In the book of Esther there is a great line that I love and it says, “perhaps you were prepared for such a time as this.” Let me tell you about it. The story takes place, thousands of years ago in Persia around 479 BC and the jews are being held in captivity.
It’s not a bad time necessarily for them, but it’s not really a good time either. Esther, is a jew, and that fact unbeknown to the King has allowed her to become crowned Queen. When that happens a secret plot is revealed to her. She is tasked with reporting to the King of a diabolical plot to destroy the jews that live in her country. Filled with fear, she hesitates. If the King is not pleased with her report, and finds that she, too is a jew, her life could be in jeopardy. As a jew if she fails to report this to the King, and to uncover the bad guy, Haman, who has manipulated the King to do terrible things, in a short time her people will be destroyed. She hesitates still. Her uncle Mordecai steps in and warns her.
Esther 4:14
Holman Christian Standard Bible
14 If you keep silent at this time, liberation and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s house will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”
There it is, “for such a time as this.” Being obedient can and will be inconvenient, scary but oh, so rewarding and when I follow, truly follow God’s will, I discover what He has prepared me for. Did Esther come through? Did she do it? Yes, she did. The King did listen and was pleased with her. The Jews were saved and the antagonist, Haman, lost his life for his misuse of power.
Galatians 6:9
Holman Christian Standard Bible
9 So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.
He has made an amazing each one of us. With God all things can be done, but I know without teaching and purpose, what am I worth? I’m a cell phone without a charger, a Maserati without gas, a flashlight without batteries.
2 Timothy 1:7
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Matthew 22:14
King James Version
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
What happens when you decide, “I’m out, I didn’t sign up for this.” “It’s too hard, it’s too confusing, it’s too stressful, it’s too much of a pain, I don’t like it, I’m not going to do it.”
You’ll get your wish. And in time, a slow arduous death of your responsibilities, is the prize. One day, it’ll all just have slipped away from you. The enemy will have sold you a bill of goods that is nothing more than an empty box, and you will have paid for it with all that the Lord had given you. The memory of being special, without being special anymore.
Titus 1:9
English Standard Version
9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound[b] doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
Don’t let disturbance get in your path. What is a disturbance?
Second guessing yourself, and changing course instead of having Faith, setting the correct course and staying the course.
Quote a fair price and leave it alone. Should I reduce my rate? Should I increase my rate? Quote a fair price. If it’s meant to be, it’ll be clear, if not, I dodged a bullet, thank you, God. Why should I be so concerned with doing better than best? Time, my friends. How many seconds do you have left? What are you going to do with yours.
James 4:13-14
New King James Version
Do Not Boast About Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow [a]we will go to such
and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a
profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For
what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and
then vanishes away.
Instead of doing life, do more than just doing life. Like a charge card. If you pay the minimums, you’ll never pay it off. Pay a little more than the minimums and suddenly it’s all paid off.
We are in the service of the Lord and here to do the job He set forth today in our community and to each other. Many times we have all said, “how am I going to handle the future, how am I going to work like this when I’m 100.” Stop doing that. It’s not productive. I call it dimension jumping. Stay in the right now and take care of the list today.
Matthew 6:33-34
Holman Christian Standard Bible
33 But seek first the kingdom of God[a] and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Be careful of short cuts. BEWARE. MORE IS NOT BETTER, BETTER IS BETTER. Take care of what you have and growth will happen all by itself. God gives you what you need, we get in trouble when we go after what we want.
Matthew 6:26-30
New International Version
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
It’s a lot less of a hassle and a lot less of a brain drain to trust that God will direct you. I rest in that because He will also give me an unquenchable spirit to obtain what He has offered me. A strength to forge ahead and continue the mission. I don’t have to worry about incorrect decisions when I’m following the Lord. I will know mistakes, He will warn me, show me, help me.
1 Timothy 1-6:9
People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into
many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and
destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
I share with you, “Origin of Failure.” It is a lesson I teach. A decision that costs everything. Part of the recovery of a company, of a person actually is walking back from the jaws of catastrophic failure to the exact point of what caused the problem. Like taking a path when hiking. When lost, if God is with us, we find our way back to the place where we made a wrong turn. At that very point, we can turn to the correct direction and proceed. For me, I’ve witnessed that blessing many times. It is a hard choice because the right path is challenging, very challenging. Knowing that, I have also witnessed those who make it all the way back and then look towards the right direction and seeing how steep and difficult it is, they opt out. Rather than ask God for the strength to overcome, they turn back. It is hard breaking to watch.
John 16:33
New King James Version
33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you [a]will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Let me explain something about prayer and seeking God. When you share with people that God has told you to do something, make sure you’ve truly asked God what He wants you to do and you have patiently waited for the answer. Beware that in your prayer your not just reporting or telling Him to cosign what you’ve already decided to do. Beware of the voices in your head. There are two, the voice of Reason, and the voice of Treason. Guess which one is God? In closing I’ll tell you a little story that happens in the book of Job. It tells of just such an occasion. A man named Eliphaz, a friend of Job, tries to explain the calamity that has befallen his friend Job. By the way, Job is the story of a man who was horribly tested by the devil and proved to all in his neighborhood, including the devil, that he, Job remained steadfast in his faith and could not be wavered by the attacks of Satan. Eliphaz had no idea why Job was going through hideous trials, so he made it up, he prayed perhaps, and what he decided that had come to him in a vision, was not only incorrect, but not helpful to anyone, especially his buddy Job. Learn how destructive listening to the wrong voice in your head can be. This capsulizes all of us when we say we’ve heard from God, and it’s not God.
Job 4:12-16
New International Version
“A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it.
Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on people,
fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.
A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.
It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes,
and I heard a hushed voice:
Complete nonsense and certainly not from God. The guy goes on to tell Job that his vision clearly reveals that Job is being punished for some reason, which is absolutely not true, Job is being tested and in the end Job wins the test and is rewarded. Why? Because Job listened to the voice of God, the voice of reason, not treason. Listening to the wrong people, the wrong voices in your head, your own stubborn manifestation of God that would help you along the wrong road in the name of God. Doing better than your best cannot be achieved without God and a great deal of testing, fortitude and overcoming of the sinful, selfish nature. Jesus has overcome the world, He will help you do the same. Chapter 15 – Doing Better Than Your Best. Only in God, is this possible and as usual, in each of us when called upon by the Lord for the test, we say “okay.” Amen. Amen.
