If you live long enough as a Christian, you will be disappointed by a lot of people you held in high regard. You will be mistreated; things will go wrong for you. Your little world will collapse around you a few times; many things will bring you discouragement. The only way to keep on living without losing your zeal and your vibrant, glowing testimony is to have a personal, daily renewed relationship with Christ through His Word and through prayer.

The difference between mediocrity and greatness in God's vineyard is always vision. If we attempt great things for God and expect great things from God, God will make great things happen.

GOD’S MAN/WOMAN IS A PERSON OF PRAYER.
James 4:2-3, “… yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3            Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
 
Robert Murray McCheyne said "What a man is, he is alone on his knees before God, and no more".

GOD’S MAN/WOMAN LIVES IN THE PRESENT.
Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
In order to persevere in serving God successfully, you must forget those failures which are behind you. Many children of God must learn how to forget so that they can learn how to live. Today is the day that is important to God.


GOD’S MAN/WOMAN NEVER GIVES UP.
Proverbs 24:16,  “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”
The person who wins the battle is the one who is knocked down nine times but gets up ten. He is the one who will not accept defeat, who will never learn to sound retreat, who will never turn back. He continually goes upward and onward, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against him.  It is not important what happens to us. How we react to what happens to us is important.

GOD’S MAN/WOMAN IS ALWAYS FOCUSED.
I Corinthians 10:31, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
It is not the super-talented who turn this world upside down; it is the super-dedicated. You have been given a Divine mandate, and God will always enable you to do what He commands you to do. The command is to give the Gospel to everyone in the world. God will make it possible for us to reach the world if we will be obedient to the light He has given us and walk through the doors He has opened.

If God's servant will see nothing but the goal line, will accept nothing but victory, will pay any price, will suffer any hurt and hardship, and will refuse to be discouraged or disheartened, he or she will win; because they are charged with the power of God's Holy Spirit.

GOD’S MAN/WOMAN IS NOT AFRAID OF OPPOSITION.
I Corinthians 16:9, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.”
There are many wide open doors, but there are also many adversaries. God has not called us to a life of comfort, to popularity, or to rate high in the popularity polls. God has called us to preach His truth, His Gospel, whatever the cost may be. God fills with His Spirit those who learn how to fast and pray, who seek His face, and who receive renewal from Him.

GOD’S MAN/WOMAN REFUSES TO BE DISCOURAGED.
Romans 14:23, “And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
 
My two life maxims:
(1) “You don’t determine a man or woman’s greatness by their talent or wealth… but rather by what it takes to discourage them.”
 
(2) D.L. Moody said, “I have never known God to use a discouraged person”.
When you are discouraged you are of  no value to God, to your family, to your employer, to society, or to yourself. You do not determine a man's greatness by his talent or by his wealth as the world does, but rather by what it takes to discourage him. Spurgeon said "God is too good to be unkind, too wise to be mistaken, and when you cannot trace His hand, you can always trust His heart."
 
Churchill said “Success in life is often nothing more than going from one failure to the next with undiminished enthusiasm”.
 
GOD’S MAN/WOMAN IS CONSISTENT AND
PRACTICAL.
Paul, outside Jesus Himself, was the greatest man
of God ever on this earth. We all know his life
story with his trials, physical sufferings, and
strong discipline. 
 
At the end of his life he said,
II Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought a good fight, I
have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day:  and not to me
only, but unto all them that love his appearing”
 
One of the richest men in the world gave the following address to high school students:
 
RULE 1- Life is not fair- get used to it.
RULE 2- The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
RULE 3- You will NOT make $40,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice- president with a car phone, until you earn both.
RULE 4- If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. Most bosses don't have tenure.
RULE 5- Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping -- they called it opportunity.
RULE 6- If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
RULE 7- Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
RULE 8- Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
RULE 9- Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
RULE 10- Television is NOT real life! In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
RULE 11- Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

GOD’S MAN/WOMAN IS ALWAYS A VISIONARY WHO IS CLIMBING HIGHER.
 Habakkuk 2:2-3, “And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

One day a farmer's donkey fell into an abandoned well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway; so it just wasn't worth it to him to try to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel & began to shovel dirt into the well. Realizing what was happening, the donkey at first cried and wailed horribly. Then, a few shovelfuls later, he quieted down completely.

The farmer peered down into the well, and was astounded by what he saw.  With every shovelful of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up on the new layer of dirt. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off, to the shock & astonishment of all the neighbors!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to not let it bury you, but to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping-stone. We can get out of the deepest well just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up! Persevere!