When God Says, What If? How Your Purpose Will Impact The World

Chapter 3 - Most People Don't Want You to Win!

One of the biggest mistakes we make is listening to what other people have to say about our lives. We waste so much time listening to people who haven't even figured out their own lives, and yet they want to tell us how to live ours. It is really ridiculous if you think about it. Ok, maybe some of you are saying this isn't true in my life. If that's the case, that is great. But most people spend way too much time listening instead of doing, and that listening is what actually stops us. 

So what is wrong with that anyway? What is wrong with listening to a well-meaning parent, teacher, coach, friend, or boss? There is nothing wrong with taking constructive criticism as long as you consider it against who God says you are to be. The second we start listening to people over God, we are done! We will never meet our purpose that way.

Think about it for a minute. There is not another person on this planet that knows what God has created you for, or what God has planned for you. I don't believe God goes around telling other people what we are supposed to be doing; instead, he wants us to listen and trust what he tells us. But what do most of us do? We ask other people's opinions, we overshare our dreams, and we open ourselves up for the feedback we really don't want in the first place.

We are social beings and we do need people to support us. I am not saying to not share, ask for support, or ask for help. What I am saying is we have to take that information and always weigh it against what we believe God is saying to us. Make sure it is in line. Make sure it is supporting you on the path you are meant to be walking on, and not taking you in a different direction.

I believe most people mean well with their input, but frankly, some and probably most, don't. I don't know about you, but I have had way too many people say negative and even really mean things to me. Sometimes I am shocked at how people have reacted to something I am really excited about. They clearly don't want me to succeed, that is obvious. So then knowing that, why do we ever listen? 

The truth is that we listen because we really don't believe in our own path. For most of my life, I have been led by the approval (or disapproval) of others. When people told me I could – I did, and when people told me I couldn't – depending on who they were – I would often agree. I know what you are thinking – how pitiful is that. But it wasn't that blatant. The devil doesn't work quite that way. He is subtle, and so are the people he uses to get in the way of God's plans for our lives. Remember our battle is not with the flesh as Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 "For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit of forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere." Paul goes on to tell us to put on God's complete armor to protect ourselves.

What do we need armor for? To protect ourselves from letting other people's negative thinking in. You may not think about negative words as powerful, but talk to anyone who is telling you about this great idea they had twenty years ago, and you will find out quickly why they never acted. They let other people talk them out of it. That's because they didn't believe.

To get on the path God has intended for us we need to decide to not let people define us. Again, we need good advice, but always put it in perspective. Decide if the advice makes sense based on what God has spoken to our hearts. I like to think of it this way. At the end of my life, I will face God to answer for my life. All of those people that I listened to won't be beside me. I can hear it now. But God, they told me to... But God, she told me that I shouldn't... but God...

Are you seeing how that goes? It's good to laugh but there is a serious side to this too. No one wants to get to the end of life and have nothing but regret. No one wants to have an average life. All of us were created to win, to be amazing! It would be the saddest thing to sit back at the end of my life and have nothing but a pile of excuses. I would rather give it everything I have and fail over and over again than to never try. I know people say that all the time, but for me, it is more real in my life than it has ever been.