Living By Divine Design
We lived for many years just north of the Mexican border in San Diego County, where people were entering America daily, looking for a better life. I noticed an interesting phenomenon in these people’s lives: when crossing the border with just the clothes on your back, you have one thing in mind: survival! However, many get stuck in the survival stage of life just because it is so hard to get ahead.
It is very important to know that there is more to life than the basics of survival, such as food and shelter. We all ought to move on from merely surviving to thriving! Let's aspire to be successful in life.
Success takes on a different definition for all of us. I don’t know your definition of success, but you must search for it until you find it. Success is not the end goal, however. Once you succeed, you still have one more step to go: significance!
We must leave things in better shape before we can afford to get peeled off the planet. Significance would be leaving your family some inheritance. And better than that, leaving them a legacy. An estate is what you leave them, but a gift is who you leave them.
God has always had a plan for each of our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 states:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
You and I are designer-made. God made me a preacher by design, but I was smoking pot by default. I was trying to survive the rigors of being a teenager. My friends and I would get high and talk trash about everything, from our parents to why the girls would not date potheads. We became experts on everything from pot to presidents. (smile)
My mom once said, “You need to be a preacher.”
My reply was, “Get thee behind me, Mama.”
Becoming a preacher was the furthest thing from my mind. The first thing on my mind was making money with my life. My mom and dad had eight children, and they were always broke. I made up my mind that I was not going to be broke. I told my mom, “I have seen how the preacher dresses and the car he drives. The preacher is a broke man; he has no money. Why would I want to be a preacher?”
One night, I was radically born again and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The Baptists were having a revival meeting in our town and asked if I would testify. Many knew me, and the revival organizer thought, “If Mike can be born-again, anybody can get born-again.” I testified that night, and many of my dope-smoking friends heard it.
Later, I found myself at Southwestern University in Waxahachie, TX., to enroll in a business degree to make some money. I was thinking of making money, but God was thinking of making a difference in people's lives through my life.
One day I was asked to speak at a little church in Maypearl, TX. I did not want to talk there because I did not want to be a preacher. After much reluctance, I spoke that morning, and three people were born again. I walked out on the porch that morning and decided that God was calling me to be a preacher.
Today, I’m living a life of design rather than one of default. Now I am working on my 10th book I have authored. I was kicked out of high school and never completed my senior English class. Today, we have a listening audience of almost 10,000 a week in Visalia, California. I went from philosophizing with four dope-smoking friends to winning thousands for Jesus. With God’s help, we have planted seven churches over several decades. I have to confess to you that Mama was right. I discovered how to live by divine design, and I love it!
How about you?
Thank you for reading. Please forward this to a friend or two. :-)
