In your life, just as in Job’s, the power of God will be released when you orient your life toward the mark of service to others. It will heal you, restore you, and provide for your every need.
If you’re going to walk in the way of a winner in life, it’s crucial that you deal properly with disappointment. Philippians 3, talks of pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God. In Verse 13, Paul says you must forget “those things which are behind.”
Don’t Keep Looking Back
The quickest way to get into discouragement and despair is to focus on past disappointments. So don’t do it! Don’t dwell on the disappointment you felt when you didn’t get that promotion. Don’t keep mentally rehearsing those words of rejection that were spoken to you.
Those memories will put you on the fast track to despair, deception, or worse.
Even thoughts about the good things in the past can trip you up. They can lead you to feel disappointment about your current situation if it’s not quite as bright as in days gone by.
Good or bad, you must leave the past behind. So, every time memories of disappointments arise in your consciousness (the Bible calls them “vain imaginations”), cast them down.
Face The Challenges Ahead
Once the past is safely behind you, you’re ready to meet challenges. Those challenges could be financial. They could be physical. They could involve relationships. Whatever they are, those challenges can be won with the power of God.
Isaiah 40:29 & 31 tells us what we must do for that power to be released in our lives. It says:
God gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increase strength. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
The words “wait upon” as used in that scripture actually refer to a servant waiting on his master’s needs. In other words, as we wait upon God’s needs and purposes in the earth, as we serve Him expecting Him to empower us, He’ll release the might we need to be winners in every circumstance.
Yes, I said every circumstance! Pressing toward the mark of servanthood can turn even the bleakest of situations around 180 degrees. Job proved that. He had big problems. No matter how desperate your circumstances, you’re probably not as bad off as he was.
If you’ll read the book of Job, you’ll see that for some 41 chapters, Job tried to get God to heal him. He was completely focused on his own need the entire time. He clearly loved God and God clearly loved him. Yet he could not seem to figure out how to get God’s divine provision and power operating on his behalf.
Then, in Chapter 42, Job finally turned his focus outward. He prayed for his friends and began to serve the needs of others rather than focusing on his own. When he did, the power of God was immediately released in his circumstances. Not only was he healed, he ended up twice as wealthy as he had previously been.
Turn Your Focus Outward
In your life, just as in Job’s, the power of God will be released when you orient your life toward the mark of service to others. It will heal you, restore you, and provide for your every need.
In fact, as you press toward the mark of servanthood, the power of God will open doors of opportunity you never dreamed existed. He’ll exalt you and give you visibility and influence in your community.
He’ll keep on propelling you toward your dream until one day you’ll look around and find that you’ve arrived at the high calling of God for your life. The place of fulfillment. The place of meaning and purpose. The place of blessing!
by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Mac and Lynne Hammond are senior pastors of Living Word in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, which they started in 1980. Many outreaches and ministries have launched from Living Word since that time, including Maranatha Christian Academy, a Pre-K through grade 12 school with nearly 900 in attendance, and Living Free Recovery Services, a licensed outpatient treatment program.
Most recently, Mac and Lynne have launched a vision to plant fifty churches across the globe in the next five years. As of August 2024, nine churches have been planted in the Dominican Republic, Ireland, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, and Guatemala with construction underway for seven more churches in El Salvador, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Prior to becoming a pastor, Mac was a pilot. He served in the Air Force, served two tours of duty in Southeast Asia, and was honorably discharged in 1970 with the rank of Captain. Between 1970 and 1980, Mac was involved in varying capacities in the general aviation industry, including ownership of a successful air cargo business serving the Midwestern United States. A business acquisition brought the Hammonds to Minneapolis, where they ultimately founded Living Word. Currently, Mac is the host of The Winner’s Way and The Winner’s Minute broadcasts and the author of several internationally distributed books. Mac is broadly acclaimed for his ability to apply the principles of the Bible to practical situations and the challenges of daily living.
