Living a fulfilled life is about becoming the best that you can be and giving God your best!

According to the Spirit filled Life Bible, “Man is a spiritual being who is not only body but also soul and spirit. He is a moral being whose intelligence, perception and self-determination far exceed that of any other earthly being. These properties or traits possessed by mankind and his prominence in the order of creation imply intrinsic worth; not only of the family of mankind, but also of each human individual.” “Capacity and ability constitute accountability and responsibility. We should never be pleased to dwell on a level of existence lower than that which God has made it possible for us to dwell. We should strive to be the best we can be and to reach the highest levels we can reach. To do less is to be unfaithful stewards of the life entrusted to us” (Kingdom Dynamics on Genesis 1:26-28 New Spirit Filled Life Bible).

Stewardship is the one word that captures our entire sense of responsibility and activities where God is concerned in our human existence! (You may order the set of messages on Stewardship to learn more).

A description of a fulfilled life:

- A fulfilled life does not happen by accident.

- A fulfilled life is one that has released everything that God put into that life to benefit the human race. The potential within has been discovered, developed and deployed to bring maximum value added to humanity. Purpose accomplished! Assignment fulfilled! God"s gift to us is the life given to us and our gift to Him is what we do with the life.

- A fulfilled life is lived intentionally.

There are laws that govern every aspect of our being. We can observe the principles and laws through circumstances that are repeated throughout history. The laws require a force for them to be operational. The law of gravity needs the force of gravity. Where there is zero gravity the law does not operate. Some spiritual laws also require the force of faith. Mental or 'soulish" laws require the force of habit or repetition. Natural laws require natural forces. Spiritual laws require spiritual forces activated by spiritual practices. For example I see a law that says whenever we are open to the realm of the spirit in prayer, that realm responds to us. In the book of Acts we see Peter going to pray and then we read that he saw a vision and heard a voice. Cornelius the centurion also was visited in a time of prayer by an angel. Is there a principle or a law here? Their prayers seemed to activate divine intervention in the book of Acts. I believe we can expect the same God to do similar things in our times. All through the book we see God"s power moving on behalf of His people when they prayed.

We need to engage all our faculties in the way God ordained them, not in the way we have been trained through our nurture and environment and our educational system. Our creative faculties (heart) have been programmed to create our experiences. Whatever we carry in our imagination long enough will become an experiential reality in our lives. It will work for sin as well as for anything godly! We can cast down imaginations using the weapons of our warfare (2 Cor. 10:3-5). Thoughts, imaginations and high things in the mind can influence the entire life of the person. Words paint pictures, our minds carry images. Understanding happens when fresh information finds a fitting flow in the images that we carry in our minds.

Words carry faith or unbelief, love or hatred, fear or confidence. How do we use them? (Prov.18:21). God said and it came to pass! Jesus said “You will have what you say”! Mark 11:22-26.

Four things are necessary for living a fulfilled life; Knowledge, Attitude, Skills and Habit.

Knowledge: this is the basis for wisdom. Wisdom is the principal thing, get wisdom! (Prov. 4:7) Acquiring knowledge is the basis for developing wisdom. Wisdom is the wise application of knowledge. A wise person knows when and how to make exceptions to the rule, how to improvise and use moral skills in the service of the right aim. Wise people grow through trial and error but go on doing what is right.

Attitude: We need to allow different perspectives to affect our attitude to life, to ourselves and to the circumstances in our lives. “Half full and half empty” are descriptions of attitudes.

Skills: This is the know-how for what needs to be done. The more we improve our skills, the more we develop in our abilities to get results. We need to be deliberate in developing skills in all the areas we need them. Skill development takes time, effort and focus.

Habit: this is what we do repeatedly. This is where our programming regulates us. If we can repeatedly do any activity for 21 days, it is possible to develop a habit.

Daniel and Joseph in the Bible are good examples of people who lived by these principles.

What are the things that can stop us from living a fulfilled life?

1. Unbelief in God and what He has created us to be!

2. Reacting to issues instead of responding to them.

3. Low self-esteem, poor self-image which leads to us not analysing and learning from our experiences.

4. Unwillingness to pay the right price. There is a price-tag for a fulfilled life!

Understanding Unbelief

We need to understand that unbelief is not just a decision not to believe but a set of thinking that affects or inflicts the heart with unbelief: the disqualifier for the release of God"s miracle power! In the days of Jesus, the thoughts and perceptions about him coming from a natural family affected their ability to believe and expect anything miraculous from Him.

Mark 6:2-6 “And on the Sabbath He began to teach in the synagogue; and many who listened to Him were utterly astonished, saying, Where did this Man acquire all this? What is the wisdom [the broad and full intelligence which has been] given to Him? What mighty works and exhibitions of power are wrought by His hands! Is not this the Carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not His sisters here among us? And they took offense at Him and were hurt [that is, they disapproved of Him, and it hindered them from acknowledging His authority] and they were caused to stumble and fall. But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honour (deference, reverence) except in his [own] country and among [his] relatives and in his [own] house". And He was not able to do even one work of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sickly people [and] cured them. And He marvelled because of their unbelief (their lack of faith in Him). And He went about among the surrounding villages and continued teaching.”

Overcoming Unbelief By Choosing To Believe

Mark 9:23 “And Jesus said, '[You say to Me], If You can do anything?" [Why,] all things can be (are possible) to him who believes!”

Problems Reveal Potential

It is believed that very few people have developed the habits of success for their future. There are problems all around us and they are beckoning on our untapped potential to solve them. From family to personal, from companies to nations, from regions to continents, problems stare at us in the face! Look everywhere, what do you see? Problems that human beings have to grapple with. Problems that defy our present mode of thinking and perspective. What is not recognised is that the potential in us was designed to be awakened by problems. We carry the solutions within us.

The life God gave you is His gift to you but what you do with that life is your gift to Him. The root cause of all problems has been solved: The Sin Problem! Jesus died to solve that one! So we can see and solve the problems that are the effect of sin on the human race. God must have thought so highly of the human race to send His Son to die. How do we think of them? To reach out to humanity we need to love them the way God loves them.

For some of us the fear of failure can hinder us from taking the risks necessary to solve problems. On the other hand, some of us seem to be all too aware of our shortcomings before God. Religious spirits tend to keep us on the edge of being critical of ourselves and others so that we lack the confidence to give our best in life.

David Vs Goliath

Let"s take another look at the story of David killing Goliath and some of the dynamics involved.

1 Samuel 17:26-35 (AMP) “And David said to the men standing by him, 'What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" And the [men] told him, 'Thus shall it be done for the man who kills him". Now Eliab his eldest brother heard what he said to the men; and Eliab"s anger was kindled against David and he said, 'Why did you come here? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and evilness of heart; for you came down that you might see the battle". And David said, 'What have I done now? Was it not a harmless question?" And David turned away from Eliab to another and he asked the same question, and again the men gave him the same answer. When David"s words were heard, they were repeated to Saul, and he sent for him. David said to Saul, 'Let no man"s heart fail because of this Philistine; your servant will go out and fight with him". And Saul said to David, 'You are not able to go to fight against this Philistine. You are only an adolescent, and he has been a warrior from his youth". And David said to Saul, 'Your servant kept his father"s sheep. And when there came a lion or again a bear and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and smote it and delivered the lamb out of its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and smote it and killed it".”

If David had been busy criticising the army of Saul, would he have been in a position to bring the solution to the problem? See the choice of words, “you defy the armies of the living God”. Even the army did not see themselves as such. Now look at David"s brother who was critical of David"s coming to the battlefield. Was he in a position to bring a solution? What about the status quo? There was a problem, no one could solve it and every one was hiding. Can you imagine what they were discussing in their hiding places? The church world today is facing huge problems of immorality, misrepresentation of God, division amongst churches/leaders, suspicion of one another, the high rate of divorce, etc. What are we doing? Who has the courage to challenge the status quo? Not just challenge it by railing at people but challenge it as we offer solutions that can affect everyone. It"s a lot easier to talk about the problem than to engage with God and our thinking to bring about solutions.

People celebrate those who have fought the status quo and turned situations around, people like Marti n Luther King, Ghandi and others who have fought for the masses. We get the impression that such feats happen to only a few! In our own world we have the potential to turn things around but we don"t believe we can. Our belief system defeats us. Our beliefs generate our thoughts and eventually our feelings/emotions and our actions determine our results.

Let us see some scriptures.

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good!” (Matt. 12:35) “As a man thinks in his heart so is he!”(Proverbs 23:7) “Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it comes the issues of life!”(Prov. 4:23)

Your heart is the productive centre of your life. Whatever you allow there determines what you experience ultimately. It is with the heart man believes, however, with the conscious mind he may doubt! Lord I believe, help my unbelief! (Mark 9:24)

Proverbs 4:20-26 “My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the centre of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life. Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and wilful and contrary talk put far from you. Let your eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and let your gaze be straight before you. Consider well the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established and ordered aright”.

You say what has all these got to do with our problems? Everything! The majority of the problems are self-created, by human beings! Our creative potential was not removed when mankind fell, it only became perverted! So we are inventing new ways of sinning daily! The new creation should be at the forefront of inventing solutions instead of being directed towards religion and criticism! When we look at the life of Daniel, from chapter 1, we don"t get the impression that he was complaining or criticising the Babylonian system he was involved with. I see him do good as he walked right with his God but I also see him engage the system to subdue it under his God! Sometimes engaging our world has cost many their relationship with God. But Daniel knew when to say no! He excelled in Babylon! He brought the power of His God to bear on the ruling kingdom. Where are the Daniels of our day? I call them to stand forth this day and give God their best!

We have all been programmed; our nurture, nature and environment on one hand and our education, economy and expectation on the other hand! Our education poured information into us, half of which we do not need in real life. The system did not teach us to be creative and come up with genuine solutions. We look for solutions in established patterns we have learnt in the past. However the problems of the future defy the solutions of the past. New problems need solutions that are applicable now! Our economy measures returns to us by means of our qualification, not necessarily our productivity! This is especially so in the civil service, where one is not necessarily expected to be productive; as long as one is qualified on paper one can obtain a job! We don"t have too great an expectation of ourselves. How many people do you know who are thinking and planning to generate their yearly income in one month? We often confuse mental activity with thinking. Creative thinking needs to be developed! We tend to get into our comfort zone and then settle down. Any new thought can cause anxiety, worry and fear so we reject them and return to our comfort zone!

Our ability to try new ideas, make mistakes and try again is what we lost when we became adults. A child walks by walking, falling and rising up again. The same with riding a bicycle. But we say “it"s not for me”, from the first time we fail at something. The truth is we must learn to fail and move forward! Creating a community that will keep encouraging us to go on is one of the challenges we face. We must do our homework, do our thinking through, engage our entire faculties, pray and go out there and get the results we want. The fear of failure has paralysed so many that they have refused to try anything outside their comfort zone. Dare to believe, dare to think thoughts that are filled with God ideas!

Ask yourself these questions...

- What problems are my potentials supposed to solve? Problems can be indicators of potential in us.

- What vision do I have for my life?

- What values am I adding to others?

- In what areas do I need development and what am I doing about them?

- What goals am I setting for my life, my faith, my career, my relationships and how am I planning my time to accomplish these goals?

- What things are important to me?

- What purposes am I serving? Who are the beneficiaries of the potentials in me? Is my life a blessing to others?

- What qualities do I need to develop?

ACTION STEPS!

1. Take responsibility for what you allow in your life

What are you allowing into your life? What pains, regrets and frustrations are you allowing to ruin your emotional wellbeing? If you have done wrong, repent. No matter how hard you try, some people will not change their opinion of you. Your goal is to become better not to impress others but to honour Him who created you in His image. Remember the cross is the place of separation. Let go of all rejection, low self-esteem, condemnation and feelings of unworthiness because of your shortcomings. Stop sowing the seeds of the unworthiness of others if you want to stop reaping such harvests. Stop comparing yourself with others. You feel good when you think you are better and bad when you think you are worse! What is driving you?

2. Have a sense of purpose and destiny in God

Your intimacy with God will help crystallise a sense of purpose in God. Your purpose will include adding value to others, serving others with your God-given gifts and helping people to be all that God wants them to be! Be a servant at heart! Serve God"s purpose in people"s lives.

3. Have a plan of action to grow from where you are to where you want to be

Identify the areas you need to grow and have a plan of action. Mental growth demands reading and listening; spiritual growth demands reading, listening, praying and doing! Have a plan and work your plan! Use a journal to monitor how you are doing. Read a book a week, listen to CDs, spend an hour in prayer, study the Bible and meditate, go out and win souls and make it a point to invite people to church! Set aside times in your diary to think, plan and read. What does your progress look like?

4. Develop an open and real/intimate relationship with God through His Word and by His Spirit

Build up your knowledge of God"s Word in your life. Build your prayer life based on the Word of God. Ask questions, seek answers and build your dependency on God through prayer and a life of worship.

Psalms 37:1-8, “FRET NOT yourself because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness (that which is not upright or in right standing with God). For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass. And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday. Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not yourself—it tends only to evildoing.”