CREATE A WINNING STRATEGY
Proverbs 21:5
The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance and advantage, but those who are hasty {careless} become poor.
Let me share with you one of the greatest secrets to life.
Create a winning strategy for everything in your life, then diligently work that strategy every day of your life. As a result each day you will have more wins than losses.
I cannot begin to express how absolutely, critically important this truth and this Proverb have been to my life.
I have literally created a winning strategy for every important aspect of my life. I take God’s word very, very seriously. I believe God’s word offers extraordinary insights and secrets to life, if only we will Look to The Book, and ask God to reveal His truth to us. The secrets of the Lord are for those who fear Him!
It is my great desire to help each of you win in all aspects of your lives. Life is a very serious endeavor, the consequences of our strategy, plans, choices, and habits have huge ramifications both now and for eternity.
Now, let me explain. I have devised a winning strategy for my life. I call it Fit For Life. My objective is to get fit and stay fit in all the vital, strategic areas of my life for my entire lifetime. Every single day I want to get some wins in each of these areas of my life. I have a plan for each one, and every single day I diligently work my game plan.
I will explain how, and you will see how easy it is for you to do the same. In fact, it is essential that each of us do this, or we will most certainly rack up one loss after another, day after day, in the important areas of our lives.
Spiritually Fit. I know that my spiritual life is the most important aspect of my life. My whole life is built on this spiritual foundation, as Jesus told us in the story of the wise man who builds his life on the Rock of Christ, by listening to God and obeying God’s word. So every single day, I pray to God for an hour. Every single day, I read God’s word. In order to achieve this, I have a rigorous schedule that I stick with. When I go to bed, when I get up. When and where exactly I pray and when and where exactly I read my Bible. I then diligently do this strategy every single day. I pattern my prayer times after the Davidic practices of Psalms and the teachings on prayer by Jesus. I strive to put into practice what I read in God’s word and believe the things His word tells me. By actually doing these things I am winning, day after day. I am staying spiritually fit. I am consciously walking with God, building and practicing my faith each day. I am determined to stay desperate for God, fervent and zealous in my faith, and make my life obedient to Christ and His word. I earnestly seek the Lord every single day.
Physically Fit. I know that it is vitally important that I discipline my body. This will help me be more effective in all aspects of my life. I will stay healthier, and be able to serve the Lord and those I love, longer and more effectively. Research shows this will also produce greater emotional and mental well-being as a result of my physical fitness. It also saves me money in the long run on expensive medical procedures and medications. I take this very seriously. So I created a winning strategy and diligently do that strategy every single day of my life. I walk 3 miles a day as I pray. I do 50 pushups each day. I do 10 minutes at my Total Gym each day. I walk 10 minutes on an old elliptical in my garage every day, for the sole purpose of working my heart rate up high. I have a stretching routine every day. Each thing is built right into my day. My tools are right in my office, where I can easily get up and do them diligently, every single day. Each thing I do is a win. This winning strategy I have been doing daily for decades.
Emotionally Fit. All of us, whether we admit it or not, have emotions. We have things inside we need to deal with to stay emotionally healthy. This is why I wrote Edition 45 God Therapy. Every single day, I pour out my heart to God. I practice real prayer. Real prayer is about losing control, not staying in control. It is me dumping on God, pouring out my raw self, my raw emotions, frustrations, anxieties, hurts, sorrows, troubles, burdens, and things I may be angry about, transparently to my Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God. We must process our disappointments and discouragements with God. I would be personally ruined by now if this had not been the habit of my life for the last 4 decades. I would be a permanent, useless mess. Instead, every single day, I work this winning strategy, and each day I win as I give these toxic, destructive emotional things to God. Prayer brings us great peace of mind as God promised. In addition, every day, I spend time thanking and praising God and deliberately cultivate an attitude of gratitude for all God has given to me. Every day I reflect on the Gospel and what it means to my life. Every day I am intentionally encouraging and serving someone else. Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
Mentally Fit. The mind is an extraordinary gift from God, but it needs maintenance. It needs our intentional effort to keep it fit, active, and in good working order. Research has shown that physical exercise/activity, prayer, walking outside, what we eat, good sleep patterns, and reading, or writing are all good for the brain! They help lead us to mental fitness. But so do the spiritual aspects of life. Such as forgiveness. The number one cause of depression is unresolved anger. So you see all of this is tied together. My winning strategy takes all of these into account. I keep my brain active by reading the news. I read quite long informative news articles every single morning. I often read very long essays on relevant topics. This keeps my mind sharp, and alert. I write, which has been a tremendous blessing to my life and my mind. I am rigorous in my daily diet. I eat things that are very good for me and enjoyable, things that are very simple to make, very accessible, very affordable, which also helps me win financially, and promotes good physical and mental/brain health. Throughout my day, I deliberately put my mind on things that are good, excellent, true, praiseworthy and I reflect repeatedly on God and His magnificent character. I have a very specific plan, and I live that plan every single day. This strategy helps me win. Of course I have to fight through mental battles like everyone else.
Financially Fit. Money can cause so much stress on our lives and our marriages. Looking to God’s word has given me profound insights into finances, contentment, simplicity, and a wonderful perspective on money, and possessions. For example, one aspect of being financially fit, but also emotionally fit, is generosity with our money towards others. I design a budget and live within that budget. I have a specific value system that I consider every significant purchase by. I take faithfulness to God in my finances extremely seriously. I have a specific strategic plan for every aspect of it, and I diligently work that plan every single day. Each day I achieve some incremental wins. Every day I drive my “paid for used car”, is a win. The longer I drive it the more I win.
Maritally Fit. I do not take my marriage for granted. I want to win at marriage and have a winsome marriage. I want my marriage to honor God. I take my role and responsibility as a husband very seriously. I have created my own winning strategy based on God’s truth. Each day I chalk up some wins. I serve Kathy in some way every single day. For example, the other day I vacuumed the house. On another day, I took off her bedding and washed it then remade her bed. I pray with Kathy every single day, and thank God for her, praying over all her concerns, over our lives together, and over our children and grandchildren. I strive to encourage her in some way with my words every day. If I wrong Kathy I acknowledge it and ask for her forgiveness. There is more I could write, but these illustrate my winning strategy. Practicing these things helps me win in some way in my marriage every single day.
I also strive to avoid doing things I know will hurt my marriage, sinner, though I am. Every day I practice my Habits That Build a Healthy Marriage. If you have not listened to that series, it is on my website.
Vocationally Fit. I make it my goal to strive for excellence in every aspect of my vocation. I work at it with great diligence and take nothing for granted. I have specific things I do and have done through the years to pursue excellence, and to stay on top of my responsibilities in an effective way. Each day, each task I accomplish is a win. I want to be fully reliable and trustworthy in every possible way. I strive to be a man of honor and integrity. I strive to deal with every person whether through email, over the phone, or in person, in a wise, loving, and encouraging way. Every person matters a great deal to God and they matter a great deal to me.
Family Fit. I could write a tremendous amount on this, as this relates to my fathering, the kind of father I am, the kind of kids I was striving to raise, and the specific winning strategy I diligently applied all the years my kids were at home. You will find all of that info in the articles I have written, and also in my Getting Your Family To Mars series and the accompanying booklet you can download on my Strongdisciple.com website. If you have not heard it, please, please listen to it, and use the booklet.
Organizationally Fit. This is a vital and critical component of my winning strategy. I must be organized in all aspects of my life. I must keep on top of life. I must manage my time and schedule well. I keep accurate records for the most important things. I have assigned notebooks for record-keeping and files for important papers. I have a winning strategy for vehicle maintenance, bill paying, house upkeep, and other important things. I always strive for maximum efficiency. Such as filling my car early Sunday morning, 7 AM at Costco, when there is no traffic on the highway, no lines at the pump. Or washing my wife’s van at 6 AM, at the gas station, no line to wait for, in and out and home before many people are even awake.
A winning strategy in all aspects of life is really the only way to live. It makes life so much more manageable, rewarding, and far less stressful.
In closing let me share a few vital things. Unlike football, where teams practice all week for one actual game on the weekend. Every day you and I get up is “game day”. We must diligently work our strategy in all these aspects of our life every day. The Bible states very clearly, “The precious possession of a man is diligence” Pr. 12:27 NASB. What does diligence mean? It means you stick with it, stick with it, stick with it, with dogged determination over and over again, and do your strategy over, and over for the rest of your life. You are persistent, never quitting. Plans without diligence are just notes on a scrap of paper that will never become reality.
Sometimes you will fumble the ball. So just pick it up again, and move forward. Sometimes you commit a flagrant foul. So admit it, accept responsibility for it, make amends if needed, and move forward. Never let go of your winning strategy. But certainly, make adjustments to it when it helps you win even more.
When I was a kid, people would often say, “Mark, we are just playing to have fun.” To which I always either said or thought, “Playing to win, and winning is fun. Losing is not fun at all.” Constantly losing is awful, and I refuse to live that way! There is too much at stake to lose in the vital areas I wrote about today.
Pr. 10:23 LB “A wise man’s fun is being wise!”
Create a winning strategy in each of these areas, diligently apply your plans, and you will start winning more and more and losing less and less.
Always at the forefront of my mind is my overarching purpose for my Fit For Life Strategy — To be a Vessel Fit for the Master’s use through all the years of my life on earth!
This message will offer further encouragement and insight.
https://strongdisciple.com/
Helping you become a Strong Disciple,
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Mark Darling
