The Fruit of Knowledge and Hard Work!
The bible is a supernatural diet, it is an endless source of knowledge and transformational power, in fact it is the perfect spiritual diet and it’s necessary for spiritual growth, it’s the breakfast of champions, there is no doubt about that, it’s a fact, even so, it is of no use to a person who will not go out and do what it says.
A discerning mind seeks knowledge,
but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.
Proverbs 15:14 HCSB
Knowledge, Savings and the Investment of time are necessary for Success
— Robert Smith.
What are you feeding on, how is it affecting you, and what is it costing you? What your eating is either contributing to you or it’s taking away from you, if you feeding on the wrong fuel it’s costing you something. Is what you’re feeding on producing what you desire in life, or is it destroying your momentum? Any good athlete knows that eating the wrong food can hinder performance, it can cause weight gain, hinder muscle growth and slow response times. On the other hand, a good diet can cause weight loss, muscle growth, and faster response times. The bible is a supernatural mental and spiritual diet, it is an endless source of knowledge and transformational power, in fact it is the perfect spiritual diet and it’s necessary for spiritual growth, it’s the breakfast of champions, there is no doubt about that, it’s a fact. People who feast on it frequently get spiritually strong and build spiritual muscle, and people who don’t don’t.
The More You Know, The More You Know.
The truth is, the more you know, the more you know. But knowledge alone is not enough, you can eat healthy food all day long and if you don’t exercise you will just gain weight, muscle is what you really want to gain in order to be genuinely healthy and you only gain muscle only when you work out, when you exercise. Being a hearer and doer of the word, works in the same way. Jesus talks about it frequently, people being hearers only and not doers of the word, in fact the whole bible talks about it. Success is not just learning information without using it, doing that makes you spiritually fat, just like an athlete who eats constantly without exercising or participating in his sport gains weight instead of becoming stronger and building lean muscle. There are people out there who have more knowledge than half of the early church put together, but they are spiritually unhealthy because they don’t exercise, they don’t use what they have obtained. It takes knowledge and hard work to reap a dream, to accomplish a task or to make a difference.
Sacrifice!
Successful people are successful because they sacrifice for their dreams, save for them, spend their treasure on them, make an investment of time, and combine knowledge with sustained action. Time investment is spending your time learning what you need to know to be successful and taking action toward the goal. People who are successful at their calling are dedicated to that calling. While one guy is hanging out with the fellas, watching TV, or kicking back, the other guy is home studying and learning what he needs to know to overcome his weaknesses and succeed and take action towards fulfilling the dream. Most successful people seem to have one thing in common: they are obsessed with what they do, and some people love video games, so they create a business around that. I know I am called to preach because I love word study, and I love to teach, and it’s intuitive to me. I look at a passage in the bible, and I know what it means. Successful people are willing to change direction if necessary, to learn from failure, and to adjust. Successful people work long hours; when I owned my franchise, I worked 18-hour days. Working long hours does not necessarily mean you will be successful, though; you can spend long hours doing something, and because you have not acquired the knowledge that is necessary to be good at it and succeed, you fail at it.
Get A Tutor!
A man goes out and starts a restaurant and works 60 hrs a week and it fails, why? Because he had the heart but lacked the knowledge. If that same man would have gotten a job working in a restaurant or did an internship with a successful restaurant owner the possibility of success would have gone way up, why? Because the heart has to be accompanied by knowledge, get a tutor! Most successful politicians did an internship with an older, more experienced politician. They worked long hours for nothing but knowledge because they realized that knowledge was the greatest treasure. People dream dreams, but few are willing to pay the price for those dreams. Ministry is no different; if you want to be used by God, you have to put in the time to acquire the knowledge and the relationship with God that is needed to fulfill your dream. You can do internships or learn how to get things done through the school of hard knocks and personal study. There are no shortcuts. People who promise you easy success are setting you up to fail. You have to set your heart to endure and realize that it’s a process that takes time and prolonged effort. When I say success, I am not talking about becoming rich; I am talking about bringing about the fulfillment of a God-given dream. It may lead to temporal wealth, and it might not. It’s all about fulfilling the call. God gave Joseph a dream, and Joseph had to work. He had to work when things were going good and when things were going bad. Consistency! Now go out and be a hearer and a doer!
