(This blog post contains notes from a 12-week Mastermind Course I am taking at Christ Universal Temple, Chicago, IL, January 28, 2015 – April 15, 2015, based off of the 64 success principles in Jack Canfields book, “The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You are to Where You Want to Be”. The course is being taught by Associate Pastor, Rev. Gaylon McDowell.)
Marching on…
Week 4 of my Mastermind class as we continue learning some fundamental and sound spiritual practices that are the foundation for living the ultimate life, the one you desire.
This weeks session was based off of Principles 5 and 6:
Principle 5: Believe in Yourself
Principle 6: Become an Inverse Paranoid
I paused while typing this blog post because I was unsure where to begin. I was unsure of what I wanted you to know because there is so much to know in both of these areas.
The fact that all of these principles are based in how you think of yourself, your life, and the world around you is beyond understanding for me at times. Everything that either makes or breaks us begins in the mind. With this being the truth for so many successful people, why is it that I am just now embracing and learning these principles as an adult? Why isn’t this kind of knowledge taught in schools? None of this information discussed during the times that we are going through secular education. Belief, faith, all of these things are never brought to the forefront during our youth, yet, they are the foundation for how the most successful people in this world have created lives of purpose, happiness, and fulfillment.
“You weren’t an accident. You weren’t mass produced. You aren’t an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on the Earth by the Master Craftsman.”
– Max Lucado, Best-selling author
Believing in yourself precedes anything you are planning to do. Anything. No one sets out to achieve anything significant without believing they can do it in the first place. You would think this to be obvious, but it’s not. Most people fall short in their endeavors because they haven’t done the pre-work required before they go into battle, which is the conscious and intentional stamp of belief on your sub-conscious that repeatedly says, “I can do this, I will succeed, I can and will win.”
Going for what you want requires incessant determination and belief that nothing can stand between you and what you ultimately want. In pursuit of all things you should make it a habit to go for what you want in life, or in other words as Rev. Gaylon McDowell affectionately explains, “Land at the dock and burn the ship!”
This kind of energy and mental strength will require you to push through your own negative thinking. You will literally have to immerse yourself in the knowledge and energy of that which you want to pursue. So this means, constant study, constant research, spending time with those that are doing what you want to do, and a goal to commit to complete mastery of your craft.
Are you prepared to go all out?
You have to Master what you want to do and you have to trust God in the process. Your belief and your faith go hand in hand, and when you go deeper, man’s faith in God is measured by his confidence in self. When you step out in action to pursue what it is you want, blindly without knowing what the journey will bring, this is a testament to your faith in God and a testament to yourself because you are created in his likeness. He is in you, and if he is in you than that means that anything that you give power to will come unto you.
Rev. McDowell states:
“You can’t say that you trust in God but not believe in the God-like expression which is you to achieve what you want. You have to trust the God that is in you.”
This is belief in self. Belief of the idea that good is always coming to you begets the belief that every situation and circumstance is operating on your behalf. It has to be this way and you have to think and believe this, even when things are going wrong. Make it a habit to give praise to that which you want to expand, or in other words, practice speaking life into those things you want to see happen. If you are wanting to be promoted at work, speak that as truth. You force your sub-conscious mind to own ideas by speaking them and in turn hearing yourself affirms this belief in your mind. Say it and say it as many times is necessary until you’ve flushed out any other idea that conflicts with what what you are claiming. A belief is what you accept as truth, so if you don’t believe it, no one else will.
The idea of belief also says that you are taking from supply that which is provided and available to everyone. When we say “supply” we are speaking of the abundance that God provides in divine order.
Rev. McDowell states:
“When you think of what you want you are taking from supply. What you get from supply is based on demand, and demand is based in your belief.”
If you believe that you are worth $1 million in the marketplace as an entrepreneur and you hold firm to this belief, it has no choice but materialize and come to you.
Be exact and pray for what you want.
None of this means that you are guaranteed success overnight, but it is the principle in practice that helps ensure that your mind and intentions stay aimed in the right direction. It’s not IF you will get knocked down, it’s a matter of WHEN, but if you do you need to know how to get back up.
“If you fall on your back, if you can look up, you can get up.”
– Les Brown
You might get down in thought but you can’t stay there. You need to understand how your thoughts have the potential to have the wrong kind of power over you. Understand what that power looks like and recognize the truth of your own beliefs and desires.
You can no longer ponder and waste time on the past. Leave the past in the past! Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past. There is nothing you can change about yesterday, but you can affect not, and you plan for the future. Consciously creating your life begins now and the choice to do so has to be intentional.
According to your faith it will be done unto you
If you believe your success is possible you will take action that is in alignment with your possibility thinking. How high is your belief system? Think about it. I’ve heard some very successful people say that you have to be our of your mind crazy to see success in life. This is a very bold statement and difficult for most people to understand. Your desire for success has to be insatiable and in order for you to elevate your life you will have to separate yourself from others, as their is no way around it.
An idea may be great but it may not be in alignment with what God is trying to express through you. Tune into self and understand what this expression looks and feels like.
Also, get rid of the limiting beliefs. Instead of saying that you can’t afford something say, “This too shall come to me in divine order.” Changing how you respond to certain things in thought and words takes the limitations we place on the possibilities off what we could have.
Stop thinking you can’t and start thinking you can. When you think positively you’ll find yourself attempting and succeeding more. The excuses you’ve been making are not serving your highest good–get rid of them.
People fail to realize that while you are waiting for God the power of God is already in you. What you think is in your way won’t move until you start taking faith steps, and as we all know God is no respector of persons. The blessing for someone else can happen just the same for you. Success comes in “can”, failures come in “cant’s”.
If you are going to live this life, in the end you want to be able to look back and say that you tried to go for what you wanted over not attempting to reach at all.
“I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.”
