10 Secrets to Life's Biggest Challenges: How You Can Prepare For a Better Tomorrow

Kingdom.

Introduction

I am in the fourth quarter of the game of life and it will not be long before God calls me to the locker room. Before I go to my permanent home in the next life, I want to leave some advice for those who might be in the first or second quarter of their lives.

If you are at halftime (midlife), you might need to make some adjustments so you can play better in the second half. Since you do not know how long you will live, you might also be in your fourth quarter. No one knows when the game will end.

In this book I have listed the top ten challenges that you will face in life, and I will act as an assistant coach to help you become a better player. A coach cannot go out on the field to take a player’s place. He or she can only show an athlete what to do in any given situation. I cannot play the game of life for you, but I can pass along some insights I have learned from my own experiences on the field.

One challenge that you will face involves making decisions. I cannot make your decisions for you, but I can coach you about how to make wise choices from God’s playbook. Another tough opponent is temptation. You can win this battle once you understand a few key truths. I will also share some tips about resolving conflicts, managing your money, and maintaining a good attitude. The Lord is actually the Head Coach, and He can give you the wisdom and power to live victoriously in this game called life.

I have written this ten-lesson manual not only for your own personal growth, but also to be used in small groups and Sunday school classes. The questions at the end of each chapter will help to guide your discussion.

Before you read any further, I invite you to pray this prayer:

Heavenly Father, please fill me with the Holy Spirit right now. I ask You to enlighten me on the practical truths I need to know and to give me the power and motivation to carry them out. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Peter Lord

Destiny is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice.

—William Jennings Bryan

When I was the pastor of Park Avenue Baptist Church in Titusville, Florida, I was praying one day in early December. Suddenly these words popped into my mind: I want you to construct a building where people can pray. As proof that this is My idea and not yours, I will send someone to the church that you do not know who will give five hundred dollars toward the building.

It was not an audible voice, but it came to me in my thoughts. I wrote in my prayer journal what the Lord had said. The next day I was praying about the chapel when more words came: This will happen before Christmas.

Again I recorded what God had told me, but I did not tell anyone. I did not want some well-meaning person to try to be the fulfillment.

Over two weeks passed, but no one brought me any money. I started to doubt what I had heard. Time was running out. I prayed, Lord, are You sure You didn’t mean by New Year’s Day? I thought I would give Him a little more time to perform the miracle!

Silence. No words came to my mind. Since He had told me before Christmas, I guessed He must have meant what He had spoken the first time.

Then a few days before Christmas, a married couple from another city pulled into the church parking lot. They walked into the church and asked to speak to me. The church secretary buzzed my office. Pastor, there is a couple here who wants to talk with you.

I invited the couple into my office, where they introduced themselves. They said, Pastor, you don’t know us, but God spoke to us when we were praying. He told us to come here and give you some money. We don’t really understand why we needed to drive here to give this to you; we’re just being obedient. The couple handed me a check for $500!

Not only did this couple give the first gift, but they later contributed an even larger amount. We constructed the prayer chapel, which many people have used to intercede for others.

The Lord guided me in making a decision by speaking words to my mind. He can do the same for you. Since you will be making thousands of choices throughout your lifetime, it is the first challenge we will tackle. Let us take a look at some of the principles involved in making a decision.

Principles of Decision-Making

Who is going to run your life? Is God calling the plays, or are you? How you answer these questions will determine how your life will turn out.

It all started at the beginning of Creation, when Adam and Eve were put in the Garden of Eden and God told them what they could and could not do. The Lord gave them permission to eat from any tree in the Garden, but He put a restriction on one tree that they could not eat from—the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (see Genesis 2:9).

Although they had probably made a few minor decisions before this, they had never had to choose between good and evil. Their wrong choice brought sin into the world, and people have been choosing between good and evil ever since then.

It is imperative that we understand the principles involved in making decisions. Once we grasp the ramifications of our choices, we will take them more seriously.

Principle #1: Every Decision Is an Exchange

Several years ago, a popular radio program called Swap Shop aired in our town. People could call in to the show and swap what they had for an item that another caller was offering. Some people made good trades, while others got burned.

Life is like a swap shop. Every decision is an exchange, where we give up one thing to get something else. We are constantly trading one thing for another. If you go to a furniture store, you hand cash to the salesperson and walk out of the store with a chair. You have made an exchange by giving up money in exchange for a piece of furniture.

When you exchange wedding vows, you make a decision to give up your single life for married life. You give up the right to keep dating others because you are committing yourself to one person for the rest of your life. If you decide to move to another city, you leave where you currently live to go to a new location. You are exchanging one place for another.

Everything you are willing to let go of has a price tag in your mind, as does the item that you want. To make a wise exchange, you must correctly determine the value of each. If you get it wrong on your evaluation, you are probably going to make a deal that you will end up regretting.

In the Old Testament, Esau made an incredibly dumb decision because he did not understand the value of what he had. When he came in from hunting one day, Jacob was cooking stew. Jacob offered him a bowl, but only if Esau would hand over his birthright to him. Esau was so hungry, he did not think through the consequences of his decision. He said, Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me? (Genesis 25:32). He swapped his birthright, which was his inheritance, for a bowl of soup. He made an unbelievably foolish decision because the only thing on his mind was satisfying his immediate need.

So many people make choices just like Esau. They do not think through their decisions, or the value of what they have, so they give up something precious to satisfy their momentary urges. Later, they kick themselves for their decision. After Esau made the swap, he tried to get back what he had given up. Even though he sought it by crying, his heart never changed (see Hebrews 12:17).

The most important exchange you will ever make has eternal consequences. Jesus said, For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26, NKJV). The price tag Jesus put on the soul was more than all the wealth in the entire world. Who would have thought that your eternal soul, which is inside your body, is worth that much? The only way we know this is through His revelation. Whether you believe His words or not will determine what you do with your soul.

Many people do not realize the value of their souls because they cannot see them, and so they will exchange them for the pleasures of this life. One day they will find out they have made a bad trade, but by then it may be too late. Like Esau cried about his foolish decision, many others will weep over selling their souls for this life instead of living for the next life.

Principle #2: Every Decision Has a Consequence

Every decision has a consequence. Life is not a Monopoly game. You cannot put your money down, move a few pieces around, and walk away whenever you want. Life’s choices are for keeps. When you make the right decisions, you will discover God’s will for your life.

Just stop and think of how many choices you have already made today. By the end of the week you will have probably made hundreds of decisions. We make them so often that we have become desensitized to the consequences of our choices. The life you are now living is the result of all your past decisions.

Paul told us, Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap (Galatians 6:7). When you sow an action, you will reap a consequence. You can choose the road you travel on, but you cannot choose where it leads. The destination is already set.

Keep this truth in mind whenever you make a decision. Over time, your actions have produced your current character, lifestyle and circumstances. Your life right now is a direct result of the choices you have made.

No blaming others for your problems. No finger pointing. Do not be like Adam, who told God after he had sinned, "The woman that you gave me caused me to do it." You must take responsibility for the decisions you make.

The bigger the decision you make, the greater the consequence. Major decisions usually involve a higher risk and a longer commitment. These would include such things as getting married, changing jobs, moving to a new location, or buying a house. Minor decisions can seem insignificant and unimportant at the moment, but many of them have long-term consequences. An acorn is very small, but given time, it will become an oak tree.

A counselor friend of mine told me about a man who was addicted to pornography. It began when he looked at a magazine he found lying on the ground while he was running. Just one look led to enslavement. That is why it is important to think about the outcome of your decision down the road and how it will affect you.

If you have ever driven along the interstate in the South, you may have seen miles and miles of Kudzu vines covering trees and bushes along the highway. No one planted it there. It spread from somewhere else and is now out of control.

Kudzu was not native to America but was imported from Japan. Why would someone want to bring it here? It all started about 1935, when farmers were encouraged to plant it to reduce soil erosion during the Dust Bowl years. It looked like a great idea at first, but they did not think about the problems it would create in the future. Kudzu spreads so quickly that it becomes uncontrollable.

When making a decision, do not just look at how it immediately fixes your problem. Think down the road about how it will affect your future. Will the decision you are making become a long-term blessing, or will it become a Kudzu vine?

Too many people want instant gratification and ignore the disastrous consequences that are sure to come. Many people are in deep financial trouble because they keep charging items on their credit cards. They buy whatever they see, even if they do not really need it, and only consider if they can afford the minimum balance. They do not realize that the interest is compounding over time and is creating a crushing debt obligation.

Wise people make their decisions by thinking about long-term consequences. Foolish people make choices by only considering what will meet their immediate desires. Which are you?

CHOICES CAN HAVE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Many young people are willing to exchange their virginity for a moment of pleasure. They usually are not thinking about the unintended consequences, such as a sexually transmitted disease, a guilty conscience, an unwanted pregnancy, or regrets when they end up marrying someone else. Those who experiment with drugs never see the addiction coming. If they envision the inevitable consequences before they begin the decision-making process, it will keep them from making bad choices.

Unexpected consequences do not only apply to the bad decisions people make. Good choices can also have unplanned results, which are the serendipities of life.

Years ago, I developed a plan to help people in prayer. At first, it started as a small booklet to help people in my congregation. But God had some greater things in mind. People outside the church also wanted copies. Soon it was going to other states, and finally it was distributed to people all over the world. I never dreamed that 35 years later over 400,000 copies of The 2959 Plan would be printed.[1] Even as I write this, I got a request from Hawaii for more copies of the prayer plan. That seemingly small decision to write down a plan turned into something much larger than I could ever have imagined.

CHOICES CAN ALSO HAVE INTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Wise people will make decisions in order to receive a planned result. Farmers will make a decision to plant seeds in a field because they want to produce a harvest. They understand the laws of the harvest: We reap what we sow, later than we sow, and more than we sow.

What is true in the agricultural kingdom is also true in God’s Kingdom. Jesus told us to lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:20, NKJV). One way to do this is to give your tithes and offerings to Him with a cheerful heart. The question is, do you really believe what He said? Do you really believe that when you die, you will see the treasure that you have been laying up during your lifetime on earth?

Christians all over the world truly believe that what Jesus said is true, so they faithfully give their offerings for