Starting Your Best Life Now: A Guide for New Adventures and Stages on Your Journey
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Authors: Joel Osteen
Tags: #Christian
Copyright © 2007 by Joel Osteen Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in review.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the
Holy Bible, New International Version®
. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Scriptures noted AMP are taken from Scripture quotations taken from the
Amplified® Bible
, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (
www.Lockman.org
)
Scriptures noted NASB are taken from the
New American Standard Bible
®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scriptures noted NKJV are taken from the
New King James Version
. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.
Scriptures noted TLB are taken from
The Living Bible
, copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scriptures noted NLT are taken from the
Holy Bible, New Living Translation,
copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scriptures noted THE MESSAGE are from
The Message
. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Scriptures noted KJV are taken from the
King James Version
of the Bible.
Literary development and design: Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Portions of this book have been adapted from
Your Best Life Now
, copyright © 2004 and
Daily Readings from Your Best Life Now
, copyright © 2005 by Joel Osteen. Published by FaithWords.
Faith Words
Hachette Book Group USA
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Visit our Web site at
www.HachetteBookGroupUSA.com
.
First eBook Edition: April 2007
ISBN: 978-0-446-53994-4
Contents
Part 2: Develop a Healthy Self-Image
Part 3: Discover the Power of Your Thoughts and Words
_______________________
PRESENTED TO
_______________________
FROM
_______________________
DATE
“The future is yours for the taking!” is an often quoted expression of hope passed on to graduating seniors, new employees, and wide-eyed couples on their wedding days. Yet we all know that while some people grab life with enthusiasm and take control of their futures, such a grandiose promise doesn’t always pan out for everybody. Why is that?
Happy, successful, fulfilled individuals have learned how to live their best lives
now
. They make the most of the present moment and new opportunities, and thereby enhance their future. You can, too. No matter where you are or what challenges you face, you can start to enjoy your life right now.
Many people end up going through life with low self-esteem, focusing on the negative, feeling inferior or inadequate, always dwelling on reasons why they can’t be happy. Others put off their happiness until some future date. Unfortunately, “someday” never comes. Today is the only day we have. We can’t do anything about the past, and we don’t know what the future holds.
But we can live at our full potential right now!
In this book, you will discover just how to do that. Within these pages, you will find seven simple, yet profound, steps to start
your
best life. —>
In
Starting Your Best Life Now
, we’ll explore how to:
•
Enlarge your vision
•
Develop a healthy self-image
•
Discover the power of your thoughts and words
•
Let go of the past
•
Find strength through adversity
•
Live to give
•
Choose to be happy.
I CHALLENGE YOU TO BREAK OUT OF THE “BARELY GET BY”MENTALITY, to become the best you can be, not merely average or ordinary. To do that, you may have to rid yourself of some negative mind sets that are holding you back and start seeing yourself as doing more, enjoying more, being more. That, my friend, is what it means to live your best life now!
We serve the
Most High God
and
His dream
for your life
is so much
bigger and better
than you can even imagine.
Never settle for a small view of God.
Start thinking as God thinks.
Think big.
Think increase.
Think abundance.
Think more than enough!
To start living your best life now, you must start looking at life through eyes of faith, visualizing the life you want to live.
From the time she was a little girl, Tara Holland dreamed of becoming Miss America. After two years as runner-up in the Miss Florida pageant, she was tempted to give up, but she chose instead to focus on her goal. She rented videos of every pageant she could find and watched them over and over again. As Tara watched each young woman crowned a winner, she pictured herself receiving the crown and walking down the runway in victory.
So when Tara was crowned Miss America in 1997, taking that long walk down the runway came as natural to her as breathing. Afterward, a reporter asked her if she was nervous about being on television, in front of millions, accepting her crown. “No,” she said, “I wasn’t nervous at all. You see, I had walked down that runway thousands of times before.” She was simply living out the dream she had practiced so many times in her mind.
SO WHAT ABOUT YOU?
What do you want to do with your life? What are your dreams? If you could write your best life story today, what would it say?
Is your first reaction to hesitate? Perhaps you most often see and describe yourself in terms of past experiences or present limitations. Perhaps you see yourself more in terms of losing or just surviving rather than fulfilling your dreams.
If you’ve packed away your dreams, dare to unpack them today. It’s time to
enlarge your vision
. Dare to ask God to rekindle those dreams in your heart and mind. He wants to do big things and new things in your life. God wants us to be constantly increasing, to be rising to new heights. He wants to pour out “His far and beyond favor” on you (Ephesians 2:7).
Quiet your heart and receive God’s Word:
“ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’ ” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Friend, if you will get in agreement with God, this can be the greatest time of your life. With God on your side, you cannot possibly lose. He can make a way when it looks as though there is none. He can open doors that no man can shut. He can cause you to be at the right place, at the right time. He can supernaturally turn your dreams into reality.
N
EVER ALLOW YOUR OWN WRONG THINKING TO KEEP YOU FROM
G
OD’S BEST.
Eliminate a barely-get-by mentality and let God’s seed take root.
Centuries ago, wine was stored in leather wineskins rather than bottles. When the wineskins were new, they were soft and pliable, but as they aged, they became hardened and couldn’t expand. If new wine was poured in an old wineskin, the container would burst and the wine be lost.
Interestingly, when Jesus wanted to encourage His followers to enlarge their visions, He reminded them, “You can’t put new wine into old wineskins” (Matthew 9:17). He was saying that you cannot have a larger life with restricted attitudes. He is trying to do something new, but unless we’re willing to change our thinking, we’ll miss His opportunities for us.
God is constantly trying to plant new seeds in your heart. He’s constantly trying to get you to give up antiquated ideas and spark new bursts of creativity within. He’s trying to fill you with so much hope and expectancy that the seed will grow and bring forth a tremendous harvest.
Knock down the barriers and expect
God to do great things in your life.
ARE YOU A NEW OR OLD WINESKIN?
Just because you’re young doesn’t mean your thinking hasn’t already gotten old and hardened. You may have assumed that you will never be successful or do anything meaningful or enjoy the good things in life that you’ve seen others enjoy. You may think your life stinks and always will stink.
Will you stretch your faith and vision and get rid of those old negative mind-sets that hold you back? Start making room in your thinking for what God has in store for you. You must conceive it in your heart and mind before you can receive it. The key is to believe, to let the seeds God is placing in your life to take root so they can grow. Expect God’s favor to help you break out of the ruts and rise to new heights. Expect to excel in whatever you do.
Quiet your heart and receive God’s Word:
“It shall be done to you according to your faith” (Matthew 9:29
NASB
).
God is saying to you something similar to what the angel Gabriel told a young woman, the Virgin Mary—that she would conceive without knowing a man (Luke 1:26–38). In other words, what God wants to do in your life is not going to be by your might or power. It’s going to be by His Spirit. The supernatural power of the Most High God shall come upon you and cause it to happen.
Will you believe? Remember: With God, all things are possible.