How to locate and make your star shine

How to locate and make your star shine (Photo: iStock)

To get from where you are to where you want to be, you have to focus on making the most of your time. There is nothing as important as a focused life. Focus is like a racer light that can cut through anything.

The racer light is a group of protons with mirrors at each end. When that light is focused, it can cut into anything. A spot light on the other hand, has as many protons but since they are not focused most of their energy is wasted or lost.

Vicki Meduce, a professor at Northwestern University did a study on Olympic medalists and she found out that Bronze medalists were happier than Silver medalists.

The Silver medalists tended to focus more on how close they came to winning Gold and so were not happy with Silver.

Bronze medalists tended to focus on how close they came to not winning a medal and so they were happy to be on the medal stand. The fact about human nature is that your focus determines your reality.

Genesis 24 gives an account of how Abraham sent his servant Eliezer to his country, Ur to get a wife for his son Isaac. From it, we get steps that you can take to get to your destiny.

First, determine your present position. In what physical, emotional, spiritual and financial condition are you in; and what would you like to change?

Second, describe exactly what you want to accomplish. Do not be vague or ambiguous. Know what you want and write down the specific goals that you want to achieve. Abraham painted a clear picture of what he wanted his servant to do in regard to the kind of wife to get for his son Isaac. The more specific and precise the goal is, the easier it is to achieve.

Third, find promises from God regarding your goal to trust in him and give you hope. There are 7,000 promises of God in the bible for blessings, success, health, confidence and strength.

Find one that you can hold on to for hope. God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation.

Fourth, ask God for the help you need to realise your goals.

Pray about your future, dreams and goals in order to succeed. Eliezer prayed continually during his mission; before starting the journey, when he arrived in Nahor and when he met Rebekah’s family. Your prayers reveal how much you depend on God to achieve your goals as a deep personal desire and not just a whim.

Fifth, identify the barriers to achieving your goals. What are the challenges, road blocks, problems and obstacles in your way to achieving your destiny?

Eliezer faced many barriers: going to a country he had not been to before; find a young woman he had never met; convince her to go back with him to Canaan to marry a stranger; and convince her parents and family to allow it.

Sixth, be patient and persistent along the process. Achieving destiny does not happen overnight. It takes time and discipline.

Eliezer was patient and persistent: as he watched Rebekah, he remained silent so as to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not; and when food was set before him he said, “I will not eat until I have told of my errand.”

Seventh, enlist a team of people for support and encouragement. Success is never a one man show!

Eliezer did everything he could to accomplish his mission by enlisting Rebekah’s parents, family and relatives for support. He made sure he had won them on his side. As the African proverb says, ‘if you want to go fast, walk alone but if you want to go far, walk with others’.

Eighth, be ready and willing to pay the price. Never desire the success of others unless you are ready to give up or sacrifice what they did to get there. Success comes with a price tag or cost.

The only thing that is free for us in this world is God’s forgiveness and salvation because Jesus already paid the price for us on the cross.

Eliezer had to pay a high price in form of money, expensive gifts, time and challenges to get Rebekah as a wife for Isaac.

Great goals and destinies involve major sacrifices and costs - time, money, energy and reputation. Unfortunately, the current generation wants to attain goals and destiny cheaply, easily and at their convenience.