OPEN MIND AND OPEN HEART
1. Open your mind to God.
If you’re going to do this, you’ve got to be quiet. Schedule times of silence, of solitude. God can’t give you a dream because you won’t set down and shut up! You just need to be quiet before Him. You start by getting God’s perspective on your life.
Proverbs 28:26 “A man is foolish to trust himself, but those who use God’s wisdom are saved.”
Proverbs 2:6 (Good News) “It is the Lord who gives wisdom.” This is the Principle of Inspiration. This is what separates us from normal, secular goal setting. You start by tuning into God. You get alone. You be quiet. “Be still and know that I am God.” Your intuition can be wrong – 100% wrong. “There’s a way that seems right unto man but the ends are not the ways of God.”
2. Do some research.
This is the Principle of Information. You don’t make decisions out of ignorance. Proverbs 13:16 “Every man acts out of knowledge.” Proverbs 18:13 “What a shame. How stupid to decide before knowing the facts.” Proverbs 23:23 (Living Bible) “Get the facts at any price.”
This is a step that many people ignore when they get a dream. They pray about it but then they don’t get any facts. If you’re feeling God-led to start a business, to do anything, you need to get the facts after you’ve prayed. The Bible says it’s dumb just to step out. Think before you act.
One of the major causes of business failure is uneducated enthusiasm. People think they’re going
to go out and start a Gizmo shop because they’re excited about Gizmos. But the world isn’t interested in Gizmos. But they start it. The solution is “Get the facts whatever the price.”
3. Be willing to risk. Face your fears.
This is the Principle of Confrontation. The reason why people aren’t willing to risk is they aren’t willing to face their fears. Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man is a dangerous trap but to trust God means safety.” We hate to admit it when we’re afraid. We like to pretend. God says to go ahead and admit it. Fear is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of humanity. Courage is not the absence of fear. If there’s no fear, you don’t need any courage. Courage is moving ahead in spite of your fear. You are never really legitimately courageous unless you’re doing something that you’re scared to death to do. You can’t really say you’re courageous unless there’s an element of fear there. It doesn’t take any courage to get up in the morning and brush my teeth. It takes courage for my wife to kiss me before I brush my teeth. But she moves against her fear.
4. Do it now.
This is the Principle of Initiation. Proverbs 16:3 “Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.” There comes a point of decision where you’ve got to stop talking and start acting. You’ve got to begin. Once you’ve decided it’s worth the risk, you take off. You can’t get to second base without leaving first. I’ve used the illustration of the trapeze artist before. The trapeze goes out. There’s that moment of truth where they swing out and here comes the other bar. But in order to reach the bar, you’ve got to let go of this one. There’s a split second in space where the trapeze artists is hanging there, ninety feet above the ground and holding on to absolutely nothing. If that person does not let go, he swings back. He swings until finally the momentum stops and he’s just hanging there. There’s got to come a point in your life when you say, “God’s called me to do this. I’m going for it.” “Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.”
