Winning in the game of life (Part II)

I began last week talking about winning in the game of life. We all like winning, nobody wants to loose (ask the Man U fans). Life is a game where many people win and others loose depending on the choices they make in life. We learnt last week that for us to win, "we must run with perserverance the race that is marked out for us". It is important to realize two things here, first which race to run in, and secondly how to run it. It doesn't matter how well you run the wrong race, you can never win that way.

For you to be a winner, you need to run the race that has been marked out for you. In other words you need to stay within your track otherwise you will be disqualified. You may run the fastest time in the 400 metres race but if you end up in the wrong lane that wount count. This is why I stress so much on the fact that each of us need to know what for heaven's sake we are here on earth for. If you do not know then it doesn't really matter how long you live here on earth as you will only be filling space instead of living a purposeful life. "The purpose of life is a life of purpose" is a very powerful statement worthy of all acceptance. If you don't live a life of purpose you can never win in the game of life.

This morning I woke up thinking of some prophetic words that were spoken over our (my wife and I) lives about two years ago. As I continiued to meditate over those words I was greatly stirred and filled with such joy on the realization that those words were actually being fulfilled before our own very eyes. It was like Jesus reading the words from the Book of Isaiah 61:1-4 and telling the people in the synagogue, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing"; what a moment that was. Jeses actually read to those people not just what I consider to be His job discription, but really His life's mission, His mission statement. Do you have a mission statement for your life?

After knowing what race to run then and only then, does how you run matter. To run the race marked out for you requires that you prepare well for it. Have a game plan. This past weekend it was a joy to watch Barcelona toy around with the great Manchester United. It was clear that of those two great clubs, actually the best clubs in the world this past season I believe, the team with a greater plan, the team that prepared well for the match ended up winning. Thus after establishing what race you got to run coming up with an appropriate game plan is the next important thing to do. They say that if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. It's so amazing how many people I talk to don't have a plan for their lives. They live their lives according to other people's plan for their lives. They have abdicated their responsibility of taking control of their own lives and let their bosses, their teachers, their parents some even their peers to plan their lives for them.

Plan and prepare well for your race and then run it with perserverance. For you to win, you must run well the right race, so what race you run and how well you run it is the key to winning in the game of life.