Simple Practical Principles to Achieve a Life of Excellence

SIMPLE PRINCIPALS TO ACHIEVE A LIFE OF EXCELLENCE
BASED ON PROVERBS 1
Excellence :- The quality of excelling; possessing good or desirable qualities in high degree ; outstanding feature
“These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel “.King Solomon the Son of King David is credited to being the most wise and successful human being who ever lived. When it was time for him to inherit his father’s throne. He was one of the youngest of his father’s sons and the least qualified. He knew he would have to face many challenges beyond his knowledge and experience, therefore he prayed that God would give him wisdom. God answered his prayer and he established one the most prosperous kingdoms of ancient times. He built for God a glorious Temple in Jerusalem. He also wrote the book of proverbs that is full of practical principals that can help us live a life of excellence.
The first principal we learn from King Solomon is to “ask for wisdom from God”. Although he was King with all the resources and all the ‘trappings of power’ he still relied on God to guide him and lead me into paths of integrity, success and excellence.
The book of proverbs teaches that knowledge and wisdom for excellence is available to those who will desire, who will seek for it and who will ask for it.
“There purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline to help them understand the insights of the wise.” In order for you to excel in any area of your life you must be ready to learn. If you have a “know it all “attitude it is difficult to succeed .There is always something new to learn. You need wisdom to succeed. One of the definitions of wisdom is accumulated knowledge. That is wisdom is actually knowledge you have gathered over a long period. That means do not expect “a quick fix” to wisdom. Time is an indispensible asset to obtaining knowledge and wisdom. Experience is still the best teacher. Young people can benefit from older people with experience of applied knowledge. The young may have more knowledge; unfortunately this knowledge has still not been tested. The young must humble themselves and allow to be mentored by older people who have “walked the same path” before. Discipline is essential to success. Discipline is synonymous to following instructions or procedure in order to achieve a specific objective. Do not try to “reinvent the wheel”. The path has already been marked out. The parameters for excellence are marked out. Hard work, determination, courtesy, Focus, consistency, honesty and virtues are principals of success we cannot circumvent if we really want to achieve excellence. Discipline has to do with sacrifice, self-denial, delayed gratitude and humility. Discipline is the price we pay for excellence. Like they say there is no gain without pain. The question is; are you ready to pay for the price of excellence? The other quality to possess when preparing to excel is insight. Insight has to do with in-depth perception. That is the ability to see things that the majority of the people cannot see. Bill Gates was able to see the benefits of computer software before most people had the idea how computers would revolutionize the world. When you have insight, you have the ability to see clearly what may seem vague to most people. May the Lord give you a crystal clear vision for your life and destiny today in Jesus Name.
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment, and equity. The word receive in Hebrew is laqach (pronounced “law-kakh’) means ; to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry ,take a wife ,snatch , take away. Hence there is deliberate action you must apply in order to obtain wisdom and excellence. The word instruction is musar (moosawr) which means discipline, chastening, correction, rebuking, restraining , check (checks and balances), bond. In order to achieve a life of excellence, will sometimes have to do what you do not necessarily enjoy doing. It is not the easy or popular path that leads to success , but many times it is the difficult and unpopular path that gets you to the place of excellence and glory. The human nature hates to be disciplined, humbled or corrected. However the path of wisdom is a humbling path of submission and delayed gratification. Jesus Christ taught His followers to choose the narrow path that few find and follow and avoid the wide path that is popular with the majority of humanity. Once in a while we all miss the mark and need someone in our life that can tell us : “hey! You are on the wrong path!”. We all need someone who can speak into our lives and correct us. Non of us can ever get “too big to be mentored”. QUESTION : “Who have you allowed to speak into your life as a mentor, father or authority?” For you to achieve a life of excellence , you need someone who has already gotten where you desire to go, and allow them to speak into your life. Mostly they will encourage You, guide you and speak blessing upon you declaring that as they have made it ,you too will make it. There also moments where they must , correct you, rebuke you , when you loose direction. Ask God to connect you to the right mentors. Many have been abused and misused with wrong the mentors. Others have been misled with timid mentors who are not bold enough to tell them that they are on the wrong path. For you to achieve excellence You must appreciate correction even when it hurts (Proverbs 3:11 – My Son despise not the chastening of the Lord neither be weary of his correction.) Take every correction and rebuke you receive positively and you will become wiser and better. A majority of people generally receive criticism negatively and miss out on the “learning points” they received from the rebukes. All things work for good for those who are in Christ Jesus.
EXCELLENCE TIT BITS
PRAYER
DEPEND ON GOD FOR GUIDANCE
DESIRE WISDOM AND EXCELLENCE
BE WILLING TO LEARN FROM OTHERS
INVEST IN TIME
PAY THE PRICE OF DISCIPLINE
DEVELOP AN ACTION PLAN AND THEN ACT
ACCEPT POSITIVE CRITICISM
GET A MENTOR / A SPIRITUAL PARENTS
Written By Pastor Willy Ochieng
Senior Pastor
Busia Lighthouse Church