In order to make dramatic change in life, one must first die to self. The Bible says in the book of John Chapter 12 Verse 24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Death allows us to make the necessary paradigm shifts that bring about lasting change. All our lives, we have been subjected to an outpouring of negativity. Limitations have been funneled into us by our surroundings and those closest to us. The reality is that most of the world around us is negative, and we are subjected to those influences while in that environment.

Many of us have absolutely no clue what we have been inundated with especially during the ages between one and five years old when our subconscious minds are wide open and in a 100 percent receptive state. As children, we don’t even develop a consciousness until around age six or seven. Our conscious mind acts as a protection mechanism regarding what we let into our subjective mind. It is the guard at the palace. It decides what comes in and what goes out. The subjective mind is the inner mind or subconscious mind. Once we are able to decide what to think and how to think, it is oftentimes too late. We have already been exposed to whatever environment our parents had us in. The thing is that our parents could only pass on to us the level of knowledge and wisdom that they had.

When we take a long hard look at our lives and decide to ask ourselves some serious questions such as, “Am I living the life that I want to live?” If not, why not? Pretty basic question, right? Yet, many of us will never ask this question, because even if we ask, what do we really know about who we are if most of our lives were shaped at a very early age? Other questions to consider are, “Are my aspirations, desires, attachments, perceptions and behavior truly of my own creation?” “Am I being authentic with myself and those around me?” “Am I pursuing those things in life that I choose, or am I living out an idea rooted in my mind by someone else?” “Am I allowing myself to develop enough to function at my fullest potential by accepting change and welcoming challenges?” “Have you ever attempted to make a dramatic change in your life for the better, but regardless of how many positive affirmations you read or how much visualization you did, you ended up right back in the same old place of lack and destitution? Why would that be?” Undoubtedly, there has been no paradigm shift in your life, so the results continue to be what they have always been. A complete paradigm shift has to happen in order to get permanent and lasting outcomes.

We must literally die to self to become what it is that we desire to be. The Bible says, “Call those things that be not as though they were.” So how do we do that? First, we must be willing to roll up our sleeves and do the work. Removing years of negative impressions on a young mind will take a lot of effort, persistence and consistency to reprogram. Remember, it literally took years to pour all this mess into us, and it will take some time to plant new seeds. Once these new seeds are planted, they must be allowed the due process of growth. The new thoughts that have now been planted in your mind by our very nature will attract like thoughts. The process of change inevitably begins. The changes that need to be made for lasting results will not happen unless we are willing to completely die in every aspect imaginable. If we want to truly be free, we must die to old beliefs. We must die to what we think we know about success. We must die to our assumptions about what it takes to become successful. Everything that has gotten us to this point must all die. Why? Because nothing that we really want in life has materialized, and it’s all because of the paradigm that we are now living in. Change the paradigm; change the results. It’s that simple. Our current paradigm has not worked, and it won’t, because it is terribly flawed. If it wasn’t, we would have everything we desired, and since we don’t, we must begin with the obvious. We must create a brand-new paradigm. Easier said than done, right?

Well, first, we must have a burning desire to change who we are. The very first step to any type of change begins with a deep, inner, honest evaluation of who we really are and what action steps we need to take each day to change our programming. Self-evaluation is a very difficult thing to do because facing the truth about how we were raised or what kind of environment we came out of can be very disappointing. Yet, we must face and overcome that feeling of disappointment.

Once we have identified how we became who we are, it is imperative that we now take accountability for what we must do going forward to change into who we want to become. A plan must be generated and action steps created. Finding out who we are and how we got there is only part of the change process. Now we must develop a plan of action that will move us in the right direction. Learn to do what is necessary to redesign what someone else created in you.

Fear, like anything else, can be eliminated. Identifying it and then doing what we fear and the death of fear is certain. The more we do this, the easier it becomes to completely master the emotion of fear. Nothing is more powerful than knowing that fear no longer has control of our lives. Many of us harbor different fears. Some have a fear of swimming, talking in front of audiences, skydiving and zip lining or para-sailing. Some have a fear of in-depth examination because of what they might find. Until we honestly find out who we are and how we got to be who we are, it is literally impossible to make a permanent change.

Transformation usually begins by first taking a look at those things that are working in our lives. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, there is good stuff happening. When we are thankful for the blessings in our lives, we have a starting point to begin building a positive foundation. Concentrating on the good things prevents us from tearing ourselves down before going through the process of in-depth evaluation. Honest self-assessment is a very difficult process, because recognizing what is keeping us in a certain state takes complete truthfulness and a whole lot of accountability. Seeing ourselves as being responsible for what we have created is a scenario we don’t want to accept, and yet, no one else made the decisions that got us where we are today.

We ultimately made every single decision that put us in the situations we find ourselves in. We chose not to attend college because of disinterest or unwillingness, and now we are dissatisfied with our income. We chose not to take a promotion offered to us because it was more responsibility than we wanted to deal with. We started dating the first person that showed interest in us because we were tired of being alone. You moved into the house that you’re living in because rents were too high across town. The choices go on and on. You look outside yourself, at others, to seek the reasons behind these choices: because no one helped you enough, or cared enough, or told you enough. Now the harsh reality is that, no matter what you believe about your circumstance, you and only you created it. If your parents didn’t have the knowledge to teach you, it’s not their fault. They could only pass on whatever knowledge was rooted in them.

Even if your parents and those involved in your upbringing filled your mind with views and perceptions that they thought would benefit you but did not, they were still doing all they knew to do at the time. Our parents worked with the views, ideologies and perceptions that were passed on to them, and the only thing they knew to do was pass those on to you, whether they were helpful or destructive.

Once you become an adult, it is up to you to exert yourself to become what it is that you want to become. Take accountability for your past, present and future decisions, and then your mind will shift and begin processing this new change. Once your mind has accepted responsibility for who you have become by owning up to these past, present and future decisions, it will start looking for ways to help transform you into the new image you have presented. Without a doubt, in a short while, the old you will no longer exist and your journey in life will take a different turn. The fork in the road regarding decisions won’t be as challenging or fearful. The paradigm shift will produce very different outcomes than what you are accustomed to, as you seem to be getting luckier and luckier with each choice. Once you understand how crucial it is to simply take accountability, you’ll begin to grow in confidence and your entire demeanor will be much different than the one characterized in your old paradigm.

There is no longer a need to carry all of the resentment, anger or blaming of someone or something outside yourself. The level of understanding about recognizing internal vulnerabilities that have kept us stuck has now provided a vehicle for continual self-evaluation and the promotion of ongoing growth. Have you ever noticed that, no matter what happens in some people’s lives, they seem to handle any issue with ease? Then have you been around people who seem to have problems handling even the smallest of issues? They can have the exact same problems but completely different views about how to handle them. What’s the reason? One chooses to take accountability for how they are going to respond to unexpected events, while the other does not. There are only two choices about how you are going to respond to anything.

You will either find a positive approach or a negative one, and the one that you habitually do is the one you will always lean towards. We condition ourselves to react a certain way about the issues we are confronted with. Once the habit has been formulated, our reaction will either produce a lack of stress or a great deal of stress. When we don’t handle stress well, we suffer from a lot of negative emotions such as depression, anger, envy, resentment, hopelessness and even jealousy.

We tend to find ourselves feeling overwhelmed with the slightest unplanned event. This eventually causes all other types of issues down the line that make our lives even more uncomfortable, like illness or life-threatening diseases. On the other hand, there are those who go through life and it appears to be smooth sailing. Not much at all seems to affect them or their attitude. These people understand that, in life, things happen unexpectedly. Cars break down, air conditioners stop working, microwaves quit and people sometimes get sick, because life happens whether we want it to or not. The only thing we can control is how we are going to approach any particular problem.

Are we going to address our issues with a solution-oriented mindset or a woe-is-me mindset? Are we asking ourselves how I can resolve this issue or what’s possible now, as opposed to why me or how could this happen? Every issue that comes our way gives us an opportunity to grow into a possibility thinker rather than a woe-is-me believer. Possibility-thinking shifts your mind into a different gear. It’s in what I call “seeking mode.” When your mind is in seeking mode, it is reaching far beyond your mental capacity to solve problems.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” According to this verse, there should be nothing that we are not able to solve or find the answer to. Our Spirit Man is able to search out the deep things of God, and God has answers for every situation.

The philosophies of this world system have no place in the spiritual realm and will offer us no comfort. There are no answers in a system designed to keep us stuck, maneuvering our every turn in life through mazes of doubt, confusion, deception and false hopes. Everything inbred in us by this system must die so that we can live the life that Jesus died on the cross for—a full, happy, abundant life without fear, stress or worry.

We have been conditioned to believe that status is more important than doing what’s right. Our desire to have more has overtaken our sense of compassion, degraded others self-worth and blinded our eyes to God’s way of doing things.

Dying to self is a process garnered with mixed emotions. When we look at ourselves in the mirror and ask the right questions, we no longer continue to kid ourselves about how we got in the situation that we are in. We begin to clearly see how our entire life unfolded and the how and the why of every major decision that has gotten us exactly where we are right now.

The conditioning process began the instant you pushed your way through the birth canal and sprung out of your mother’s womb. There waiting for you were two loving parents full of what the worldview had already created in them to pass right along to you. They were excited to bring you into the world, and made plans to teach you everything they could about how to be healthy, happy and successful. Whatever system your parents have adhered to is totally out of your control. If God is the head of their life and His wisdom is guiding and teaching them, then you have a chance of developing in a Kingdom system, which is God’s system. Then there is the world system or the Babylonian system.

The Kingdom system is a monarchy. In this system, God is the final authority. His government down here on earth is structured by ordained pastors, elders, deacons, evangelist, prophets, apostles and teachers. Jesus came down from Heaven to establish God’s government. He chose the apostles to set up and teach those ordained how the churches were to be governed. God’s government has specific rules within the church that all Kingdom citizens abide by. These rules are clearly outlined in the Bible. A pastor is the head of the church. His role is to oversee and teach the flock. His guidance comes from the power and gifting of the Holy Spirit. This is a far different approach from the world system.

The Babylonian system is very precise and methodical. It’s a bureaucracy. The people are governed by heads of state, and each of them have different ideas and philosophies about how to govern. From the time you learn to walk, talk and read, you are highly persuaded to follow along the same maze of life that many before have travelled. Realistically, we were set up to be molded into the next worker bee for huge manufacturers, large businesses, hospitals and corporate law firms. There will be many out there offended by this statement, but because something is not popular to say, it doesn’t mean it is any less veritable. Most of us have heard this recording: grow up, go to school, get good grades, go to college get a degree and get a good job so you can work for a good company and retire in thirty years.

In today’s corporate structure, this is very rarely even a possibility. Many are lucky to get five years, let alone thirty. Business philosophy has changed. Most companies are not interested in keeping someone around for thirty years anymore. We can’t rely on the traditional belief that this matters today. It does not.

 The Babylonian system charms you into believing that happiness and success lie in producing huge outcomes for someone else to enjoy. Thoughts are very rarely interjected into our minds about entrepreneurship, inventions or creative careers that offer self-reliance or independence from this world system. The world system preys on the worker bees, which are the middle to upper-middle class. The few at the top (the one percenters) earn most of the wealth, while the rest battle for what’s left over and, at the same time, fuel the economy. The middle to upper-middle class are as critical to the world economy as worker bees are to the hive.

According to an article written by Pew Research Center, the middle class accounts for around 51 percent of the US population. This is why the bulk of the financial burden lies on their shoulders. When we wake up and realize what has been done and why, it is clear why this system collapses every few years in the form of recessions.

From the time we are born, this world system is pounded into us from all directions. It first starts with our parents and our loved ones. Everything they have soaked up during their lifetime by way of family, friends, work associates, social media and news outlets is passed directly on to us. Once we become of age, we are deluged with a constant barrage of fake news, untruths and misdirection to satisfy an insatiable desire to obtain wealth and power.

Everything that society has shaped us to become must die. We have been programmed to serve by design. The idea of happiness and success has been tenuously projected on the screens of our minds since birth, and like any well-oiled machine, it has worked to perfection. Many of us walk around in a hypnotic daze truly believing that we created who we have become without ever realizing that we became exactly what the world system expected.

This is why self-examination must occur if we ever plan to receive revelation about what happened to us and why. From these revelations, we can decide to unlearn everything bad that the world system has instilled in us, and begin to reprogram our own minds to perform the greatness that God has placed in us. In order to rebuild something new, we must tear down what’s old. The illusion that we have been walking around in took years of well-planned orchestrated events that appealed to our five senses of taste, touch, smell, hearing and seeing. To reprogram our minds in a matter of months as opposed to years, our approach has to be unorthodox. It has to be something uncomfortable to the status quo. It has to go beyond the five senses, into a much deeper realm.

One of the quickest methods of imprinting images upon the inner mind is visualization. Whenever we use our creative resources to bring about those things that we have dreamed, the manifestation comes quicker and is certain. God says in Deuteronomy Chapter 6 Verses 6–9, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

Everything begins with a thought. That thought becomes an idea, and that idea becomes a vision. God is telling us here that, in order to get things deep down in our heart, we must talk about it all day long. Talk about it when we are sitting in our house, when we are walking in the park or down the street, before we lay our heads down to sleep and when we rise up in the mornings. On top of all that, he said to write it on the posts of our house and on the gates. What we talk about all day long is what we become. The words we speak have power. They create the very world that we live in. Yet, we clearly have difficulty changing what we say. How many times have you heard someone say something like, “This headache is killing me” or “I am sick and tired of getting up going to work”? What about “If he does that one more time, I’m going to shoot myself in the head” or how about “My feet are just killing me”?

Are these things really killing you, or is this some expression that you have heard from someone else? Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter, because these words are creating exactly what you say. Whatever you have spoken has already been created, and sooner or later it will manifest itself. One way to start the process of dying to self is by focusing on what we are saying day in and day out. If we are speaking things that we did not create, then we are speaking what someone else has created in us. There is no way that we would vocalize such destructive statements as “Oh stop it; you’re killing me” or “Man my head hurts so bad I just want to cut it off.” Someone passed those words on to us, and we adopted them with open arms. But when we get somewhere quiet, all alone and in a dark place, our spirit starts opening our eyes and our minds to the truth.

We begin to clearly see that we have been strategically developed to fit into a system designed for just a few to really enjoy. This Babylonian system is not God’s system. This system is based on capitalism. Sowing and reaping is and always will be God’s system. It works perfectly in every aspect of our lives. Whether it be the thoughts we think, the words we speak or the things we do, this system works as God designed. We definitely reap what we sow.

Have you ever taken the time to listen to what most folks are saying and then look at their lives? What you mostly find is that they are receiving what they have been speaking. If they have been speaking poverty, you will see poverty in their lives. If they have been speaking fear, you will notice that they are fearful. If they speak against others all the time, those very things operate against them. God is not mocked. We reap what we sow in every single area of our lives. It is not just what we materially give in the way of money or goods, but also by words and actions.

Ever heard that, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction? This is Newton’s Third Law of Motion. When you throw a punch, the very same force that’s generated moving forward is also being generated in the opposite direction. That is where power is created from a punch. This is also where the Law of Polarity comes into effect. Everything has an opposite. If there is a positive, there is a negative. If there is darkness, there must be light. Where there is love, there is hate. Where there is joy, there is sadness. It does not matter what it is spiritually or materially, everything has an opposite. Now think about the words we choose. There are only two choices when speaking about anything: positive and negative. Since we have a choice every single time we speak, why not choose the positive regardless of what your situation looks like, because what it looks like and what it is are two entirely different things.

There are facts that can really have you feeling gloom and discouragement. It can seem that things are not looking so great, and staying focused on the facts can lead you to a place of fear, uncertainty and despair. Facts and truth may look and feel similar, but they are very different. The fact is that the doctors have diagnosed you with cancer. The fact is that your flesh may not feel so good. The truth is, by His stripes you are healed. The truth is that death and life are in the power of the tongue. The truth is that you can call those things that be not as though they were. To be different than what facts are telling you is to think different than what facts actually are.

The old way of thinking must die. You must adapt to a new view of yourself. Like anything, adaptation takes a deep embedded desire to change. Summon the power that’s in you to do what you have to so that you can actually do the things that you want to. There is no secret. There is no magic wand. There are no genies. God is not going to snap His fingers and, bam, everything you want appears before you. There are no carpet rides, and self-pity won’t bring in a new horizon. At some point, you have to relegate in your mind that God has provided you all that you need to achieve whatever it is that you set your mind to do. Notice the word “set.” It’s a verb, and as we all know, verbs do something. Action moves things in motion, and motion is what makes things happen. Don’t let your hands be idle or let your mind be molded to a deceptive worldview of who you should be. Rise up, and take your crown. Own what you have become so that you can change it and decide right now to be what it is that you have imagined.

Die to the instincts of flesh and bone, and live by the innate power of the Holy Spirit. It will guide you to every right opportunity and lead you down pathways of honor and prestige. We must always keep in mind that we are spirit clothed in flesh. It is our spirit that commands the body and not the body that controls the spirit. Our spirit knows what is right and good, because it was created by God. The spirit is our Heavenly compass. It will always guide us in the same direction as God. It gives us the spiritual insight to any problem.

Think about what it actually means to die to self. It means to die to flesh and the things that the flesh desires. When we are operating in the fleshly realm and not the spiritual, then we succumb to fleshly desires. Our emotions take control of most everything we do. We make decisions on the basis of how we feel. We react on the basis of some emotion. Whether it is the emotion of fear, anger, worry, doubt or love, our emotions can cloud our thinking and swallow us up with feelings of insecurity and confusion. We have trouble making decisions, and we can sometimes fail to recognize the walls that have been established over our lifetimes.

The world has designed a system that churns day and night like clockwork. It has been strategically produced over time to create a never-ending supply of human capital necessary to maintain this multi-trillion-dollar world economy. God’s economy is a very different type of economy. It is designed for those with plenty to turn a compassionate eye to those starving and in need. The world economy is a system built on fleshly traits such as fear, greed, poverty and insecurity. Those who have plenty are in fear of losing what they have, and regardless of how much they have accumulated, fear of losing it all keeps many from living a truly joyful life: the more you have, the more others try to get it from you. One of the easiest routes to wealth for many is to find a way to rob, steal, con or extort money from those who have accumulated it.

           People who think this way don’t see enough value in themselves to achieve this kind of life. Instead, they spend their time scheming and planning to take what someone else has earned. Your wealth does not lie in someone else’s backyard; it resides in you. But your failure to recognize your value leaves you stuck believing that your only option is to seek it some other way even if it’s illegal or immoral.

Every person, place or thing that is prevalent in your life right now was placed there to help you get to your destiny. Even those that are in doubt of your capabilities or those who speak against where you are going are there to strengthen you on your journey. Do not get caught up in what others are saying or believing about what you are trying to accomplish. Just know that they have their purpose, and you may not know until you have reached your destination what their purpose really was—or you may never know. Never concern yourself with what someone else’s role is or isn’t in your life. Just flow with the natural law of life and let them do what they do on your behalf, but stay focused on the end result. Once your true purpose has been identified, your subconscious mind will find ways to help you formulate habits necessary to effectively operate in your purpose.

No one or anything on earth can stop you from achieving whatever you have set your mind to do. Pitfalls, obstacles and failures are an expected part of the journey, and realizing that before you start will prepare you to keep going in spite of these events. Winners win because they are fully prepared to win. They accept that there will be good days and bad days, and they are equally valued as they progress towards their higher purpose.

How we see ourselves is what determines how our lives will be structured. You will elevate to the level of your thinking. Why is it that some earn billions of dollars over their lifetime, while others barely meet the poverty line? Their internal value systems are very different. One carries an internal value system of overflow and abundance that is never-ending, while others carry an internal system of lack and destitution. Now many may believe that some don’t have a choice. They were born in an impoverished household where despair was just an everyday part of life and it was their normal. Based on their normal, they have been ingrained with a mindset that is irreversible.

Then there are those who are born privileged. They have been sent to the best schools that money can buy. They have been inundated with the idea of wealth and abundance all their lives, and are bound to continue in that trend. None of this is true, and none of it matters. Regardless of what hand you were dealt in life, you still have the option to undo whatever damage has been done in your younger years.

At some point, you must release what others have done with good intent, and come to terms with the reality of personal accountability. No matter what your parents taught you, instilled in you or surrendered to, once you become responsible for your own means, the same holds true for what’s housed in your own mind.

There comes a time when blaming outside influences or other affiliations about the life you own no longer bears any relevance. You must decide to conscientiously scrutinize everything you’ve been taught and why. Often, you will find that everyone who poured into your life had the best intentions with little to no knowledge of the effect of their teachings.

People can only pour into you what they were influenced by; therefore, if you were molded to accept their views, perceptions and insights, then you are only a reflection of those who invested in you. This is why it is absolutely imperative to know who influenced your life so that you can see who you are based on where you came from.

If you can evaluate with an open mind who was responsible for your development, most likely, the same flaws and ideologies that you see in them are the same ones that probably exist in you. This is your starting point of beginning to die to self.

Evaluation of any kind has no merit if the information is not used to transform from what you are to what you want to be. Saying the right words at the right time around the right people will not bring about change. You must have the utmost integrity about what has been discovered, and instead of hiding from it or placing it on a shelf to deal with later, resolve in your mind that this is a very serious matter. Understand that things in you must die so that you can experience a rebirth of new paradigms and unlimited possibilities. Reshape your mind so that you can shape your world from this day on. Be the captain of your ship.

Reshaping your life for the purpose of recognizing and achieving your destiny takes a tremendous amount of determination and focus along with the ability to overcome obstacles. Making room for setbacks and unexpected events during your journey will not only prevent discouragement, but help you create a realistic, doable timeline for its attainment.

It is also a good idea to start with the end in mind and work your way backwards. See the project finished in its entirety. Envision it in your mind. See yourself getting rave reviews and all the accolades that come along with the completion of a successful project. Now make plans to get to that end result that you see in your mind. Then make up your mind to see it through no matter what.

Get in the habit of finishing what you start. Develop a winning attitude, and see yourself always winning. You’ll be amazed at the outcomes and the things that you will accomplish. Never see yourself failing, only succeeding. Set your own mind up for success, and you will succeed. This is no one else’s journey, so you don’t have to seek others’ opinions about what you are doing. Just get about the business of making it a reality.

People around you are usually quick to offer their opinion about what it is that you are doing as well as their criticisms. Don’t ever listen to the views and comments of those who are observing you but aren’t doing anything of any significance themselves. If you need advice, seek it from those who have done what you are doing or who are themselves successful.

Go after your vision with an expectation that you will achieve it. Expectation works in tandem with belief. When they are working together, your desire is heightened and focus is magnified to help ensure that your mind and activities stay set on the task at hand.

Belief is created by repetitive thoughts. A thought comes into your mind, and that thought brings you joy and happiness. The thought lines up with what is inside of you. Because the thought triggers an influx of like thoughts, you begin to develop a burning desire. That burning desire eventually turns into belief. Once you believe, you are on your way to accomplishing the very thing that you are striving for.

Believing is the key component to ignite your imagination, which is where many of your answers will come from to help you along your journey. Creation lives in the imagination. For many, imagination lies dormant from a lack of use. It will never go away because it is a part of our design; therefore, it can be awakened anytime we choose. Of course, it will take painstaking effort to reignite, but it is doable. Once the imagination becomes engaged in the process of finishing your project, you will develop a confident expectation.

Expectation is developed by the level of your faith. If you have little faith, you will most likely have low expectations. If you have great faith, you will have high expectations. You will only receive in life what you expect. Let’s say there are two people that graduate college at the same time with the same degrees and with the same experience. One has expectation to land a good job making $50,000 to $60,000 annually. The other has an expectation to earn $100,000 a year. They each will search and apply for work on the basis of their expectations. Your expectations will guide you towards the level of income that you believe you deserve. It will not lead you to anything greater than your own expectations. So, expectations are a key component to living a different lifestyle.

Now let’s get back to the two college graduates. Straight out of college, neither of them may make the money they have envisioned, but they both will eventually work up to their expectations. The one with the lower expectations will take promotions and positions that gets him to the level of $60,000, while the one who has the higher expectations of earning $100,000 will pursue opportunities and ways to get to what they expect.

If your goal in life is to be a millionaire, then you must have faith, confidence and expectations to become a millionaire. Why not have huge expectations? Whether you think big or small, it takes the exact same amount of energy, so why not think big?

God is the source of our supply, and our God is a big God. He is more than willing and capable of giving you whatever it is that you expect.

If God turns the entire ocean to liquid gold, and He tells you to go to that ocean of gold and grab the amount of gold according to your expectations, why would you bring a teaspoon when you could bring a semi-truck? Others will bring a thousand semi-trucks. After all, God gave no limit. He said to get as much as the level of your expectation.

Life is no different. It will only give what you expect out of it. Of course, just because you expect it, doesn’t mean that it will fall into your lap with little to no effort. There will be failed timelines, unexpected setbacks, unplanned interruptions and dependence on others that you can’t control. But just remember that we have victories on the other side of our failures and possibilities beyond our pain. You will overcome these struggles.

This is one of the main reasons for in-depth, honest self-assessment before beginning your journey. It will prepare you for unexpected events and unplanned situations without ever getting discouraged to the point of quitting.

Decide before you begin your journey that quitting is not an option. You are working from the end of your vision backwards, so you have already seen its completion; therefore, everything in between now and the end are all just stepping stones towards an awesome future.