{"id":710,"date":"2011-09-01T13:49:04","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T13:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chadstutzman.net\/?p=710"},"modified":"2011-09-01T13:49:04","modified_gmt":"2011-09-01T13:49:04","slug":"eight-keys-to-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/?p=710","title":{"rendered":"Eight Keys to Success"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/chadstutzman.net\/09\/2011\/eight-keys-to-success\/keys\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-711\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-711\" title=\"Keys\" src=\"http:\/\/chadstutzman.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Keys-to-small-business-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In Luke Chapter 12 Jesus is found with a huge crowd of people gathered around him.\u00a0 Jesus took advantage of this by providing good instruction for His disciples on issues such as integrity, anxiety, convictions, problem solving, greed, jealousy, priorities and trusting God.\u00a0 He talked about these type of topics because Jesus knew that the people in the crowd needed to understand how to deal with these topics in order to live successful lives.\u00a0 Here is a summary of the things Jesus shared that can help us live life successfully:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>Decisions &#8211; <\/strong><\/em>The degree of success we experience in life is based on the quality of our decisions.\u00a0 Jesus talked about knowing the truth and being able to recognize lies that can lead us to making bad decisions.\u00a0 We not only need to know the truth, but we need to accept it and apply it to our lives.\u00a0 The only way to do that is by growing in our relationship with Christ.\u00a0 We do that through reading the Bible, listening to Bible based messages and reading books based on Biblical principles.\u00a0 We also need to seek wise counsel from people that understand the Bible.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Servant Mindset &#8211; <\/em><\/strong>This is a heart issue and a humility issue.\u00a0 When we have a desire to serve the people around us our level of happiness and success go up.\u00a0 If we slip into our selfishness it tends to bring on negative emotions and a downward spiral.\u00a0 Jesus calls us to find a need and fill it.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Determination &#8211; <\/em><\/strong>Our lives are filled with challenges, difficulties and hardships.\u00a0 Jesus tells us face the challenges that come our way, knowing that God is with us and for us.\u00a0 When we understand our purpose and meaning in life it helps us to be more determined and focused when challenges come our way.\u00a0 Being determined doesn&#8217;t mean we never give up, sometimes we need to know when to quit something, it means we do what we can to accomplish the task at hand or resolve the situation we find ourselves in.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Sacrifice &#8211; <\/em><\/strong>Jesus was a great example of sacrifice.\u00a0 He was so passionate about what He was called to do that He was willing to sacrifice His life for it.\u00a0 When we are willing to sacrifice for something it usually means delaying gratification until something is accomplished.\u00a0 Understanding that we must give some things up in order to go up or to be successful.\u00a0 Are we willing to sacrifice living beyond our means in order to save and give more, or do we spend whatever we get?<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Preparation &#8211; <\/em><\/strong>Jesus talks about being a faithful servant.\u00a0 Part of being a faithful servant is to be prepared by developing a plan of action.\u00a0 We must also be willing to be flexible if things change.\u00a0 We prepare by continually working on ourselves to develop our character, our faith and our leadership.\u00a0 Usually the things that we are going through right now are preparing us for what is to come.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Action &#8211; <\/em><\/strong>If we know the truth but never act on it, the truth is of no value.\u00a0 Once we know God&#8217;s will for our lives we need to obey what He calls us to do even when we don&#8217;t fully understand it.\u00a0 Our success in life goes up when we take action and put into practice what we have learned.\u00a0 If we only focus on learning, we tend to become proud and judgmental.\u00a0 When we take action and do the things that God teaches in the Bible we tend to become more humble and graceful.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Talent &#8211; <\/em><\/strong>Jesus encourages us to discover our talents and share those with others.\u00a0 When we are working in our area of strength, everyone benefits.\u00a0 When we try to do things we are no good at it usually leads to frustration and negative emotions.\u00a0 God created each one of us uniquely and gave us talents and abilities.\u00a0 When we tap into those talents we tend to be more successful.<strong><em><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Persistence &#8211; <\/em><\/strong>We need to be tenacious and finish well.\u00a0 When we understand who we are and what our true identity is it helps us to hang in there through the hardships of life.\u00a0 Jesus was very persistent and durable.\u00a0 He focused on the mission that he came for and did not get distracted on things that did not contribute to the ultimate goal of seeking and saving the lost.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; In Luke Chapter 12 Jesus is found with a huge crowd of people gathered around him.\u00a0 Jesus took advantage of this by providing good instruction for His disciples on issues such as integrity, anxiety, convictions, problem solving, greed, jealousy, priorities and trusting God.\u00a0 He talked about these type of topics because Jesus knew that &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/?p=710\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Eight Keys to Success&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}