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Future is not fate. Men do not decide their future – they decide their focus. Solomon said, “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.” Your future, my future is determined by the seed that we sow today. Don’t live a fantasy. A fantasy is expecting a harvest that you’ve not sown a seed for.

“I press toward the mark for the prize.” Apostle Paul

Paul expressed his desire for pressing on toward the goal of attaining what Christ took hold of for us. The process that I’ve discovered to press on is:

1. Discipline. The purpose of discipline is to condition myself and train my senses for an automatic response. Discipline births habits. You know this by physical training. When you first begin to train, it takes discipline because your body wars against you subjecting it to pain. You must work through it until it is replaced by desire.

2. Desire. Once you’ve established a habit you begin to desire it. After disciplining your body to exercise, your body will actually crave it.

3. Delight. There comes a day, when you realize that you’ve actually must have it.

Just as you discipline physical training, you should train yourself in the spiritual discipline of prayer. Daniel was a man with an excellent spirit, he prayed three times a day. The Psalmist prayed seven times a day. Paul said that he had a continual prayer-life. Jesus’ ministry today is intercession.

Keys to Prayer:

1. I begin prayer in the early morning usually before 6 AM. When I was young, I struggled to pray an hour. Now, it is not important but usually is much more than that.

2. I prepare for prayer. Don’t just wing it. Approach the time of prayer with God’s Word. He is always in agreement with what He has declared. Most people think that it is their job to persuade God to do something that he doesn’t have the heart to do. That’s ridiculous and futile.

3. Don’t do all the talking. There is no other conversation where you dominate the dialogue. Stop and listen after you speak.

4. Make confessions of faith. I have clearly written expectations of what my wife and I are believing for. We have based each confession on God’s Word; therefore, we know that he is in agreement.