The Making Of Champions

Champions are winners; they are victorious individuals, who have been able to master the elements and challenges of life and have been able to bend them to their advantage. They have acquired certain qualities that have ensured they are outstanding, weather the storm, and been able to tame the tempest. 

There is no doubt that taming the tempest is no easy task, and while many people want to be champions, they will have to develop certain deep and reliable qualities that will empower them to be made up of what champions are.

The qualities of champions are not far-fetched because champions are not born they are made. That means that anyone, including you can learn them and become a champion. One might want to admire a champion’s resolve to start with. I mean these guys aren’t the average guys one sees around every day, they are important people—champions! They have a certain resolve which has been earned by personal and life experiences and it has played a crucial role in building them into whom they have turned out to be.

In the life of a Christian, being a champion is as easy as giving one’s life to Christ. Because our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ became victorious in death and resurrection by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, we have possessed the rights as sons of God to share in the victory.

‘’And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross’’ (Colossians 2:15)

Sharing in the victory includes outright triumph over everything that poses a threat to our general advancement in life. This is one of the important things we have received as dividend for serving God through faith in Christ Jesus. We are champions by default. That is to say that the peculiar qualities that make up champions are bestowed within us as an inheritance of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 

What is worse is that most Christians do not know who they truly are in Christ. Some have never known that God added dividends in salvation as an inheritance here on earth as well as in heaven [which we all know of and look forward to].

There are simple traits and qualities that champions in life do possess and live by and they can be learned, desired and mastered by anyone wherever. They are discussed below:

  

A word from God:

A word from God is all it takes to make your walk into stardom and realise your life’s purpose. A word from God puts you in the right direction. It is the ‘Avos’ of all the traits of a champion. A word from God for any worshipper of Jehovah is the source of his drive. What you are reading at this exact moment is a result of the word of God to me to write about his will for our lives. 

Marcus Lamb, president of Daystar Network—a Christian network that dedicates to the propagation of the gospel worldwide—shares his vision as beginning with a word from God in 1983 or there about and today he is owner of arguably the world’s largest Christian television Network in terms of coverage. Every true great man of God attained his vision and status by first receiving a word from God! It is the champions drive towards world domination!

Soon as Joshua received the word from God to lead Israel into the promise land, his destiny was guaranteed. Same goes for Abraham, David, Saul, Paul, Moses, Gideon and all the bible’s success stories.

A word from God zeros out the possibility of non-directional movement in life. It is directional, instructive and has the capacity of accurate foresight. With a word from God you cannot go wrong! You are well on the road to becoming a champion!

You can receive a word from God when you specifically ask him to show you what he wants you to do in life. The response could come in symbolic dreams, through the word of knowledge (from a verse or passage in the bible) or by visions. Whatever way the Holy Spirit chooses to minister unto you be sure that you listen for the ‘small still voice’ of direction.

No testimony without a test:

The word ‘testimony’ is derived from the root word ‘test’. While testimony is the confessing of good tidings, test is the not too pleasant process one had to meander through successfully so that one could testify.

If ever you will be a champion you must be able to go through the tests of life. They will always be there and you must be prepared to meet them and surmount them.

‘’A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all (Psalm 34:19)

In order to pass the test, the would-be champion must be aligned in Jehovah, the helper and deliverer. If you anchor in Christ Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, though the storms of life will come you will not be tossed to and fro by the waves.  Be ready to go through the test of life!

‘’ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:6-7)

If you do not give up, you will not be defeated! Persevere.

It is what it is. If you give up then you are a loser. If you have been giving up ever since, it’s no news why you have always failed. Get up! Stand up! And get what is right in front of you! Champions do not sit and moan and complain about how things aren’t working in their favour. They make things work in their favour. If you know who you are in Jesus Christ, you will start to speak to unfavourable circumstances to turn around in your favour. It is all in the power of the spoken word.  Speak it into being in Jesus name!

You will need to persevere—that is being ready to see it through—to become a true champion. This is one of the major traits of a true champion! Abraham Lincoln persevered through all the failures unlike most of us who would have given up since. He persevered until he got to be president which was higher than what he longed for in the beginning. A true champion he is!

If you do not give up you will not be defeated. Lincoln knew God, he wasn’t defeated because he will not quit! Champions never quit. Losers do!

‘’So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You will need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised (Hebrew 10:35-36)

*see 1 Peter 4:13, James 

God’s Delays are not Denials.       

Delays are a major part of life. For one to successfully deal with delays, one will need the virtue of patience. We need to realize that we aren’t working in the same timeline with God. As a matter of fact, God’s time is the best! His time is perfect! When you come to an understanding about the will of God, then it will be easier for you to give yourself a soft landing, resting in his love. See what the Scriptures say about his will:

‘’Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will’’ (Romans 12:2)

‘’For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’’ (Jeremiah 29:11)

Such is the will of God for our lives. When the promises have not been fulfilled in the physical, it doesn’t necessarily mean God hasn’t heard your prayers, but because he sees the end from the beginning and he knows what is still to come, he knows exactly when the best time is for you to receive your blessing. 

Consider God’s word:

‘’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’’ declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’’(Isaiah 55:8-9)

Take a chill-pill and trust God that his word will accomplish for you just as much as he has sent it forth for.

   

No is not always bad! 

Many times we try to get something, maybe try to open new doors for our businesses, and then we get a No. Some of us have withdrawn into our shells and sulk others have simply pressed on and gotten a yes after all. Getting a No isn’t all that bad. Perhaps the time is not right. God may have given a word for your business or a life’s pursuit and you believed it and as many of us do, try to quicken the process of the fulfillment, by launching our move, often too quickly and get a glaring No.

Getting a No shouldn’t put us off, if for anything it should keep us pressing on! The Abraham Lincoln story is a classic example. One would consider Thomas Edison’s resilience in the face of failure in his famous light bulb experiment and know that champions will need to build that kind of resolve. After thousands of failed experiments which is the same as a No we get in other aspects, he saw a new reason to continue doing the experiment in a way he hadn’t before. That should be our resolve in the face of receiving a No. Keep on pressing on till you get your eureka moment—a Yes!

                                                        

 Leave the Results to God.

It is exactly the way the caption says it –leave the results to God. We should stop trying to assist God. We will only get him to get his hands off our affairs because God will never contend with our will for supremacy. 

When we try to help God out, we end up working in the imperfections of the flesh and may create new problems for ourselves. Such was the case of Sarah and Hagar—her maid servant. God had made a promise to Abraham and Sarah about an offspring and the blessings that will roll over generations that will come from their lineage. 

Over a decade, the promise was yet to be fulfilled and Sarah stepped in to help the situation, by asking her husband to impregnate her maid servant. A son was born and a new generational problem of strife began with his birth, following till this day. Leave the results to God. Have faith and walk in obedience. Do away with your fears and walk in faith in God.

‘’Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’’ (1 Peter 5:7)