I Dare You
I dare you. I'm sitting across from you at the table, looking you in the eye, and saying, "I dare you!"
1 Cor 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but {only} one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
1 Cor 9:25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then {do it} to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
1 Cor 9:26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air;
1 Cor 9:27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
2 Timothy 2:4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
I dare you to be more than ordinary.
I dare you to rise above the voices of mediocrity.
I dare you to have a vision greater than the world's expectation of you.
I dare you to have a vision greater than any of your own expectations of the past.
H. G. Wells tells how everyone can measure whether they have really succeeded in life. He says wealth, notoriety, place, and power are no measure of success whatsoever. Wells says the only true measure of success is the ratio between what we might have done and been, to what we have done and made of ourselves.
I've heard it said that the world makes way for the person who knows where they are going.
God has a vision for your life.
Jeremiah 29:11 ~`For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, `plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."
Who are you as an individual? Where are you? What is possible for God to do with your life? Who can you become? What can you do? Do you have a vision for yourself that is as big as God's vision for you?
Here are a few people that might inspire you, because they had a vision to be extraordinary.
● Spud Webb, born into poverty, grew to only 5'6", became an NBA player , and even won the Slam Dunk contest in 1986.
● Helen Keller, deaf and blind, earned a bachelor's degree, and became a prolific author and lecturer.
● George Mueller - never asked for a single donation, yet ran an orphanage for hundreds of children solely on donations for many years. With much prayer and great faith, God always came through for them.
● Geoffrey Canada - never heard of him? In 1997, he drew a line on a map around a twenty-four block area in central Harlem where he believed children were woefully underserved. He dubbed it "Harlem Children's Zone" and has proceeded to deploy more than a dozen programs now serving over 8,000 kids and 5,000 adults.
Ask people to mention who has inspired them in their lives in the past, and why.
I dare you to be an inspiration to others for God.
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
Luke 1:37 "For nothing will be impossible with God."
Our ultimate purpose is to glorify God. Don't get fired up because of what you can become for yourself - get fired up because of what you can be for God. Aim to glorify Him.
1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
I dare you!
Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men
I dare you to be extraordinary. I dare you to astound those around you (doing all to the glory of God).
Dares
● If you clean, whistle while you work. Work hard. Pray while you work. Don't demand things for yourselves. Demand things for others. Be a servant. Greet with a smile.
● If you sell, never be deceptive or dishonest. Truly value the results for the customer. Hurt if the customer is not taken care of. Try not to focus on your commission. Uplift, encourage, hope the best for other sales people.
● If you manage, inspire your team to do better, work harder. Lead by example. Guide them. Ask for areas of need, and find ways to meet them. Find what ails or dissatisfies, and try to correct it. Find ways for them to do their job better. Know your employees. Know their skills and weaknesses. Talk to them about things that matter. Don't be afraid. Shoulder more responsibility joyously. Launch out into new areas. Be daring.
● If you write, whether for periodicals, technically, for schools, whatever, write to win the Noble prize.
● If you are retired, plan a daring program to crown the years of your life. Make what remains to stand out in your life more than anything previously accomplished.
● If you inherited money or job, achieve things that will make the future point to your accomplishments more than what has gone before you.
● If you are a father, make your life a masterpiece upon which the family can build. Show your family, in your example, who Christ is.
● As a Christian, show the world, in your example, who Christ is. Ask yourself what Christ would do, and do it. Have the faith that God will always do more than you expect. Expect a lot.
● If you collect the offering, find a way to be the best usher there has ever been. Pray for each person or aisle you pass the plate to. Pray early in the morning for the offering from your aisle. Shine and gleam as you pass the plate. Pray that each person would learn to give what God wants them to give. Make a purpose in finding one individual every time who you will talk to after the service.
● If you greet at church, do it with enthusiasm. Ask for names. Find out one thing about each person each time. Pray for each person. Glow. Introduce people to people, even if they may already know them. Get to know them. Invite them to events. Offer to help. Bring a Scripture to quote to each person. Bring something God did for you that week.
● As a young person, do not follow the flow of the world. It is only a shallow Dare to do the foolish things. Do the uplifting, courageous things. Stand above the rest.
● As a worker, dream of great things. Picture what could be, beyond what is.
● As one who thinks life is humdrum, become involved.
● As one who is weak, be strong,
● As one who teaches, don't allow students out of a situation without thinking. Don't just convey knowledge, but demonstrate. "The mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains, the superior teacher demonstrates, but the great teach inspires."
● When you talk to others, do not be dull. Be sparkling. Shine in who you are and what you say. Don't allow events to drain your countenance. Jump and shout. Wave your arms. Study those who speak well, and change how you speak. Don't just talk - inspire. Spend the time required to make their time worthwhile.
● As one who interacts with people, share enthusiasm. Bring light to darkness. Glow with the grace of God. Show others to be more than they are.
Notes on Daring for God
● Be sincere. Don't be daring for another. Be daring for God.
● Phil 3:8 "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."
● Mat 5:16 "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Our deeds must point to God.
● Make goals. Meet the goals. Have high expectations, beyond anything you've tried before. And allow God to go beyond. Eph 3:20 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."
● Your accomplishments are incomplete without prayer.
● Prayer can do anything God can do. The only real limitation in our prayer is our inability to ask. Ezek 22:30 "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none."
● Doing what is available in God, is like looking at the rushing, tumbling waters of Niagara Falls. Are you going to say "I'll take a cupful", or pour it on!
Notes on Daring
● Value the things that, when shared, only increase. Lesson the things that can only diminish when shared.
● George Mueller wrote "Never give up until the answer comes."
● It is the doing that grows out of praying that is mightiest in touching human hearts." Real prayer does not convince God of what we want, but convinces us of what God wants.
● Pity the football team that goes onto the field giving only 10% of its effort. Pity the army that goes to war with only 10% of its strength. Pity the person who goes into life giving only 10%.
● The only reason you are not the person you should be is you don't Dare to be. God will do great things if you Dare to let Him.
● I am daring you to think bigger, to act bigger, and to be bigger.
● Drifting along in life is not happiness. Each fish that battles upstream is worth ten that loaf in side bays. Taste the thrill of victory. Crusade. Have a Godly passion.
● What do you think of life? What do you think of yourself? Are you satisfied that you are doing what is your capacity? Are you content that when someone looks at your life, they see all you were capable of?
● How many times have people done huge things because no one ever told them they couldn't do it? There was a math problem unsolved for ages, and a student was given the problem, not being told how difficult it was. He solved it within a week. In another situation, in a math class, a teacher had told the class how extremely difficult this one problem was, and that none of them would probably get the answer. A student who arrived late for class only had time to write the problem down, and later solved it as part of his regular homework. Henry Ford needed unbreakable glass, which his experts thought couldn't be done. So he gave the problem to young guys who didn't know this, and they made unbreakable glass. I'm sure people told George Mueller you can run an organization on donations without asking for donations. The world has told you what is humanly possible. With God, ALL things are possible! Where are the lines of your box?
● Accepting a Dare isn't easy, it's hard.
● Do you lack the immense energies which a daring program demands? This is not an easy road.
● Will you be a Martin Luther, an Abraham Lincoln, a Billy Graham, a Sandy Patti, a Joni Erikson-Tada, a Martin Luther King, A George Mueller, a Max Lucado, a Brother Lawrence, a Chuck Colson, a Melvin Fishbone? (No one ever heard of him because he accepted mediocrity!)
● Raphael was asked "What is your greatest painting?" He answered "My next one!" If people ask what is your greatest accomplishment in life, answer "My next one!"
Stuff to do
● Think about areas to Dare. Marriage. Children. Work. Personal Spiritual maturity. Your ministry. Your hobbies. Your free time. Your weekends. Physical. Mental. Knowledge. Friendships.
● Do you awake in the morning, thinking of ways to do things, rather than reasons why they cannot be done?
● The day ahead is always the most thrilling day in your life. The job at hand is always the most important one you have ever undertaken.
● Make it difficult to enjoy wrong things and easy to enjoy right things (like exercise).
● In studies they found that to get minds in motion you have to upset the order of things. Be bold - do something different.
● When it is so easy to get our thinking done for us, the big temptation is not to think. Be creative. Ask questions. Investigate. Ponder. Stop to think.
● I am daring you to know at least one thing well. What is it? Make your decision and then determine to know that one thing well, better than anyone else.
● Think now of a creative idea that you have never had before.
● Don't tell me what you cannot do, tell me what you can do.
● Some will agree with all this and say "That's good stuff!", then never do a thing about it. Or they will try something, and do it in a half-hearted way, maybe one time.
● Dare to make a start. All the dreams and plans of the world will not help as much as one small deed.
● Are you saying "Pass the ball to me?" Pass the ball to you with those weights and shackles on your shoulders? No way!
● Take the Dare. Others won't. How can you expect your ship to come in if you never sent one out?
● Allow God to get the credit for successes.
● Never give up.
● List one habit to about-face.
● List one creative idea you've not had before.
● List an uncharted area for thinking, for one month, that you've not done before. Write down your ideas.
● Share your ideas to get others thinking creatively.
● What is my biggest Mental Dare for the year ahead?
● Am I a greater or lesser factor in my church than I was a year ago?
● Was there a time in my life when I was contributing to people's lives more than I am now?
● Am I a less of a friend than I want to be?
● Are poor attitudes, jealousy, anger, making me less of the person than I want to be for God?
● Can I picture any other environment under which I would increase my accomplishments?
● Dare I Dare to become more than I now am?
● Do I Dare to be courageous?
● How can I work with God to develop my Spiritual growth?
● Do I have a purpose in life? Do I have a vision that I am allowing God to shape and define?
● Am I closer to what I want to be than where I was 3 months ago?
● A few men build cities - the rest live in them.
● A few men shape subways - the rest ride in them.
● A few men erect factories and skyscrapers - the rest toil in them.
● If I'm not where I want to be, where can I be, and what am I going to do about it?
● What weakness will I overcome this year? How?
● What is my big physical Dare for this year ahead?
● What will I definitely do?
● Will I stick with my Dare until I complete it, until I win?
● You can turn the world upside down for God. Pray and Dare.
Remember, rely on God, and allow the Spirit to lead you, in all you do. (Psalm 20:7-8, Rom 8:14)
And remember the biggest Dare for each of us - "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." (Deut 6:5)
What are your Dares you are going to take on this year?
Dare. Pray. Dare. Pray. Dare.
I dare you to do what you dare.
Other related Scripture:
Psa 18:35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.
Psa 126:2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."
Psa 126:3 The LORD has done great things for us, And we are glad.
Prov 25:6 Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, And do not stand in the place of the great;
John 14:12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
John 14:13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
2 Cor 7:4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.
2 Cor 12:9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Eph 1:18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Phil 4:19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Col 1:10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Col 1:11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
Col 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Phile 1:7 For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.
1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.