The Everyday Visionary: Focus Your Thoughts, Change Your Life - Softcover

Duplantis, Jesse

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416549773 ISBN 13: 9781416549772

Publisher: Gallery Books, 2016

Synopsis

A popular television minister and author of Wanting a God You Can Talk To draws on personal stories to outline a step-by-step program for finding one's life purpose and enabling a closer relationship with God. 75,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Jesse Duplantis is the founder of the Jesse Duplantis Ministries. His television program is broadcast on major networks in the United States and around the world. Dr. Duplantis is a bestselling author whose books have been translated into many languages, as well as braille, and have sold more than 1.2 million copies worldwide.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Building Mental Maps to Destiny

Dreaming is wonderful. Doing is better. When I first began in ministry, the Lord told me that I was going to be preaching the Gospel on worldwide television one day. Now, at that time, that looked about as possible as seeing a pig fly over south Louisiana. I barely had enough money for gas to fill up my car. I felt blessed to preach in a church that sat fifty people. And, I sure didn't think that, with my accent and my Cajun heritage, that anyone would want to listen to me preach the Gospel on TV.

Still, I knew the voice of the Lord. My life had been completely turned around through another man's television ministry and I knew that God would use me to reach others through the same vehicle.

I grew up along the banks of the Mississippi River, in south Louisiana. I learned early that nobody was going to take care of me, but me. I saw a lot of poverty and a lot of hypocrisy. I experienced hardship from a young age and I had a pretty bad view of the church in general, but my mother was a strong believer and a strong woman, and she instilled the Scriptures in me from the time I was a young boy. Still, I didn't believe it and I just wanted to get out.

So, although I made my own choices and used my musical talent to get out of Louisiana and play rock music as a young man, when I came back around and gave my life to God, I knew that it meant change...change not only in my spirit and in my heart, but also in my mind.

Mental Changes, Mental Choices

When I decided to follow the teachings of Jesus and the Bible, it was also a decision to change my mental strategies. Before, I didn't understand spiritual concepts like faith. But after I accepted Christ and chose to go this way in my life, I began to get a clearer picture of what it meant to think God's way, to trust Him and start living by the teachings in His Word.

Years later, after I accepted God's call on my life and entered the ministry, God dropped the idea of preaching the Word on worldwide television into my mind. It was a big thought and, I knew, totally beyond my means.

It could have easily stayed in the realm of dreaming, but I decided to move that thought out of idleness into the realm of real faith. To even begin doing that, I had to "reboot" my mind, so to speak, and actually consider that the dream could come to pass. After all, everything around me told me that I couldn't do it. But, I knew that this was a "God-thought" -- a thought that was not about me, but about reaching more people for Him.

That day, I began developing a "mental map" -- a determined thought-life -- that I knew would be a key in reaching what I believed God had told me would be part of my destiny. I knew that this thought wasn't a pipe dream. It wasn't a thought that I wanted to dismiss with a "well, maybe one day" kind of attitude. I knew in my heart that I needed to go deeper with the idea that I considered to be "God-revealed."

Mental Maps Are Determined Thoughts

You see, daydreams are idle thoughts. They can be fun. They can be a form of escape. But mental maps are the kind of thoughts that have purpose and direction. They're the thoughts with intent, thoughts that are actually taking you somewhere that you want to go. You could call them "determined" thoughts.

You know the difference. Think about it. Have you ever been watching TV and a commercial for cake mix comes on the screen? Shot one, you're suddenly seeing close-ups of a butter-yellow cake with chocolate icing. The announcer is telling you how good it is as, shot two, that steaming cake comes sliding out of the oven.

Shot three, you watch a fork press down on the top of the cake and the cake just fluffs right back up, like the freshest thing ever made. Shot four, they get a tight angle on a knife sliding across the top of that cake with chocolate frosting so thick and so close that you can almost reach out and grab it.

Shot five, a big old slice of that cake sits on a plate as another fork cuts right down and lifts up quick to take the first bite -- the act of the fork coming up quick creates a perfect little twirl of chocolate icing. It looks like it's just waiting for that fork to come in and make that next bite...which the fork never does. Instead, the camera zooms in closer and closer to the cake. The name brand of the mix comes on the screen and it's all over. The TV is rolling on to something else.

Okay, now, here's where thoughts come in. You've just seen the commercial. You start wanting that cake. You sit there for a second and imagine tasting yellow cake with chocolate icing. It's just an idle thought, a passing thought.

A "determined" thought is different. It has intent and passion behind it. A determined thought isn't content to remain idle, it gives you an idea!

In this case, a determined thought gives you the idea of preheating the oven. Then, it is this kind of thought that actually gets your rear off the sofa at ten at night! It's the kind of thought that has you speeding to the grocery store to get that mix, the kind of thought that has you reading the back of the box in your kitchen and going through all the steps it takes to have that cake mixed, baked, and frosted, so that you can sit right back down where you were before in front of the TV...except with a hot slice of cake on a plate in your hand and a big smile of accomplishment on your face! My wife and I do this kind of thing once every few years. I know what I'm talking about!

Now, do you see the difference? An idle thought keeps you on the couch. A determined thought gets you inspired to move.

From Mental Maps to Reality

Here's how it goes. A mental map begins with determined thoughts. Those determined thoughts produce ideas. Those ideas produce actions. And those actions -- combined with faith in God, trust in His Word, and the tenacity to never give up -- are what will draw your dream into reality.

Many people wander through life with big dreams, but they don't have determined thoughts -- thoughts that will make them believe what it takes, say what it takes, and even change what it takes to start doing what it takes and moving that dream to reality.

Instead, they live in the world of idle thoughts, which may be entertaining, sure, but that's about as far as the thoughts ever go. Dreaming is good. It's a God-given gift to be able to imagine and to dream. Doing is better, because doing -- actually acting on your dreams -- is what moves your life forward and brings greater fulfillment.

It all starts with thoughts.

In this book, I hope to inspire you through biblical passages and stories, and my own personal experiences, to stop thinking idly and start thinking with intent and determination -- to start building "mental maps" that will get you moving in the right direction. Maps that will lead you to the good life and the good destiny that God has in store for you.

You Determine Where You Go in Life

Destiny isn't fate. It's not firm. It's not something that just happens to you or something that is going to happen no matter what.

No. You are the architect of your own life. You have free will. You have choices that you can make that will determine your future, and that puts you in the driver's seat. You may not have picked the car! You may not have picked the town you're in! But, you still have power because you still have free will and choice.

Sure, there are events that happen which might put you in the right place at the right time...but if you don't choose to do the right thing, in that moment, nothing is going to happen!

It's sort of like health and money. It doesn't matter how healthy you are. If you don't have any money, you ain't going anywhere! And, you can have all the money in the world, but if you're as sick as a dog, you ain't going anywhere either!

A God-given destiny is sort of like that. Certain things have to be in line for you to get the best result, but ultimately, you are going to determine where you go and what you do in this life.

Nobody is a puppet. God created this earth and the Bible says that He gave it to the children of men (Psalm 115:16), which is you and me. We have to take ownership over what is ours, or we will lose it. Our choices in this life make a difference, but nothing happens without thoughts, which is what mental mapping is all about.

What will we allow ourselves to believe that we can accomplish? What will we do with the good thoughts, good ideas, and good concepts that God has given us? Are these thoughts good? Are they worth pursuing? Do they make us feel passionate? Are they God's way of nudging us to fulfill His good plan, which is His will for our lives?

Can we take those good thoughts and build upon them day by day and reach the good life God has for us? Yes, we can. Abraham did it. Thousands of Christians do it every day, and even nonbelievers can use the principle and see some results.

Taking a thought that you believe is God-revealed and praying about it, focusing on it, and letting it develop into an idea, which produces an action, which leads to more actions on the path to God's good plan for your life...well, that's mental mapping, and anybody can do it and see results.

Mental Mapping Is a Spiritual Concept

Mental mapping is a spiritual concept, and spiritual concepts always apply to our lives in a real way, even if they don't appear to do so on the surface.

The Bible tells us that spiritual things, such as mental mapping, are foolish to those who only think naturally.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
For who hath k...

About this edition

• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1416549773
• ISBN 13: 9781416549772
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240