Again, the primary assets are election and predestination. God elected or chose all believers to live in His predesigned plan. He gave us equal privilege and equal opportunity to do this. If we are going to take advantage of our primary assets, election and predestination, and multiply them into secondary assets, we have to begin by admitting that we are powerless and need divine power. We need the power of the Holy Spirit and the thinking of Jesus Christ. Without divine power, our lives become unmanageable. I’m sure that we’ve all wondered at times why we can’t manage what’s going on in our lives. Well, it is usually because we are relying on our power. We don’t like to admit defeat, and that we are nothing without God. However, admission of our powerlessness is the first step in true freedom. We struggle trying to do things in our power, and the problem doesn’t get solved. Then, when we use divine power, we see that the problem gets solved, and we can have a relaxed mental attitude. It’s God’s power that counts!

John 15:5 “I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. .

If we are going to take advantage of our primary assets, election and predestination, and multiply them into secondary assets, we have to come to believe that there is a power greater than our power. It is God’s power! We have to believe that it can restore us to spiritual reality, that it can keep us sane! Sometimes we have negative thoughts where we condemn ourselves. Other times we have positive thoughts where we think too highly of ourselves. We put others down because we feel so self- righteous! This can drive us crazy because we are not dealing in truth. God will bring us to a point where we realize that we are nothing without Him. There will be times when we will fall flat on our faces! God wants us to believe and trust in Him. Then His power can pick us up! He can bring us back to sanity! Yea!!

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith [belief] is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. [Without faith it is impossible to please God.[ Galatians 6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

If we are going to take advantage of our primary assets, election and predestination, and multiply them into secondary assets, we must make a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of God. How do we do that? We have to be willing to depend on God. We have to allow God to strip us of all of our strength so that we rely on His strength. If He takes our wealth, we rely on Him. If He takes away our health, we rely on Him. If He takes away loved ones, we rely on Him. Whatever God takes away from us, we rely on Him. He will never forsake us, or leave us alone. He will just be getting us ready to receive greater blessings! God is our best Caregiver!

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord you God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. 1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety [cares] on Him because He cares for you. .

If we are going to take advantage of our primary assets, election and predestination, and multiply them into secondary assets, we must make a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves. This means to check out what controls our minds and motivates us to act the way we do. This is something that we don’t like to do. We don’t like to see our weaknesses. We like to think that we are strong and have our act together. We even fake it at times! In taking this inventory, we are not to condemn ourselves or to feel guilty. We are not to fear what we might find! God won’t condemn us. He just wants us to wake up! We can grow through our weaknesses if we rely on God and His grace. He will show us how to live in our new nature! When we slip back to our old sin nature, we just need to rebound and live in our new nature again. We need God to control our minds and motivate us! In our inventory, we need to see more of God’s thinking and less of worldly thinking.

1 Corinthians 11:31 If we judge ourselves rightly, we shall not be judged. [This means to make a proper evaluation of our lives.]

When we are taking inventory of ourselves, we can see if we have things like anger, resentments, jealousy, envy, self-pity, hurt, pride, etc…. If we have anger in our lives, there is something wrong with our spiritual lives. If we have resentments in our lives, there us something wrong with our spiritual lives. The same is true about any weaknesses we have. Sometimes we are still thinking about our past and feeling guilty. Therefore, we can’t go forward in the plan of God. We need to promptly admit and accept our weaknesses. Then we can patiently let God correct them. When our past is settled, when we have a relaxed mental attitude based on the Word of God, our present challenges can be met! Let’s take inventory of ourselves, get with God’s thinking, and meet the challenges He has for us!

Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive s the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

If we want to take advantage of our primary assets, election and predestination, and multiply our primary assets into secondary assets, we must admit to God and to ourselves the exact nature of our wrongs. We have all wronged God, people, and ourselves. We all have things in our souls that God needs to change. Without the fearless admission of our weaknesses, we cannot grow in God’s grace and knowledge. There is a necessity put in all of us for complete honesty, without guilt and condemnation. This is the beginning of true freedom. If we admit our faults, we will have peacefulness. We will begin to have true relationships with God and humanity. We all have faults. So what? This doesn’t bother God. What bothers God is when we fall and don’t get back up again. In other words, when we sin, we need to rebound and go forward in God’s plan. God knows everything about us anyway, and He wants us to stop hiding our weaknesses. We can’t play “hide and seek” with God. He always knows where we are spiritually and physically! God wants us to be honest with ourselves, have peace of mind, and grow in His grace and wisdom.

Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals [hides] his transgressions [faults] will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes [them] will find compassion. [This means not to hide our faults from ourselves but to admit them and let God change us.]

If we are going to take advantage of our primary assets, election and predestination, and multiply them into secondary assets, we must be entirely ready to have God remove the defects of character in our lives that are spoiling our relationship with Him. We must be willing to have God point out where we are weak in our emotions and our thinking. God knows the best way to do this. God will help us get rid of our defects. This doesn’t mean that we won’t fail again. We will, but we just need to rebound and go forward in God’s plan again. We are to let God remove our defects! We are to let Him change our attitude through Bible doctrine. God is the best Transformer! We definitely don’t want to spoil our relationship with God!!

Psalm 26:1-2 Vindicate [judge] me, O Lord, for I have led a blameless life [walked in integrity]]; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering [not being double minded]. Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart [right lobe of the mind] and my mind [emotions];.

If we are going to take advantage of our primary assets and multiply them into secondary assets, we must humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings. This is sometimes difficult. It can be a little scary because sometimes we feel comfortable in our shortcomings, or weaknesses. When we are fearful of something, sometimes we turn to our weaknesses to solve our problems. Let’s say that one of our faults is lying. When we get fearful of what might happen to us if we tell the truth, we lie. We rely on our weakness! Not a good thing to do! We need to rely on God’s promises and will for our lives. Humility, or obedience to God’s will, is the road to true freedom and safety in the spiritual life. Failure and misery can be changed by humility, or teachability. Some pain, suffering, and humbling experiences will be involved when these shortcomings are being removed, but we must rely on God. Therefore, we must humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings!

Luke 14:11 For everyone who exalts [praises] himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted [praised].

If we are going to take advantage of our primary assets and multiply them into secondary assets, we must make direct amends with people wherever possible, except when it would injure them or others. For example, there may be people that we’ve hurt. We need to make up with them, if it is possible. We must take responsibility for our past actions, our weaknesses. We need to work together, not cause problems. We are to forgive and encourage one another. We are not to let Satan cause conflicts. As believers, we are all members of the body of Christ. Just like the parts of our human body work together, the parts or members of the body of Christ need to work together.

Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

If we are going to take advantage of our primary assets and multiply them into secondary assets, there is something that we must do. We must seek, through prayer and meditation, to improve our conscious contact with God. We can have contact with God anytime we choose. As long as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we have a direct line to God. There is no interference. We don’t have to say, “Can You hear me now?” God always hears us. We need to keep that line open and thank God for all that He gives us. Sometimes we take God for granted and we forget that He is the One Who gives us everything! We need to tell our Father of our desires for others and ourselves. We need to ask Him if He will fulfill them. We need to pray for knowledge of God’s will for our lives. Then we need to use His power to carry out His will. In meditation, we can think about what an awesome God we have. We can think about our thoughts and see if they line up with His thinking. God has made it easy to keep in touch with Him. We just have to be conscious of the fact that we need contact with God and do it!! Don’t keep God on “hold”! He wants us to keep in touch!

Ephesians 6:18 And Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert [conscious] and always keep on praying for all the saints [believers].

If we practice these mental exercises, we will have a spiritual awakening! It is definitely time for all of us to wake up! We need to admit our weaknesses so that we can grow in God’s wisdom. Dependence on God and His wisdom is necessary in our spiritual and temporal lives! Coming to an understanding of this will give us a joy of living. We can have a relaxed mental attitude, an attitude based on God’s thinking. We can go forward in God’s plan for our lives. We can use our primary assets, election and predestination, and multiply them into secondary assets! We can bring glory to God! Isn’t that what it’s all about?

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

The Best Assets We Will Ever Have - Book 3 References used:                     Robert R.McLaughlin Bible Ministries   www.gbible.org                       Lessons: 7-18-03, 5-13-05, 5-11-05, 7-12-06, 7-16-06, 8-4-06,                                     10-15-06, 10-18-06                     Tree of Life:  9-10-06, 9-24-06, 10-22-06, 11-19-06

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