Notes for our last Thursday Night Bible Study series – Win the Day – book by Mark Batterson
7 Habits to help you win the day:
- Flip the Script
- Kiss the Wave
- Eat the Frog
- Fly the Kite
- Cut the Rope
- Wind the Clock
- Seed the Clouds
3 parts to winning the day:
Part 1: Bury Dead Yesterdays
Flip the Script – rewrite my narrative –
1851 to 1983 – 132 consecutive years of loosing – how do you turn that tide? “Fletcher made a recording of the Australian team winning the race. The recording included narration and the sound of a sailboat cutting through the water. A copy of that recording was given to each member of the crew, and they were instructed to listen to it twice a day. They did this—get this—every day for three years! Before even setting sail, they had won the race 2,190 times.
How did the Australian team bury a long losing streak? They flipped the flipping script! They told themselves a different story over and over again. They won the race because they won the day—1,095 days in a row!”
What do you tell yourself every day? What story do write in your mind of what your day will be?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Kiss the wave – process my pain – we all have it but what do I do with mine? I may not be responsible for my pain but I am “response-able”
“The answer is the second habit—kiss the wave. You may not be responsible for the difficulties you’ve had to endure, but you are response-able. At the end of the day, your explanations are more important than your experiences. Joseph Merrick is exhibit A. It’s incredibly counterintuitive, but the obstacles we encounter are not the enemy. The enemy, more often than not, is us. The obstacle? The obstacle—believe it or not—is the way.
“What have you come to teach me?
When we find ourselves in difficult situations, we get so focused on getting out of them that we fail to get anything out of them. Then we wonder why we find ourselves in the same situation all over again. There is nothing wrong with asking God to change your circumstances, but His primary objective is changing you. The circumstances you’re asking God to change may be the very circumstances He is using to change you.”
Charles Spurgeon Story
Mark 4:35-41
‘On that day, when evening had come, he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.” So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat. And other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?” He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!” ‘
Part 2: Win the Day
Eat the Frog:
“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.” Joshua 3:5
“The bottom line? You can’t just pray like it depends on God. You also have to work like it depends on you. If you want God to do the super, you’ve got to do the natural. And you have to start first thing in the morning.”
“Either way, consistency is king. Consistency beats intensity seven days a week!”
“Few things test the limits of human endurance like Navy SEAL training. It includes ten-mile runs with fifty-pound backpacks and midnight swims in the freezing Pacific Ocean. The training develops tactical skills and survival skills that would make MacGyver proud. It’s meant to push the limits of physical, emotional, and mental endurance. But every day begins the same way—with an exacting inspection of one’s bed. In the words of Admiral McRaven,”
“If you did it right, the corners would be square, the covers pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard, and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack.
It was a simple task, mundane at best. But every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that we were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle-hardened SEALs, but the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over.
If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day.”
What do I want to accomplish?
What can I do to control the accomplishment of that goal?
Habit 4: Fly the Kite:
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,” said the apostle Paul, “as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” Colossians 3:23
“As God said to the prophet Zechariah, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.”5 Plumb line, kite string—same difference!
Does God delight in our accomplishments? Like a proud parent. And not just the big accomplishments! According to this verse from Zechariah, it’s the little things that produce disproportionate celebration. The Israelites hadn’t even broken ground on the temple yet. All they’d done was measure, and God was already giving them a standing ovation! Our heavenly Father celebrates the little steps of faith, the small acts of kindness. In fact, you can’t give someone a drink of water without God taking notice! God is great not just because nothing is too big. God is great because nothing is too small.
Now let me flip that script.
I know people who say they’ll give more when they make more. I’m not buying what they’re selling. I know people who say they’ll serve more when they have more time. We’ve already debunked that myth. You don’t find time; you make time! And I know people who think they’ll be ready to step up when the big opportunity presents itself. Not if they aren’t taking advantage of little opportunities right here, right now!
How you do anything is how you’ll do everything.
We want to do amazing things for God, but that isn’t our job. Our job is to consecrate ourselves to God. Then God does amazing things for us. It starts with the fourth habit—fly the kite. It’s doing little things like they’re big things. Go ahead and dream big, but start small. The good news? If you do little things like they’re big things, God will do big things like they’re little things. That’s how kite strings turn into suspension bridges.
If you aren’t making little sacrifices right now, you aren’t ready.
If you aren’t taking little risks right now, you aren’t ready.”
“Most of us default to a cultural definition, which often amounts to keeping up with the Kardashians. “We buy things we don’t need,” said Dave Ramsey, “with money we don’t have in order to impress people we don’t like.”5 Instead of living our lives, we try to live up to everybody else’s expectations. That is quite the burden to bear. That kind of “success” is a recipe for failure. Get off that merry-go-round as fast as you can, no matter which horse you’re riding!
Success is multidimensional, so it’s okay to have multiple definitions. And those definitions may change during different seasons of life. In the grand scheme of things, success is stewardship, and stewardship is success. Simply put, success is doing the best you can with what you have where you are. Potential is God’s gift to us, and what we do with it is our gift to God. That’s the bottom line. Quit comparing yourself with everyone else. Are you becoming the best version of yourself possible? Are you making the most of the unique gifts God has given you? Are you working on your weak hand? Are you swimming laps?
When we define success, it’s helpful to think in terms of different categories. Financially, success is raising your standard of giving rather than your standard of living. Spiritually, success is glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. Relationally, success is when those who know you best respect you most. At the end of the day, I want to be famous in my home. I love pastoring and writing, but success is not measured by church size or sales numbers.
If you succeed at the wrong thing, you’ve failed.
If you fail at the right thing, you’ve succeeded.”
There it is again: how you do anything is how you’ll do everything. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it this way:
If it falls your lot to sweep streets in life, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “Here lived a great street sweeper, who swept his job well.”
Part 3: Imagine Unborn Tomorrows
2 Corinthians 10:5
Ephesians 2:10
“According to the Talmud, along with everything God spoke into existence during the six days of creation, God made certain provisions. He commanded the Red Sea to split apart for Israel; the sun and moon to stand still for Joshua; the ravens to feed Elijah; the fish to spit out Jonah; the fire not to burn Shadrach, Messach, and Abednego; and the lions not to harm Daniel.3
Four dimensions of space-time is all we’ve ever known, so it’s very hard for us to conceive of God in any other way. What do we do? We create God in our image and make Him four-dimensional. News flash: God does not exist within the space-time dimensions He created. So while we think forward, God is working backward. It’s a bit of a mind bender, but God always begins with the end in mind.”
What are your life goals – top 5?
Who are they centered on?
Habit 5: Cut The Rope
Elisha Otis story – world’s fair and elevators
“In John’s gospel, Jesus made seven declarations:
I am the bread of life.
I am the light of the world.
I am the door.
I am the vine.
I am the good shepherd.
I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.11
Jesus is the Way, but He’s more than that. Jesus is the Waymaker! Along with those seven declarations, John included seven signs performed by Jesus. Each one presents overwhelming evidence as to Jesus’s identity as the Adjacent Possible.
Jesus was surrounded by five thousand hangry people when a little boy gave Him his lunch. That’s great, but there’s no way you feed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. No way!
Way!
If you put what you have in your hands into the hands of the Waymaker, 5 plus 2 doesn’t equal 7 anymore. 5 + 2 = 5,000 R12. You have more left over than you started with!
Jesus encountered a man born blind. If you’re born blind, that means there are no synaptic connections between the optic nerve and the visual cortex of your brain. There is no way this man will ever have his vision restored. No way!
Way!
The Waymaker did synaptogenesis, installing new synaptic pathways in this blind man’s brain!
Lazarus was four days dead. There was no way he would ever see the light of day again. No way!
Way!
The same voice that said “Let there be light” said “Lazarus, come forth.”
He is the God who makes sidewalks through the sea.
He is the God who makes iron ax-heads float.
He is the God who makes the sun stand still.
Habit 6: Wind The Clock
Time is measured in minutes, life is measured in moments
Chronos vs Kairos
“ I’m not sure who comes to mind for you, but I immediately think of Caleb. Biblically speaking, he’s the patron saint of neoteny. When he finally stepped foot in the Promised Land after forty years of wandering in the wilderness, he was not the same young man he was before, but Caleb felt forty all over again!
I am as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so is my strength now.”
Habit 7: Seed the Clouds
“That is precisely the way God works in our lives! He begins with the end in mind, providentially preparing good works in advance. Then God works backward. Seeding the clouds is exercising our faith by identifying God-honoring, God-sized goals, then reverse engineering them into daily habits.
Seeding clouds is dreaming big by thinking long, and it starts with praying hard. Praying without planning is a waste of time, while planning without praying is a waste of energy. It’s also called the sin of presumption. The good news? The more you pray, the bigger you dream. And the bigger you dream, the more you have to pray!
Let me double back to Elijah one more time. At first, there was no visible evidence of God answering his prayer for rain. That is when most of us give up, but Elijah doubled down.
“Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
“There is nothing there,” he said.
Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”
The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
How do I stay focused on what God wants in my life instead of what I want in my life – how do I keep from being distracted?
- Start your day with silence
- Take your thoughts captive
- Play the long game
ghbcyoungadults 