What are you qualified and equipped to do? What do you think you can accomplish in life? What draws your attention? What inspires you to get up and do something? Answer these questions and it will get you onto the road of successful living. Listen to this sermon

Develop ability to get things done
11/29/2006
Andre Pelser

One of the major characteristics of successful people is the ability to get things done. Many people talk about things but never do what they say. Anton Chekov the famous Russian dramatist wrote a five act play, ‘The Three Sisters’, in which the protagonists continually yearn for Moscow but never get there.
Unfulfilled desires often cause depression.
There is a strange verse in Proverbs that says the sluggard starves to death because he is too lazy to take the food from his plate to his mouth!
When I was young I asked the Lord how I would know if something is from God or not. A simple answer came to me during prayer: faith comes through hearing the word of God. So, if I hear something and I have faith to do it, then it is from God. If I do not have faith, it was just a good idea, not a God idea! Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of God. So if God speaks something into my heart I will have faith to act on it. If not, it is better to let it go.
There is nothing wrong with dreaming; that is how ideas are formed. But there has to come a time when I decide if it is going to become reality or simply stay a dream. Something has to be done. Someone must do it.
Many people blame others for what has not happened in their lives. Or they blame circumstances that are out of their control.
When we take full responsibility for our own lives we make peace with the fact that we might miss it sometimes. We learn from our mistakes if we do not respond to discipleship.

Let us look at God’s ability to get things done.

He spoke and things were done. Then he saw that it was good. That is how he worked for six days and then rested from His labors. We have to learn to speak things into existence and then do something about it. But we also need some time to rest. Without rest we burn out. Many diseases are related to lack of repose. Your body is weak, but your spirit is strong. You need to be in touch with your body and your feelings.

When you write the things down that you want to do it becomes motivators for the future. If you think clearly about what you really want to do and have to do, life is simpler than you think. It is when you do not crystallize your own thoughts that you become confused and end up doing nothing.

People who talk about things they want to do one day, will probably never do it.

A man used to come into my church office in Bassonia at least once a week and tell me how desperately he wants to go into full time ministry. Eventually I got angry and asked him, ‘what are you doing at the moment?’ He was selling advertising. ‘Well, that’s what you are then! You can only be what you do!’ It came as a revelation to me as well. You are what you do. You cannot say, ‘I’m a muso if you never play an instrument!’ If you do not get up and do something, it will never happen.

A pipe dream is a dream that remains in a pipe! Do not pipe dream. Be honest with what you are prepared to do. There is a price involved in everything you want to do. If you see a beautiful jacket in a shop window you can talk about it all you want to but it will only become yours if you pay the price to purchase it. Then you can wear it. The same applies for ministry or any other thing you want to do.

My oldest son, Aje, wanted to be a good batsman. During the winter season he would ask me if he could go and practice batting in the nets. I told him it was rugby season and not cricket season, but he insisted. So I took him to the nets on a regular basis at Pretoria University cricket fields. Fanie de Villiers walked past the nets one day and was impressed that an 11 year old boy was prepared to practice batting in winter. It was a cold day for Pretoria and we had to put on our track suits. Fanie offered to help with the coaching and so Aje received coaching from a Springbok cricketer that day! (Today the national team is called ‘The Proteas’.)

When the cricket season started and the Northern Transvaal Junior cricket trials began, Aje was more than ready for it and got picked for Northern Transvaal Primary Schools. When the other boys were having a holiday, Aje was practicing. He also had a ball in a sock that hung from a rope from a beam that he used to practice his batting for hours every day of his life. He was willing to pay the price to become a good batsman and got what he deserved: provincial colors! That year he went to play in the Perm Week in East London and also went on a tour to Kwazulu Natal.

During the provincial cricket trials a man walked up to Nola and I while Aje was batting out in the middle.
‘Is that your son?’ he asked. We replied affirmatively.
‘Let him apply for a scholarship at St. Albans College. We need cricketers like that!’
It was one of our dreams to put our kids in private schools, but as missionaries we could never really afford it. So when we applied for Aje in one of the prestigious private schools of Pretoria Nola had a word of knowledge, ‘I just know he is going to get it!’ After writing an entrance exam and meeting with the principal, I received a letter in the mail from the school congratulating us that our son was given a scholarship at St. Albans.

He also received a bursary at Bishops when we moved to Cape Town. The bursary had to be reviewed every year depending on his progress report and achievements. Aje worked very hard to maintain that bursary status because he realized we could not afford to pay for the school otherwise!

Today Aje is a professional cricket coach at Bishops where he trains many youngsters to play the game and to have the right attitude towards life and people. He is also the dean of our Bible College. He has developed the ability to get things done.

Decide what you really want to do; consider the cost and see if it is worth it. Then make up your mind to do your best or if you change your mind, go into another direction. Do not frustrate the grace of God by saying you want to do something but never do anything about it. That is just a waste of time.

Honesty is the best policy.

What are you qualified and equipped to do? What do you think you can accomplish in life? What draws your attention? What inspires you to get up and do something? Answer these questions and it will get you onto the road of successful living.