6. Those who live in self-deception. There are many people who are living lives of denial regarding their relationships with God and their families and all things regarding their inner and outer lives. The sad thing is that denial is the first step to outright deception, in which a person concocts an alternate, false reality that continually feeds their mind and emotions the things they want to hear about themselves and their key relationships. This insulates them from the Word of the Lord from others and the Holy Spirit. When you confront people like this, they become upset and blame you for not understanding them or for wrongfully accusing them of something. These are the people I cannot help unless God steps in and delivers them from satanic deception (2 Tim. 2:23-25).

7. Those who do not want to pay the price for success. There are many in the church who want the perks of success but don't want to pay the price for success.

When I was a teenager, I had a goal of becoming a master guitar player. For seven years, I practiced the guitar for three to eight hours per day, as well as played in numerous bands. While my friends were outside playing ball or wasting time doing drugs, I would shut myself up in my house and study jazz, rock, blues and classical music, and spend hours doing scales on my guitar (which I often did even while watching television). Because of this sacrifice, I gained mastery over my instrument in various kinds of music and was in high demand as a musician.

Whatever we do in life, we are called to sacrifice our time, invest our talents, and be committed to a long, grueling process with many setbacks until we reach our peak performance. This kind of sacrifice is needed in every area we desire success, including our marriages, relationships with our children, leading a company or a church, and the like.

Consequently, I have found that I am not able to empower a person to the fullness of their destiny if they don't want to work hard at self-improvement.

Dr. Mark Rutland's

National Institute of Christian Leadership (NICL)

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