When I was young, I was a professional weed-puller. There wasn’t a weed known to man I couldn’t handle. I got my start at one of the first tourist attractions in central Florida - a place called Masterpiece Gardens, which my father owned.

When I was just 5 years old, Dad hired me to pull weeds for 25 cents an hour. By the time I reached the age of 11, I was making a whopping $2 an hour. Best of all, I had job security: No matter how hard I pulled, I could always count on more weeds.

Then one day our animal trainer destroyed my comfortable existence. “I told your father I want you to help me do the parrot and duck shows,” he said. I must have had a puzzled look on my face because he raised his voice and cried: “Your days of weed-pulling are over. You’re with the bird shows now!”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Me? You’ve got to be kidding!” I cried. In that moment, I saw my job security going down the drain. I could barely communicate with the people who knew me best. How could I stand and talk in front of complete strangers?

But surpassingly, over the next year I found myself having more fun doing the bird shows than I ever could have imagined. Looking back, I can see that I was being prepared by God for the ministry.

Often when we get ready to launch into a new direction that will cause us to be more effective in the kingdom of God, we find ourselves thinking about all our failures and inabilities. Causing us to focus on our weaknesses is a powerful tool the devil uses to prevent us from moving into our God-given destinies.

Moses fell prey to Satan’s tactics when God asked him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He asked, “Who am I that I should go to Pharoah, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” But God assured him, “I will certainly be with you” (Ex. 3:11-12, NKJV).

The dreams and destinies God gives us usually make us ask, as Moses did, “Who am I that you’ve called me to do this?” God’s dreams for us are always bigger than our dreams for ourselves.

Our inadequacies and past failures don’t matter. The important thing is that God says, “I will certainly be with you!” How can we prepare ourselves for the seemingly impossible plans God has for us? There are two keys:

1. Feed your brain the right stuff:

If we keep rehashing all our failures and goof-ups in our minds, we will continue to do the same things over and over again. But if we allow God to put pictures in our hearts of winning and accomplishing the impossible, those pictures will become the reality.

The new pictures come by focusing our thoughts on the “right stuff” - the things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report (see Phil. 4:8). If you’ve been dwelling on things other than these, grab the remote in your mind and change the channel!

2. Know who you are and what you’ve got:

My life was changed the day I went through my Bible and wrote out all the Scriptures that said I was “in Him” or “in Christ.” When we begin to declare and believe what these Scriptures say about who we are, the impossible becomes possible. Here are some of my favorite declarations:

- I am a new creature; all things have passed away, and everything has become new (2 Cor. 5:17).

- I am free from condemnation (Rom. 8:1).

- God has given me His wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

- I have authority over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt me (Luke 10:19).

- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13).

God’s Word produces a supernatural confidence in us. It changes the way we see ourselves. When God puts His dreams in our hearts we no longer need to say: “Me? You’ve got to be kidding!” It’s time for all of us to lean on God’s presence and allow His ability to flow through us. Don’t focus on failure. Let’s press into our destinies with passion!

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