Someone once described the game of football as 60,000 people who desperately need exercise watching 22 men who desperately need rest. But the game of football is highly indicative of life itself. Most people watch from the sidelines. Few ever really get off the bleachers and get in the game!

What does it take to go after your dreams? What does it require to pursue your purpose, achieve your goals and fulfill your destiny? For me, it’s summed up in the little acronym: D.R.I.V.E.

DECISION
Mary Kay Ash said, “There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.” I used to be in that category of a “wonder-er” until one day, July 9,2003 when I made a quality decision to pursue and fulfill everything God has for my life. That’s where it starts.

We all have to come to that place in life where we realize there’s only one person responsible for the outcome of your life: you! Do you want to be successful? Do you want to do great things with your life? Do you want to come to the end of your life and have a list of regrets? Or do you want to say, “Lord, I did everything you called me to do” when you stand before Him?

You will have to take 100% responsibility for everything in your life: your relationship with God, your relationships with your loved ones, your achievements, your mistakes, your wealth, your health, your debt, your body, your success.

Zig Ziglar said, “As a young aspiring speaker I heard a motivation speaker say ‘You are where you are because that’s exactly where you chose to be.’ I was broke, in debt, and down in the dumps. It came through loud and clear that I was where I was and what I was because of the choices and decisions I made!”

Make no mistake, your decisions affect your destiny! I came to a turning point in my life years ago and started making “destiny decisions” instead of just “seeing what the day will bring.” It’s amazing how certain emotions, such as disgust, can lead to a life change. We usually don’t equate the word ‘disgust’ with positive action, but being disgusted with your current circumstances can actually serve as vision and momentum to get out!

Seeing a photo of yourself overweight can cause you to say “I’ve had it!” Realizing you’ve gone another year without change or progress can cause you to say “enough is enough!” Your credit card declined at the restaurant can cause you to say “I’m turning my life around!” Disgust is a place you reach when you’re tired of being embarrassed, ashamed, humiliated with where you are―especially when you realize that God has so much more for you!

ROUTINE
People are rewarded in public for what they practice in private. You’ve probably heard the phrase “Champions don’t become champions in the ring, they are merely recognized there.” This is the result of having a successful routine day in and day out.

My life changed when I changed my daily routine. It really is that simple. The way you treat each 24-hour period has more to do with where you go in life than most people understand. Successful people have successful habits.

Years ago, I heard John Maxwell make a statement about watching someone for one full day and how that would reveal to him whether or not that person would be successful. He confidently said, “The secret of your future is revealed in your daily agenda.”

In other words, success doesn’t occur because of one conference, message, or event. It occurs behind the scenes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Remember when David faced the giant Goliath? He had already proven himself by slaying a lion and a bear in private (with nobody around) which enabled him to defeat Goliath in public with everyone watching!

You will achieve your God-given dreams and reach your goals when you develop a few habits that you stick with every day such as: prayer time (even if its five minutes a day), listening to a faith-building message (during your commute to work), exercise (perhaps 20 minutes a day on your lunch break).

The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.

INVESTMENT
The Bible says in Luke 12:48 (NKJV), “to whom much is given, from him much will be required.” You could also read it this way, “Much is required in order for much to be given”.

I’ll be the first to admit that when I began investing in myself, my growth, and my future; my world began to change. Earl Shoaf said, “Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” He said, “If you work hard on your job, you’ll make a living. If you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune!”

I have heard my dad tell stories of how his life began to change in 1969 when he heard Kenneth Copeland for the first time. However, he didn’t stop with that one service he attended. He purchased, borrowed, and collected as many audio messages and books he could get his hands on in order to invest in his future.

Napoleon Hill said, “The person who stops studying merely because they have finished school is forever hopelessly doomed to mediocrity, no matter what their calling.” The Bible says, “Study to show yourself approved” (2 Timothy 2:15, MEV).

I think one of the dumbest things I ever said when I graduated from Texas Tech University was, “I will never study again!” I thought I had done all I needed to do to get a job and just enjoy the fruit of my “labor.” Ha! Well, there wasn’t much fruit happening in my life after graduation and years after, until I understood that “if you want more, you must become more.”

Successful people never stop acquiring knowledge in their field, related to their purpose. What did I do? I started working harder on myself than on my job. I invested in resources. I seized (and still do) every moment in the car to grow, learn, educate myself. (Statistics show that the average American who lives in a metropolitan area drives 12,000 miles a year in their car. After three years in your car listening to audio messages, that’s equivalent to a 2-year college degree!)

VISION
Did you ever know a person who didn’t have a clue what they wanted in life but was highly successful? Me either! Vision is what takes you from where you are to where you want to be.
In other words, you have to see something before you can have something! Where do you see it? In your imagination.

God is the one who instructed us to write our vision and keep it before our eyes. Why? Because we move towards what we consistently see. You need to keep something in front of you that reminds you of your dream. What are you looking at each day? Reality, a pile of bills, an overweight body, lingering debt, a family falling apart, nothing? You have to surround yourself with “what can be” not just “what is.” That’s vision.

If you can’t see your vision, you’re not moving toward it. Recently, I heard a story about a family whose son wasn’t living right. Years went by and he wouldn’t even speak to his parents. But they would not give up on their son. The parents went out and bought a Bible and had their son’s name engraved on it. They placed it on their coffee table, in sight, so that every day they would see their vision that God would restore that relationship. Today, their son is in church faithfully carrying that very Bible each Sunday.

Is there anything in front of you that inspires you every day? With no vision, you get stuck. You start existing without really pursuing your purpose. If you have a vision for a new house, then find a picture of the house you desire and hang it somewhere in sight. If you want to attend a certain college, get a key-chain of that university and look at it each day.

Since I was a little girl, I would see model airplanes in my dad’s office setting on his desk. I just thought he still liked playing with toys! Then, I began to realize that he was just applying this principle of vision. Whatever you keep before your eyes will eventually show up in your life. It’s not a coincidence that our ministry has owned nine different airplanes exactly like the models he has on his desk!

You’ve got to enlarge your vision. Keep something big in front of your eyes. No one has ever had a dream that was too big for God. However, if you keep saying, “Terri, I can’t imagine that!” Then you will never have it.

Second Corinthians 4:18 (NKJV) says “what is seen is temporary.” That word temporary means those things you see are “subject to change.” Anything that does not line up with the vision you see in your heart is subject to change!
– Your company may be struggling―it’s subject to change
– Your marriage may be on the brink of a divorce―it’s subject to change
– Your health may be at risk―it’s subject to change
– Your child may not be serving God―it’s subject to change
– Your dreams may look hopeless―it’s subject to change!

Abraham had to do this. When he lost everything he had worked for and his nephew, Lot, chose the best part of the land, I’m sure he was very discouraged. God told him in Genesis 12:13-14 (NKJV), “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are…for all the land which you see I give to you.” Whatever is going on, don’t hold your head down, discouraged and depressed. Look up, get a vision of where you want to go.

And finally, what will it take to pursue your dreams?

EVERYTHING
When you done all to stand, stand! Never give up!

Napoleon Hill said, “More than 500 of the most successful people America has ever known said their success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them. Failure takes great delight in tripping one up when success is almost within reach.”

Galatians 6:9 (KJV) says, “Do not become weary in well doing for a in due season, you shall reap if you faint not.” Wouldn’t it be sad to get to heaven and see what all you could have been, what all you could have done, and what all you could have had, but you let a few setbacks stop you?

My favorite preacher, Jerry Savelle, says, “When you feel like giving up the most, that’s always an indication you’re breakthrough is just around the corner!”

For the full audio teaching of D.R.I.V.E., click here.