Make Winning Happen

By Philip Jordan

CHOOSE TO BE A WINNER, TODAY!

Everyone wants to be a winner in life. But winning doesn’t just happen. This book

will help you discover how to MAKE WINNING HAPPEN in your life. Being a winner

is a matter of choice not chance.

This spiritual book looks at being a winner from a Christian perspective. However,

have you wondered what God says about winning? Does winning really matter

to Him? These and other related questions will be answered in this inspirational

book. The scriptural foundations and biblical lessons provide clear insight into

how we can Make Winning Happen in our lives. Everyone wants to be a winner

in life, however, it is a matter of choice.

YOU CAN BE A WINNER!

MAKE THAT STEP TODAY!!!

Author, Philip Jordan’s mission is to use the gifts that God

has given him to help people understand His word and to

apply it to their everyday lives. In fulfilling God’s call, Mr.

Jordan has diligently served in diverse communities as

a teacher, coach, mentor and in various ministries within

the church.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890438973

Book preview

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Make Winning Happen

Philip Jordan

ISBN 979-8-89043-896-6 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89043-897-3 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by Philip Jordan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All scripture is taken from the New King James Version of the Bible, unless otherwise noted.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

To God, who has shown me mercy, grace, forgiveness, and above all, love;

though, being a sinner, I do not deserve it and could never earn it.

Preface

Special Thank-You

Introduction

1

What Are You Searching For?

2

Where Can You Find What You Are Looking For?

3

How Do You Know You Will Get What You Want?

4

Believe in God and You Shall Not Want

5

Who Is God?

6

God Wants You to Be Humble and Depend on Him

7

You Have to Do Things God's Way

8

He Will Make a New Person Out of You

9

What a Mind-Changing Experience!

10

Your New Character Will Influence People

11

Your New Heart Will Inspire People

12

Obey What God Tells You

13

Trust What God Says in His Word

14

Speaking to God in Prayer Is a Must

15

Have Faith Because God Knows What He Is Doing

16

Follow Jesus and He Will Lead the Way

17

You Must Be a Living Sacrifice

18

Lead Others by Your Example

19

The Holy Spirit Will Help You

20

Prepare Yourself for Battle

21

Know Your Enemy

22

God Has a Battle Plan for You

23

The Battle Is a Matter of Life and Death

24

You Already Have the Victory

25

Obedience Will Be Rewarded

26

Disobedience Will Result in Consequences

27

Make Winning Happen

28

Be a Difference Maker

Appendix I: Winning Is a Matter of Choice, Not Chance!

Winning Is a Matter of Choice, Not Chance!

Appendix II: Life Application to Sports

Life Application to Sports

Appendix III: Everyday Life Application

Everyday Life Application

Bibliography

About the Author

To God, who has shown me mercy, grace, forgiveness, and above all, love;

though, being a sinner, I do not deserve it and could never earn it.

Preface

Why Does a Person?

Run a grueling 26-mile marathon;

Compete to exhaustion to finish the Iron Man contest;

Train for years, foregoing their youth,

to be in the Olympic Games;

Risk life and limb to climb Mt. Everest;

Wait in line for hours, with thousands of other people,

just to get on a game show or enter a contest.

Spend money they don't have on a lottery

they have little to no chance of winning;

Work 80-hour work weeks on little to no sleep;

Shop to buy more shoes and clothes

than they could ever wear in a lifetime?

Maybe we do it out of selfish ambition?

Maybe we do it to feel a sense of euphoria?

Maybe we do it to feel good about ourselves?

Maybe we do it to reach our full potential?

Maybe we do it to go beyond ordinary limits?

Whatever the reason we do it, we are all seeking a

sense of purpose, significance, meaning,

and fulfillment in this life.

However, these are all man centered pursuits that

will never take away nor satisfy our thirst and

hunger for more! These events leave us looking to the

next competition, the next challenge, and the next

opportunity to do it again because the last one

quickly fades away with time.

Why is it we are never satisfied?

Why is what we do never enough?

Why do we struggle to be at peace with ourselves?

The Bible says, "Whoever drinks of this water will

thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that

I [Jesus] shall give him will never thirst. But the

water that I shall give him will become in him a

fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

"Exercise yourself toward godliness.

For bodily exercise profits a little,

but godliness is profitable for all things,

having promise of the life

that now is and that which is to come."

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition

or conceit, but in lowliness of mind

let each esteem others better than himself.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests,

but also for the interests of others."

(John 4:13–14; 1 Timothy 4:7, 8; Philippians 2:3, 4)

Special Thank-You

First, giving honor and the highest praise to God, who is my Heavenly Father, and to Jesus Christ, who is my Lord and personal Savior, and to the Holy Spirit, who is my helper and who sustains me as I walk this Christian journey.

Dear God, thank You for inspiring me to write this book and for giving me the opportunity to glorify Your name and bring people closer to You. May this work be an instrument of God's will. I pray that souls will be saved, that lives will be changed, and that people will become disciples for You. May we all, including me, get back to being readers and doers of Your Word, faithfully praying and depending on You for guidance, and using our time, talents, and treasures to glorify Your name.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever. (Psalm 23)

I would like to recognize and thank some very special people in my life who have helped to make my book possible. My parents, Reverend Preston and Jennie Jordan Sr., have been a strong and positive influence on me all of my life. They instilled in me the importance of believing in God and living a Christian life, having the courage to stand up for what is right, and caring about other people. They have supported my book project from the very beginning and helped me with the title Make Winning Happen. Thank you for everything, Dad and Mom. Love you always.

My publisher, Evangelist Nina L. Wells of Kingdom Publishing Group, saw my vision for this book and was very instrumental in making sure that this God-inspired work was completed and made available to the public. You were a wonderful person, and I thank you for what you did for me. God bless you, Evangelist Wells. May you rest in peace with the Lord since passing from this life to your heavenly reward.

I want to thank my awesome wife, Florence. She was important to this book getting republished and motivated me to get started again. Thank you so much, dear.

To my former church, Ebenezer Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, who graciously opened their doors and allowed me to promote my book to the congregation. I thank you and the Ebenezer Church family for the support you gave me. God bless you all.

To my fellow coworkers and other patrons, who took a walk of faith and financially supported my book before it ever was a book, I wish that I could list all your names here. I want you to know that I am grateful and feel truly blessed to have people like you who have placed their trust and support in me. Thank you all, and God bless each of you and your families.

Introduction

Everybody wants to be a winner. Nobody wants to be a loser. When we talk about winning, there is usually a winner and a loser. Winning signifies that you beat out your competition.

We are a society that is obsessed about winning. Some of the most popular phrases that come to mind are Winning isn't everything, it is the only thing! (Vince Lombardi). Also, Win by any means necessary! (Unknown). Somehow, if a team goes undefeated the entire year and loses the championship game, they are considered losers. Unfortunately, in our society, a coach is not a good coach unless he wins the big one even if he has guided his team to many winning seasons.

Whether we are talking about winning the girl, winning the contract, winning the case, winning the game, or winning the war, there is always a winner and a loser. You often hear the phrase There can only be one winner. There was a phrase in a popular song back in the 1970s that said, Somebody's gotta win and somebody's gotta lose. In man's world, everybody can't be a winner. However, in God's world, everybody can be a winner. He gives a gift to every one of us out of His love, grace, and mercy. We cannot earn it, and we certainly don't deserve it, but He gives this gift to us anyway. The only thing we have to do is choose to accept this gift. What is this gift? It is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Everyone can win, and nobody has to lose. Nevertheless, in order to be winners, we have to make it happen by choosing to accept this gift from God. It is just that simple! In God's world, there are no losers. We are all winners. We already have the victory through Jesus Christ. God, in His infinite wisdom, made it so!

Why Did I Write This Book?

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men (Matthew 5:13).

Some Christians have lost their desire to save the world from corruption and condemnation. It is reaching the point where many people no longer respect nor follow the values that Christianity teaches. People are throwing it out like trash because they believe that it is useless, worthless, and a waste of time. To a large extent, some Christians have allowed our society to disintegrate because they have sat idly by and did nothing to stop it. People have lost faith in the church and the people who profess to be Christians. Our great society is not being destroyed by the enemy outside of our borders but by the enemy within, which is ourselves. The evidence is all around us.

We are losing our most precious resource—the children in this country—to gang violence, prostitution, illiteracy, teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, and homelessness. Their youth and innocence are being destroyed and replaced by dangerous minds, hardened hearts, and deadly intentions. Some of these children are selling their bodies in order to survive in the streets because they have nowhere else to go and no one to protect them from the predators in this world. There are other children who think it is a badge of honor or rite of passage for manhood to serve time in juvenile detention centers or jail. Oftentimes, these children show no remorse for stealing, robbing, raping, and even killing people. We have large numbers of children who think that getting an education is senseless and a huge waste of time. Consequently, these children can't read, write, or know how to make change. Many of these children cannot even carry on an intelligent conversation for a few minutes. We have a generation of children trying to raise children when they are still children themselves. Our children are being destroyed, and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Where are the parents? Many of them have become fearful of their own children. If you were to walk into some of these households, you would see that the children are in charge and not the parents. Some parents have lost so much control over their children that the children are now terrorizing some of the local communities. Unfortunately, some of these parents are not the role models for