winning in relationships

1 Corinthians 9:24 - Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! NLT

Ecclesiastes - 5:18-19 – 18  Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life.  19  And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. NLT

Genesis 2:1-3 - Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2  By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  3  Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. NIV

Genesis 2:15 - The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  NIV

Genesis 2:19-20 - Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.  20  So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. NIV

3 Keys to Winning at Work

1. See your career as your calling.

Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. NIV

Psalm 139:13-16 - For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16  Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. NIV

2. See your work as worship.

Colossians 3:17 - And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:23-24 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,  24  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

3. See your workplace as your mission field.

Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that [a]  they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (ESV)

Winning in Marriage

I Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I Defined my role as a wife and fulfilled it

I Realized that My Spouse is not My God

I Stopped Sweating the Small Stuff

I placed a value on covenant

I began to see her how God sees her

We got around other couples who had strong marriages

I Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

5 Ways To Win In Dating

1. Do not play the dating game Judges 15:1-2 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, "I'm going to my wife's room." But her father would not let him go in. 2 "I was so sure you thoroughly hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your friend. Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.(NIV)

Judges 16:1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. (NIV)

Proverbs 18:22 He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. (NIV)

2. Do not sleep around 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 God's will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— 5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. (NLT)

1 Corinthians 6:18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. (NLT)

1 John 1:9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (NLT)

3. Take time to get to know the person Judges 16:4-5 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver." (NIV)

DATING CHECKLIST

1. Are they a Christ Follower? 2 Corinthians 6:14 Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? (NLT)

2. Do you share the same core values? 

3. Can you negotiate differences? 

4. How does the person handle conflict?

5. How do they handle challenging or difficult relationships?

6. How do they handle suffering, loss and grief?

7. How do they interact and treat their family and friends?

8. How do they handle money?

9. How do they respond when they’re hungry, angry, tired, hurting and lonely?

10. What is their daily outlook on life?

Winning Advice When Getting To Know Someone

1. Do not ignore the red flags

2. Do not believe issues will automatically work themselves out over time

3. Do not believe that you will change the person

4. Seek out godly and wise counsel

Proverbs 4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. (NIV)

Proverbs 4:7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. (NIV)

Proverbs 12:15 The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice. (NIV)

Proverbs 4:1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. (NIV)

Proverbs 19:20 Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise. (NIV)

Judges 16:15-16 Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. (NIV)

5. Be it so you can receive it Numbers 6:5-6 "During the entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the Lord is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long. 6 Throughout the period of his separation to the Lord he must not go near a dead body.

Judges 14:8-9 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey, 9 which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion's carcass. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 9:24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! (NLT)

Ecclesiastes 4:12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (NIV)

Proverbs 18:24 There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. (NLT)

Proverbs 12:26 The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. (NIV)

3 Qualities of a Winning Friend Mark 2:2–5 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, 3  four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4  They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. 5  Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” (NLT)

1. Winning friends help you through challenges Proverbs 18:24 There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. (NLT)

Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity. (NIV)

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (NIV)

Galatians 6:2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (NIV)

Ruth 1:16   But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. (NIV)

2. Winning friends make you better

1. They make you better because they believe in you

2. They make you better because they give you wise counsel Proverbs 27:9 The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense. (NLT)

3. They make you better because they sharpen you Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. (NLT)

4. They make you better because they will speak the truth to you in love Proverbs 27:6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. (NIV)

5. They make you better because they will pick you up when you fall down Ecclesiastes 4:9–10   Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: 10  If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. (NIV)

3. Winning friends keep bringing you to be closer to Jesus

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” (NIV) Proverbs 22:24–25 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, 25  or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared. (NIV)

Proverbs 13:20 Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. (NIV)