Gregory Dickow - Go Deep or Go... Nowhere
God says that He'll answer your prayers, so pray. He says we can ask anything in Jesus' name, so ask for some big things. He said that we could go boldly to the throne of His grace. So, let's go boldly. Sometimes we hear that we can go boldly, but we go sheepishly. We hear we can go boldly but we really don't go at all. We're not trying to tell God what to do. We're trying to respond to what He told us to do. And that's go deep. Go high. Go far. Ask bigger. Welcome to another episode of, "Think Like a Champion," a podcast dedicated to helping you win in every way and enjoy every day. Yes, you are created by God to enjoy life. You are called by God to be more than a conqueror.
Champions are conquerors, and the Bible calls us more than conquerors. And I want to thank everyone who has written a review or shared this podcast on social media. I appreciate you partnering with me to help expand our community of champions. That's what we're building a community of champions, and it starts by thinking like a champion. Now we we're going to just pick up right where we left off because champions don't settle. We've been talking about champions don't settle. And today we're going to go deep. Or, you know, there's a saying that says, "Go deep or go home". My saying for you today is go deep or go nowhere. In other words, the depth of your life and the depth of how willing you are to work on your soul, to work on becoming champion within, to work on chipping away at the poor character, chipping away at the laziness, chipping away at the defeatist mentality. Really, it's all about how we think of ourselves and then our behaviors flow out of our identity.
So, you've got to really chip away at the kind of thinking that says you could never be better. We have to chip away at that thinking that says we'll never get ahead. You know, I told you the story from Luke, chapter five when Jesus told Peter... He's speaking, preaching in Peter's boat, and the multitudes were gathered around. And Jesus stood inside of the boat and spoke to the people from there. But then when He was done speaking, it says in Luke, chapter five, verse four when He had finished speaking, He said to Peter, He said, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch". What was Jesus saying when He said, "Launch out into the deep"? Because Peter's response was, "Master, we have fished all night and caught nothing".
You see, so often the greatness that God calls us to, we question it. We say, "Well, I've never done that before. I've never achieved that before. I haven't caught anything all night". You know, we make excuses, even though they're legitimate. It was legitimately true that Peter had fished all night and caught nothing. It was legitimately true. At least we assume it was. It was legitimately true that they had not gotten a catch all night. But Jesus still is asking him to go launch into the deep. In other words, "I get it, Peter". See, Jesus knew where Peter was going with this before Peter even responded. Because Jesus said, "Launch out into the deep". Peter said, "We fished all night and caught nothing".
Peter doesn't realize here that Jesus knows what happened last night. He knows everything, right? So, when He says to him, "Launch out in the deep". Jesus understood that Peter had caught nothing all night the night before. Peter insists on telling Him something He already knows. And that's just like us, right? We tell God, "Well, no, God, it doesn't work that way," or "God, I've never done it that way," or "God, You've never done this over here, this way". But we have to realize that He is giving us an invitation to experience something we've never experienced before. Because if you want something you've never had before, you got to do something you've never done before, right? And Peter had never put out his net in the morning. He always put out his nets at night and they'd caught nothing that night. And now it's the morning, and now it's the day, the fish are gone.
So, Jesus says, "Go deep". In other words, I realize you didn't catch anything, but that's because you didn't go deep enough. You know, there're some of some areas of our life where we're not changing; we're not seeing progress. Maybe it's because we're not going deep enough. Maybe it's because we've just done things the same way over and over. Like Peter, we fished all night. They kept fishing all night and caught nothing. Jesus is now telling them, "We're going deeper. Launch into the deep. Try it over here. Go further and then let down your net". You see, it's really important that we understand that God is calling us. He's calling you. He's calling me. That's why we're on this, we're having this moment together. He's asking us to do something we've never done before; to go deeper than we've ever gone before. But we need to realize that sometimes we agree with God. "Yeah, I know you want to. I know You want to do something great in my life".
We agree with our head, but we don't agree with our action. We agree with our nod, but not with our bod, I've said. We agree with our nod, but not with our body. In other words, your body should follow you're nodding. "Yeah, I agree. Lord. Yeah. I believe I can let down the net and catch a lot if I go deep". Well then, go deep. In other words, don't just agree with God. Take action on what you're agreeing with Him about. God says that He'll answer your prayers. So, pray. He says we can ask anything in Jesus' name. So, ask for some big things. He said that we could go boldly to the throne of His grace.
So, let's go boldly. Sometimes we hear that we can go boldly, but we go sheepishly. We hear We can go boldly, but we really don't go at all. We hear we can go boldly, but we think maybe we don't deserve to go to God with boldness and confidence that He will answer. But He promised He would answer. We're not trying to tell God what to do. We're trying to respond to what He told us to do. And that's, go deep. Go high. Go far. Ask bigger. Believe for something great. Think it and believe it. Speak it and pray it. And then He says in Ephesians 3:20 that He's able to do exceeding abundantly above and beyond all that we can ask or think. I like what this verse says in the Amplified Bible. In verse five of Luke five, "Simon replied, 'Master, we worked hard all night [to the point of exhaustion] we caught nothing [in our nets], but at Your word, I will [do as you say and] lower the nets [again].'"
In other words, even though, this is... Peter kind of captures what we're like. We're all like this. We have a little bit of doubt with our skepticism and our questions and our hey, we're making excuses. But yet there's a part of us that's really willing to do what Jesus said to do. And we have to choose which direction we're going to go. It's okay to admit both. "Oh, man, I fished all night and caught nothing. But you know what? I'm going to do what You said". "Man, I've prayed and never been answered". But you know what? I'm going to pray anyway. "You know, I praised God and I'm glorify Him. I'm trying to glorify God. I'm praising God. I'm going to church and read my Bible, but I'm just not growing". You know what? Do it anyway. "Man, Lord, I've given. I've tithed. I've worked hard at my job. I don't seem to be getting ahead".
Well, you know what? Go for more anyway. Be bold anyway. Believe and give big, and live big, and love big, and think big, and ask big, and dream big. And then when you feel like you can't keep dreaming that, dream it again. Can't keep saying that, say it again. Can't keep giving that, give it again. Believe again. Ask again. Keep on asking and it shall be given to you. Keep on knocking, Jesus said, and the door will be open to you. Keep on seeking and you will find. It's a life of consistency here. But to have success when there's no success, you have to go deeper. And I want to inspire you and encourage you. And I'm speaking to the deep part of you. There's a deeper place. There's a deeper call that God has in your life, a call to a deeper walk with Him, a call to a deeper dealing with our own soul, a call to deepen the work of God, to let God in more deeply, to confront some things about ourselves that we maybe weren't willing to be honest about because we were afraid God would judge us, which He won't.
So, there doesn't need to be a reason to be afraid to admit the truth and to admit the things about yourself. You know, on the, one of the bookshelves here in our "Think Like a Champion" studio is a book that I wrote last year called Soul Cure. It came out last year anyway. And one of the chapters, I quote Jesus asking this demon-possessed man. And so, I have this chapter that was written based on the question Jesus asks this demon-possessed man. And you know what He asked him? He says, "What's your name"? So, this man had all this demonic activity in his life. And the first thing Jesus said to him when He saw this man who was demon possessed, He said, "What's your name"? What's your name? And so this whole chapter that I have is all about naming what you're dealing with.
You see, to move up in life, to go deeper in life, to become better in life, you have to be honest about where you're truly at. You have to locate your true level. This can't be done by saying what you want your level to be. It has to be done by looking honestly at yourself in times of adversity, and in times of trials, and times of pressure. How you respond when somebody mistreats you, that's the level you're at. How you respond in the midst of adversity, that's the level you're at. And it's okay. You see, when you're not getting your way, when things are going your way, how you respond to it, that's your true level. Now, that doesn't have to be the level you stay at. If somebody mistreats you and you get angry, and you notice yourself getting angry in those situations, that's your level. You're at a level of getting angry when pushed a little bit. And you need to recognize that you're at that level so that you can deal with that area of your life and let God, invite God to work in that area of your life. And work in that area yourself as well.
So, this is the key to growing and this is the key to not settling. This is the key to being a champion in life. This is the key to success in any area of your life, regardless of how much, how bad the taste is, or how much the distaste is. It's distasteful to be that honest and raw about myself. It might be distasteful, but it's the starting point to break you through to the next level in your life, in relationships, in your finances, in your health, in your family. Be honest, because that's the starting point. This is your starting point by asking the question. When Jesus said, "What's your name"? He's trying to get that man to name what his struggle is. Name what your problem is. Call it what it is. Because the acknowledgment of it, the admission of it, is not the admission that you're going to live with it the rest of your life. It's the admission that that's your starting point.
So, this is the way to freedom. This is the path. The greatest days of your life come from the moment you decide you're going to be honest with yourself about where you're at so that you can go to another level. And how do you know where you're at? How do you respond when things don't go your way? How do you react when things don't go your way? That's a signal calling you. It's a call to you to honestly assess where you're at, and then take massive action to change the level that you're at. It's one thing to admit it. I think some people have the courage to admit the level they're at in life. I'm not talking about just in finances. I'm talking about in any area of your life. There are some that are willing to admit this is the level I'm at, but they're not willing to commit. They're willing to admit, but not commit to massive action.
One of the things that delivers us... I've said this for years that one of the things that frees us from anxiety is that when we treat anxiety as a signal to pray, then we can experience peace; a greater chance of peace. When we realize anxiety is not an enemy, but it's a signal. That at that moment, there's something bothering us that we can take to God about, talk to God about, and take to God. And we can pray and we can ask. And so, another way to be delivered from anxiety, that's one way. And in addition to that, taking action. Also, it breaks up and shakes up panic and anxieties when you take action in a positive direction. So, taking massive action. So, it's one thing to recognize, "Okay, this is the level I'm at. I get angry easy, or I get afraid easily, or when someone triggers this, they say this or they do this, it triggers something in me".
Okay, be honest about it and then take action to do something about it. In John chapter one, verse 47, Jesus said... He finds one of these men that become His disciples, said Nathaniel, He said, have you? He said, you have a heart. He said you have a heart that's honest. You have a heart that is without guile. And because you are a man who has no guile, you're willing to be honest about yourself, you're willing to be vulnerable, you're going to see the heavens open. And you're going to see things you've never seen before. You're going to go to levels you've never gone before. This is the secret to growth, and success, and personal development, or the development of a family, the development... Just existing as a family is no good for that family. But taking that family somewhere. Taking your family, your children, if you're a couple, taking yourselves and taking each other to a higher place of the best version of yourselves. A higher place of joy, a higher place of success, a higher place of peace, all those things come from addressing these things in our lives.
And not giving up, and not beating ourselves up. Recognize what you're struggling with. Be honest about it, and then take massive action to change it, to improve it, to fix it, to heal it, to... Whatever you need to do something, or whatever level you want to get to, you can do something to get there beginning right now. In Second Corinthians, chapter four, verse 16, the Bible tells us, "Even though our outward man is perishing, our inner man is being renewed day by day;" day by day. That we have to realize that something is happening inside of us. And God is working inside of us. And we need to work on the inside of us; how we think, how we feel, how we see ourselves. This is really one of the things that is probably the biggest thing that has changed my life, is realizing that my behavior has never been what God has focused on. I was focused on that and I thought God was focused on that. But He was really more focused on me seeing myself the way that I truly am; the way He sees me. And then dealing with myself as I truly am.
So, seeing myself the way God sees me, that's our identity. Then dealing with myself honestly, so I can grow and improve, this is what causes your identity to become, not just what you're made of on the inside, but it begins to show up in your relationships, and show up in the decisions you make, and show up in every area of life. So, locate your true level. It's revealed during times of adversity. Decide to master your own soul; to master yourself, self-mastery; self-discipline. To realize that you have the power to make your life better. You have the power to speak words of faith instead of words of negativity and fear, to make decisions that are building upon a healthy foundation, And realize that no one else holds the power to your future more than you do. No one else holds the power to your choices except you. We can't, we don't have power over everything that happens to us. But we have power over every choice that we make in response to what happens to us.
So, decide to embrace self-mastery. Dream, I believe in dreaming. I believe in dreaming big. I believe in vision and goals, but dreaming on the inside. So many people have a dream to have a business. They have a dream to be healthy. They have a dream. And those are all good dreams. But I want you to dream who you can be. I want encourage you, dream who you can be, not just what you can be. Dream about what kind of person that you can be. If you've been an unkind person, if you've been an impatient person, if you've been a controlling person, dream of a person who's not controlling, but generous and confident. Dream of a person who is secure and not living under an inferiority complex. Dream of a person who is kind. Dream of a person who's generous and not afraid. Dream of a person who exceeds their wildest imaginations or dreams. Dream of that kind of person, and you will be that kind of person, because that's who God made you to be.
And then let me say this about following some steps, so to speak. Locate your true level. Decide you'll embrace what it means to master yourself. Then dream who you can be, not just what you can have or what you can be. And then the only way to guarantee failure... If you want to be absolutely sure you're going to fail, just quit. That is the sure path to failure to just give up. Now, I do believe in quitting. But I believe we need to quit speaking negatively. We need to quit hanging around people that are negative. We need to quit fearing. We need to quit staying silent when we can open our mouth and praise God. There are some things to quit. But the journey towards your success and towards the greatest days of your life, that you should never quit. To fulfill God's purpose for your life, and your purpose; your desires.
I believe that the desires you have in your life that remain for weeks, months, and years, are not things you should have to struggle with, or struggle against to push those things down. If those things are with you, those dreams, those desires are with you continually, those probably are from God. And they're to give you hope that you can see those dreams and desires come to pass. So, another sort of step to take in not limiting yourself or not settling; going big, and dreaming big, and going deeper... You have to realize that you're only going to grow in the area of your life that is non-negotiable to you. So, you have to... There are some areas of life that are negotiable and some areas of life that are not negotiable. I think you have to decide what those things are for you. Like, it's non-negotiable whether I'm going to pray in the morning. It's non-negotiable whether I'm going to be generous. It's non-negotiable whether I'm going to have physical exercise, or really develop myself physically, work out, go to the gym, deal with my appetites, deal with my habits, deal with my cravings, deal with...
Whatever it is that I want to experience in life, I've got to be willing to not negotiate those things. I don't negotiate on sleep anymore. I used to negotiate that all the time, but I was tired all the time. I realized that I got to find a way to get 7 hours or 8 hours of sleep at night. At the most, as often as possible obviously. There's sometimes travel and different things that happen; emergencies where that's not the case. But generally speaking, that's not negotiable for me anymore. Whether I honor God and put God first with my finances, that's not negotiable for me anymore. And in all those areas that are non-negotiables for me, I'm growing in those areas. That's what you can expect. It's the same for anybody and everybody. You will only grow in areas of life that are non-negotiables for you. I would say it this way in wrapping up this particular podcast and this episode. To rise high, you must go deep, right? To experience the highs of life, you got to go to the depths of what's inside of you and the depths of the way you think about yourself. And we'll come back to this on our next episode. The way you think about yourself shapes your behavior, and your habits, and your actions.
So, focus on realizing; seeing yourself as more than a conqueror. See yourself as a champion. The reason this podcast is called, "Think Like a Champion," it's because... It's not because we don't want to play like champions. It's not because we don't want to experience championships in life, so to speak, in our finances, in our families, in our faith, in our fitness. In all those areas we want to experience the actions of champions, but it all starts by thinking like a champion. That's where it all starts. So, to rise and to reach the heights that God created you to reach like an eagle soaring in the highest places, these are the things I'll give you.
And I'll wrap this up with these four things that you must learn to get control of. And if you get control of these four things, it's impossible to keep you down. It's impossible for you to stay down emotionally, for you to stay down financially, for you to stay down relationally, for you to stay down inside of your soul, in your head, in your mind, in your body. If you can learn to consistently master these four things, you will experience amazing success. And we'll have to come back to these because we're out of time. But let me simply tell them to you. Number one, your temper. You have to learn to control your temper, your emotions, your reactions. Number two, you have to learn to govern or control your tongue; your word. So, your temper and your tongue. What kind of words are coming out of your mouth? Number three, your appetites. So, there's nothing wrong with having an appetite. There's nothing wrong with having an appetite for good food; for healthy food. There's nothing wrong with having an appetite sometimes with not necessarily healthy food, right?
Some treats, and some cheats, and some things that you probably shouldn't eat. Well, you definitely shouldn't eat on a regular basis. But that you're in control of it, and that you can allow it in your budget of calories. If you do anything like that, just like you would the budget of your finances. Our appetites are something that we can both appease or please, and control. And when you can control your appetites, you can enjoy things and still be in control of how much of those things, right? So, your temper, your tongue, your appetite, and your spending; your money, your finances. If you can master and govern these things, you will live like a champion. All right, let me pray for you.
Father, thank You that You call us Your champions. You call us winners. You call us conquerors. You call us more than conquerors. And I pray for each person to have a vision to master their lives, to get control of themselves, to master their emotions, to master their appetites, to master their finances and their money, to master their words and their tongue, and the things that come out of our mouths. Lord, give us a revelation of how much power we really have to be able to master those things in our life in the Name of Jesus, Amen.