Gregory Dickow - Suit Up, Dress Like a Champion
Well, welcome to another episode of Think Like a Champion, a podcast dedicated to helping you win in every way and enjoy every day. 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, and that's what we're building a community of champions. That's what you're part of. That's what I'm part of. Champions aren't just athletes. Champions are winners. And God created us to win. He created us to succeed. He created us to live an abundant life and to champion the cause of the hurting champion the cause of soul winning champion the cause of helping our communities championing the causes of people that are less fortunate. It's our honor. It's our privilege to serve others and champion their lives and champion their success.
So thank you for helping cultivate and develop this culture and community of champions. And I want to dive into today's content because I'm going to kind of pick up from our last session together, but I'm also going to give you this little word that I call suit up or dress like a champion. Every sports, every sport and every athlete in a sport, there's a certain way that they dress. There's certain uniform that they wear. They have a they suit up, right? Whether it's with a helmet and pads or whether it's with special shoes, a tennis racket, golf clubs, whatever you name it. Everybody needs to learn how to suit up and everybody needs to learn how to dress like a champion is not by wearing a certain type of clothes is not what I'm talking about, but what are the things that we as champions need to put on? What are we to clothe ourselves with?
And I'm going to talk about three things that we clothed ourselves with as champions dressing like a champion, suiting up like a champion starting in Revelation chapter three, verse 17. I'll teach you a few verses, and then I'll go through these three things that we need to be clothing ourselves with and putting on if we're going to win in life and help others win. Because you say I'm rich. Jesus says to some of the people in Laodicea. Revelation chapter three: Because you say I'm rich, I have become wealthy, I have need of nothing. And you do not know that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. What encouraging words, right? You're miserable, wretched, poor, blind and naked. But Jesus is making a contrast here in how people see themselves.
Sometimes we see ourselves sometimes as if we need nothing. We allow pride to cause us to act like we don't need anything from anybody. But we do need the right people in our lives. And we do need a family and we do need a job and we do need God to answer our prayers. We have a lot of needs and it's okay to admit that. But Pride says, No, I don't need anything. I don't want anything. I don't. But we all do. But Jesus is making a contrast here. So he says, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, not something that hasn't been through the fire. He said that you may truly be rich and white garments, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed and anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see. So he says that you may be rich, that you may be clothed, and that you may see. So we have here true riches, we have true clothes and we have true sight. And then I'll give you the things we're supposed to be clothed with when it comes to the true clothes.
So there's three segments here, but there's also three things within what I'm sharing. But he said there. So there's true riches versus false riches or fake riches or temporary riches. True riches are riches that last there's two riches. There's true clothes. So there is clothes that are not the right clothes. They don't fit right there. You're not supposed to wear them. They don't match you. So there's true riches, there's true clothes, and there's true sight that we may see through the right lens. So true riches. When I think about this, he says, being refined by fire, that means that to have faith in God and your faith pass the tests, when your faith has gone through fire, and when you've gone through adversity and you've stayed with it, when you've gone through trials and tribulations and you've stayed with it, that's true riches.
When you endure, when you endure tough circumstances and endure suffering without whining and complaining, you're winning. When you whine and complain about something that you're suffering, but you're really not suffering that much, you know, if you realize if we put things in perspective, there are people that are suffering without money, without clothes, without water. They're in wars. They're living in the worst human conditions that you can imagine. We're really not suffering that much. So to have this idea, the idea of complaining really needs to be a thing of our past and gratitude and appreciation for the good that we have in our lives needs to be how we live. But faith is refined by fire, and faith is purified. When you go through testing and suffering and rejoice anyway.
When you go through suffering and you praise God anyway, when you go through suffering and you decide to be happy anyway, when everything in your life is imperfect, but you decide to be happy, imperfect, to be a happy, imperfect person, right? This is what we value. This is true riches, the ability to pray to God and talk to Him. In other words, true riches aren't silver and gold and money because those can burn in fire, those can melt, those can be stolen, those can be taken from you. But true riches are to have a faith that is established no matter what's going on in your life, to have love from God and a love in a in a family and a church family and a physical family as well. To have the ability to pray with power and to see our prayers answered. These are the true riches.
So he's talking about here, true riches that we should be going after rather than false riches, fake riches. Money is good and money is important, but money isn't true riches. Money is a commodity and something we exchange things for and exchange things with. But that's not true riches. True riches is to be happy in whatever condition you're in, True riches is to be powerful in prayer, to riches is to be rich in love and rich in faith. So stay with it. Even though you're going through trials and put things in perspective because your trials aren't really that bad. And I don't mean to be presumptuous of your situation. I don't know everybody's situation, but for the most part, people that have a phone and they have time to watch and go through social media.
There's not a lot, we're not suffering that much. I understand you might be going through a tough time. That's where you have to have faith anyway, because tough times don't last, but tough people do. So we need true riches. Boy, if we just strip this down a little bit more and realize that so many people are going after riches, they're going after money, they're going after the riches of popularity, the riches of prosperity, the riches of having enough and more than enough having an abundance. And God wants us to have an abundance. But it's one thing to have it, but it's totally a different thing for it to have you. You are truly poor when you have a lot of money, but it is controlling you, ou're truly poor.
When you have a little money, but you're you're controlling it, you're truly rich. When you can be happy, no matter what condition you're in, you're truly rich. When you know that prayer is the solution to anything, you're truly rich. When you know humility is the solution to any relationship and it's the ingredient for any amount of success that anybody can have in life... These are the true riches. So we talk about true riches, true clothes, and what are the true clothes? I'll get to those true clothes in in a couple of moments and true eye sight to see... We can see without seeing you know, we can see things through our own point of view or we can see things through heaven's point of view. We can see things from the position of confusion and see things through the lens of feeling like a victim or the lens of feeling defeated all the time. We can look at life that way, or we can look at life as how God's going to turn this negative thing into something good.
See, you can look at life as happening to you. Life is happening to you or life is happening for you. So we talk about truth sight. Even if you're not physically blind, you may be looking at things the wrong way, even though you're looking at things correctly. You're looking at the correct things, but you're looking at them the wrong way. It's true that you might be looking at a bad situation from a doctor's report or a bad situation financially or bad situation in a relationship, but the good news is, is God can take that bad situation and turn it into something good.
And all you need to do is give him a little trust. Trust him. Ask him. Invite him to get involved in the situation. Like, what harm would it do when you're going through a really tough situation and you just took a second and said, God, I just want to invite you to help me here, invite you to take over, and I invite you here too, to lead me to the higher place, to lead me to the green pasture. Still waters. Guide me through the paths of righteousness for your namesake, Right? That's true sight is to see life from God's point of view. See life through the eyes of what God can do through that situation. So in Romans 828, when he says God causes all things to work together for good, God doesn't cause all things, but he causes all things to work together for good.
So it's not life happening to you. It's life happening for you. And even these bad situations in the hands of God, He makes everything beautiful in its time. Put that thing in the hand of God and He'll turn it into something beautiful. Whatever Somebody put in the hand of God, if they put a family member in the hands of God, he healed them. If they put a few loaves and fish in the hands of God, he multiplied them. If they put the boat that they fished on in the hands of God, he filled the boat with fish, whatever you put in God's hands. Jesus said, as we talked about a few weeks ago, that truly he said, he said, Into your hands, Father, I commit my spirit, and he breathed his last. Into your hands, I commit. He committed His breath, His very last breath into the hands of God and trusted God. And God raised Him from the dead. Right, because there was nothing Jesus could do about it.
In one sense, there was nothing he could do about it once he had died and breathed his last breath. That was something God could do about it because he entrusted his life into the Father's hands. So true sight is to see things from God's point of view. He can turn anything around. Now let's go back to the second one about true clothes. Because, he says here in back in Revelation, I advise you, I counsel you that you may be closed by closed white garments, right? That you may be clothed and that the shame of your nakedness not be revealed. So what is God telling us to clothe ourselves with? Because champions suit up. Champions get dressed. Champions get ready. When you get up every day, clothe yourself with these three things. Number one, we need to clothe ourselves with righteousness.
Now, I understand that righteousness is a gift from God, and He makes us right with Him through the blood of Jesus. But we need to clothe ourselves with that righteousness. We need to clothe ourselves with that thinking. We need to have God inside mindedness, we need to have righteousness, mindedness. We need to have a more accurate identity of ourselves and clothe ourselves with that identity. Every day you have to get dressed. Every day, we should put on the clothing of righteousness in the sense that we're reminding ourselves that we're the righteousness of God. I love this verse in Isaiah chapter 61, He says, I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul will be joyful in my God for His clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me with a robe of righteousness as a groom puts on a turban as a bride adorns herself with jewels.
Notice how he describes righteousness is what we need to be wrapping ourselves with. Wrap yourself in the gift of righteousness. That means right standing with God. It means that you are a part of the royal family of God. Through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, we reign in life. So every day, if you want to suit up properly, you got to get up and say, I'm the righteousness of God. And even if you don't say it every day, you got to think it. You need to think this way. And don't just think this way. When something good happens, think this way. When something bad happens, I'm the righteousness of God and somehow I rain and I'm going to rain in life. I'm going to rain over this situation. No matter how bad it is, I'm going to rain over it.
I like what Isaiah says in The Passion Translation. I'm sent to announce a new season of Yahweh's grace, and a time of God's recompense on his enemies to comfort all who are in sorrow, to strengthen those crushed by despair, who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful bouquet in the place of ashes, the oil of bliss and happiness, instead of tears, the mantle of joy and praise, instead of the spirit of happiness. Because of this, they will be known as mighty oaks of righteousness and planted by Yahweh as a living display of his glory. How do we become these oaks of righteousness? Well, we're made this way. In Romans 5:17 as I already mentioned through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness we reign in life. And Second Corinthians 5:21, he who knew no sin, that is Jesus, who knew no sin was made to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God.
So we have to remind ourselves of that every day. Number one, we must clothe ourselves with this righteousness-inside mindedness. Really get a hold of this. This is the foundation of my life. I don't leave anywhere without putting on the clothing, wrapping myself in the gift of righteousness. Remember, I know it's inside of me and I know it's how God looks at me. But I have to look at me that way, and I need to remind myself to me about that. And so do you. If I got to you, you should too, because I'm telling you, it works.
Number two, we need to clothe ourselves with power. So a person who is a champion is clothed with. These three things were clothed with the gift of righteousness. And we're continually reminding ourselves of our identity in Christ. Sons and daughters of God clothed with righteousness. Number two, we're to clothe, it says be clothed with power from on high. In fact, Jesus said this in Luke chapter 24:49, he said, Behold, I'm sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Now notice what this power is. This power is none other than the power of the Holy Spirit, and it's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But notice where it's coming from. He says: from on high. You are going to be clothed with power from on high, from the Holy Spirit, who's going to come from where he is high, and he's going to come and live in you and overflow in your life.
Jesus said In Acts 1 you will be, John baptized with water, but you're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And then it happens in chapter one, verse eight, where he says, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. All negative emotions are the result of a sense of powerlessness. And he says, we're going to be clothed with power and we're going to go out and be a witness to people in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, in the remotest parts of the world. In other words, you make world impact, champions make impact. You make world impact when you're clothed with power. So clothed with righteousness, number one. Number two, clothed with power.
And then when the day of Pentecost would come in chapter two, verse one, it says They were all with one accord in one place. That's a real gem there as well to really walk in God's best for your life, you've got to get into one accord with others and get into one place with others and get in a church family where you're gathering together in one accord, one mind, one vision, one mind, one heart for the glory of God, and for the growth of each person. But it says, and suddenly a sound from heaven came as a rushing mighty wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting and appeared to them tongues of fire and sat on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now I want to drill down on this another time, but Jesus said in Luke 11:13, If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? So all you have to do to receive this power from on high is to ask the Father for this. In fact, let's stop right now, even though we have a few minutes to stop right now, and then I'll finish the third thing to clothe yourself with. But let's pray and ask God right now. Let's go to the father. Just pray this and say, Heavenly Father, you said I could ask the Father and you would give me the Holy Spirit for anyone who asks. So I'm asking you to baptize me, clothe me, empower me, flood me with the Holy Spirit in Jesus name. Just pray that out loud, Father, Heavenly Father, flood me with your spirit, Heavenly Father, pour your spirit out within me. And He said he would give him to you freely, just because you asked. So just say I receive the power of the Holy Spirit today in the name of Jesus.
All right so now these first two things, only God can clothe us with. Only God can clothe us in a sense with righteousness, it's a gift from him. Only God can clothe us with power from on high. The Holy Spirit. He's the one who clothes us with these first two things. The third one, though, is something we must clothe ourselves with because God does not clothe us with this third thing. But this third thing is so vital. And we talked about it last week and it's found in first Peter 5:5. You younger men likewise be subject to your elders in all of you, all of you young men, old men, young women, old women, all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Notice here all of you, he says, clothe yourself with humility toward one another. In other words, God can't clothe you with humility. He can clothe you with righteousness, He can clothe you with power, and you can remind yourself of those things, but only you can clothe yourself with humility. Now, humility is not denying the power that you have, but it's admitting that the power comes through you and not from you. If you deny the power that you've been given, you're really lying. If you've been given a talent for making money or talent to sing, then use it and be a good steward of it for the glory of God. If your talent is in administration or business, use it for the Kingdom of God and for the glory of God. But realize that the power came through you, not from you. And we have to constantly check ourselves and make sure that we're clothing ourselves with humility.
Humility comes from, it's rooted in the word gentleness, which is not just a form of softness. Gentleness is the ability to control your strength and to treat people with kindness without compromising what you believe, without being too slow to use necessary force when needed in life, and to not be too rushed to use that power in your life. So it's really finding the balance of avoiding unnecessary harshness without compromising or being too slow to use necessary force when needed. So if you had to protect your family, you use the force you have, use the strength you have, but you don't go around just hurting other people to get what you want. But if you had to hurt somebody to protect your family, now you see gentleness is you have the power to hurt at any time, but you use it to help, not to hurt. You use the power to hurt, to protect the innocent, not to take advantage of other people.
So that's truly what gentleness is. Humility is not, it doesn't mean being without things, you see. False religion preaches that humility means a denial of self. And we need to be not just dead to self, but we need to be alive to God. A focus on the denial of self without the enthronement of Jesus, it leads to legalism. True humility is not debasing yourself or hating yourself or having low self-worth or no accomplishments. It's simply an awareness that all that we have and all that we are is a gift from God. Therefore, only a person who acknowledges God can operate in true humility. Only a person that knows life was given to them, life was a gift to them, only those people can operate in true humility. Because you're acknowledging that the life you have, the breath, you have, the miracle that you have, it came from somewhere.
You could say it came from your parents. Or you could say it came from your parents' parents or you could say, came from your parents' parents' parents. But ultimately it came from God. You wouldn't be alive today if God didn't give life in this earth to people and then give people the ability to multiply that life. So realizing how rare it is and how nearly impossible it is for you to have even been conceived that you're one out of the 450 trillion chances to have even been born. So that kind of recognition of life's a gift. My life is a gift. It came from God. Everything that happens in life isn't always a gift, but life is a gift. And true humility is the ability to recognize that your life is a gift and realize that anything good in your life, it came from God. And there are many things in our life that come from hard work. But it but also the ability to work hard came from God.
So in one sense, you could say some of it is self-made, but truthfully, only God gave you the mind to think and the hands to work and the ability to reason through life. These are all gifts from God. And the more we can see the things in our life, our gift from God not to be irresponsible and say we don't have the power to do something with those gifts, but to realize where they come from is from God. Clothing ourselves with humility is what it's all about. Proverbs 13, verse ten says, Only by pride comes contention. And this verse makes it clear that pride is the source of all strife. Pride is the source of all anger. Really Pride is to be angry because we don't like God's way.
So we're mad that we have to do things God's way when we'd rather do things our way. And we feel when we feel like we deserve more than what we have. That's pride. But when we open our arms to receive more than we have, because we're grateful and we know it comes from God. That's humility. You see, there's so many stories in the Bible about humility. But one of the things that we can really learn about humility is that it means to be receptive to the seeds that are planted in your life. So humility, the Bible says in James chapter one in humility, Receive God's Word and grafted into your soul because it will bring life to you. It's the power with reserve and gentleness. Humility is gentle strength, a divinely balanced virtue that can only operate by faith.
In first Timothy six, he tells us to pursue humility and then fight the fight of faith. What we're doing when we deny self. People use that word and Christianity denies self. We're not denying ourself good things. We're not denying ourself healthy things. We're. Not denying ourself joyful things. We're denying being ruled by our basest, our most base desires. We're not going to be ruled by our fears. We're not going to be ruled by our insecurities. We're not going to be ruled by our jealousies. This is what it means to deny self means that I deny myself the right to control everything because I'm trusting God and I'm going to believe that God is in control of the things that I can't control. And relying on self is where the pride is. But entrusting yourself to God is where the humility is.
And so humility is to receive God's words. To receive His powers, to receive his promises, to trust God even when things don't look right. And it's to be kind to people, to be a servant of others, to become a servant to others, as Jesus did, to realize our life is a gift. And the best thing we can do is to develop ourselves so we can give our best self in the service of others. When we are not developing ourselves to give ourselves in the service of others, we're really truly being the most selfish human being we can possibly be when we don't develop ourself, when we have the capacity to develop our mind, our emotions are our skills, our health, our body, our feelings, our relationships.
We can strengthen those things. We can develop those things. When we don't develop those things, we're being self-centered and self-absorbed. When we develop those things, we're trying to make ourselves the best version of ourselves and give ourselves to others into the service of others. So I think this is the real key to how do you stay motivated and inspired to develop yourself is when you realize everything you have is a gift, and then you apply discipline to making that gift the best it can be and use it in the service of others. That to me is humility. I hope that helps. I'm going to close this out now. Bless you.
Thank you for joining me on Think Like a Champion. Please share this. Please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and I want to thank those that give. You can take a moment and pay it forward by giving as a contribution to help build our community of champions. Go to lifechangerschurch.com/give and you can make your donation that way and continue to help us build this community and culture of champions and champions suit up so suit up, clothe yourself, clothe yourself with God's gift of righteousness.
Clothe yourself with God's gift, right? It's all a gift. Clothe yourself with the power of the Holy Spirit. And clothe yourself with humility, because that's the one thing we have total control over, is the attitude in which we see others and serve others as equals and others as people that deserve everything good that we have in our lives. They deserve it just as much. That's humility. Make yourself the best version of yourself and give yourself to the service of others. And thank you for joining me today. I can't wait to see you on our next Think Like a Champion podcast. God bless.