Jesse Duplantis - The Everyday Visionary: Focus Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

ALSO BY JESSE DUPLANTIS

Wanting a God You Can Talk To

Breaking the Power of Natural Law: Finding Freedom in the Presence of God

Heaven: Close Encounters of the God Kind

What in Hell Do You Want

God Is Not Enough, Hes Too Much!

Jambalaya for the Soul: Humorous Stories and Cajun Recipes from the Bayou

Ministry of Cheerfulness

Copyright 2008 by Jesse Duplantis

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

First Touchstone/Howard Books hardcover edition July 2008

TOUCHSTONE/HOWARD BOOKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-800-456-6798 or business@simonandschuster.com

Designed by Mary Austin Speaker

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Duplantis, Jesse.

The everyday visionary : focus your thoughts,

change your life / Jesse Duplantis.

p. cm.

A Touchstone/Howard book.

1. Spirituality. 2. Christian life. I. Title.

BV4501.3.D87 2007

248.4dc22 2007033602

ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-4976-5

ISBN-10: 1-4165-4976-5

eISBN-13: 978-1-4165-8045-4

This book is dedicated to my wife, Cathy, who put up with me when I couldnt put up with myself! I love you, Cathy!

D REAMING IS WONDERFUL . Doing is better. When I first began in ministry, the Lord told me that I was going to be preaching the Gospel on worldwide television one day. Now, at that time, that looked about as possible as seeing a pig fly over south Louisiana. I barely had enough money for gas to fill up my car. I felt blessed to preach in a church that sat fifty people. And, I sure didnt think that, with my accent and my Cajun heritage, that anyone would want to listen to me preach the Gospel on TV.

Still, I knew the voice of the Lord. My life had been completely turned around through another mans television ministry and I knew that God would use me to reach others through the same vehicle.

I grew up along the banks of the Mississippi River, in south Louisiana. I learned early that nobody was going to take care of me, but me. I saw a lot of poverty and a lot of hypocrisy. I experienced hardship from a young age and I had a pretty bad view of the church in general, but my mother was a strong believer and a strong woman, and she instilled the Scriptures in me from the time I was a young boy. Still, I didnt believe it and I just wanted to get out.

So, although I made my own choices and used my musical talent to get out of Louisiana and play rock music as a young man, when I came back around and gave my life to God, I knew that it meant change change not only in my spirit and in my heart, but also in my mind.

When I decided to follow the teachings of Jesus and the Bible, it was also a decision to change my mental strategies. Before, I didnt understand spiritual concepts like faith. But after I accepted Christ and chose to go this way in my life, I began to get a clearer picture of what it meant to think Gods way, to trust Him and start living by the teachings in His Word.

Years later, after I accepted Gods call on my life and entered the ministry, God dropped the idea of preaching the Word on worldwide television into my mind. It was a big thought and, I knew, totally beyond my means.

It could have easily stayed in the realm of dreaming, but I decided to move that thought out of idleness into the realm of real faith. To even begin doing that, I had to reboot my mind, so to speak, and actually consider that the dream could come to pass. After all, everything around me told me that I couldnt do it. But, I knew that this was a God- thoughta thought that was not about me, but about reaching more people for Him.

That day, I began developing a mental mapa determined thought- lifethat I knew would be a key in reaching what I believed God had told me would be part of my destiny. I knew that this thought wasnt a pipe dream. It wasnt a thought that I wanted to dismiss with a well, maybe one day kind of attitude. I knew in my heart that I needed to go deeper with the idea that I considered to be God- revealed.

You see, daydreams are idle thoughts. They can be fun. They can be a form of escape. But mental maps are the kind of thoughts that have purpose and direction. Theyre the thoughts with intent, thoughts that are actually taking you somewhere that you want to go. You could call them determined thoughts.

You know the difference. Think about it. Have you ever been watching TV and a commercial for cake mix comes on the screen? Shot one, youre suddenly seeing close- ups of a butter- yellow cake with chocolate icing. The announcer is telling you how good it is as, shot two, that steaming cake comes sliding out of the oven.

Shot three, you watch a fork press down on the top of the cake and the cake just fluffs right back up, like the freshest thing ever made. Shot four, they get a tight angle on a knife sliding across the top of that cake with chocolate frosting so thick and so close that you can almost reach out and grab it.

Shot five, a big old slice of that cake sits on a plate as another fork cuts right down and lifts up quick to take the first bitethe act of the fork coming up quick creates a perfect little twirl of chocolate icing. It looks like its just waiting for that fork to come in and make that next bite which the fork never does. Instead, the camera zooms in closer and closer to the cake. The name brand of the mix comes on the screen and its all over. The TV is rolling on to something else.

Okay, now, heres where thoughts come in. Youve just seen the commercial. You start wanting that cake. You sit there for a second and imagine tasting yellow cake with chocolate icing. Its just an idle thought, a passing thought.

A determined thought is different. It has intent and passion behind it. A determined thought isnt content to remain idle, it gives you an idea!

In this case, a determined thought gives you the idea of preheating the oven. Then, it is this kind of thought that actually gets your rear off the sofa at ten at night! Its the kind of thought that has you speeding to the grocery store to get that mix, the kind of thought that has you reading the back of the box in your kitchen and going through all the steps it takes to have that cake mixed, baked, and frosted, so that you can sit right back down where you were before in front of the TV except with a hot slice of cake on a plate in your hand and a big smile of accomplishment on your face! My wife and I do this kind of thing once every few years. I know what Im talking about!

Now, do you see the difference? An idle thought keeps you on the couch. A determined thought gets you inspired to move.

Heres how it goes. A mental map begins with determined thoughts. Those determined thoughts produce ideas. Those ideas produce actions. And those actionscombined with faith in God, trust in His Word, and the tenacity to never give upare what will draw your dream into reality.