March 7, 2011 with 3 Comments

284.

How to be Successful

Everybody wants to be successful.

The Bible says a lot about success but nowhere more directly than in Joshua 1:8. Get this:

“This Book of the Law will not depart from your mouth, but you will meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Go ahead and read it again.

It doesn’t say anything about positive mental thinking or love God and he’ll give you all sorts of goodies.

There is no easy prosperity message here. Instead what we have are some basic principles that if applied correctly are guaranteed success.

Don’t worry, I’ll share them with you.

1. Know what the Bible says about it. Huh? What is “it”? This is not rocket science, it’s clear and simple.  “It” is anything and everything. You got a decision to make? Figure out what the Bible says about it. Don’t let the Book of the Law depart from your mouth. Let it remain near and dear to your mouth and heart. Believe me, the answers are there. Look for them.

2. Don’t just think about it – Do it! You can’t stop at meditating on taking action, at some point, you’ve got to move into action. If God’s word says not to cheat, and you’ve been cheating, quit cheating and make amends. If God’s word says to be kind, do it. If God’s word says not to go into business with an unbeliever, well, you get the picture. Study the word, spend time thinking about it, then take action! Nothing is worse than an idea that never translates into action.

3. Live without compromise. It says it right there: do according to ALL that is written, and meditate DAY and NIGHT. Sounds dramatic? God’s word often is, but obedience is not a part time Sunday morning job. It’s a day in and day out part of who you are as a believer. Have you left room for compromise in your life? I hate to say it, but success is nowhere in your future.

4. Remember the law of cause and effect. For every decision in life there is a cause and an effect. If you will meditate on the Bible and obey it, then you will have good success. If – then. Do you get it? God doesn’t force his way on you. You’ve got a right to decide. But once you decide you’ve got to live with the consequences. What kind of decisions are you making?

5. Don’t underestimate your will. Four times in this short verse the word “will” is used. Every decision in the Word of God begins with your will. If you can get your will under control, everything else will follow. Don’t wait for your feelings to guide you. Feelings make terrible leaders. Don’t let other people guide you. They don’t know where you are going. Let God’s word guide your will. You won’t regret it.

Success. It’s not man’s idea, it’s God’s. Take His word for it.

 

 

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  • Bonnie

    Great reminder! Success God’s way. Thanks for boldly proclaiming the truth about God and His Word!

  • Anne

    What a good reminder that I needed to read. Success is God’s idea, not man’s…never thought of it that way but it’s so true. Thanks Lina!

  • Kathleen Benischek

    I have had God’s word hidden in my heart, and I mean large portions of scripture, and the Holy Spirit bringing them to my mind continually. But, as the bible says, it is up to our ‘will”. I thought I was such a good Christian. I read my bible every day, prayed daily and often, went to church 3 times a week, taught Sunday School, played piano for the church I attended, and didn’t go to movies, drink, participate in anything that I thought would draw me away from God, graduated from a Christian Bible school, and married a man from the school who was called to preach. I thought there was no way I was going to fall.
    Well, feelings are very deceitful. They can even cause you to use the word of God itself to justify what we want! I met a man who I fell madly in love with almost at first sight through my then roommate. I witnessed to him and he kept saying he was not sure, that he didn’t see how other people’s faith could send them to hell. But he did come to church with me to every service, treated my children as if they were his own, and most importantly to me, was that he treated me as if I mattered. I admit now that that was the most important thing that drew me to him. He did things for me which I couldn’t do for myself. He took me shopping and took me to do my laundry every 2 weeks. He moved to Nashville and came to help me every two weeks. I justified it in my mind that because of my feelings, God MUST be sure that he was going to get saved!
    After 2-1/2 years, he still had not trusted Jesus as his savior. Again, he did not stomp on my beliefs. I thought I could have my cake and eat it too. I married him, using the verse about it being better to marry than to burn away at our lusts, etc. God kept bringing up the verses that it was wrong to be yolked together with an unbeliever, and that our body is a temple of the holy spirit, etc. But I kept saying to God, Yeah, but when he gets saved and we get married, then those things will have been accomplished.
    I knew I was disobeying God. Even to the point that on our wedding day I thought that God just might kill me instead.
    I had MY idea about what my punishment should be, when it should be, how it would be administered and when.
    I had no idea the devastating effect and consequences there was going to be because of my actions and decisions.
    It has been a long and hard journey and it is with great thankfulness and repentance that I beg God to restore to me the joy of my salvation.
    I realize that I thought because I had been a good person that God would never let me sin and lose Jesus’ blessing, power and safety!
    I thought I could step off the path of righteousness and just get back on it whenever I wanted. I was drawn to the world and everything in it believing that I had been led astray by fundamentalists that had kept me from enjoying normal things in life.
    I was led to the “not bad” entertainment instead of the “glorifying to God” entertainment.
    I used to not watch television, and now, I am drawn to it like a bee on a honeycomb! I admonish every one of you to cling to the word of God, memorize it, and most of all, do not do evil as a result of your fear or feelings! I was afraid to lose this man I loved, but I was not even thinking about the cost it was having on my relationship with the king of kings!
    I tell my own kids to obey me without questioning because I know what is best for them, and they rationalize why they should not have to do what I have asked them to do. I realize that it is no different than what I did to God and still do! I use the same terms my kids do. “What is wrong with this? Why don’t you want me to relax, and do I always have to be reading something spiritual and why can’t I just do something that doesn’t cause me to have to think all the time? ” I am still struggling with this, but I can tell you it ALL COMES DOWN TO THE WILL.
    He says, “IF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME, SHALL HUMBLE THEMSELVES PRAY, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, THEN WILL I HEAR FROM HEAVEN AND WILL HEAL THEIR LAND.
    Over and over in scripture, in the old testament, every it tells us,
    And …. did what was right in their own eyes, (and it never led to righteous living but to turning their backs on God and doing evil in the sight of the Lord.)
    Even though he made us in his image, we will choose the wrong path if we go by our emotions and our own justifying of our actions. Also, to use the excuse that we didn’t KNOW any better is a lie because the Holy Spirit bears witness with us that we are sons of God and is continually before us trying to get us to do the right thing.
    God help us all to live to let our minds be on Christ and to think of things which are pure, honest, and profitable for doctrine and for encouraging those in the faith!