Success

The Bible is full of examples of successful people -- people who found, followed and finished their divine assignment by the grace of God.  Some of them were rich, but there were many who were not.  Some of them lived long lives, while others died at an early age.  Some had it relatively easy, while others seemingly went through hell on the road to their purpose.  My point is that there is no 'cookie cutter' path to divine success.  There is no blanket statement I can give you about the path we take to divine success that will apply to people, at all times.  Some truths are universal and timeless, and we will deal with those truths in this series.  But I can't tell you that everyone is going to have the money Solomon had, the strength Sampson had, or the challenges Paul had.  What I can tell you is that God has given every believer the grace to complete his or her divine assignment, whatever that assignment is.

Each of us take a path that is as unique as we are.  But at the end of the day, divine success boils down to doing what you were born to do, before you die.  That's it, and it's that simple.  While that is the "what" of success, this morning I want to talk about the "how".  Today I will discuss hard work and tomorrow I will bring God's grace into the equation.

So what does this mean to you today?  Let's learn a few things about hard work.

1.  God is not a rewarder of laziness.  In Proverbs chapter 10 Solomon said, "He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth" (v.4).  In chapter 12 he said, "Work hard, and you will be a leader; be lazy, and you will end up a slave" (v.24) and "If you are lazy, you will never get what you are after, but if you work hard, you will get a fortune" (v.27).  In chapter 13 he said, "People who refuse to work want things and get nothing.  But the longings of people who work hard are completely satisfied" (v.4).  In chapter 21 Solomon said, "The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work" (v.25).  In the New Testament Paul said, "If a man will not work, he shall not eat" (2 Thes 3:10).  Jesus said, "My Father is always working, and so am I" (John 5:17).  And believe me, there are many, many more scriptures like this in the Bible.  My point is that God requires you to work.  The Lord expects you to bind your feet to the path He has laid before you and to put your hands to work on the assignment He has given you.  

2.  The Lord can favor your work.  I grew up in a family where 'hard work' was part of our DNA.  The men were taught to work hard to support their families.  The women were taught to work hard to make a home that was peaceful and practical.  All these years later I can say with certainty that He continues to favor the work of my hands.  Here's my point: the Lord cannot favor or bless the work of your hands if you do not put your hands to work.  If you want God to bless what you are doing, then you have to DO something.  Stop talking about your dreams and pursue them.  

3.  God wants you to be good at what you do.  Remember, you represent God.  I strive to be the best at what I do in the military and by the grace of God I can say that I am one of the best, if not THE best at what I do in the entire U.S. Army.  By doing my best I am able to represent God and give Him the glory whenever the spotlight is on me.  King Solomon said, "Observe people who are good at their work - skilled workers are always in demand and admired; they don't take a back seat to anyone" (22:29).  That is my testimony and I pray it be yours as well.  If you will be faithful to work, God will be faithful to bless the work of your hands!

Closing:  Father, I thank You for making plans for me before the world began, for shielding and protecting me for my purpose even before I acknowledged You as Lord, and for now blessing the work of my hands.  I want to maximize my purpose and potential.  I want to arrive at Your desired destination for my life.  I want to die empty, getting out of me everything You placed in me.  I want to leave a mark in this world that will not be erased.  I want to leave a legacy of righteousness for my children and my children's children.  I want to be the person I am called to be, and in order to do it, I know I will need to put my hands to WORK.  You don't bless laziness.  I am Your child, I represent You every day, and I declare that I shall represent You well.  I enter each day with a determination to do my best, by Your grace, with a full expectation that You will bless the work of my hands.  I am like the Blessed Man described in Psalm 1.  I am like a tree planted by the rivers of water, I bring forth my fruit in my season, my leaves do not wither, and everything I DO prospers.  I am faithful to work and You are faithful to bless the work of my hands.  Like Your Word says, my work is always in demand and I do not take a back seat to anyone.  I declare this by faith.  In Jesus' name, Amen!

Grace Based Prosperity

Grace Based Prosperity

Dr. Creflo Dollar recently taught a series entitled "Grace Based Prosperity" and his messages blessed me greatly.  As I listened to Pastor Dollar the Lord was speaking to me about the difference between pursuing success the world's way (through blood, sweat and tears) and God's way (by His grace).  In this series I will cover lots of topics as I seek to teach by both precept and example; giving you divine principles and Biblical examples you can glean from.

The following is a list of 'just a few' of the things you will learn in this series:

-- How to define success in life

-- Right thinking and right believing concerning Godly success

-- Redemption from the curse of Adam (Gen 3:19)

-- Confidence in God's love towards you

-- Finding grace in a net-breaking boat-sinking load of fish

-- The grace to work hard

-- Entering into God's rest

-- Freedom from dead works

-- The favor of God

-- Everything you need to fulfill your divine assignment is already yours

-- God wants you to succeed in your life's assignment

-- God is not opposed to wealth or health

-- The power of the Presence of God

-- Joseph had the grace to succeed

-- Paul had the grace to succeed

-- Gideon had the grace to succeed

-- King Jehoshaphat had the grace to succeed

These are in no particular order, but for this morning I will share a few nuggets about the term "success in life."

So what does this mean to you today?  A few things.

1.  How do you measure success in life?  Success in life cannot be measured by what you drive, where you live or the size of your bank account.  In society today many equate success to fame or fortune.  Having money or being known is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is far from being "only" thing.  The dictionary defines success as "the accomplishment of an aim or purpose."  In the case of your life, the aim should be the accomplishment of God's divine purpose for you.  You were born for a reason and your job is to FIND, FOLLOW and FINISH your purpose.  If you do, if you accomplish what God brought you into the earth to accomplish, then you succeeded.  That's it.  It's that simple.

2.  Can you be successful at the wrong thing?  Wouldn't it be a shame to think you were 'winning' at life, enjoying what you thought was success, only to get to the end of your life and find out that your spent it doing the wrong thing?  God is not going to favor and bless the work of your hands when you are doing it on your own and you are determined to live a life you were not intended to live, but make no mistake, you can WORK your way to earthly success at something you are not supposed to be doing, and if you do, you will have to work hard and your labor, at least in God's eyes, will be in vain.

3.  Are you succeeding?  Since I gave you a simple definition for success (accomplishing your divine purpose), I can now ask this simple question.  Are you doing what you were born to do?  Are you living the life God intended for you to live?  Is the path that you are on taking you incrementally closer to God's overall desired destination for your life?  If it is, and if you are, then you are succeeding at life.  It doesn't matter how much money you have in the bank, what you drive or where you live.  If you are doing what God placed you in the earth to do, then you are succeeding, and you should enjoy every minute of it.  However, if you are not, then don't allow the trappings of this world (money, fame, position, prominence, etc.), to keep you on a path you know is wrong.  Repent, ask the Holy Spirit to lead you, and get back on the path to God's best for your life.  Don't worry about money.  If you do what God purposed you to do, the money will be there and you will always have more than enough to meet your needs and to be a blessing to others.  Money makes a great servant, but a poor master.  Don't chase money, chase God, and money will chase you.

Father, I thank You for dealing with me concerning my definition of success.  I know You made plans for me before the world began.  I know I was born for a reason and that reason is Your divine purpose for my life.  I know I am not a mistake.  I know I am here on purpose.  I also know that there was a time when I did not know Your purpose for my life, so I came up with my own and I was the Captain of my own ship.  However, after I came in contact with Your Son Jesus and made Him my Lord, You gave me Your precious Holy Spirit and He now reveals things to me about my purpose.  I have made changes based upon what I now know my purpose to be.  I have rearranged my priorities.  Now what is first and foremost in my life is the accomplishment of my divine purpose.  I don't chase money, I pursue my purpose.  I don't chase fame, I seek to accomplish what I was born to accomplish.  And as I do, You make all grace abound towards me, to the point where I always have everything I need to do what I am called to do, and You make my name great, putting the spotlight on me, so I can deflect the glory right back to You.  Thank You Father for helping me to understand success.  I am succeeding and I shall be successful in life, because my life is no longer about me.  My life is ALL ABOUT YOU.  You brought me into the world for a purpose and I will accomplish my divine assignment before I die, by Your grace, living by faith.  And that is success to me!  I declare this by faith.  In Jesus' name, Amen!

Be of Good Courage

The following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome." —Acts 23:11 Even the most committed believer has those times when fear and worry can kick in. Anxiety can overtake us. Maybe we are concerned about our future. Maybe we are discouraged or afraid. If that is the case, you might be surprised to know that even the great apostle Paul experienced emotions like this. Paul had gone to Jerusalem, and the next thing he knew, he was locked up in a cold, damp, dark prison cell. All of this happened as a result of his bold proclamation of the gospel. Acts 23:11 tells us, "The following night the Lord stood by him and said, 'Be of good cheer, Paul.' " That phrase be of good cheer could be better translated "be of good courage." Whenever we read in Scripture that an angel of the Lord appeared and said, "Fear not," it was usually because someone was afraid. So I conclude that when the Lord himself stood by Paul and said, "Be of good courage," the apostle needed that special word of encouragement at that particular moment. Sometimes it seems as though God is the only one standing by us. But if everyone else had forsaken Paul, Jesus was company enough. If all the others despised him, the smile of Jesus was approval enough. Though his circumstances were less than ideal, I am sure he knew it was better to be in that jail with the Lord than to be anywhere else without Him. Jesus is there in your prison as well, whatever and wherever that prison may be. And He knows what you are going through.

INTERCEDING

The Father says today join Me in the place of prayer. Each and every day you come to Me you will find Me praying. It is even as I said in My word I am EVER INTERCEDING. As you rise in the morning come alongside and join Me in the place of prayer. Join Me and before you open your mouth - pause to hear the words coming from My heart and pray those prayers. I am praying for you and I am praying for those around you. I am praying for kings and nations and I am praying for the destitute and forgotten. Pray specifically and pray determinately. Pray for your rulers and those you are accountable to and for day by day.

Come alongside Me in intercession says the Father. The bridal season has come and I will have a bride washed in prayer and cleansed in intercession because they hear My voice and join Me behind the lattice in the place of intimacy. So come near says the Father. Come near and seek My face before you seek the face of man. You have asked for change and this is where it starts. You must align yourself with My mind and my heart each and every day and that alignment with heaven will produce heaven's characteristics in your life.

My grace is sufficient for you

The Lord allowed the Apostle Paul to visit heaven and to return back to the earth to talk about it.  The experience was supernatural and amazing.  Satan assigned one of his messengers to constantly attack Paul.  Paul asked the Lord to take the messenger away, but instead of removing the source of pain, God said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Which led the Apostle to say, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9,10 NIV).

So what does this mean to you today?  A few things.

1.  Paul acknowledged that he was not worthy of making the trip to heaven.  Paul told about his trip to heaven, not so he could boast in his abilities, but so that he could boast in God's grace.  The fact that Paul took no credit for the trip is actually one of the reasons why the Lord allowed him to make the trip in the first place.  God wants to know that you can handle the blessing.  Some people can't.  Some people ask for God to bless them with this or that, but God can't, because He knows that the blessing (whatever "it" is) would cause them to cross over into pride and self-righteousness.  God wants to bless you richly, but you must get to the point where you are humble enough to receive it without pridefully thinking you did it on your own.  So let me ask the question this way: Can you stand to be blessed?  Can God bless you richly and you still rely on Him?  God will not bless you until He knows He can trust you with the blessing.  

2.  Paul acknowledged that he did not have the power to deal with the messenger from satan.  After Paul's trip to heaven a messenger of satan was assigned to trouble him.  In his own strength Paul had no power over this satanic messenger, but that was actually Paul's true strength.  He did not claim to be able to handle the satanic messenger on his own.  He called out to God and God gave him the grace to overcome the satanic attacks and to keep going.  God will release His power in your life when you acknowledge the fact that your power is not enough.

3.  Paul acknowledged that he was not worthy of his assignment.  Paul had a great assignment and he was able to complete it, because he never fooled himself into thinking he was worthy of it, or that he could accomplish it without God's grace.  Do you want to maximize your purpose and potential in life?  To do so you must maintain a proper perspective of yourself and your abilities.  If you think too highly of yourself, you will be humbled by God.  But you cannot think too lowly either.  Simply acknowledge your limitations and rely on God's grace to equip, enable, empower and employ you in the Kingdom of God.

4.  Paul's strength was found in his weakness and his reliance on the Father.  The Apostle said, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."  If you want God's power to rest on you, and to flow through you freely, you must die to self.  It is only when you acknowledge your limitations and you rely on God's strength, that His power will be made available and manifest in your life, because when you get to that point you will be relying on God's grace.   

Gods Amazing Grace

The Apostle Paul wrote, "I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord.  I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago.  Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don't know-only God knows.  Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body.  But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.  That experience is worth boasting about, but I'm not going to do it.  I will boast only about my weaknesses.  If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth.  But I won't do it, because I don't want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message" (2 Cor 12: 1-6 NLT).

So what does this mean to you today?  A few things.

1.  God will allow you to experience things, by His grace, that will prepare you for your life's assignment.  Paul was used supernaturally, therefore he needed to have supernatural experiences with God.  God allowed Paul to experience heaven, even while he was still alive in the earth, in order to help shape his writings and ministry.  Paul is not the only human to have visited heaven and come back to talk about it.  You may not get that experience, but you can rest assured that God will allow you to experience, what you need to experience, in order to maximize your purpose and potential in the earth.  But when you do, just remember that God gave you the experiences by His grace, not because you earned them.

2.  Boast in the fact that you 'got to' experience it, not that you earned it.  Paul did not boast in the fact that he was selected to go to heaven, he boasted in the fact that he wasn't worthy of the trip.  Paul was just happy that he 'got to' experience it.  Learn from Paul.  Like Paul I don't credit for writing Today's Word every day, or for the fact that God allows me to preach His Word to the world.  I am just thankful that I 'get to' do it.  So no matter what you are called to do, just be thankful that you GET TO do it.  God could have selected anyone, but He CHOSE YOU!

3.  When you know you didn't earn it, you acknowledge and appreciate God's grace.  When Paul was talking about his trip to heaven and he said, "I will boast only about my weaknesses," he was acknowledging the fact that he had not earned the trip.  Similarly, I often think about my assignment in life, and the awesomeness of it.  Honestly, sometimes I can't do anything but weep, because I know I don't deserve it, and I know I surely haven't earned it.  But God, who is rich in mercy, calls us by His grace, not our merit.  

4.  The secret is acknowledging the fact that you don't deserve it.  Paul had the perspective he did because he knew all the bad things he had done in life before coming to Jesus, and all the mistakes he had made even after being Born-Again.  The message of grace changed Paul, it has changed me, and my prayer is that it also changes you.  Please embrace the amazing freedom from your failures, forgiveness for your past, and excitement about your future, that is found in God's grace.

Gods Amazing Grace

The Apostle Paul wrote, "I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord.  I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago.  Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don't know-only God knows.  Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body.  But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.  That experience is worth boasting about, but I'm not going to do it.  I will boast only about my weaknesses.  If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth.  But I won't do it, because I don't want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message" (2 Cor 12: 1-6 NLT).

So what does this mean to you today?  A few things.

1.  God will allow you to experience things, by His grace, that will prepare you for your life's assignment.  Paul was used supernaturally, therefore he needed to have supernatural experiences with God.  God allowed Paul to experience heaven, even while he was still alive in the earth, in order to help shape his writings and ministry.  Paul is not the only human to have visited heaven and come back to talk about it.  You may not get that experience, but you can rest assured that God will allow you to experience, what you need to experience, in order to maximize your purpose and potential in the earth.  But when you do, just remember that God gave you the experiences by His grace, not because you earned them.

2.  Boast in the fact that you 'got to' experience it, not that you earned it.  Paul did not boast in the fact that he was selected to go to heaven, he boasted in the fact that he wasn't worthy of the trip.  Paul was just happy that he 'got to' experience it.  Learn from Paul.  Like Paul I don't credit for writing Today's Word every day, or for the fact that God allows me to preach His Word to the world.  I am just thankful that I 'get to' do it.  So no matter what you are called to do, just be thankful that you GET TO do it.  God could have selected anyone, but He CHOSE YOU!

3.  When you know you didn't earn it, you acknowledge and appreciate God's grace.  When Paul was talking about his trip to heaven and he said, "I will boast only about my weaknesses," he was acknowledging the fact that he had not earned the trip.  Similarly, I often think about my assignment in life, and the awesomeness of it.  Honestly, sometimes I can't do anything but weep, because I know I don't deserve it, and I know I surely haven't earned it.  But God, who is rich in mercy, calls us by His grace, not our merit.

4.  The secret is acknowledging the fact that you don't deserve it.  Paul had the perspective he did because he knew all the bad things he had done in life before coming to Jesus, and all the mistakes he had made even after being Born-Again.  The message of grace changed Paul, it has changed me, and my prayer is that it also changes you.  Please embrace the amazing freedom from your failures, forgiveness for your past, and excitement about your future, that is found in God's grace.