"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall 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."
Joshua 1:8 (NKJV)
• Success is fulfilling the plan of God for your Life as an individual.
- When you discover God's plan for your Life, and you strive to bring it to the fulfilment—that is success in the sight of God.
- Some may regret at the end of their journey on Earth, when they come to realize that God has a good plan for them, but they never fulfil it.
- They would see the opportunities which they wasted that could have been converted to realities and blessings.
- There is no limit to what you can achieve in God, especially things He has purposed and planned that you accomplish in Him.
- God would not place a limit on your Success and greatness because He wants you to be a success in Life, even the devil cannot not, but you however could do it out of ignorance: "MY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE" (Hosea 4:6).
- Someone says: "If your faith says Yes God will not say No."
WHAT is your faith saying, Is it Yes or No?
• What are the basic principles of Biblical success:
I. Hearing from God
- A Believer who misses it in the place of hearing from God may not be able to go far in the School of biblical success.
- If biblical success is fulfilling the plan of God for one's Life, then you need to constantly Hear from Him because: "THERE IS A WAY THAT SEEMS RIGHT TO A MAN [woman], BUT ITS END IS THE WAY OF DEATH" (Proverbs 14:12).
AND also: "But He [Jesus] answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.’ " - Foundation for biblical Success is the ability to hear clearly from Him.
HEARING from God is a product of intimacy with Him. - Your ability to hear gives direction and that ultimately leads to Success: "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, WHO TEACHES YOU TO PROFIT, WHO LEADS YOU BY THE WAY YOU SHOULD GO" (Isaiah 48:17).
READ: Psalm 32:8
• How to hear from God
- Every Believer should grow in his or her walk with God, and always know His mind on whatever they wanted to do.
- Believers should always engage in the prayers of enquiry.
- One of the reasons why David never Lost any battle in his life time is, he never went to a battle without asking God on how to go by it (1 Samuel 23:2,4; 30:7,8).
IN OTHER WORDS, he would not do anything without asking God—always wanting to know His mind on it. - God always wants to listen to the voice of those who seek to know because it is a sign of humility.
- Humility is not about pleasing all men, taking to the voice or advice of everyone.
- However, it is about going to God in prayers, telling Him you do not know how to go about what you wanted to do, and you want to know, that He should guide and direct you about the matter; for He says: "I WILL INSTRUCT YOU AND TEACH YOU IN THE WAY YOU SHOULD GO; I WILL GUIDE YOU WITH MY EYE" (Psalm 32:8).
• God through one or several Mediums does communicate with our heart:
- He speaks through the inward witnesses (Proverbs 20:27; John 10:27)
- It could be a strong impression on mind, dominating affection towards a particular business, or the pursuit of a particular career, or whatever.
- The dominating affection would be strong that It could not be suppressed or quenched by the temporary and contrary circumstances.
- The inward witness could be God painting the picture of what He wanted you to do in your heart—through sanctified imaginations.
IT could also be through a jumpy WORD, that while Reading and studying the Bible personally, the passage of the Bible you are reading and studying may be magnified and illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and you discovered what to do, the direction to go, about the matter at hand. - Note: this may also happen while reading a book, magazine, or whatever; or listening to a massage being preached directly from the pulpit; or a recorded message on CD or whatever.
- It could also be through Some other People's testimonies.
- It could be a word you overheard somewhere being spoken by someone—not directly spoken to you.
- That said, whichever way God chooses to communicate His mind to you, we should subject it to the Word of God and prayer.
- Through counseling from another mature Believer.
II. Another practical principle of biblical success is Service.
- It is when you joyfully waited on others to meet their needs, not necessarily because of the material rewards you will receive, but rather, to be a blessing to them.
- To be a star in your field, in whatever you do, you must be ready to serve and purposefully do it with Joy and gladness.
- IF you serve without knowing the purpose or reason why you are doing whatever you are doing, you may not derive any Joy and fulfilment in it.
- Service is about hardworking and diligence: "Seest thou a man [woman] diligent in his [her] business? he [she] shall stand before kings; he [she] shall not stand before mean men" (Proverbs 22:29).
TO be a star in your field of endeavour, you must be ready to work hard.
• Hard-working is about the commitment to duty: "He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, But he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough! (Proverbs 28:19 NLT).
- Diligence is showing care and effort in your assignment—steady effort.
- Know that God is the Rewarder, and He is the One who promotes.
IF you do your work with singleness of mind, you shall be blessed. - If you are working under a Boss, and such is not paying you the commensurate wages.
PART of your work is to pray for the progress of what you are doing and where you are working. - Do not be interested in the people's money alone but their well-being, God who sees your motivation will cause you to prosper in the work.
- God is in the business of human management and development.
IF you develop those who are with you, God will bless you in return. - Whatever you are doing, through your secular work, seek to bless people generally, not only about the money you want to collect from them.
• You will not fail in Jesus' name.
Peace!