Tag: #pastorbobnichols

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Obedience is Success

“Success is obeying God; do not measure success by others.”

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” – Joshua 1:8

God’s measuring stick is Jesus. The beauty of this is when we accept Jesus as our savior we become like Him. When God looks at us, He sees Jesus. He sees us through the filter of the blood of Jesus and the work He did on the cross for our salvation. Jesus was very successful! He did the will of the Father. He accomplished what God sent Him to do. He was obedient even unto death.

Jesus is to be our example in all things. If His success came through knowing the will of God and obeying His instructions then that should be our pattern too. That should be the only pattern. I am only interested in pleasing God, not people. When we compare ourselves or allow others to compare us to anyone or anything other than Jesus, we live on a lower level.

The problem with comparing ourselves to others is that we live on a level that can only be accomplished by natural means. When we walk in obedience to God we have access to His power to accomplish His will in our lives. God’s will for your life may be completely different than the person you are comparing yourself to so the comparison is invalid from the start. Just stop it!

Besides, obeying God has great benefits! Deuteronomy 28:1-2 says, “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:  2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.“

When you obey God you put the responsibility for your success in God’s hands – right where it should be!

Victory Action

I will not compare my success with others.  Instead, I will obey God, the source of my success.

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Answered Prayer

“Pray about what you pray before you pray it.”

How do you “pray about” what you pray about before you pray it? Sounds tricky doesn’t it? When you pray about it aren’t you already praying? It really isn’t that hard. Hopefully you are setting aside a time everyday for prayer. When you go into that dedicated time of prayer just make sure your first prayer is asking God for wisdom on how and what to pray. Every prayer you pray will be much more productive if you praying out the will of God and now your own.

While prayer should not be complicated, because after all at its foundation is about communication with God, it should be done with some wisdom. If you want to pray for God’s will in your life you first must know what is His will. You have to find God’s character and nature in the Word of God. Your prayer should be based on the Word of God. If it isn’t then you might be praying the wrong thing for the wrong reason and that prayer will not be answered.

James 4:3 says, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” So don’t waste your time there! Find out what the Bible says about your situation and pray that.

For example, if you need finances you could pray in faith according to Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” God confirms HIS word! So pray HIS word! If you want His power working in your prayer life then you need to pray His Word! Because God confirms His word not our opinion.

Victory Action

God can see the whole picture and wants to give what is best for me in the long run.  I will seek God’s will through His Word and in being open in prayer.  When I experience His peace in my spirit about the matter, I will know how to pray specifically.

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The Time is Now

“Build your faith before the storm.”

Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. Luke 6:47-49

You know the time to buy supplies for the upcoming storm is not after the storm hits. If you wait, you probably won’t get your supplies and you might get hurt trying. Farmers don’t wait to plant their crops while it is storming. They plant when the weather is good. That way they receive the benefit of the rain. The seed in the barn will not benefit from rain – only that which is planted will.

The Word of God is the seed that we need to plant in our hearts. We plant the seed by reading, studying and listening to the scriptures. This is how we build our faith daily. This is how we build our lives on the rock – a firm foundation. This is how you survive the storms of life!

Victory Action

I will build my faith before the storm by daily putting the Word of God in my heart! I will observe and obey it. I will listen and obey what God is leading me to do daily.