Tag: success

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All Things New

“Make it work from here.”

 Let’s face it. The only perfect human to walk this earth is Jesus. The rest of us have issues! When we accept Jesus into our heart things change. On a spiritual level we are totally recreated into His image.

17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

II Corinthians 5:17-19

However, we are three part beings. It is usually those other two parts that give us trouble. But God knew this would happen. So, He provided a way of escape from those things. He gave His Word. He tells us that as we spend time in His presence and His Word we will begin to renew our mind and the way we think will change too. And that really is the key to the third part of us, our body, beginning to change. Our bodies don’t take off and do things on their own. Our mind is what send the commands and that is why God gives us a path to change our thinking.

Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again (1 Thessalonians 5:23, NLT)

While our spiritual transformation is instant, our other parts (our soul and body) usually require work. And just like in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned, when we disobey God our righteousness doesn’t change, but our fellowship does. We are still created in the image of God. He still loves us! But now there is something that causes us to hesitate to spend time in God’s presence or in His Word. But God gave us a very easy answer to that.

 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I John 1:9

Victory Action 

Everyday, I will remember and be thankful for what God has done for me! I won’t rehearse my past. I will refuse to get stuck there! In every situation I will go to God for His wisdom and direction.

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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.