Successful and Not So Successful People
We all were created to succeed. We have been given by God all we need to succeed and yet there are so many people who are barely making it in life. The level of our success is determined by the level of our knowledge of God’s principles and our choices to obey His word. God says His people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. They lack the knowledge of who they truly are so they never grow into their maturity and their life’s purpose.
We want to blame the devil, sin, drugs and all the appetites of the flesh. But God says His people are destroyed because they do not know who they are, their purpose or the God Who created them. God is talking about the people who are in His family being destroyed. They have accepted Jesus as their Saviour and their souls are saved, but their minds are still enslaved to the lies of the world. This is why we are told not to conform to the ways of the world but for us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. God says as a man thinks so he is. If our minds and thoughts are open to the lies of the enemy, this will affect how we live.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God. I also will ignore your children. NIV
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. NKJV
Some people are ignorant to the word of God and they do not know the right path to take. Others reject knowledge and refuse to accept God’s word. Those who blatantly reject God, He says, He will reject them on judgement day. Their actions will not only affect them, their children will be affected because they will not have the knowledge of God and will follow after the patterns and lifestyle of their parents.
God has given us everything we need to be successful. We have Jesus Who paid for our sins and gave us a new life; we have the Bible to reveal God to us, to teach how to live; and we have the Holy Spirit to empower us to be successful and fulfill His purpose for us. Jesus has defeated the devil, our sins have been forgiven by His blood, but we continue in a depraved lifestyle because our minds have not been renewed and we do not have enough truth in us to direct us.
For anything to grow, it must be attached to its life source natural environment. God gave instinct to all the creatures in the world for them to grow. But for them to be successful, they must stay in their given environment. Plants must stay attached to the soil; fish must stay in the water and animals in their habitat. To take anyone of these creations out of their environment for very long, they will become unsuccessful in accomplishing their purpose. The same is true for mankind we were created by God, in His image and our spirit is the life source from God. When we are ignorant to God’s word then we do not know how to live and be successful, and any lie might lead us on a path away from God.
God told Joshua how to prosper and be successful; to keep the word of God always on his lips and to meditate on it day and night. God is telling Joshua to say and do what the word says and you will not go wrong. When people come to talk, slander or suggest some evil scheme, we are to say what the word says on the matter. If we continuously meditate day and night on the word of God, it will become embedded in our hearts and become the foundation of our character. Our faith is increased by reading and hearing God’s word and it is faith in God that gives us hope so we can be strong, courageous and not be afraid or discouraged.
Joshua 1:8
Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” NIV
It is when we read the word of God we will learn who we really are and the way God sees us, which is our only true identity. The Angel of God appeared to Gideon saying, the Lord is with you mighty warrior. God saw Gideon as a mighty man of valor at the same time he was hiding in a winepress from his enemies. Gideon started sounding like most of the people today, if God is with us, then why are we going through all of this trouble?
The world would have called him a coward but God saw the man He created Gideon to be, and not what he was doing at the moment. People want to label us by our faults and mistakes. We all have failed at something in the past but that was an event in time and it does not define who we are today and God’s purpose We can change our actions and therefore change our future according to God’s purpose for us.
Judges 6:12-13a, 14-15 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us….
Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” NKJV
God told Gideon to go and save Israel and again Gideon started speaking what society and the world had taught him about himself and his family. Gideon was saying his family was the least in their clan and he was the least of his family. That made him the last one in this hierarchy to do great things. This is the way the enemy and society want to make us feel, that there is nothing good in us, but God has called us children of the Most High King.
Life is a never ending process of learning the wisdom of God through His word. When we know God’s word and mediate on it, we will live by moral character with a covenant and commitment to do the right thing no matter if there is an audience or not. We must be strong and courageous to stand against big business, political agendas and the pressures of this world. Our integrity will protect us from making wrong decisions under pressure. It will keep us at a weak moment because the commitment to moral character has already been made. We know God will be with us no matter what we go through.
Remember, God wants us to change the way we think about ourselves and others by renewing our minds to His word and having the mind of Christ.
Integrity- People of God 