Set Out For Success

Title: Set Out For Success

Set Out For Success_10012021

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As stated in the teaching titled, “Lay Foundation For Success”, it is important that the one that desires success, like most people do, seek direction from the Lord, ask for His empowerment and support, and return at the completion of significant stages of the journey to give thanks and show gratitude to the Almighty God, an act that will further re-energize such a person for more achievements on the path to success in life.

Outside of these three acts that may keep the one desirous of success at the location of prayer, such should be at the location of the tasks that need to be accomplished for success to be achieved. Prayers on their own will never bring success. All that prayer will do is to provide directions and grant divine support that will engender success. After achieving the first two of the three above stated reasons for being at the location of prayer, the one who desires success must step out into the path of success and begin the journey to success. This is where some Christians get things wrong as they remain in the location of prayer, praying and fasting but one wonders how they expect this success to come from if they remain at the location of prayer.

Most prayers for success are anchored on the Almighty God prospering the efforts of the one desiring success. How can the Almighty God prosper someone who is not making any effort, as such an individual will have nothing to show since he/she is idle. No matter how effective those prayers may be, an idle Christian can never record good success. The best will be to receive gifts that in most cases will produce temporary relief as the one who is idle and with no product of effort to show will sooner than later return to the pool of value-less beggars and life failures. The Christian must set out in the faith that the Almighty God will be waiting at the task location to grant the supernatural support required for success. To be able to step out, the one desirous of success must overcome the following obstacles which are more action dependent than prayer dependent;

1. The Christian must overcome the obstacle of unbelief in the ability of the Almighty God to provide the promised support. Most Christians actually pray without belief that what they are asking for in prayer will be granted. That is why they keep babbling their prayer lines like pagans – Matt. 6:7. The one who has faith will pray with believe that the father in heaven has heard and will respond in His own time. Such may continue in prayer but the prayer line will be more of reminding the Almighty God of His promise to grant what was requested in prayer.
2. Such Christian should have self belief and be self motivated. Self belief that he/she can achieve success on the set process is very key for success to be achieved and just as the main motivator for achieving success should be self and none other. Peter did not achieve success walking on water, not because he had not been so empowered but because he lacked self belief despite the provided enablement from Jesus Christ – Matt. 14:22-33.
3. The Christian that desires success must be bold to take on challenges. Fear will have only negative effect on success. The major advise that the Almighty God gave to Joshua for him to make success of the task he was taking over from Moses, was for him to be courageous (Josh. 1:9) and a similar advise was given to Solomon by his father, King David – 1Chr. 28:20. The one who is cowardly cannot achieve success on any task.
4. The one who desires success must avoid pessimists. These are people who always see the negative side of a challenge rather than the supernatural support that is available to the Christian at such times. Sanballat and Tobias never saw any thing good or felt Nehemiah the elders of Israel will never be able to afford the cost of re-building the wall of Jerusalem (Neh. 4:3), but Nehemiah and the elders refused to allow all the negative comments to discourage them just as Job’s wife made only negative comments that was aimed at making him deny and curse the Almighty God but he retained his faith in the Lord and recorded success in the end – Job 2:9. It took his resilience to overcome her discouraging advise.
5. The one that is on the path of success should always expect obstacles. In fact, obstacles and challenges are the major signposts to be expected on the path of success. Their absence should really get the one seeking to achieve success worried, with regards to the being on the right path to achieving the desired goal. The trials and life challenges of David began after his anointing and commencement of his journey to the throne. Anyone would have thought that scaling the assessment exercise leading to been chosen as the minstrel for King Saul would signify the commencement of a comfortable life but the complete reverse was the case. He went through the hardest stages of his life not only on the path to becoming king but also to having peace during his reign – 1Sam. 16:1 – 2Sam. 11:1
6. The one who intends to succeed must remain focused on the goal. Loss of focus for a period can erase whatever progress already achieved on the path to success. Lot’s wife lost focus briefly and was turned into a pillar of salt – Gen. 19:26. If Peter had remained focused on Jesus that sent him an invite rather than the empty threats that the storm posed, he would have achieved success walking on water – Matt. 14:30-32.
7. The one who desires success must be resilient. Such must note that those who fail do not fail because they fell but because they did not stand after their last fall. Success is achieved mostly after many falls and the one that succeeds is the one that is determined to keep standing up and continuing the race irrespective of the number of times he/she falls.
8. The one that desires success must acknowledge and appreciate the divine support received at every significant milestone. After failing to achieve his desire to bring the ark of God into Jerusalem, King David on the second occasion not only followed the instructions of the Lord with regards to transporting the ark but also ensured that a sacrifice was offered at every six steps successfully taken to thank the Lord for each milestone achieved – 2Sam. 6:13. In doing this, he successfully brought the ark to his desired destination.
9. The one who desires success must be patient. There is nothing like running out of patience as patience is not patience until the reason for exercising patience has been realised. An impatient person will hardly record success as several unanticipated challenges will always show up on the path to success but the major solution will be for the one who desires success patiently resolve all so that success can be sweet and good.

All the above and more will definitely be required not just on the path to success but also at the location where the task to be accomplished for success to be achieved is. They are also virtues that must be acquired at the location of prayer before proceeding on the journey to success as one will never know the stage at which there will be the need to deploy them. Never stop pleading with God for these virtues that are required for success and their being granted by God will be your assurance that your testimony at the end will be that of multiple successes on all fronts in Jesus name. Amen.

This marks the end of the series of teachings on success. You can send your reactions or requests to crossandcrownchristianministry@gmail.com or send a whatsapp chat to +234 817 834 2585

You may also download the entire series on Success and other materials that will support your Christian lifestyle from our website: www.crossandcrownchristianministry.org.