Successful Living
"Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. (Joshua 1:7, 8 NLT)
This verse has it all. It's an amazing promise of prosperity and success. If someone were to sit you down and offer you guaranteed success at life, you'd probably think he was selling something. But since God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19), we should at least consider His offer.
Here's how it works: God wrote a book (a series actually) in which He writes in detail how you can: overcome obstacles, develop impeccable character, earn trust with others, be a blessing to the world, improve your marriage, defeat temptation, make wise decisions, live longer, and experience His greatest blessing of prosperity. Ok, but what's the catch? The only catch is you have to follow the instructions in the book word for word. Because this can be challenging, I have broken down the process into 3 easy steps:
Step 1: Flip open the cover (or now days just press a few buttons) and begin to read.
Step 2: Really try to understand what God says to do and actually do it.
Step 3: Repeat steps 1 & 2.
It's that easy. But I think a lot of people either get intimidated about taking on the difficult beast of Scripture or are so overwhelmed by it that they never really put much effort into it or avoid it altogether. But I also think we do this to our own demise.
A lack of discipline in the area of Bible study basically means we don't really believe God means what He says or that He's overselling us on the details. Now, while it's true reading the Bible won't cause money to pour from the sky or suddenly transform our circumstances from ugly ducklings into beautiful swans, God does guarantee that if we will simply put in the effort to consistently dig deep into His Word, and carefully obey His clear directives about how to live, we will experience success. Not necessarily the world's definition of success (featured spots in Forbes magazine, making the cover of the World's most beautiful people, and a Kanye West like lifestyle), better yet, God offers us His definition of success (mentioned above) which is radically different and better.
Success in God's Kingdom looks a lot less like Jay-Z and a lot more like J.C. Jesus obeyed God's Word- completely. But He didn't come out of the womb quoting the prophet Isaiah. He had to learn Scripture the same way we do by reading along and then consistently putting it into practice. Picture it, The Word of God as a young man picking up the Word of God and and learning how to live by its principles. He didn't get a pass on studying because He was God (Phil. 2:6). In fact, Jesus "learned obedience through the things He suffered" (Hebrews 5:8). He didn't achieve earthly fame or "success". He merely obeyed what God wanted Him to do because He had taken the time to read and understand what an obedient lifestyle looks like from God's point of view.
True success begins and ends in the diligent study and obedient application of God's Word.
This verse has it all. It's an amazing promise of prosperity and success. If someone were to sit you down and offer you guaranteed success at life, you'd probably think he was selling something. But since God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19), we should at least consider His offer.
Here's how it works: God wrote a book (a series actually) in which He writes in detail how you can: overcome obstacles, develop impeccable character, earn trust with others, be a blessing to the world, improve your marriage, defeat temptation, make wise decisions, live longer, and experience His greatest blessing of prosperity. Ok, but what's the catch? The only catch is you have to follow the instructions in the book word for word. Because this can be challenging, I have broken down the process into 3 easy steps:
Step 1: Flip open the cover (or now days just press a few buttons) and begin to read.
Step 2: Really try to understand what God says to do and actually do it.
Step 3: Repeat steps 1 & 2.
It's that easy. But I think a lot of people either get intimidated about taking on the difficult beast of Scripture or are so overwhelmed by it that they never really put much effort into it or avoid it altogether. But I also think we do this to our own demise.
A lack of discipline in the area of Bible study basically means we don't really believe God means what He says or that He's overselling us on the details. Now, while it's true reading the Bible won't cause money to pour from the sky or suddenly transform our circumstances from ugly ducklings into beautiful swans, God does guarantee that if we will simply put in the effort to consistently dig deep into His Word, and carefully obey His clear directives about how to live, we will experience success. Not necessarily the world's definition of success (featured spots in Forbes magazine, making the cover of the World's most beautiful people, and a Kanye West like lifestyle), better yet, God offers us His definition of success (mentioned above) which is radically different and better.
Success in God's Kingdom looks a lot less like Jay-Z and a lot more like J.C. Jesus obeyed God's Word- completely. But He didn't come out of the womb quoting the prophet Isaiah. He had to learn Scripture the same way we do by reading along and then consistently putting it into practice. Picture it, The Word of God as a young man picking up the Word of God and and learning how to live by its principles. He didn't get a pass on studying because He was God (Phil. 2:6). In fact, Jesus "learned obedience through the things He suffered" (Hebrews 5:8). He didn't achieve earthly fame or "success". He merely obeyed what God wanted Him to do because He had taken the time to read and understand what an obedient lifestyle looks like from God's point of view.
True success begins and ends in the diligent study and obedient application of God's Word.
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