Devotion and Reflection for Wednesday

God's Pathway to Success>>>more
devotion from In Touch Ministries

Joshua 1:7 (New Living Translation)
"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."

With how the world views success the above passage can hard to follow at times. We as Christians want the best but at the same time do want to seem we are money hungry. Let allow how many non Christians view us...either we are weak and always looking for God to do it all for us or we have too much, hiding behind God to make a profit. We as Christians see how the world is "successful" and wonder why should live right, follow rules. We see all the glamour, fame and wonder to ourselves, "what's wrong with having what they have? Didn't God said 'we are suppose to be the head and not the tail?' "

These are very loaded questions and even though I do not want to be famous I can't lie, I don't see anything wrong with being rich. It's not for just the money sake in my book, but I'm not going to lie, money makes things, situations a little bit better. Like Zig Ziglar always says..."Money isn't everything but it's the next big thing to oxygen." I'm learning what God means by success his way everyday.

Success God's way gives you peace at night, you don't have to look over your shoulder. I'm learning success His way is being obedient to God's word, paying your tithes, paying your bills on time, being patient when it comes to purchasing items, not promising people things you can not deliver, not worrying about keeping up with the Jones, being true to God and yourself.

Right now if everything goes according to plan, I will be starting school soon and I can't wait. Working at a job you have no passion for is the pits. I wish I would have been more stronger and more confidence in myself when it came to following the passion that God has placed in my heart. No, it's not too late because I'm following what He wants me to do with my life now. Satan is trying to beat my spirit down by saying, "you waited too late...how are you going to do it...you're 41, you have to work full time and trying to go to school...you waited too late...you're not smart enough...you're married with a wife...how are you going to accomplish this?"

But then God comes back and says, "I gave Abraham a child when he was 100 years old...scholarships are out there, you don't have any small children...manage your time wisely...pay now and play later....Obey ME(God) leave all the consequences to ME...you can do two things....keep working in field that brings you misery and headaches everyday or work toward what I placed in your spirit and it will bring me joy and praise and will bring you joy and peace of mind."

I had a hard time even writing this because sometimes defining success is not that simple. You want to have a balance in your life and I am finding that having God as my rock, having God as the center of my life is a great place to start. The bottom line is do I want to be successful and what I'm I willing to sacrifice for it? Sacrifice my time away from television and reading books that will help me along...yes. Managing my time, getting people out of my life and allowing people to assist me when I need help and not being prideful...yes. Placing my trust in God first and foremost no matter what and doing my part? What choice do I have.

Praying For Our Children
from Christian Embassy Church

Boldness

"I pray that my children would fearlessly make know the mystery of the gospel of Christ Jesus".

Ephesians 6:19

To listen to Dr. Stanley's devotion for today or previous messages....click here

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To hear the songs by Lee Williams & the QC's go to my vox blog