Successful

Love you all, praying for you,
 
I just love God’s Word.  It tells you what success is.  And how to get it.  Have you ever thought of this?  What makes you successful?  What is success?  People have differing definitions.  Some define success as accomplishing goals and dreams.  Doing what you said you would do.  Some people count success as a good life.  Some believe success is being rich and famous, accomplished and respected.  (By whom?)  Some people count success as just living til they’re thirty.  Webster said -  The favorable or prosperous termination of any thing attempted; which answers the purpose intended.  Successful – terminating in accomplishing what is wished or intended, having the desired effect.  Well, that could apply to a successful bank robbery, but is that success?  What do you think success is?  And whose definition really counts – is it just up to each person?  How many have pursued success their whole life, and then had a career or life change.  There’s even a name for it – midlife crisis, or a positive change the mental shift of desire from “success to significance.”  The problem with success definitions… they can change over time.  You may have pursued something your whole life, only to find, it was actually pretty empty.  God said it this way, What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul.  Some have been driven by a lust for success, and ended up losing their family.  Or their reputation, as they forfeited their character and good name.  In pursuit of wealth, they compromised with dishonest gain.  So what is success?  And what is the foundation of it.  I won’t tell you what success is… God will reveal it (only His definition really counts).  But I will give you a hint.  It has to do with your Creator – and what He created you for.  Here’s the first step - Humility and the fear of the LORD – bring wealth, honor, and life.   Psalms 112:1 – Praise the LORD. Blessed are those who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his commands.  Their children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.  Wealth and riches are in their house, and their righteousness endures forever.  Wealth without honor is empty, wealth and honor without life, is worthless, wealth that doesn’t last is futile.  Success in this world can be short lived, a flash in the pan – despite years of hard labor – it can be gone in an instant.  But humility and the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.  And wisdom has reward!  Proverbs 8:18 – With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.  My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.  So clearly success is more than just money.  Wisdom, not false wisdom, God’s wisdom, so don’t get punked.  Here is the secret of success: The foundation of lasting success.  Joshua 1:8 – This book of the law (This Word of God) shall not depart from your mouth, (don’t just read it, speak it, declare it, commit yourself to it with your own mouth)… you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.  For then, you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.  Success in that which is good, not that which is evil.  Lasting success, not temporary, unchanging, unending – success.  God’s Word is the foundation for all success.  It defines it, and instructs you in it.   It gives you the secrets you need to know to walk in it.  Success starts with how you think.  And God’s Word transforms how you think.  If you have the mind of Christ, the mind of the LORD, His instruction, His wisdom, Absolute truth, and His advice – your life is then built for success, footer by footer, wall by wall, brick by brick.  The success that comes from the unchanging truth of God’s Word – is eternal.  Success is in this Book.  It's what will outlast every fad, every delusion, every deception.  It was written for your success!  It’s free – you can get it on a phone app.  So why do so many people neglect it.  They are like the guy who died penniless on his farm after a lifetime of labor – when all that time there were millions of dollars of oil, just beneath the surface of the ground that he walked on for years.   Success is really hidden in plain sight.  God’s Word was written for your success.  Praying that you won’t die, without drilling for it.  You could live like a millionaire your whole life, or be completely oblivious of its presence.   Success is what God has for you – you just need to go where you find it.  Praying that PRISM - those five things you can do each day (that keep you in God’s Word which guarantees your success) becomes your daily practice, so success will be your life and legacy – that you can pass on to your children and children’s children.   
 
Love you all,
dad