July 30
Children of God will you shout Alleluia, Shout Alleluia to the Lord 10 times.
Father, we thank You, we bless Your Holy Name. Indeed, You are worthy to be glorified. Thank You Father for taking us from obscurity to Your marvelous light. We praise You, we worship You forever more.
Where you are today is not by your power nor by your strength but by God’s grace, for it is He that enables us to will and do for His good pleasure. Our focus yesterday was on some of our brethren whose strength has failed and that lead them to despondence. Today, we will be considering the word “success” as viewed by many which incidentally may not be scriptural after all.
Someone is saying Evangelist, what are you saying this morning, are saying that all successes are not from God? Ofcourse, yes; there are success that are not from God, not only that they are not from God, they are devoid of God’s blessings. Consider further…read more
“If Your presence does not go,” Moses responded to Him, “don’t make us go up from here.”—Exodus 33:15
It is possible to experience success and yet be void of God’s presence. If success is what is important to you, you may be tempted to choose accomplishments over your relationship with God. God offered to send an angel with the Israelites as they entered the Promised Land to ensure their success in every venture. No army could withstand them. No city wall could stop them. The wealth of the land lay before them. Everything they had ever dreamed of appeared to be theirs for the taking. The only thing missing would be the presence of God. God said they were an obstinate people, and He would not go with them when their hearts were far from Him.
The Israelites’ experience reveals that victory and great accomplishments are not necessarily a sign of God’s presence. Do not assume that your good health, your profitable business, or the growth of your ministry is due to the presence of God. It may be that you have inadvertently chosen success over your walk with the Lord.
Moses wisely concluded that success, no matter how great, is not a substitute for fellowship with God. Moses knew how quickly worldly achievements could disappear. His security came from his relationship with God. Success in the world’s eyes is not a sign of God’s blessing. It may, in fact, indicate that you have chosen a substitute for intimate fellowship with God.
Would you be satisfied to have success, power, and wealth, but not a relationship with God? Do you value God’s presence in your life more than the greatest achievements you could experience in the world?
You may not be able distinguish the difference between the success that are devoid of God’s presence and the one that is given by God except you are spiritual persistence. How? Consider further:
Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a rainstorm.”—1 Kings 18:41
Success can distract you as you seek to follow God’s will. Elijah’s primary assignment was to announce when a drought would begin and end (1 Kings 17:1). God had told him to proclaim to king Ahab that the drought was an act of judgment upon a people who worshiped idols rather than God. In the middle of Elijah’s assignment, a spectacular thing happened. Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal and called fire down from heaven, putting hundreds of priests of Baal to death. This was one of the most awesome displays of God’s power recorded in Scripture. Elijah could easily have focused strictly on that event. Fire falling from heaven is much more spectacular than a rainstorm!
When something spectacular happens, we can easily be sidetracked. If Elijah lived today, he might have begun a “Calling Down Fire from Heaven” ministry! The dramatic is far more appealing to us than obedience to the mundane. Destroying hundreds of Baal’s prophets would appear to be a climactic victory for any prophet of God. Yet Elijah persisted in his assignment. He announced the coming rain. This had been his primary message, and he delivered it.
If you aren’t careful, you may become so distracted by the successes you experience that you never complete what God originally assigned you to do. Will your success today cause you to disobey tomorrow?
This is a food for thought for us to ponder upon, you may agree with me. The message of today has not only opened us up to beware of all manners of successes that parades in our society today but it has also helped us to discover some negative effects of success so as to guide against such occurrence in our life and the lives of our beloved one’s .
Remain blessed in the Lord
Evang. Ifeoma Ohondu
