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Leading Yourself IN Success Part 1
A Different Definition of Success
Spread the news! Success is defined by Jesus Christ not by man. We will work for the next five weeks, on this blog, and on the Pursuing Biblical Direction podcasts redefining success. At the end of this time period, you will understand what success means to and for the Kingdom of God. Why are we afraid of success? Is it the work, the courage you need, the world and all of its goods, the time it takes, the amount of planning required or is it just that word itself? What is it that makes you afraid to go after success in your life?
I have days when I don’t feel successful, no matter what I have accomplished. I feel like I am in a whirlwind of shame, guilt and depression. I want to give up on everything I am doing, and just live as if I have nothing to do but breath. Inside of me is changing but everything I see on the outside is the same as it was yesterday, last week, last month, last year, last decade. My life has not changed one iota. I feel very unsuccessful. There are those days.
I have days when I think everything I am doing has been successful and will lead to greater success. I feel like I am at my peak of success but know there is more waiting for me. I have hope that Jesus will do everything He says He will do in my life. I dream of being in the middle of my success therefore it is real to me in my dream but not in life as of yet. All is good in the world. There are those days.
I have days when neither one of these matter. Life is good today and I don’t care about tomorrow or yesterday. Whatever happens, happens. My life is on track, today, and we will just see about tomorrow. I can deal with tomorrow when it comes and forget what happens yesterday. I am happy and content with who I am and where I am. There are those days.
Which day do you think I am the most successful? Can you believe, every single one of them? We are Christians who have the hope of Jesus Christ. He leads us each and every day. What does success mean to Him? Proverbs 3:5-6 gives us our first clue and most important aspect of success. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.”
Obedience to God is the definition of success, no matter how big or small. My obedience to Him is how I should gage success. It is how He gages success. Proverbs 3:5-6 is going to be our mantra for the next five weeks because everything we are going to learn is covered inside this small but powerful sentence. You will know you have been successful, when you meet Jesus, and He says to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Matthew 25:21) If your definition of success matched God’s definition, this is your hope.
I feel unsuccessful at times because I cannot see the result of the work I am doing. The question is not, “How do I feel?” It is, “Am I following Jesus?” Am I being obedient to Him? This is how you can gage whether you are successful or not. This is good information because what you have, what you have done and where you are in your desires, has no bearing on success. Obedience to Jesus Christ is what success looks like for a Christian. If you are obeying Him each and every day you are successful.
Obedience doesn’t have to be Jesus constantly telling you what to do every minute of the day. It is you obeying what He has told you to do every single day. An example would be speeding. Jesus told me many years ago to get my speeding under control. Even though that was many years ago does that count for obedience today? Absolutely. Should I speed, I am disobeying God’s directive to me to quit speeding. None of us have to be in constant communication with God to be in, or out of obedience. If Jesus told you to stop doing something that you are still doing today – you are in disobedience to God. This is why you do not feel successful.
I forget “success” is not about His vision for my future, it is about my daily obedience to Him. I have to believe I am successful because I am in obedience to God, today. I have to stop looking at what I think I should have and start looking at what I am successfully doing for Him. What I am doing will have an impact on the people around me. What I am doing has an impact on ME. What you are doing will have an impact on the people around you. What you are doing will have an impact on YOU.
I have successfully changed my definition of success. I will continue to speak about success and teach you everything I know, so you are successful at changing your definition as well. This is all within the scope of working out your salvation. The Father was successful raising our Saviour to life and He will be successful raising you to life too in Jesus Christ. Do you have this hope? Are you doing EVERYTHING Jesus has directed you to do?
Success depends on our definition of success. Our mission here, on earth, is to teach people of this hope in Jesus Christ to live an abundant life. To accomplish that mission you must have the hope yourself. The success of His mission is contingent on your hope first. Then, when you have it, you can spread it. The Leading Yourself IN Success Workshop is how I am spreading that news. How will you spread it? You can start by changing your definition of success.
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I am Not Failing!
The Failure!
The sun is shining this beautiful morning and it is shining in Leola’s heart too. There is no other day that she can remember at this moment to have such an impact on her than today. She is wiping the tears away as she opens her Bible to read. How grateful she is to be saved by grace! She is reminded of how often she has failed to do what God has convicted her of but this morning she is remembering something the Spirit revealed to her last night. Her conviction is renewed but it wasn’t quite so easy in the past. Today, she is quick to discover her underlying issues and quick to get on with living the abundant life Jesus came to give her. If it were not for the Book of Life her existance would be the same as everyone else’s. She has become one who cares so deeply about following her calling that she would pray for God to get her ready. She wants to save women from everything 2 Timothy 3 says will happen to them but failure needs to be dealt with. And what better place to go then the Psalms.
“A Psalm a day keeps my depression away,” she thinks as she starts reading Psalm 73. Leola had been beating herself up yesterday for failing to continue on her path with Jesus. He has convicted her to love her fellow man. Jesus has been working in several areas of her life at the same time. Most people would cringe at the prospect of doing so much at once but God has gifted Leola to be able to handle it. What most people take a lifetime to clean up Leola can clean up in no time thanks to Jesus! She also knows, when much is given much is expected (Luke 12:35-48). She knows what is expected of her and she is extremely hard on herself when she fails. In the olden days she would beat herself up for days yet never come to the conclusion of why she failed. She failed again, after years of practice, she did it again! That old ugly woman (ETS – Evil Twin Sister) rises up at different times and Leola is unprepared for her appearance. She will be happy and content then, bam, ETS shows up unstoppable. An ETS warning light would be nice like the Kmart Blue Light Special but unfortunately it doesn’t and she fails. When she is walking up to a situation she would love to see the blue light flashing then as she is walking up she can prepare for it. Alas after years of torturing herself, God has given her a partial sentence that will change the way she deals with the ETS appearance from that moment on.
When God calls us He has already created our new man but our old man has to be put away by us. We need to remember God create both men. The old man is who He has saved and knows him better than we do. He has prepared the new man to do His work because the old man was incapable through sin of doing the righteous work. The old man is self-serving and self-absorbed but the new man is Spirit minded and Heaven absorbed. We will only be 100% heaven minded when we are in Heaven so in the meantime, while we are on this earth, we will not only fight the devil but we will fight our old man too. They exist, for us, in the same body, in the same space, in the same time and the devil knows that better than we do. As long as he can make us think the old man still lives he will be successful at reviving that dead guy each and every time. We need to work hard at keeping that dead guy in the grave. It may be a slow process at times and quick at other times. It is completely dependent on what God is teaching us and how much we fight Him. It is our job to be successful at keeping the old man in the grave.
The Revelation!
Leola gets quite a few revelations from God while looking out the front window or any window as a matter of fact. This is why she loves to be able to do see out the window while she is studying the Bible, writing or doing any kind of work. When she stares out the window in the winter she sees white (the colour of purity) and in the summer green (the colour of growth). Every time she looks up she sees blue which is the colour of Heaven. If she could live in a house made of glass she would. While she was thinking about her failure again, she instinctively walked to the front window and she is spoken too. Leola has become very aware of the Spirit speaking to her. He said, “You have failed but you are not failing!” She smiled from ear to ear! The perfect encouragement at the perfect time. Her soul accepts it. She is not failing she is succeeding. She has come a long way from where she was and it has been a long road travelling from dead to alive. Leola knows the road is still long and narrow but she is accepting day by day every success she has gained and she is accepting every encouragement he God is supplying. She is not failing, she is succeeding.
I know how hard it is to accept our success because sometimes our failures are before our eyes constantly. Since our mind is filled with our quest to be like Jesus we forget how much closer we are toward that than yesterday. When we look in the mirror we need to begin seeing this new man, who looks like Jesus, rather than the old one who looks like sin. Psalm 73:26 is correct in saying, My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. This is why we are not failing. God is the strength of our heart and He is our portion forever. I look like Him and because of His Spirit in me I will act like Him when I keep the old man buried. I did fail but I am NOT FAILING!
This week’s meditation verses: Psalm 73:26; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24
