Success God’s Way
As a college graduate with a degree in Interior Design, I was eager to jump out into the world and pursue my career. I envisioned having this amazing lifestyle as a designer. My dream was to have a large home in a gated community, a top-of-the-line luxury car, all of the designer clothes and handbags that a woman could ever dream of, and of course trips all around the world. I associated success with financial gain, and with having an abundance of beautiful things.
I now know that God’s view of success is quite different from what I thought that success would look like in my early twenties. It is also different from what the world wants us to believe that success looks like. Our success is not based on the number of zeros in our bank accounts, or where we live. True success is based on our obedience to God and the number of hearts that we have touched and blessed along the way for His glory.
Please know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with having dreams and goals. And there is nothing wrong with owning beautiful things or having lots of zeros in your bank account. These are all blessings from God. I am simply saying, don’t allow the enemy to trick you into living a lifetime of chasing beautiful things thinking that’s the mark of success, because it’s not. God has a different standard for how success is measured for His children.
Today I want to share a few scriptures with you regarding success.
Psalm 1:1-3
1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
1 Kings 2:3
3 and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go
Proverbs 16:3
3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Matthew 16:26-27
26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Deuteronomy 8:6-20
6 Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.
12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
15 He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.
Jeremiah 17:7
7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
