PowerPoint - June 18, 2007

June 18, 2007

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.

--3 John 2

In yesterday’s devotional, we talked about the true meaning of success. Because that’s such a vital issue to our day and culture, I want to give you some additional insight on this important subject.

In addition to the definitions by Maxwell and Stanley (that I quoted yesterday), one of my favorite definitions of success was given by the famed pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Dr. George W. Truett. He said, “Success is knowing and doing the will of God in our lives.”

I would add that success is the progressive realization and then actualization of the will of God in our lives. It is the providential hand of God working behind the scenes and our cooperation with God’s work in our lives.

It is God’s will that we prosper according to His plan. And isn’t it interesting that our spiritual health is vitally connected with our financial health? That our spiritual health is connected with our physical health?

This doesn’t mean that everybody’s going to be rich. I’m not speaking of a prosperity theology here. But the fact is, God has promised to give us success…but that success is success God’s way, which is the only way to live.

So what about you? Is the goal of your life to have success God’s way…or to have success the world’s way?

It’s my prayer that you will “look unto Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith” today. That you will come to fully understand the true measure of success according to God’s economy…and that you won’t be sucked into believing the world’s definition of success any longer!

Seeking success god’s way is the only way to live!