Christian Success is Really Hard to Understand

When I wrote "The Universal Law of Success and Failure", I was batting way out of my league as I daily experience milestones in my own life.  The book was written at a time when I saw a lot of ebb and flow.  It was a time akin to David's up and down life.  He was a shephard boy one day and a giant killer the next.  What seemed an elevation to play his hard to calm the king turned into years of running from that king who was trying everything to kill him.  When David became king, he later ran for his life as Absalom, his son, sought to kill hm.  As king, he sinned by killing Uriah and taking Bathsheba as his wife, to utter desperation when his child by Bathsheba died.

This heights and lows in David's life were devastation.  All this adds dimension to the Davidic Psalms that flowed out of those periods of extreme rejoicing to periods a soul-crushing lows.  

My point here is that David was always going to succeed because of God's promises to him.  The Davidic kingly line would not fail, culminating in our King Jesus, and God's way of bringing things full cycle if we have the faith to hang on long enough to see God's solutions arrive.

A dear friend of mine, has been a testimony of unrelenting faith when much of his life and thrown him disappointment and crippling setbacks.  From his early days in India, my friend has pursued success in life.  He made huge strides at times to then encounter cruel disappointments.  When I became friends with him in his fifties, he was working like few people I know to succeed.  But, he did not want success for himself alone.  He never forgot the people of his homeland, his friends along the way, nor his Savior as his true mission. 

We worked together on multiple projects, but I think he was encouraged to have someone on the team who supported him in serious prayer and encouragement.  We spoke at times of the barriers, the near-demonic opposition, and his unrelenting desire to break through to momentous success.  I loved his spirit because his success was not about him but those that he could help. 

A very long time ago at the foundations of the earth, God buried immeasurable treasure underground.  In my book, I speak about God's limited energy such as rivers that flow, or the lightning in the clouds.  As I look around, I see so much more of what God has given to us.  There are immense resources of all kinds that God made long before we tripped over them.  The incredibly small atom now powers cities.  I see success as the times when we encounter God's perfect timing and amazing resources.

For my friend, God put a huge supply of precious minerals in the ground that He had prepared long before someone like my friend was born.  This year, my friend's mines encountered a huge supply of a high-demand mineral which seems to be valued in billions.   He was elated, and we all rejoiced as we knew that few people would do as much good for others as he would.

When it comes to success, God is for us, not against us; but it isn't usually a simple path.  My friend was a faithful and generous in tough times as he has been in good times.  His heart is as kind, thoughtful, and generous as before.  His success was not the singular driving force in what became explosive success.  He held to a kind of faith that God would use someone from India to turn his success into God's hand of provision for multiple thousands of others.  I am proud to play a part of what God is doing in his life.

Any of us should be looking to the opportunity to succeed regardless of the size of that success.  God's has provided unlimited opportunity in every corner of the world and at some opportunity for you.  Find it, pursue it, and don't quit until God shuts one door to open a better door. 

Don't look a wealth as a selfish goal of grand achievement.  Include in your plans ways in which you will honor God with each victory.  Make God your partner, or better yet, learn how to be His junior partner.  Give Him praise before, during, and after the good arrives.  Praise at all times is the proactive side of prayer seeking God's provision.

Don't pray for wealth only.  Remember that God spoke to Solomon one night.  Solomon could ask for ANYTHING that he wanted and it would be his.  Honestly, we would all want to ask for riches, power, health, and happiness.  Solomon asked for wisdom in how to justly rule God's people.  This was not a selfish prayer but an acceptance of a junior role in God's plan and purpose.

God liked Solomon's heart and attitude, so God gave Solomon great wisdom, great wealth, and great power.  Evidently, teaming up with God's plan was better than his own best efforts.

As you will find in the The Universal Law of Success and Failure, we are FINITE having our own power, strength, and wisdom.  But finite is exhaustible and defeatable. 

God is INFINITE.  He does not sleep, feel tiredness, fall short, exhaust His resources, and He does not fail.  Partner with God and use tireless, unrelenting faith to share in His plan because He has the resources necessary and His plan to to bless not harm.  .