DEVELOPING SESNSES FOR SUCCESS PART 1

Deliberate training is very vital for success in life. Show me any successful man today, I will show you a man who exercised himself into it.

Success is achievable but a lot of time, must be put into self-development. Knowing your purpose is just a start; the real work begins after you discover your purpose.

The grave is filled with the decayed bodies of men and women and kids, somewhere aborted, some had the chance to grow up but never discovered their purpose in life, some who discovered their purpose never fulfilled it and died frustrated.

You are already 18 and over, and you still have no sense of purpose, you spend your time and resources recklessly like the prodigal son in Luke 15, you have little or no thought about your life and your future, you need to grow up and take charge of your life.

Christianity is not synonymous with stupidity. Sometimes when I speak to some people about their lives and what plans they have, I usually hear this from their mouths “when we get to that bridge we will cross it” that should not be the statement of a man with sound mind.

The teaching of Grace is misunderstood and people now sit back and do nothing about their lives, expecting that God will make it work. The building of your life is a partnership with you the Holy Spirit; you have a vital part to play.

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 “I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.12 People can never predict when hard times might come. Like fish in a net or birds in a trap, people are caught by sudden tragedy.

Believers quote this scripture when they want to give excuses about their situation. This is an observation by a man called Solomon, the fact that the fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, doesn’t mean it’s wrong to be fast, or that the wise sometimes goes hungry doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be wise or that the skillful are not necessarily wealthy doesn’t mean you should be unskilled and that those who are educated doesn’t always lead successful lives doesn’t mean you should be dumb and uneducated.

Its Gods will that you should; Work hard and be the fastest runner and win the race; Be the strongest warrior and win the battle; Be wise and have food ,Be skillful and wealthy; Be Educated and successful.

Preparation precedes opportunity. There is time for everything, don’t trade your period of training and preparation for pleasure.

There is an appointed time for your opportunity; because we are not prepared we get caught up by hard times and the end is tragedy.

The bible speaks of Job as a man who took nothing for granted, that he always made sacrifices and atonement for his children in case they had committed sins;

 Job 1:4-5; “Job’s sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them.5 when these celebrations ended—sometimes after several days—Job would purify his children. He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said to him, “Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice”.

Don’t wait for the situation to arise before you make resolutions, Just like Job, be resolved about your values, even before the trouble comes, It was Jobs regular practice…

David was in the bush fighting lions, tigers and bears not knowing that God was preparing him to defeat Goliath, and face the the years of trouble that king Saul was going to put him through and finally to be king over Isarel,though he was anointed king, he still had to face troubles.

The anointing is not guarantee that you won’t have troubles; in fact the anointing attracts troubles. The palace is not the place for the test of your purpose but the wilderness.

John the Baptist spent time in the wilderness, preparing for a call, bigger than him, he lived his life fulfilling purpose, and when he was done he died and even his death was in his purpose.

Paul was a man conscious of his purpose, 1Corinthians 9:24-26; “don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.26 so I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing”.27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Most people live their lives aimlessly, without any goals, forgetting you are in a race. There are some vital points we must meditate on in this few verses:

·         Realize that you are in a race, and only one person gets the prize and a lot of lives depend on you getting the prize.

·         Don’t run without a goal, you should have a goal in life, Paul said Run to Win.

·         Be disciplined in your training, give time to your training and keep to it.

·         Your prize is not earthly but eternal

·         Run with purpose in every step, live a life of purpose, don’t live anyhow, as one without an aim, and don’t waste your life.

Like Paul make a commitment to discipline your body to do what it should, God created you for a purpose, don’t mess it up.

Jesus spent thirty years in training and preparing for a three years ministry, why would God take you through so much pain sometimes, you need to realize that your purpose is not all about you but others. Your purpose is bigger than you.

Jesus went to the wilderness for forty days and was tempted by the devil Matthew 4.The wilderness is part of your training experience.

Hebrews 5:11-14; “ There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong”.

The writer couldn’t explain much since the listeners were spiritually dull; slow of learning and understanding, this is not the name of a demon, but this is a problem that I see in my conversations with people in the church and the society. People are so dull and dumb, they are slow to learn.

Do you know you can deal with this problem by receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of praying in tongues? The bible says in Jude 20; build up yourselves in your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost, people who spend a lot of time praying in tongues are not just only mentally sharp but spiritually active.

Since they are spiritually dull, their growth is stunted. Imagine giving birth to a baby and after 5years it’s still an infant, that’s what Paul is saying here, “you have been believers so long, now that you ought to be teaching others, instead you need someone to teach you, again the basic things about Gods word you are like babies, who still need milk and cannot eat solid food”

Milk is okay if you are a babe, but when you have grown teeth’s and is supposed to be a man; you still want the kind of milk from the mother’s breast? We must understand that when the bible speaks of milk here, it’s not referring to all kinds of milk, but the milk developed by a pregnant mother in her breast especially for her baby.

But solid food is for the mature, and Paul defines the mature as “those who through training have developed the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong”.

The amplified bible says “those who have trained their senses and mental faculties”

The human being has five senses; Eyes (sight), nose (smell/perception), Ears (hearing), Tongue (taste) and the skin (touch).

The human being has six main mental faculties; imagination, intuition, perception, memory, will and reason.

Why would Paul stress these if they were not important and why did God put all these faculties and senses in us if it was just for nothing.

These are very vital for your success in life.

Don’t be spiritually useful and earthly useless, how can we actually represent God in our different fields if we are dull, start working on yourself today.

Watch out for the Part 2 of this post.