God Desires Your Success - Part 2

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. The world's model of success bears little resemblance to how God defines it. Today, you'll see the framework to achieve success God's way. I want you to take some responsibility of the leadership of the nation of Israel, over two million. I want you to take them across this Jordan into the Promised Land and win this land.

This is the home of my people. So Joshua, you have a big responsibility. Here's how you're going to do it. And if you'll do what I tell you, you will be successful. He said it twice, you will be successful. If God were opposed to success, He certainly would not have said this to Joshua. What is success from God's viewpoint? Success from God's viewpoint is this. It is a continuing desire to be the person God called me to be and to achieve those goals that God has helped me to set.

It is the continuing desire to be the person that God wants me to be and to achieve the goals that God has helped me to set. You cannot be successful and leave God out of your life. God is the one who determines what a success is and I can tell you, if you have any other definition of success that leaves God out, that leaves out your growth in Him, that leaves out you, listen, you pursuing God-given goals, then my friend, you have had it.

Very important you and I understand what success is all about. It is the continuing achieving of that life that God has provided for us. Growing in our Christian life and then, listen, pursuing and establishing and accomplishing those God-given goals He desires that we set for our life. Now, proof of the fact, three-fold proof of the fact that God desires you to succeed and has provided for you to succeed, planned it. How do I know that God wants you and me to succeed in what we're doing? It's very interesting that the patterns of success are all through the Scriptures and men and women alike who are willing to follow God's leadership and guidance and the plans and the goals that God has set for their life.

Listen, oftentimes we make the mistake of saying, well, but you know, I'm not one of those biblical characters, right? But here's what you and I must think about and oftentimes we forget this. This is a real comfort to me when we look, for example, the life of Moses, what an awesome, tremendously inspiring life it was. But what you forget sometimes is 40 long years, 40 long years, a whole generation of years. All he did was feed sheep, watch over sheep, out there on the backside of the desert and absolute nobody until he was ready.

And so we're all going to have those moments and have those periods in our life. But it's very clear from Scripture what God has done in the lives of those people and is still doing in the lives of people today. Listen, He is still desiring and planning for His people to succeed in whatever areas of life He's called them. There's a second thing that I think is proof of that, and that is the way God has provided that you and I would be successful. Well, first of all, He has given us the principles of success in the Word of God. Here's what I discovered. Without an exception, every single solitary principle of success, genuine principle of success, every single one of them came out of the Bible.

Somebody was out there smart enough to pick them up and make a lot of money. The truth is God is the author of success. God is the one who's given us the principles. And as we go through this series, you'll find out every single principle of success comes right out of the Bible. If God put the principles of success in the Bible, then He must intend that you and I utilize those principles and abide by them. Remember what He said to Joshua? He said, this law of Moses, He said, you must meditate upon it day and night.

Don't turn to the left, don't turn to the right, but do exactly what He told you to do. The principles of Scripture run from Genesis all the way to the book of the Revelation. God has given us the principles. He has provided them. And if we are wise enough to utilize them, remembering that God must enable us to set and establish our goals, that we must depend upon trust in Him to enable us to accomplish those, then you can accomplish whatever God's called you to do. But there's a third reason, a third proof that I believe that God desires that you and I succeed in whatever He's called us to do and that He's planned it.

Not only are those passages of Scripture that deal with these men, not only are the principles there, but also let's just think for a moment how God has equipped you to be a success in your life. For example, every single believer has one or more spiritual gifts. It may be the gift of service, administration, giving or exhortation or mercy or whatever it might be. There are lots and lots of spiritual gifts, seven primary motivational gifts. So when you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, God endowed you with those spiritual gifts. For example, let's say that you have the responsibility of administrating your business.

Well, if you have the gift of administration, you're going to do that much better than a person who does not. God gifts us with those spiritual gifts that match, listen, His goal and purpose for our life. If somebody should say to me, well, what is your spiritual gift?

Well, certainly one of mine is exhortation, and that is God has gifted me to some degree, at least to be able to share the Word of God in a fashion that people can understand it and recognize that it is the truth of God's Word. And so you have one or more spiritual gifts. And so oftentimes people try to do things that they're not gifted to do.

Or they're put in positions where they're not comfortable at all because that's not where they are in life. And so God has given us spiritual gifts. Why did He give them? Because He wants you to succeed at what He calls you to do in life.

Because, listen, He wants you to do well at what you do in life. That doesn't mean that a person with a gift of mercy could not be an outstanding pastor or speak well or whatever it might be. Or a person who is a teacher can certainly have the gift of mercy. So you can't say, well, you only do what this gift know. God gifts us and calls us and equips us in order to accomplish what He wants us to accomplish. Now you and I can line them all up and say, well, all nurses should have the gift of mercy. All preachers should have the gift of exhortation or prophecy. All businessmen should have the gift of giving or administration. No, God takes those gifts.

What does He do? He intertwines them and intermingles them into a life according to personality, according to His purpose and achievement, the things He wants us to achieve in life. So one of the evidences that He wants you to succeed, desires that you succeed, and His plan is that He has planned the spiritual gifts that you have so that they will fit what He wants you to do in life. The second way He's provided is this, when you're not trusted, Jesus Christ is our personal Savior, He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, as we've said, there are many, many, listen, many, many ministries of the Holy Spirit in your life and mine, from comfort and so forth.

But let's talk about some that have to do with success. One of them is certainly, listen, to give us a discerning spirit. What is a discerning spirit? A discerning spirit is one, when a person has a discerning spirit, they can discern. They have the perception, they can know the reality of something. Is it the truth or is it not the truth? Is this reality?

Is this the wisest thing to do? A discerning spirit is certainly the work of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is to guide us in that decision-making process. The Holy Spirit, part of His ministry, is to enable us, to equip us with, listen, spiritual energy, emotional energy, and spiritual energy to go about whatever He's called us to do. So He's given us the Holy Spirit to live on the inside of us, to enable you and me to do what? To do well what God has called us to do. Does this mean that everybody should be wealthy?

No. Does this mean that there will never be any poor people in life? No, it doesn't mean that. But it simply means this, that wherever I am, and whatever God has chosen for my life, I am to believe within my heart that I am to succeed in whatever He's called me to do. But primarily whatever He's called me to be first, then to do, He's on my side, He's planned that, He desires that, whatever it may be. And so when I think about how God has provided for us, He's provided for us in spiritual gifts, He's provided the Holy Spirit.

And the third thing He's provided is this. He's provided us the powerful privilege of prayer. That whatever you're trying to do in life, whatever your goals that God has helped you to set, every single one of us, listen, has the privilege of bowing before God every single morning and saying, Lord, I need you to guide me today. I need you to help me today. I need you to strengthen me today. I need a discerning spirit.

Show me how to get along with this person, that person. Show me, Father, how to rally the troops. Show me, dear God, how to be the kind of motivation I ought to be.

Motivation to my family, motivation to the people I work with. Listen, you and I have the most awesome privilege of crying out, calling to a sovereign, omnipotent God who controls this whole universe, who delights to pleasure you, who delights to prosper you, who delights in making your success. And God has made Himself available 24 hours of every day to help you become and to accomplish what God's helped you to, desires for you to accomplish and to achieve. Now, I have a real difficult time excusing anything before Almighty God when He's equipped us spiritually. He's given us the Holy Spirit and we have the privilege of prayer. Now, there's one other thing I mentioned, there are other things, but a fourth reason that I see here and a fourth very special blessing that He's given to every single one of us is this, a real encouragement. He has inbred within every single one of us the desire for success. And what I want to challenge you to do is remember this.

You are a God-created, God-given creature. God doesn't want you to give up. He doesn't want you to quit. He wants you to pursue the goals that He has established for your life. You don't give up. You trust Him. You believe in your heart. Listen, not only has He set the goals for you, but He is on your side. He has given you the principles.

Maybe you don't know what they are and most of us grew up not knowing what they are. My friend God, listen, He desires you to succeed and He's planted. And there's threefold proof right there. Not only is it example doubt in the lives of these men, the principles of success on the Scripture, and not only that, but He has equipped us, He has provided what we need. Not only the Holy Spirit and our gifts and the possibility of prayer that it has such an awesome potential, but it's inbred within us, given to us as a babe coming into this world.

What we do with it is the issue. Now, one last thing is this, and that is God has promised. Listen, He's promised us success. Now, I want you to listen carefully so you say, well, now, if He promised it to me somewhere along the way, He messed up.

No, He hasn't messed up. Turn to the last book of the Bible, Revelation, and go back to Jude and 3 John. Now, if I should ask you, when's the last time you read 3 John?

Some of you won't even know it's in here. 3 John, Revelation, Jude, 3 John. There's a little old passage of Scripture here with only 14 verses, but there's one verse worth it all, because here I believe is a real key.

Look what he says. Verse 2, 3 John. Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health just as your soul prospers. Now, the Bible uses two terms, success and prosper. Most of the time it uses the word prosper, but it's the same idea, because in that 39th chapter of Genesis when the Bible's talking about Joseph, in verse 2, he speaks in terms of success, but in verse 3, he uses the term prosper, that he prospered in all that did.

He succeeded in it. So when the Bible talks about prospering us, he's talking about us succeeding in life, whatever it might be. So here's what he says. Now, here's the key. He says, I pray that in all respects, that is, in every aspect of your life, you may prosper and be in good health just as your soul prospers. Now, let me ask you a question.

Now, watch this one. How many of you would be willing to say to God today, Lord, in this year, here's what I'm asking you. I want you to prosper me financially, in my vocation, in my relationships, in my finances, I want you to prosper me in every aspect of my life in proportion to my spiritual growth.

Now, this is what you don't want to miss. Listen, God may plan your success, he may desire your success, but your success has conditions to it. God's not just going to make you one in spite of you. He's not going to say, well, you can just take handouts. You don't have to work.

You can just retire at 30 years of age and live off your parents. When I see slothfulness and sloppy and laziness, I'm telling you right now, listen, you can't be lazy and be in the will of God. You can't be slothful and be in the will of God. Because, listen, at the moment in your life where you cease to be stretched, where you cease to grow in your spiritual life, at that point something's wrong.

He says we have to still bear fruit in our old age till the last minute of it because God desires that you and I be a success. Now, what's it conditioned upon? Conditioned upon what?

Number one, that I establish the goals for my life that God has helped me to set. Conditioned upon that. And so here's what happens to people.

They'll get a little idea and take off. Forgetting the fact, listen, my success and your success is based on principle number one, that you and I establish God-given goals that He would have us set. You know what? It may have nothing to do with money. Now, watch this. I'm going to come to the money part in one of these sermons, but it may have nothing to do with money.

You know what? When you and I follow the will of God, He'll provide everything He desires for us and oftentimes we're greatly surprised. But number one, first condition is I must, listen, I must establish God-given goals. Second condition is this. I must walk obediently before God in the process of accomplishing those goals.

How can I expect God to help me to succeed in life when I choose to absolutely violate the principles of the Word of God? So condition number one, I have His goals. Condition number two, that I'm walking obediently in the process of pursuing that goal. And principle number three is this. That in reliance upon the Holy Spirit, I practice those Godly principles of success which He has given us clearly in the Scripture. So therefore I can't be slothful, can't be a doubter, can't be selfish, can't be a one-man show and do it myself.

Cooperation is very important in the whole idea of success. So I'm going to do three things. I'm going to establish God-given goals. I'm going to walk obediently before Him.

And thirdly, I'm going to follow those principles that God's given to us in the Scripture. Now, you know what? You've heard enough truth today. You've heard enough truth today if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and you'll just take what you've heard today and apply it.

Friend, listen, you cannot remain where you are. And I want to give you a challenge. I want to challenge you to think about this message for a moment.

And I want to challenge you to get out a piece of paper and a pen and ask yourself three questions. Where am I in my relationship to God? Where am I in my spiritual walk?

Write it out, backslidden, drifting away from God, haven't been reading the Scripture, haven't been going to church, doing the best I know how, obeying God as best I can, whatever it might be. Secondly, where am I in my finances? Look at your debt.

Look at your assets. Where are you? Thirdly, where am I in my vocation? Am I satisfied where I am? Am I down here in an area that I shouldn't even be in? Am I in a vocation that God has called me to?

Answer the question. And then ask yourself this question. Where can I be within a year? Where could I possibly be if I surrendered my life to Christ? And in the basis of this message that I've heard today, where could I be within a year if I turn my life over to God and let Him establish my goals and by His Spirit attempt to walk the Christian life and follow the principles that I know and that I can discover in the Word of God, where will I be? I can tell you this, you won't be where you are.

You'll be so far ahead of where you are. You may suffer defeats, but you're not a failure, because you see, it's in that struggle God will grow you up. Thank you for listening to God Desires Your Success. We would like to invite you to join us in celebrating 45 years of God's faithfulness. Stop by InTouch.org slash 45 years to learn more. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.