A Recipe For Success

Oh, that my ways were directed To keep Your statutes! Psalms 119:5 (NKJV)

When I teach men’s Bible study on Monday nights, I will usually bring them a batch of cookies my wife has made. Almost every night there will be someone commenting on the cookies, and there have been several times when I have been asked for the recipe. Hey let’s face it, a good cookie is a great thing, and having a recipe for something you like is valuable.

As I thought about this I was thinking how cool it would be to have a great little handy recipe for a successful Christian walk. So I went to the Book of Psalms and Proverbs and put together one. Instead of ingredients we will use “qualities” to add to our lives so we can be men and women of God. Here is a list of the qualities we need to add to our lives if we are to walk, as our Lord wants.
We must be reading God’s Word continuously (Ps. 119:05, 18)
We must be seeking the Lord in prayer continuously (Ps. 32:6; 86:6; 141:2; Prov. 15:8, 29)
We must be committed to Righteousness (Prov. 10:7, 12:3; 28:12)
We must hate what is false (Prov. 13:5)
We must commit every work or thing we do unto the Lord (Prov. 16:3)
We must use our words with restraint, and be even tempered (Prov. 17:27-28)
We must be humble, and have a respect for the Lord (Prov. 22:4)
We must be willing to confess and repent of our sin (Prov. 28:13)

God has given us a recipe for every area of our life, and if we want to live the fruitful life He intended for us to live we can be assured great success if we simply follow what He has written in His Word.

Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law. Psalms 119:18 (NKJV)I want to encourage you to meditate upon these things today. Let’s choose to seek the Lord’s recipe’s for success in our Christian walk today.

STUDY QUESTION: According to Scriptures written within this devotional what did the Psalmist desire for God to help him with?

PERSONAL INVENTORY: Are you willing to apply the recipe above to your life?

APPLICATION: Let’s choose to prayerfully read the scriptures contained in the recipe listed above and ask God to help us in applying these things to our lives.

Success

"No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven." - Philippians 3:13–14 (NLT).

It has been said that "success is the ability to embrace a worthwhile goal and employ all of your powers to achieve that goal." An even better way to say this might be: "Success is the ability to discover God's goal and purpose for your life and then, with God's help, employ all of your powers to achieve that goal." I'm sure that this is the way the Apostle Paul lived his life after he committed it to Jesus Christ and became one of the most effective early Christian leaders.

For you and I to succeed in God's eyes we don't have to be an Apostle Paul or anybody else. We only need to discover God's goal and purpose for our life and stay committed to that through thick and thin. Fulfilling this purpose may not be easy. Even with God's help it will take commitment, endurance, faith, and hard work. However, it gives us something to live for that is bigger than ourselves—and in the life to come the rewards will be eternal!

I like the words of the poet who wrote:

I would rather stumble a thousand times

attempting to reach a goal,

Than to sit in a crowd

In my weather-proof shroud,

A shriveled and self-satisfied soul.

I would rather be doing and daring

All of my error-filled days,

Than watching, and waiting, and dying,

Smug in my perfect ways.

I would rather wonder and blunder,

Stumbling blindly ahead,

Than for safety's sake

Lest I make a mistake,

Be sure, be safe, be dead. – Author Unknown