Acts of Grace 13
WHAT IS SUCCESS? - Part 2
By Ps. Henry

In the eyes of God, there is no true success without worship. To be successful, first and foremost, we must worship. Worship is the first law of success. When worship precedes work, the work we do produces fragrance, not bitterness or anger. The central focus is what God does, not what we do. Everything centres on him and when we do what he has created us to do, he is pleased. So, what is true success? Success, in spiritual terms is, knowing and doing the will of God. If I know God and I can do his will, I will be successful.

The biggest competition towards our devotion to him is our service to him. Some people are serving God so much, they have no time to pray or read the word. No time to come to him because they are so busy serving. So, our service to him sometimes becomes a hindrance. We must do the first thing first, which is to come before him and worship him.

Interestingly, it was when the disciples were worshipping him that Jesus said to go into all the world, preach the gospel, and make disciples in all the nations. This command was given to the disciples while they were worshipping. Note that the command to disciple people was given to worshippers, not church-goers. The command of discipling nations and preaching the gospel are given to the worshippers. So, you can tell who the real worshippers are because there is a passion that drives them to reach the lost. There is a passion that drives them to disciple nations.

Are you a true worshipper? What is it that drives you? What is the hidden power that propels you, a desire that you cannot control that is always pushing you to take the gospel where it has not gone before? Here was Jesus telling 12 fellows who did not have passports, US dollars, cross-cultural training, titles - they had nothing at all and he tells them to go disciple nations! Their only qualification was they knew him and they were true worshippers.

Jesus made it a habit to consult with his Heavenly Father before anyone else. Every day before sunrise, he woke up and prayed. He pursued the influence of God early in the morning. Jesus knew that wisdom of God would be found only by those who seek him. Never in his life did Jesus try to succeed alone.

This brings us to the second law of success – you need others to succeed. Success is a collection of relationships – relationship with God and relationship with others. Success is not by yourself and for yourself. You must always succeed with others. For by wise counsel you wage war and in the abundance of counsellors there is victory and safety. (Proverbs 24:6). What I am saying to you is that you need people. No man lives and dies to himself. You cannot go by yourself, you need your spouse and your children and your friends with you. Nobody succeeds alone. Success does not come to one person, it comes to a group, it comes to a team.

Jesus did not try to succeed alone. What more us? Firstly, we need God, everything we have comes from him. Secondly, success is a collection of relationships. Without clients, a lawyer has no practice; without patients, a doctor cannot claim medical success; without sheep, a pastor cannot shepherd; without a composer, a singer has nothing to sing; without the Holy Spirit, the church is powerless; without students, even the best teacher is jobless. So in our lives, building friendships that last a lifetime is very important. We always relate to people. Your future is connected to God and also to people, so learn to develop people relation skills.

Jesus constantly talked with his Heavenly Father. He talked to his disciples. He talked to everybody. At the age of twelve, he exchanged with the learned scribes and priests in the temple. He talked to the tax collectors, the fishermen, the doctors and lawyers. He talked to the sick and the broken-hearted. He went far and near. He talked to the woman that was caught in adultery. He talked to her accusers as she was about to be stoned. He was always relating to people because it is people who make you successful.

Jesus knew that his time on earth was short and he needed faithful men to take over where he left off. This is wisdom. Wisdom is always working with people. Wisdom is making sure others succeed. This is the father-heart. You want your children to do better. You want those around you to do better. You want them to go further. Because success is not you alone succeeding, success is something that goes on and on because you have successors after you. It is always related to people.

I want you to examine your own life, I want you to ask yourself - when was the last time you felt God’s presence? It is good to feel his presence. He is with you all the time but it is good for your spirit to leap up and you become very conscious of his presence. Success is worshipping God, loving him and giving him priority. He will guide you, you will hear his voice and he will say to you, turn right, turn left, go or stay. He guides and he speaks.

Beloved, in every one of us, there is a fragrance, a sweetness inside of us. It can only come out when we worship God. It can only come out as we relate to others. When it comes out, it gives us a sense of fruitfulness. It causes seeds to come forth from within us. It causes us to multiply and gives us a sense of growth and fulfilment. It all begins with God and it includes a collection of people in our lives. This is the essence of true success.