Salvation and Success

It’s been said often by those who love God’s Word that the first law of heaven must be ‘order’. We don’t know this for sure, but we do know that everything our Heavenly Father does is ordered to perfection. He tells us in 1Corinthians 14:33 that He is not the author of confusion, but of peace. Everything God does follows His peace, and the way He has created, orchestrated, and structured everything that exists is nothing short of brilliant perfection. This is an extremely important truth for us to comprehend, especially for those of us interested in living a successful life. God has already ordered our steps and it is up to us to follow this order. Through Jesus Christ, God has given us the way to live beautifully and abundantly. It requires that we follow the example our Lord and Savior has set for us. He tells us in John 14:6 that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can come to the Father except through him. God has provided access to His Kingdom through Jesus Christ, and this is where everything required for our success is kept.

Jesus Christ said in John 10:10(NLT), “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” The thief that Jesus Christ is talking about in this verse is satan. Our Lord and Master didn’t want us to be ignorant about this, because sometimes people attribute the evil that satan commits as works of God. This is a catastrophic mistake because it causes us to believe the wrong things about God. Whenever and wherever we believe the wrong knowledge about God and His Word, we are not able to live by faith, and Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith, we cannot please Him.

To some degree, just about every human being wants to be successful, and this is what our Heavenly Father wants for us as well. He wants us to have a successful life, and He desires this for us way more than we could ever want it for ourselves. God always wants the best for His children. Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Living God, gave his life on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. God’s act of love through His Son is unequalled. We could not have saved ourselves, and we desperately needed to be rescued from satan’s kingdom of darkness. Galatians 5:1 tells us that Christ has truly set us free and given us a new life! And now that we are free, we should never allow ourselves to be caught up in satan’s bondage again. God rescued us because of His great love for everyone. He wanted us to be made righteous like Him and enjoy being a part of His family. This is what He accomplished for us through Jesus Christ.

Our Redeemer left the Father’s throne to come to the earth to save us and show us how to live a Kingdom life, where blessings and righteousness abound, but sometimes our impatience take us off this path. Society teaches us to want things on the double, and we must recognize that isn’t God’s order. That’s not the way He does things. God commands us to understand that true success cannot be achieved without living through His love. This is what most people refuse to acknowledge and surrender to, and it’s tragic, because they are hurting themselves. They are being bamboozled by satan; he is stealing from them, sucking them dry, and they don’t even know it.

Prayer
God desires us to be transformed from the inside out through prayer, purpose, and righteous priorities. Philippians 4:6(ESV) teaches us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” What the Father has for you is for you. There is never a need to try and rush success. God desires to walk with us through the process of promotion and elevation so that we learn to anchor our trust firmly in Him and Him alone. Things don’t always turn out the way we expect. There are setbacks in life, but nothing is too big for our God. He can turn a setback into a set up for success in less time than a blink of an eye. Our responsibility is make prayer and frequent communication with God through Jesus Christ a constant in our lives.

Purpose
As we are vigilant in prayer, we’ll hear the Father’s voice more clearly, and we’ll recognize the promptings of the Holy Spirit. This helps us to walk according to our purpose within the Father’s plan for our lives. Our identity is in Christ, but many people don’t know this. They define themselves by what they do, what they wear, or the material things they’ve collected. The believer should know that our Creator is the only One that can define our identity. God tells us that we are His children of Light! He commands us in Ephesians 5:8 that since we are children of His light, we must live equal to the identity He’s given us.

Proverbs 19:21(NLT) tells us, “You can make many plans, but the LORD's purpose will prevail.” Our purpose is to do the Will of the One who put us on this earth. Many people think this is something they can negotiate or manipulate, but that is an exercise in futility. Long before we entered our mother’s wombs, God ordained our purpose and set our destinies according to His plan. If we fail to seek Him for direction and instruction, we will be on a track to disappointment and devastation. This isn’t what He wants for us. God designed life to cooperate with His plan and purpose, and when we align ourselves with His Will, success will be the result.

Priorities
God is God all by Himself. Acts 17:25-27(NLT) says, “and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.” God doesn’t need anything from anyone to be who He is. No one can add or subtract anything from Him, but His love is so overwhelming and generous that He desires to share His power, love, and abundance with us all.

This passage tells us very clearly that God’s purpose is for us to seek after Him, and this speaks to our level of honor and reverence for Heavenly Father. Human beings only seek that which they esteem. If we don’t think something is valuable, we won’t look for it or seek it out. We only seek treasures that we value. God is letting us know under no uncertain terms that a treasure more valuable than Him doesn’t exist. He is worthy to be sought!

Jesus Christ commands us in Matthew 6:33(NLT), “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” Talk about success, this is it! Our Creator is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present. Nothing slips by Him, and He leaves nothing to chance. Acts 17:27(NLT) declares, “For in him we live and move and exist.” It is because of God that we are here, and He is the reason for any success that any of us might have.

Salvation and success are inextricably linked. When we make prayer our continual habit pattern, and commit ourselves to walk according to God’s purpose, we demonstrate that He is our number one priority. This will always leads to good success, and no other way is acceptable to God. Pleasing Him must be our prime motivation, because doing so is the greatest privilege any of us could ever hope to attain. If we place our faith firmly in God and remain obedient to Him, we will live through Jesus Christ. When we do this, He promises to reward us with abundance and success.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 

“Salvation and Success” by written for Christian Encouragement and Inspiration© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.