Success

​Society is obsessed with success.  
So, what is true success? How would you define success for your life?
I have been asked that question many times during my ministry. As a Christian who has walked with the Lord for nearly fifty years, I have concluded that the world’s idea of success and God’s are very different.
Being a “seasoned citizen” in our culture,  and hopefully, an ever-maturing follower of Jesus Christ, reflecting upon the life I have lived, brings me to the place where “success” for me is not about pedigree, position, power, fame, fortune, influence or any temporal, material thing. Success that lasts into eternity has to do with my relationship with God.
Success for me is fulfilling God’s will for my life.
I believe Jesus Christ is the single, most significant example of someone fulfilling God’s will for their life.
This is what the Bible and Jesus says about His life purpose.
Then I said, Behold, I have come (in the roll of the book written of Me) to do Thy will, O God. Thy Law is written within my heart.” Psalm 40:7-8
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10 
 “Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou are my God; let Thy good spirit lead me on level ground.” Psalm 143:10“
 “I glorified Thee on the earth having accomplished, fulfilled the work which Thou has given me to do. “John 17:4.
“And He went a little beyond them and fell on his face praying “My Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me: yet not as I will, but as Thou will.” Matthew 26:39
Take a sacred peek with me into the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46).  Jesus had traveled to Jerusalem on purpose. He knew a cruel Cross would be waiting for Him. Agonizing for hours, sweating drops of blood because of the burden of sin He would bear, wrestling with His humanity to do His will or God’s, imagine the moments (three times) the Lord declared “Not My will, but Your will be done.”
His human flesh hoped it might be possible to not have to drink the cup of suffering. But in His spirit, He knew He came to fulfill the Father’s will and sacrifice Himself for you and me.
Having settled it to go to the Cross, Jesus gathered up His sleepy followers, was arrested, falsely accused, tortured twice, then nailed on a rough piece of wood. Close to breathing His last earthly breath, Jesus asked the Father to forgive His tormenters and all of us because all of us have sinned.  
“IT IS FINISHED.”  The Son of God breathed His last breath. What was finished, accomplished, fulfilled in that dark hour on Golgotha? SALVATION. The Father’s will for mankind was salvation from sin, death and eternal damnation.
 Jesus death on the Cross and resurrection from the dead purchased salvation. He did the will of the Father when it cost Him everything. Thank you, Jesus, for your willingness to do Your Father’s will so I could be saved!
From the day of His birth, to the ascension to heaven, God’s only Son’s goal was to fulfill His Father’s will. As you journey through the Gospels with Him, it is so evident, that Jesus’ life was not about Him. It was about the Father’s will being carried out through Him.
Jesus’ life, ministry, death on the Cross, glorious resurrection and promise to return for His children was/is His success.
Suggestions Why God’s Will Is The Way to Success.

• Doing God’s will is doing what He wants for me, not what I want for me.
• Knowing God’s Word in the Bible is the pathway to success.
• To know God’s will, study the Bible, pray over the Bible and obey the Bible.
• God’s will is a guarantee of success in what matters most when we faithfully follow His leading.
• The will of God sustains us when we walk by faith and not by sight.
• God’s will is a bright, shining beacon that lights our way as we journey through life.
• My will can never accomplish God’s will unless I surrender my will to Him.
• Conforming my will to God’s will is a safe, secure and stable place for me to be.
• Sleep is sweet when we have done our best each day to fulfill God’s will for us.
• Not your or my will, but Your will Father, is following in the footsteps of Jesus.
• Fulfilling God’s will on earth is rewarded with spending eternity with Jesus in heaven.

Paul writes in Ephesians 5:17 “So then do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
I have settled it for me. I do not want to be a fool! With all my heart, I desire to understand God’s will for my life and with His help fulfill it.  
How about you?  You don’t want to be foolish, do you? Do you know what God’s will is for your life? In general and specifically?
If you know what His will is, are you diligently seeking to fulfill, accomplish it?
If necessary, what adjustments do you need to make regarding your view of success in light of success is fulfilling God’s will for your life?
May His will be done in your life every day.
 “Not by the way of eyeservice, as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” Ephesians 6:6
A Word For Your Week: Doing God’s will is success indeed.