Biblical Pattern of Practices for Good Success

UV 2809/10000 Biblical Pattern of Practices for Good Success
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success
Joshua 1 v 8
The Bible which means “The Book” is also called the good book for good reason. It is the book of life, the book that contains the law of eternal life, the law of success, the laws of life, the laws governing human relationships and above all the covenant, old and new with the Creator and the Redeemer of our souls. It covers the entire gamut of success from earthly pursuits to eternity. The old covenant is the forerunner of the new just as John the Baptist was chosen and sent ahead of Jesus to be His forerunner. The bird and animal sacrifices of the old covenant brought through Moses are a foretype of the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb provided by Jehovah, the Father for the complete justification of mankind. Out of this covenant relationship with the Father by faith in Jesus the Messiah of mankind flows all the other laws of life. The Lord becomes the X-factor who enables us to succeed in all aspects of life and prospers us in all our ways. The key is "to do all that is written therein." Under the old covenant of the Law of Moses, this was impossible as no one can do all that is written therein. But under the new covenant of Christ, we are anointed with grace and we receive grace or help to fill the gaps in our hearing, understanding and doing. Even a little faith is enough now to do the impossible.
The uni-verse states that our mouths, minds, eyes and limbs should be directed by the Word of God. If our mouths are directed by the word and conform to the pattern of speech prescribed and described in the word, we will be perfect as James exhorts us in his epistle. If our minds, implying our thoughts, our emotions, our imagination, our wills and our decisions are directed by the word and conform to the biblical pattern, our lives will be both greatly blessed and a great blessing to others. If our eyes are directed by the word like the frontlets of a horse that allow it to only focus on the path ahead, undistracted by all that surroundings, we will be focussed on what the Lord wills in our lives. If our limbs are directed by the word of God, we will go and do the things the Lord desires of us. The “Joshua prescription” for success states that we need to keep the words of the covenant, both old and new always at the tip of our tongue, ready to give an answer to ourselves, others and the enemy of our souls when we are tempted or tested. When our hearts and minds are filled with the word only then will our mouths be so filled. Our hearts and minds should brood or meditate on the word applicable in our life each day. We need to observe, analyse, draw out, recall all that we need to put into practice from the law of the Lord. Meditating implies running the same uni-verse or portion of scripture over and over in our minds till we have squeezed out what seems to be the last drop of meaning from it.
We show our love for God by obeying His commandments. In both hearing and doing His word, we are greatly blessed. In disobeying the word of God, Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden of Eden and the tree of life was removed from therein. In obeying the word which is incarnated in Christ, the tree of eternal life is restored from which we can daily eat. The leaves of this tree or the words of the Law of God are meant for our complete healing and the fruit or the promises are meant for our “meat”: strength, salvation, success, wisdom, grace, numerous blessings, peace or Shalom. Good success or godly success is a composite of all these and not the mere fulfilment of our mundane goals. The uni-verse qualifies such success as good success, implying that worldly success without a relationship with God, the source of all goodness is “bad success.” Take the case of persons like Steve Jobs- he achieved immense fame, made great contributions, acquired immense wealth but the success was what is called ‘Pyrrhic victory’ for the cost of success was greater than the rewards of success.
Prateep V Philip