The Biblical Pattern of Success

UV 2808/10000 The Biblical Pattern of Success
I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
Isaiah 48 v 15
The patterns of the word are quite distinct from the patterns of the world. The pattern of success and prosperity in the world is determined by self efforts, personal intelligence, creativity, networking, strategies and the willingness to achieve a goal by hook or by crook. The pattern of success, prosperity and achievement according to the word is the Lord-blessed, Lord-enabled, God-called, God-spoken. In this uni-verse, the Lord says, I have spoken the word of blessing, I have called him into success and prosperity, I have brought him into a place of accomplishment. As a result, the life and mission of the man or woman of God shall be successful and prosperous.The pronoun “I, even I “ is repeated to underline that the Lord God Himself has spoken and guarantees the veracity and authenticity of this promise for all eternity. Of course, it does not preclude or rule out our efforts, diligence, perseverance, talents, intelligence, help rendered by others in our network or who the Lord brings into our circle at the appropriate time. But the causative and primary factor is the word of the Lord, the anointing or enablement of the Lord, the blessing of the Lord.
The Joshua prescription for success and prosperity also reinforces this line of thinking: that godly success or good success is derived from diligently studying what the Lord has said in His word and spoken through the prophets and saints and chiefly, His Son and Heir Jesus. Diligent study implies accurate observation and constant meditation till the word saturates our thoughts and becomes part of us. We need to meditate day and night or 24x7 on the believed and received word. Unlike physical food which is digested in a couple of hours after ingesting the food, spiritual food is digested and absorbed or assimilated by all parts of the body only over 24 hours. Study or reading the word without meditation is like consuming food without digesting it. Diligent study and constant meditation has to progress to consistent application of the principles derived from such study to all aspects of our lives. Then, the Lord will bring us to a place of success, peace, abundance and prosperity. Worldly success is often accompanied by much misery, loneliness, break up of relationships, pride, arrogance, curses but when the Lord makes a man successful or prosperous, He adds no sorrow to it. The person also remains meek and humble as he knows that it is by the sheer grace of God and not dint of hard work or talent or brains that he has been made successful or prosperous. He is also forewarned that he could lose it all if he ceases to be faithful, meek and humble. The biblical pattern is that the Lord often breaks into our character to prepare us before we are lifted up as he did with Moses and Joseph, the lost son of Jacob.
The Lord calls us to do certain specific acts and to follow certain professions according to our gifting, passion, aptitude. He calls us to be influencers for Him wherever we are placed, whether high or low. He could use a Jewish servant maid to lead Naaman to the prophet Elijah to receive a healing of leprosy by faith. He could use an unnamed and unknown boy with a few loaves and fish to feed the hungry multitude. Joseph of Arimathea made both his name and the place he hailed from famous by merely giving up his tomb. He calls us to take up certain big challenges as He called David, the shepherd to face the challenge of Goliath when king Saul and his entire Israelite army was shrinking at the very thought of it.
Prateep V Philip