Five Steps to True Success

Written by Jimmie Burroughs

Denzel Washington said the Secret to his success was putting God first in everything. Success has a different meaning for different people. For some it means “the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence,” which is the secular definition of success. For others, it means “making a difference during your stay on earth;” that is the Christian definition of success, which was the kind that Denzel was talking about even though he indeed reached the first kind. I believe the Christian purpose is true success, and that kind of success is the topic of this article.

Putting God First is the First Step to True Success: “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” Psalms 37:5 (KJV). According to the Benson Commentary, this verse means Committing all your ways unto the Lord— “All your cares and business, your desires and necessities. ‘He shall bring it to pass;’—He shall do, or work, namely, for you, or what is fit to be done; or whatever you desire.” Does that mean we can sit back and leave it all up to the Lord without lifting a finger? No! It means God is willing to help us, but we must be willing to cooperate with Him, and the first thing we must do is commit all to Him and put Him first in everything in our lives.

Perhaps I’m getting the cart before the horse. Let me clarify that before you can put God first, you must have a relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.God’s instructions for how to have that relationship are found in Romans 10:10-13 (KJV): “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” For more information on how to have a relationship with God,  CLICK HERE..

Consistent Prayer is the Second Step to True Success: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” James 5:16 (KJV). When asked the secret of his successful ministry, The great minister of yesteryear, Charles Hadden Spurgeon  said, “My people pray for me.” Consistently pray for your needs, also asking for the prayers of others is the key to success in everything we do. If you are wondering what the best way to pray is, here are 7 Tips for a Deep, Effective, and Consistent Prayer Life to get you started:

1. Acknowledge God for who He is: According to the model prayer, our prayers should open with honoring God and worshiping Him: “Our Father which are in heaven hallowed be thy name.” Some may erroneously think that Sunday is reserved for worship; that is true, but we are also to worship God daily.
2. Confess your sins daily: Before God will hear our prayers, we must be clean when we come before Him: “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear,” Isa 59:1-2 (KJV).
3. Be consistent: Set a time for prayer each day and stick with it; this is also a good time for bible study and meditation, or putting other things out of your mind and concentrating on being alone with God to talk to Him and listen to Him.
4. Be specific in your prayers: It is good to have a prayer list to remind you about which you want to pray. Avoid praying in general; name the people you are praying for and their particular needs as well as your own needs. For example, instead of praying for sinners, have a list of names of lost relatives, people you work with, or others you meet daily.
5. Abide in Christ and bear the fruit of the Spirit: Abiding with Christ is walking with Him daily; this is another way of saying to commit your life to Jesus each day. The fruit of the Spirit is a result of the soul when it is in communion with Jesus through Prayer. Spiritual fruit is like natural fruit; it is born without any conscious effort. Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5 (KJV). “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV). God never promised to make us happy; He has something much better to give us, which is love, joy, peace, and much more.
6. Pray and believe in the promises of God: George Muller searched the Scripture for God’s promises before he prayed to find what God had already promised related to his specific need, and then he took it to the Lord in Prayer. Muller was one of the most successful prayer warriors in history. Charles Hadden Spurgeon said, “A prayer which is not based on a promise has no true foundation.”  The most successful players are those centered on the promises of God. Prayer is taking God’s promises to him and saying, “I know you will do as thou hast said.”  
7. Never give up on Prayer: Always pray in faith, believing God is listening.Ann Ford said she prayed for a very long time concerning her blindness before the Lord performed a miracle and healed her.

Setting Goals is the Third Step to True Success: Someone said, “It is essential to have a target to shoot at; otherwise, you will shoot in the mud.” Try first to set some practical goals like getting enough sleep during your 24 hours; that is a health goal, and there are many of those that most ignore. That is just one facet of our lives; there are spiritual goals, marriage and family goals, financial goals, and relationship goals, to name a few.

Accepting Failure is the Fourth Step to Success: Failure is an unavoidable part of the road to success. You have probably heard that Thomas Edison failed a thousand times trying to invent the light bulb. However, he did not count it as Failure; to him failure was learning what did not work. If you ask a successful person if they ever failed, they will tell you that they have failed more times than they have succeeded. Winston Churchill had a vital part in winning the second world war; he was asked to give a graduating speech at his Alma Mater. It was the shortest speech ever given by a famous person. Here it is: “Never give up–never give up.” Churchill was determined to keep on fighting in the second world war and his courageous leadership brought Great Britain through.

Helping Others is the Fifth Step to True Success: Someone told me that I was one of the reason’s a person was successful in their business. I said I was glad to have been able to teach him some things. The Bible says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” That is so true because one of our greatest successes in life is helping others succeed. I know this is not the general thinking of the world, which is geared toward competition. The world grades people as either winners or losers. You are never a loser when you help others. You are on the winning side because the most remarkable success is making the world a better place by helping others achieve. Hopefully, those you help will pay it forward, therefore making your efforts exponential.

I suppose deciding what success is to you is essential to reaching your goal. If it is the relentless pursuit of what the world considers success, you are likely to wind up dissatisfied, for that is a short-cited way to think. Believers need to realize that God is with them. If God is with you, who can be against you; to be against you is to be against God.

We read in Genesis 39:2-3 (KJV), “And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.” One of God’s most significant promises is found in Philippians 1:6 (KJV), “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” When we trust in God and are committed to His plan for us, we need not worry, for He will complete His goal in our life, with our cooperation, for us. There can be no greater success than that.