12th October 2014

The principles of success - Part 1 (Pastor Muyiwa Olubowale)

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night,
so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your
way prosperous, and then you will have good success
(Joshua 1:8)

What is success? It means to prosper. However, it is not limited to nancial success as some
people believe. It encompasses success in all of our endeavours. Gods plan is for us to succeed
in everything that we do.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well
with your soul (3 John 1:2)

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates
day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its
leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers (psalm 1:1-3)

And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you
obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do
them. (Deut 28:13)

How can we succeed?

> We need to think success.
We must never start the week thinking of the opposite of success which is failure. Because For as
he thinketh in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7)
We think success by imagining success. We meditate on being successful. For example, when
going in for an exam, be positive about being able to remember everything you have learnt, rather
than thinking about failing.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2
Corinthians 10:4-5)What we think has the ability to take us captive. Our mind is our weapon of
warfare.

We need to think positive thoughts like: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me (Philippians 4:13) and But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory
by Christ Jesus (Phillippians 4:19)

For us to succeed our mind must be renewed. And be not conformed to this world:but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable,
and perfect, will of God (Rom 12:2)

God is ready to play his part. We just need to make ourselves available to him. Some people do
not succeed because they are not doing anything. We need to be doing something for God to
make it succeed.


In genesis 11, the people on the surface of the earth decided they wanted to build a tower up to
heaven. They had not yet built it but based on what they were thinking and imagining God said:
Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of
what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them (verse 6).
For that reason, God confused their language. Because, once they cold not understand the vision/
goal they could no longer imagine it.

In Numbers 27, when the spies were sent into the promised land to spy it out, they came back with
a negative report. They saw the negative and said: And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of
Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we
seemed to them (Numbers 27:33)
They were right about seeing giants. Compared to the giants, they saw themselves as
grasshoppers. But even worse, they assumed that that was how the giants perceived them as well.
That was were their failure started. However, two of the spies saw something different: and said to
all the congregation of the people of Israel, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an
exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a
land that ows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people
of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with
us; do not fear them (Numbers 14: 7-9)
The key difference between these two spies and the others was they way they saw the situation.
They saw success. The reason we must see success is because, what we cannot see, we cannot
believe God for.