Success happens to people who can continue believing and working to climb the steep mountain when rejection, loneliness, and failure are staring them in the face. Success is faith in yourself and in your vision.
“Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure people,” (Proverbs 22:29; NKJV).
Achieving success is arduous and diligent work. It takes great effort to achieve success in life. It requires great physical effort, mental focus, diligence, and perseverance.
The journey to success is difficult, long, winding, tiring, and frustrating. Sometimes you feel like giving up because of uncertainties. You can’t see the results happening as you want. The delays and frustrations overwhelm you.
Proverbs 13:12 says,
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” (ESV)
Though everybody wants to be successful, not everyone perseveres to the end. And so, only a few people reach the pinnacle of success.
Some people, after struggling and not seeing results, take the quick and easy way to become successful. Some manage to get wealth the quick and easy way by dubious means, or through satanic rituals. But they don’t live long to enjoy their wealth. They die miserably within a short time after making their wealth.
Some contract strange spiritual and chronic illnesses, live miserable lives, do not enjoy their wealth as they wished, and die painful deaths. Some also land in jail for using shady deals to make their wealth.
Along the way, some people become frustrated because the journey doesn’t seem to end soon. The pains continue to increase as they encounter odds and uncertainties. Beyond is unclear, and they wonder if they will be successful at all.
Only the daring, only those who have confidence, press on. The few people who persevere and obtain their wealth the right way, live long to enjoy their wealth with their families.
Paul said he did not consider himself to have reached the point yet regarding what he was pursuing. He said, “I forget the past that is behind me. And I try very much to reach the things that are in front of me.”
Paul was always running straight towards the goal ahead. He was always pursuing the goal, to win the prize of God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-15).
He admonished all to think the same. To continue to press on toward the heavenly goal. In all things that we do, we must keep working, improving, and believing in ourselves and in God. We must correct the mistakes and continue to press on.
In Romans 12:16-18 Paul advises that we must learn to live in harmony with each other. We should not be arrogant but must associate with humble people. We should not think we are wiser than we really are.
There is always room to acquire more knowledge and wisdom.
He said we must not pay back evil for evil but focus our thoughts on what is right in the sight of all people. And as much as is possible we must live peaceably with all people.
Proverbs 20:22 advises us not to seek vengeance. We must let the Lord God avenge and deliver us.
I live by that principle, and it pays me well. I have enjoyed life peacefully and happily. God has avenged me many times and in many ways. Though He does not always do that immediately, God has never failed to avenge me.
No matter the situation, remain honest and peaceful. Remain faithful and committed to your cause. No matter how many times you fall or fail, pull yourself up and continue the journey.
Many people are not able to continue pursuing their goals to win their prizes when the going gets tough, and when the future looks gloomy and uncertain. The darkness and uncertainty make them fear and they lose the courage to proceed further.
Loneliness also contributes to scaring them. Many of your friends may lose confidence in you. They wonder if you can make it. They forsake you. Alone, you struggle to keep on. If you lose faith, you will fail.
It is not easy winning the prize. Therefore, only a few people brave the storms and odds to continue climbing the ladder of success.
Do not envy people who are successful. You don’t know how much pain and frustration they endured before they reached the top.
Don’t be angry when successful people seem not to care about your suffering. They may not be in a position to assist you at the time you came to them for help. Others might have gone to them for help, and so by the time you came to them, they may not be in a position to assist you.
Life does not smile on the poor. Life does not treat the poor with kid gloves. Life treats all of us the same. Moreover, God sends rain to both the righteous and the unrighteous and makes His sun rise for both the righteous and the unrighteous. If you do what is right you, too, will reach the top. Use any opportunity or chance available to you. And with God’s help you, too, will make it. God told Cain, “If you do what is right you, too, would be accepted.”
Many people do not reach the top of the mountain because the mountain of success is not easy to climb. It is steep and high.
Don’t be angry at successful people when they do not lend you a helping hand. Besides, it is God who gives us help. God knows who will be in the right position to offer you help when you need it.
The pain of loneliness becomes your companion when people abandon you. But remember that God is always by your side. If you call Him, He will respond.
Some loved ones may even become fed up with you and forsake you. While people are sleeping comfortably, you would be struggling alone in the darkness, trying to make your vision come true.
Life is hard… you must accept the fact and be prepared for the hard journey to success. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, “The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained in sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upwards in the night.”
Sometimes you might even wonder if you can or will succeed at all.
You will face constant rejections when you want people to understand you and empathize with you. Many will tell you bluntly that they are not interested, or that they don’t believe your vision is viable.
When doors are shut in your face, and no one is ready to receive you, you will feel despondent. The rejections and cold receptions can affect your confidence. They may shatter your faith in the vision you are cherishing to accomplish.
God told Gideon, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.” (Judges 6:14)
As you struggle to climb higher, the effort becomes increasingly difficult. But you must fight back feelings of discouragement. You must persevere. You must have the confidence that you will succeed. You have what it takes to be successful. So, do not quit! Press on! Success and prosperity take time to mature. Success starts slowly but picks up gradually. Then at a point, it increases rapidly.
You must also cultivate the habit of savings. If you don’t have capital, you must save some amount of money from your meager earnings for investment. It is not easy, but you must discipline yourself and cultivate the habit to save.
Discouragement is like water poured on sparks that you are trying to keep on. Discouragement quenches the sparks of hope in you and makes you lose the vim to pursue your aim.
Constant rejections will dissipate your confidence. You fear people will reject you when you want them to hear you or to help you. They don’t give you the chance to demonstrate what you believe so that they can then make an informed decision to reject or accept your proposal.
You hear people openly despising you. They tell you in plain words that they don’t see anything good in you.
But though people may not see anything good in you, remember that God knew you before He created you. You were created with great potential. God placed potential in you when He created you. Therefore, you are not useless.
Let the Spirit of God motivate you and actuate the ability to achieve your vision.
You are not defined by how people see you. You are not defined by how people measure you. What people may think is not necessarily what and how God estimates you.
Prepare your mind to face the challenges and move on with your vision.
And don’t forget that God created you because He had confidence in you. Even the physically challenged are reckoned by God in high esteem. Anyone that God created and allows to be part of humanity is reckoned by God to be important.
Nobody can alter your destiny. You are the only one who can do that. You can persist and fulfill your destiny or walk away from the destiny that God planned for you. If you walk away from the principles and the path that God outlined for you then you would be changing your destiny by walking away.
God does not interfere with our free will. You can decide to do what you want. God will not force you against your will. But you will bear the consequences of the choices you make. God will take responsibility to make sure you achieve your goal if your choices are in tune with God’s principles for your life.
If the Spirit of God indwells you, and you allow Him to work as He should, then miracles will happen. The Spirit of God in you will do wonderful things in your life. The Spirit of God will make possible the impossible things to happen in your life, (John 14:10, 12-16; Mark 16:17-18).
God’s Spirit indwelling you will give you the tongue of the learned and the ears of the learned (Isaiah 50:4). God shall be with your tongue and teach you what to say and how to articulate it, (Luke 12:12; Exodus 4:12; Jeremiah 1:5-10). That is, if you allow God’s Spirit access to your spirit.
The Lord God who created you planned your destiny when you were in the womb of your mother. Therefore, your destiny is not determined by people.
I am not moved by what people think. I am confident that I shall always be successful because God says so. In God I live, move, and have my being (Acts 17:28). Therefore, it is not what people say that matters. What God says about me is what matters to me.
You won’t toil in vain nor bear children doomed to misfortune. You are the blessed of the Lord God. His protection is upon you, your children, and your descendants (Isaiah 65:23).
If you remain in God, and your children and descendants remain faithful to God, then God’s protection shall abide with you, your children, and your descendants.
Moreover, when you call, God will answer. Even before you start calling, He will answer because He is all-knowing. He is aware of things that will happen before they happen, (Isaiah 65:24). But you must remain faithful to the Lord God. Because God will not condone evil.
In Christianity, we relate to God, the Creator of the world, directly. We relate to God by our spirit. We do not go through mediums, like fetish priests, mallams, soothsayers, magicians, etc. We do not perform rituals like magicians, soothsayers, fetish priests, etc. Moreover, the Old Testament rituals have been completed and done away with by the death of Jesus Christ (see Hebrews chapter 1:1-4; 7:11-12, 18-19, 22-28; 8:6-13).
Because of the work that Christ did for us, we now go directly to God. We connect to God directly through Christ Jesus by the spirit. Jesus said the Holy Spirit will be available to tell us what to say or do. He said it will be given to you at that moment what you should say (Luke 12:12; Exodus 4:12; Matthew 10:19).
In Mark 13:11 we learn that it is not we who speak. It is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God Himself. And He is the one who speaks through us when He indwells us, and if we allow Him to operate.
The individual person’s spirit is transformed by God’s Spirit. And the words that the person speaks are transformed by the Holy Spirit and energized or enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).
Isaiah 50:4 says the words that come out of your mouth are the words of the learned. God’s Spirit sanctifies the words. On the Day of Pentecost, the Spirit that filled the 120 people enabled them to speak different tongues (Acts 2:4).
The Spiritual Power Himself, the Holy Spirit, indwells the Christian. The Spirit of God is the Creative Power, the Creator, the dunamis that God the Creator pours into our spirits when He comes upon us.
Many Christians do not know that the power, the dunamis of God, is in them and that the power, the dunamis of the Holy Spirit, has made their spirit one with God’s Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17).
The Spirit of God will motivate and make your human heart and spirit love peace, have confidence, and have the spiritual ability to excel in the things you do.
The human heart is corrupt and evil. It is prone to evil. But the Spirit of God will transform your human spirit to be loving, kind, peaceful, and forgiving.
In Ezekiel 36:26 God promises to give us new hearts, new spirits within the deepest parts of our beings. So, the Spirit of God will transform our spirits. The Spirit of God will produce in us the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control, etc., (Galatians 5:22-26).
Those who want to hear strange teachings and so-called new revelations are easily deceived by charlatans and false religious people. These false religious people claim to have received special revelations. The Bible, however, tells us that the New Testament writings are the only teachings or doctrines that we need for our salvation, peace, and prosperity.
Jesus commanded the Apostles to pass on to us what He taught them (Matthew 28:20). If you study the Acts of the Apostles, you will notice that the Apostles and the disciples taught only what Jesus commanded them (Matthew 20:18-20; Acts 2:42).
Therefore, all other doctrines or so-called new revelations by people that do not agree with what the Apostles taught are fake. You don’t have to believe them, and you do not have to fear not believing them. Such new doctrines that are not compatible with the New Testament teachings handed down by the Apostles are deception.
If Jesus wanted us to practice them, He would have commanded the Apostles and His disciples to teach them.
Peter writes that prophecies are not for private interpretations. Therefore, we should disregard anyone who claims to have special or new revelations that are not included in the New Testament teachings handed down by the Apostles (2 Peter 1:20-21).
People who want to reach success quickly and easily, those who want to become rich quickly and easily, are the ones easily deceived by people.
If you study the Bible well, you will notice that all who became successful worked hard and diligently. They followed the principles of success. They did not sit idle waiting for manna to fall into their hands.
Proverbs 22:29 says the diligent will excel and become successful and prominent.
The victory road is not a smooth and easy one. Climbing the ladder of success is not easy. But faith in God, believing in yourself, and working diligently, will take you to the top.