Today we continue our series entitled, “Pursuing Grace-Based Success!”
Here are our foundational scriptures:
(Ephesians 2:8-10 ERV)
8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.
9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about.
10 God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.
(1 Corinthians 1:30,31 NLT)
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”
(2 Timothy 1:9 NKJV)
Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
For the last few days we have also been looking at this verse:
(3 John 2, AMP)
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.”
Yesterday we started to walk through the passage I provided for you from Ecclesiastes 5. I told you that it would take several days to get through this passage, so we will go back to it this morning. King Solomon, a man who had access to both divine wealth and divine wisdom, said this about wealth, health and life:
“Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past” (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 NLT).
So what does this mean to you today? Yesterday I shared a few things about accepting your lot in life. I will flow in this vein again today.
1. You were born for a reason. More specifically, you were created by a divine Creator for a reason. That reason is the divine purpose Your Creator had in His mind when He sent you to this planet. If that is true (and it is), then you will never find true success in life until you discover, accept, develop, and deploy into your purpose, with the full intent of accomplishing it BEFORE YOU DIE! Your life cannot be about YOU! Your life must be about the God who created you!
2. I know some people believe they can CREATE their own destiny as if they can DECIDE what their purpose should be. I don’t believe this to be true. I believe that your divine purpose cannot be DECIDED BY YOU because God DECIDED FOR YOU before the world began. I believe there is lots of Biblical evidence for this position.
3. True success can only be realized when your FIND, FOLLOW, and FINISH your divine assignment. Said another way, the only way to be successful in life is by discovering what God sent you to this planet to do and then DOING IT while you are in the land of the living. You only get one life. So please don’t waste it on selfish pursuits. Said another way, you must accept your lot in life!
4. Running from your calling will not change your assignment. All you are doing is delaying the inevitable. If you want to live a life pleasing in God’s sight, there will come a day when you get tired of running. When you do, your calling will still be waiting on you! This is a good place to point out the fact that you cannot disqualify yourself from your assignment because you never qualified in the first place. The Bible says, “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29). You can run, you can try to hide, and you can delay it, but the whole time, your calling will be calling you!
5. Jeremiah thought he was too young for his assignment (to be a prophet), but God promised to put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth. Jeremiah simply needed to provide the mouth, and God would fill it with words. Like Jeremiah, God will manifest provision for His vision for your life. But like Jeremiah, you must accept God’s assignment, your “lot in life,” to become successful. If Jeremiah had run from his calling to be a prophet and had tried to be successful doing something else, he would have wasted his life and frustrated the grace of God because you cannot be a success outside of your purpose.
6. Gideon saw himself as the weakest man from the weakest clan in all of Israel. God called him a champion, but he saw himself as a coward. Gideon had to accept his assignment, his “lot in life,” to become successful. Once he did, God helped convert him into the champion God called him to be. Gideon, a man who was once a scared farmer, was transformed into a mighty man of valor. He led 300 men to victory against over 135,000 men. Why? Because it was his destiny. It was his “lot in life.” It was his purpose, and God was with him. As God was with Gideon, He shall be with you when you start walking in your divine assignment. Nothing shall be impossible to you!
7. While the Apostle Paul was known as Saul of Tarsus, he was on the opposite side of God’s best for his life. He was sincere but sincerely wrong. God revealed Himself to Saul and talked to him about his divine purpose. Saul had to accept his assignment, his “lot in life,” in order to find true success. God converted him from Saul of Tarsus to the Apostle Paul, and he went on to make the greatest impact in the first-century church. Paul’s ministry is still changing lives today, over 2,000 years later, because Paul accepted his lot in life. When you accept your lot in life and you stop trying to be someone else, the impact God can make through you will outlive you! You will leave a legacy of righteousness, all because you accepted your lot in life!
8. God approached a young girl (Mary) who was engaged to be married and revealed to her that she had a divine assignment. She had been selected, completely by God’s unearned grace, to be the mother of Jesus. Mary had to accept her assignment, her “lot in life.” and she fulfilled her purpose. Like Mary, you will need to understand faith and grace. The grace part is that Mary did nothing to earn the assignment. She was selected by God. She was chosen, just like you have been chosen. And like Mary, you will require faith. Mary had to believe what God believed about her. Her lot in life was a human impossibility. But she believed it. When she did, the humanly impossible became possible for her. Will you accept your lot in life, no matter how impossible it seems?
9. God delivered the nation of Israel from Egypt, and He offered them the Promised Land, Canaan. This was a land flowing with milk and honey. But the nation of Israel believed the 10 doubting spies instead of the two believing ones. They wound up putting a “NO” where God had already put a “YES.” They failed to accept their assignment, their “lot in life,” and millions died in the wilderness because of it. Millions of people missed out on God’s best because they failed to receive their lot in life.
10. The Rich Young Ruler received a great offer from Jesus. He is the only man documented in scripture that Jesus said, “Follow me” to, who turned down the offer. Jesus was offering this man a position as one of His disciples, but the man refused and walked away sad. There is no telling what would have happened had he accepted the offer. He missed out on God’s best because he refused to accept his lot in life. Don’t do as he did. Accept God’s assignment for your life and walk out your divine purpose, no matter how much it costs you. Take it from me; you will be glad you did because God will never be in debt to you. Whatever you give up for God will become a SEED, and God will see to it that you receive a harvest on every SEED sown!
That’s enough for today. It’s sufficient to say that I urge you to accept your lot in life!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me about grace-based success.
I will no longer fight against Your divine assignment. I accept and submit to Your plans and purposes.
I die to self. I pick up my cross and follow You daily. I submit and surrender. I humble myself before You, and I humbly accept what You have birthed me to do. As I do, I know I will have free and unfiltered access to Your grace to succeed.
I purposely align myself with what You have assigned me to do. As I do, You bless the work of my hands because my work IS Your work! My life is ALL ABOUT YOU!
So Father, here I am. You know what I am and what I am not. You know my strengths and also my weaknesses. You know my faults, flaws, and failures, and You called me anyway. I accept my lot in life! I say YES to Your will, and I pursue success Your way. This is how I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
