Day 8
Joshua 1:8 NIV
"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful"
Some people think meditating upon God's Word brings success. It can bring success, but only indirectly. Joshua was not told to meditate God's Word to be successful. He was told to meditate it in order to do what was written in it. In other words, he was to have a heart for obedience to God. It was his obedience to God that would make him prosperous and successful. So, meditation plays a part, but motives must be right.
When the success and prosperity God provided for His people began to be widely proclaimed, it came to people who were already committed to being obedient. God wanted His dedicated people, upon whom He would depend to get the gospel to the ends of the earth, to possess the prosperity that was theirs, so His will could be done on the earth. Also, like any father that loves his family, God enjoys blessing His children.
When people who were not committed and had not surrendered their lives began to hear about God's prosperity, they got on the band wagon only for the benefits. Like Simon, the sorcerer, they had wrong motives and wanted the blessings without surrendering their lives to the blesser.
As a result of seeing much abuse, the honest children of God turned away from His message of success for fear of being lumped together with the greedy and carnal Christians. We must be careful not to allow Satan to discourage us from receiving what God has pro vided for us. He can show us bad examples and cause us not to.see what God wants us to see.
When we are doers of the Word, success and prosperity come to us. If we don't know this and claim it, then whatever God sends our way to glorify Him, to further His Kingdom, can slip through our fingers and be wasted by the ungodly. We must keep a clean heart and possess the land in the name of Jesus.
Prosperity includes having more than enough, so we can always be a blessing. It means accomplishing things that not only help us, but others as well.
Success is doing what God wants us to do on a continual basis and doing it well, as He helps us. It is accomplishing God-given goals continually. Success is not a destination. It is a journey.
Let us meditate God's Word so that it becomes a part of us so strongly, that it dictates how we live. Then, when prosperity and success come to us, let us gratefully accept it and use it to glorify Our Lord. If the enemy attempts to steal what is ours, remember that we have authority over him and resist him, in Jesus' name. God says the earth is His, and He has given it to us. If there is an enemy, then what belongs to us will not come by passiveness. Sometimes we must aggressively take it, as Joshua and the Israelites did. So, meditate, do, and possess.
I will meditate God's Word to do be a doer of it,and I will be prosperous and successful.