If I were to ask how many of you would like to be successful, I would be surprised if there was one who would decline the opportunity and live life in failure. We all want to experience success in its varying degrees. Success comes at the end of a great struggle. Success is only success because it relates to the struggle, it is the reward God gives to the diligent who, through perseverance obtain the promise. There is no way to receive what God has for your life without fighting the obstacles and challenges that block your way to conquest. In fact, people who procrastinate do so because they are desperately trying to find a way to reach their goals without going through the struggle.
When you have accomplished a goal, it leads you to another rung in the ladder of life. And as you advance, it becomes increasingly difficult to be successful without finding other people who will be offended by your success, they are offended by what God has done in your life, "Cain’s children" for like their father Cain, they will murder you because you have God’s favor. They will not rejoice when you rejoice, they cannot be glad for they believe your success came at their expense, for they foolishly believe you have obtained the blessing God had for them. And there is no diplomacy that can calm a jealous heart. They don’t want to pay the price you have paid, but they want to have what you have gained.
In Genesis 4:6-7, it reads, "And the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it."
I want to touch on this as I speak about blessings, because I have become amazed at the relationships that are lost as people travel upward. When people are in the days of small beginnings, they are found acceptable, but as they accelerate into new dimensions, cynicism eats at the fibers of their conversations. Cain’s children will invite you into their field to destroy you. Your enemy will not wound you because you are too far away, in order to be a good Judas, he must be at the table with the victim of his betrayal.
Capture this picture with me. Here Jesus is at the heighth of His career, sitting at the table with John the beloved on one side, and Judas the betrayer on the other. The problem is discerning which is which. One of them is close enough to lay his head on your breast, and the other with enough access to betray you with a kiss. Both intimate, one is lethal. And in the midst of success, you must depend on the Lord to keep whatever he has committed into your hands there to accomplish its purpose. Keep your affections on the Giver not on the gift.
God wants to bless you, but understand, the more you have or own, the more you are responsible for it. People who have no car have no need for gas. To be honest, being blessed is hard work. Everything God gives you requires maintenance. God gave man the garden, but he still had to work it. There is a down side to every blessing, that is why Jesus said in Luke 14:28-30, "No man builds without counting the cost." You must ask yourself if you are willing to pay the price to get the blessing. Another question people seldom ask themselves is whether they are willing to endure the criticism and the ridicule that comes with success. Just ask Bill Gates.
With these things in mind, I have probably weeded out half the people who say they want something from God. I have weeded out the women who say they want a husband and children but don’t want to cook, care or clean. I have weeded out all the men who say they want a wife but don’t want to love, provide and nourish. Most people are in love with the image of success, but haven’t contemplated the reality of possessing the blessing. It is a good thing God doesn’t give us everything we ask for because we want some things simply because they look good in someone else’s life. The truth is, we are not ready for those things and it would probably kill us to receive what we are not prepared to maintain.
Matthew 25:23 states His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few good things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord"
I know everyone would like to be blessed, so lets exercise the idea of your ability to receive a blessing. God starts His children out with what they have, you have a few good things as the Scripture states. With this, you must have inner growth in your ability to withstand the struggles that come with the things you already have. If you really want to pursue your dreams, there is a place in God where you build up your immunity to the adversity that will come with your success.
If you are always weeping over rejection and misunderstanding, if you are always upset over who doesn’t accept you into their circle anymore, then you may be suffering from an immunity deficiency syndrome. We waste precious communion when we ask God to change the minds of people, in order to survive the stresses of success, we must build up an immunity to those things that won’t change, we need to ask God to change us until it doesn’t hurt anymore. We need to become like David who said in Psalm 27:5, For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up on a rock.
This is the place where we find solace in God from the bombardment of criticism of cynical people and the pressures to perform. Here we build maturity which is a sweet relief for the person who hasn’t yet learned how to survive the blessings God has given them. It may sound strange, but many people do not survive their own success. Many people lose their identity in the excitement of the moment, and when that has left, they have lost sight of the more important issues of self, home and family.
How much do you want to be blessed? How strong is your desire for accomplishment in your life? It takes more than day-dreaming. It take floor-walking, devil stomping, anointed tenacity to overcome the limitations that are always surrounding what you want to do for God, yourself, and your family. And if you do not have a sufficient passion for it, then you will never overcome the limitations and satanic restrictions. Power emerges from the heart of a man and a woman who are relentlessly driven toward a goal. Desire is kindled in the furnace of an unfulfilled need. It is a need that refuses to be placated and a need that will not be silent. Where there is no desire, there is no passion. Where there is no passion, there is no potency.
Desire gives you to drive to produce. Many people who set out to accomplish goals are so easily discouraged or intimidated by their our anxieties that they relinquish their right to fight for their dreams. But if you have a tenacious burning desire in the pit of your stomach, you become very difficult to discourage.
If the cold winds of opposition have banked the fire and your dream is dying down, I challenge you to rekindle your desire to achieve whatever God has called you to do. Don’t lose your fire, you need the continued spark of excellence to overcome all the blight of being ostracized.
You see, fire manifests itself in two ways. First it gives light. Whenever you maintain your fire, it produces the light of optimism against the blackness of crises and critics alike. If you maintain that fire like attitude, you will find a way to survive the struggle. A man never dies with a twinkle in his eyes.
The second thing fire does is it gives heat. Heat can’t be seen, but it can be felt. When you burn with the passion to survive, the heat can be felt. Invisible but effective, your intensity is always detected in your speech and attitude.
And we must remember this, fire needs fuel, so we must feed the fire. We feed it with words of people who motivate us. With feed the fire with vision and purpose. When stress comes our way, we need to fan the flames, to gather wood, to pour gasoline on the fire if we need, but we cannot let the passion, the dreams, the vision of God die inside us.
Sometimes when we see someone else blessed, that increases our desire to receive the blessing from God. Last week I spoke on Hannah in First Samuel chapter 1 who wanted a child but was unable to bear. She was the wife of Elkanah who was also married to Peninnah who was able to bear children. The more she saw Peninnah have children, the more Hannah wanted a child, so she prayed. It wasn’t a jealous prayer to stop Peninnah from being blessed, she just wanted her own blessing.
Church, if seeing other people being blessed make you want to sabotage their success, then you will not be fruitful. We need to rejoice over the blessings of our bothers and sisters and realize the same God who has blessed them can bless me too. Other people’s blessings should challenge you to see that it can be done.
We cannot base our success on what someone else is doing, we need to find out what God has given to us then work it, and work it, and work it. We are not to worship our talents, but our purpose in Christ.
Luke 12:48 states, For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more
There are no if’s, ands or buts about it, the greater the blessing, the more the responsibility. It is expensive to be blessed. Many people are drawn toward their destiny with such a force and an attraction that regardless of what it takes, whatever they may have to readjust, or whatever they must discipline, they simply move forward to respond to life’s challenge, moving more aggressively toward purpose.
I am not afraid of dying, I am not afraid of leaving as much as I am afraid of having never lived. What terrifies me is the thought that I would stand beside life like a miser who longs for a certain thing but is too crippled by his own incessant fear of the price to buy it.
Distance runners make long, steady strides and their emphasis is on endurance, not speed. They take their laps and stretch their limitations, giving themselves over to committing their strength to a goal. Perspiration leaps out of their pores. The salty taste of exertion is in their mouths. Turning corners with agility, running shoes banging the pavement, heads high, backs straight--they are in pursuit of a goal. As they reach the finish line, there is a final burst of energy that kicks in like the final cylinders in an engine. It is the last lap; there are no excuses; it is now of never. They go for broke!
At least once, before they roll you in on a slab and put a name tag on your cold stiff toe, you owe it to God and to yourself to experience in some area of your life the last lap feeling of giving your all.
But I want to warn you, it hurts to push yourself. It is not easy to get up early every morning while others are sleeping to prepare for the challenge. Like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, it is difficult to find someone who will stand with you whole you are in preparation, but there can be no celebration without preparation.
As I close I want to make a few observations to you. The first is this, huge stress comes with success in any area. Before you ask for the house, be sure you have counted the cost. If after you have calculated the rejection, controversy, criticism and isolation, you still want it, then realize you cannot stand the pain of a cross unless you have before you something more important than the pain you endure in the process.
For many of us, there is no option. We must go to the pinnacle of our own purpose, stand on the top of the mountain, and catch a glimpse of the other side. We are climbing up the mountain with tears in our eyes and dirt in our fingernails. In spite of the bruises, cuts, and scrapes, there is a racing pulse and a pounding heart that exists in the chests of someone who has made up his mind, "I will go!"
The question is universal, but the answer is totally individual. Can you stand to be blessed. If your answer is yes, then I want to tell you, this only way to be blessed is to stand! When you can’t seem to put one foot in front of the other, stand. When says come that challenge your destiny, stand. Realize, there has never been a day that lasted forever. You can’t afford to crumple to the ground like a weak, whimpering lily blown over by a windstorm. Bite your lip, taste your tears, but stand on what God showed you in the night until it can happen in the light.
Who will stand and be blessed?
ALTER
