If you are a Christian, God wants you to become successful and prosperous.  He will provide adequate direction and purpose in order to meet your needs.  You may not want to take the time or the discipline necessary to become outstanding.  In fact, fear can be your greatest deterrent.  Most are unwilling to put forth the discipline or the effort and are willing to accept being less than average.  Many teens drop out of high school and never get an adequate education.  Do you think this pleases God unless done for emergency reasons?

Having spent over 30 years in management and supervising thousands of people over time, I looked for the same qualification in promoting those into management positions.  It was their character, their work ethic, discipline, reliability, attitude, confidence, pride in their work and their relationship with other people.  One of the greatest assets was their willingness to prepare for whatever was required.

Genesis 1:28 – “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  God provided everything they could ever want or need in the Garden.

Deuteronomy 8:18a – “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power (ability, talents, faith)* to get wealth,…” *(added)  The ability to obtain it.  It is not given as a gift.

Psalm 35:27b – ““Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”  God is pleased at our success.  Have a repentant heart, be humble, obedient and let Him bless you.

Knowing we were born and God had a plan for each one of us, we can accept or reject that plan!  We all know that our body’s carnal and self-centered nature in most, reject God and His plan at least for a time if not forever.  It is up to our soul and spirit if we want to accept God and what He has planned for us.  If we receive Christ as our Savior this requires a commitment and obedience to God’s ways.  Once we believe, we must prepare for temptations and trials that will come.  Probably the stronger our will and the more self-control we have, our testing may be greater.  We must know God’s general Will for believers who have become Christians before we get to His plan.  You can’t live by God’s ways if you don’t know what He requires.  This is why preparation is so important and so many fail to study.

We must emphasize the importance of developing a personal relationship with Christ and praying that God would reveal to each of us His purpose in life.  Many believers lack a passion for pleasing God.  They want to live their way and too often that is not pleasing to God.  Or, they have a passion to please and serve God but have not developed enough trust in God to believe He has a plan for their success and prosperity.  Therefore, they either do not recognize or ignore the Holy Spirit’s guidance and checking.

If we have the mind-set that no matter what happens in our lives it is God’s directing His plan and He is allowing what happens for a particular purpose; could we then handle adversities, temptations and trials more positively?  As we approach living, realizing that God has a suggested plan for us, then shouldn’t we be aware that He also wants us to succeed with the help of His Spirit, if we pay attention?

Even though we are all made differently; some were created with certain abilities, some handicapped and most of us average.  Each was given a purpose and a mission based on what God had in mind for us.  God didn’t say let’s create another human today and watch them fail.  He had the knowledge and ability to put the universe together; and He knew everyone of us prior to our birth. Then can’t He give each one of us a plan for our lives with the abilities to be prosperous and successful?

I wonder if some Christian’s problems are a lack of trust or self-confidence because they never study or accept how Scripture applies to them.   A Christian’s self-confidence comes from our relationship with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.  If you lack confidence do you need to become more spiritually mature?  Do you need to spend more time in Bible study and prayer?  Pray that God challenges you to do something for Him that you feel incapable of doing.  Then do it and see if He doesn’t give you the ability and willingness to accomplish His task.  Do this a few times and you will realize that confidence can come from God.   Then apply that confidence to other projects.  Think positively, tell yourself positive thoughts and you will become positive!  Allow the Holy Spirit to make you into a new confident and successful person as God intended and the Bible assures.