Central Thought: “Carefully following the word of God is the definite step towards success in life”

Today's Scripture: 1 Chr. 22:13, “Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the LORD gave Moses for Israel . Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

Dear brother and sisters,

Loving greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today let us see about the road map, which will definitely lead us all to a successful life. Here the bible gives us clear principles, which will definitely help us to get success in life. Let us happily follow these biblical principles and succeed in our life: 1. Carefully observe all the commandments of God. 2. Be strong and be courageous. 3. Do not fear 4. Do not be discouraged.

• Carefully observe all the commandments of God .

God will definitely give us great success in life as we carefully observe all the commandments given by the Lord. We must see the steps to have success in life as in Joshua 1:8:

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, - [our lord Jesus Christ after the forty days of fast won the devil through the word of God.]
But you shall meditate in it day and night, - [Any one who spends his time with the word of God and meditate them will have success in life. The psalmist says, “Whatever he may do surely he will prosper.” (Psalm 1:2 & 3.)]

You may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

2. Be strong and be courageous.

• Be strong : first of all, we must be strong in our faith on God to have success in life (the meaning is we must have a steady, unwavering, single minded spiritual life.) If we are wavering or weak in our faith because of having double mind, as a result we will be unstable in all our activities. So, we cannot have an access to success. (James 1:8) that is why here the King David before his death advised his son to be strong like a man (1 Ki 2:2). Moses the man of God advised to his successor Joshua that he must be strong and courageous for God to have success in conquering the land for the children of God. (Deu 31:6) God also commanded the same to Joshua that he must be strong and courageous since He is with him. (Deu. 31:23)

• Be courageous : How to be courageous? Pray to the lord of the Harvest. As the early church believers, when they had gone through the persecutions, prayed to the lord through the Holy Spirit, as in Acts 4:29-31. Let us also pray that God may strengthen us through the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul asking his believers to pray for him to speak the word of God with boldness as in Eph.6: 19 & 20. When we receive the Holy Spirit he will empower us to do the work of God courageously.

• Do Not Be Afraid:

The bible says God has not given us the spirit of fear (2 Tim.1: 7). The bible says about three hundred and sixty six times “do not fear”. Perhaps we can take one for each day. We understand from this verse some important facts about fear.

The fear is a spirit and it comes to us in this life to ruin us in Hell. (Rev.21:8)
God is not giving to his children such type of spirit,
It means surely this spirit of fear is from Satan so we have to resist the devil to come out of this.

The Bible says only by resisting the devil, we can make him to flee from us. So whenever we get this type of fear in our mind we have to resist him by the blood of Jesus. We should pronounce victory in the name of Jesus then he will flee from us.

4 . Do not be discouraged :

When fear comes, the next weapon Satan uses over us is the spirit of discouragement. One of the powerful weapons Satan uses for the believers who like to do the ministry in the last days is this. Through the spirit of discouragement & self-pity in our lives he will drag us steadily away from God if we fail to over come him through the word of God. That is why Apostle Paul says we should be aware of Satan's strategies.

Friends, Do not be afraid or discouraged. God gives us the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. May God bless you richly with this bible study today. Amen.

What can we learn from this story?

God will give each and every one a real success in life as we spend time with the word of God and follow them very carefully in our lives. Let us not allow Satan to deceive us through the spirit of fear and discouragement.

Devotional Prayer: Dear Lord help each one of us to fear you and obey your words carefully so that we can climb on this ladder of success in our lives. Remove the spirit of fear and give us the boldness through the Holy Spirit. Make us strong and courageous in Jesus name we ask. Amen

For Further Bible Study

(Mat 1:20 NIV) But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

(Mat 2:22 NIV) But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,

(Mat 8:26 NIV) He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

(Mat 10:26 NIV) "So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.

(Mat 10:28 NIV) Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

(Mat 10:31 NIV) So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

(Mat 14:5 NIV) Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet.

(Mat 14:27 NIV) But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

(Mat 14:30 NIV) But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

(Mat 17:7 NIV) But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid."

(Mat 21:26 NIV) But if we say, 'From men'--we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet."

(Mat 21:46 NIV) They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

(Mat 25:25 NIV) So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

(Mat 28:4 NIV) The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

(Mat 28:5 NIV) The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

Yours in the kingdom of God’s service,
Rev. Dr. T. Marcus Devasahayam.