I was told by a friend yesterday that I am successful at anything I put my mind to do. She knows how to compliment very well, in my mind, yet I learned that her remarks are the result of her disciplining sharp sarcasm into kindness. Her statement nevertheless had a positive impact, which, I suppose, she intended.<\/p>\n

Generally, it seems that we naturally veer to whatever the ultimate vision is lying in our hearts. All that must be done to get there we will do in order to achieve that goal, no matter what it takes. If you want to write a novel and make it for its intended audience and the best it can be, and you want this with all your heart, then you probably don’t need to fear for it not happening eventually, after much hard work.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, if God doesn’t want us to go in a certain direction, He will bar the way. Likewise, if Satan doesn’t want us to go a certain way that God wants, he will also bar our steps. How do you tell which is which? Well, are you satisfied in God? Is He your fulfillment, even of your soul? That’s where true desire to glorify God comes from, and true success in life is achieved. And real success doesn’t always look like success.<\/p>\n

In 2 Samuel 21, the Gibeonites living in the land of Israel had been persecuted and threatened with elimination by some neighboring Israelites. They deserved justice. David gave what they asked for, seven innocent men of Israel to be hanged for the Gibeonite blood shed by Israel. One of them at least was the grandson of an elderly man who had just entrusted David with his sons. Yet Israel had made a covenant with the Gibeonites in Joshua’s time to let them live, so justice had to be done.<\/p>\n

Right afterwards, David takes a census of the people of Israel. What happened next? God gave David three choices: seven years of famine, three months of running from enemies, or three days of pestilence in the land. Now what was wrong with taking a census? 2 Samuel 24 begins saying that it was God who was angry with Israel, and “incited David against them.” In 1 Chronicles 21, it says Satan caused David to sin. Why it was wrong: David put stock in his success by how many people he had in his kingdom, rather than in God to bring about the forces that he would need.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry about your numbers or how great or small you are. God will accomplish His work, no matter what we do wrong or right. As the late Dr. Robert Cook would say, “Walk with the King today, and be a blessing!”<\/p>\n

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I was told by a friend yesterday that I am successful at anything I put my mind to do. She knows how to compliment very well, in my mind, yet I learned that her remarks are the result of her disciplining sharp sarcasm into kindness. Her statement nevertheless had a positive impact, which, I suppose, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[54,70,130,142,187,213],"class_list":["post-1369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-writing","tag-bible","tag-christian","tag-inspiration","tag-motivation","tag-success","tag-writing","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\n