Don't Be Fooled By Your Earthly Success

People often wonder why the sinful seem to prosper than Christians. As a child of God you are struggling, whatever you do does not seem to be coming up alright. When you look the next person who does not even know the door to a church building he or she is making it big. That often distresses the children of God. Why non-believers seem to be successful?

This is the same question that bothered David at some point. He said, “When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me – until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end. Surely you set them in slippery places, you cast them to destruction,” (Psalm 73:16-18).

David could not find an answer until he went into the presence of the Lord. When he finally got hold of this secret his mood changed for the better and committed himself to draw near to God. The fellowship with God gave him the joy, knowing that God will hold his hand and guide him through.

The enemy has blinded people of the world to think that they are succeeding because of their efforts and there ‘aint nothing stopping them’ to take on the world. They will never see that they are headed for destruction because they are walking in darkness.

The good news is that Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God is life. God so loved the world that He sacrificed His son to save us from destruction. “But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:8).

Jesus declared Himself as the light of the world (John 8:12) and whoever will follow Him shall not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Later in his life John writes, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all,” (1 John 1:5).

We cannot continue to walk in darkness and claim we are also in fellowship with God. To walk in darkness simply means living a sinful life. We have a commandment from God to repent from our sins. It is true that we have a sinful nature as human beings, which is the work of the devil but Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. 

It is impossible to have fellowship with God whilst you are still in darkness and thus it is impossible to have fullness of joy whilst you are still walking in darkness. The challenge is that the things that pertains to God are spiritual and without the Spirit of God you cannot fully grasp them. 

You have to accept Christ as your Saviour and by the grace of God, through your faith you will be saved. You have to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord.  Don’t be fooled by your earthly success, it is worth nothing without Jesus! Join us next week as we get to understand the goodness of 'Living in Christ'. 

Sin Robs Us of Our Joy

Last week we talked about joy being found in the presence of the Lord. If we want to be in fellowship with our God it is imperative to consider what can separate us from Him. There is only one thing that causes a wall of separation between us and Him – sin. The wise king Solomon – writing in his late years reflecting on his own life – says, “Truly, this only I have found; that God made man upright. But they have sought out many schemes,” (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

Sin blinds our spiritual eyes and thus we are in darkness. Therefore it renders us handicap because we are not in a position to see things of the kingdom of God. We are in fact not partakers of the kingdom of God. We have nothing to do with the kingdom of heaven. We belong to the world.

If we do not belong to the kingdom of God it only means that we belong to the kingdom of the devil, who is the god of this world. Darkness rules in this kingdom. In darkness you cannot see where you are going and you are bound to trip over now and then because you cannot see where you are going.

It marvels me when I hear people who are obviously still living in the world claiming to be worshipping God in their own way. It is common for people to remember to pray to God when they encounter challenges in life and hope that He will hear their prayers.

For a long time in my life I was also caught up in this web. With a very strong Christian background I had the idea that I can pray and God will hear me. Before I surrendered my life to Christ I went through a stage when I desired to be in fellowship with God. I bought my first Bible (I only owned a Bible as a textbook in high school). I spent time trying to pray and read the Bible even though I had not repented from my sins.

I was only fooling myself. God does not hear the prayers of a sinner. In fact, when we are still living in sin we are alienated from God. This means that we are foreigners in His kingdom. There is no communication between us and the things of the Kingdom of God. Trying to talk to God as a sinner is more like trying to speak English to a Portuguese speaking person. He does not understand your language and you do not understand his language. A sinner cannot comprehend the spiritual things because Jesus says, “…the words that I speak to you  are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)

The sad news is that sin leads to death. First and foremost we need to understand that we were all created by God. The devil has never created anything. However he uses God’s creation as instruments of his wickedness. He makes one a slave for sin. He does not care what impact it makes on the person he is using. He is not interested in his or her wellbeing. Instead he thrives on destruction.

However, this the good news; Jesus has come to give us abundant life (John 10:10). He has come to usher us into the presence of God where there is everlasting joy. He has come to help us overcome a life of sin, which robs us of our joy.  In Him there is forgiveness of sins. Believe in Jesus and be saved!

Joy In the Presence of the Lord

King David says, “In Your presence there is fullness of joy,” (Psalm 16:11). This tells us that to enjoy life we have to live in the presence of the Lord. We have to realize that we have an amazing Father-son relationship with God. Therefore we should not be afraid to utilize that special privilege we attained through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have to be in constant fellowship with Him and we will realize the fullness of joy that David experienced when he wrote the psalm.

I have observed with appreciation the words of aging men in the Bible. In most cases they speak experience, maturity and authority. In his old days David stated that he had not seen one who belongs to God forsaken. Here is a man who had lived his life in perpetual danger of being killed - at some point he  had to be on the run because his own son wanted to kill him – declaring victory.

Although he was continuously troubled David always rejoiced in the Lord. He had unspeakable joy that made him long for the Lord even in times of trouble. At some point he was in the wilderness running away from Saul, obviously hungry, thirsty and tired. But take note of his words (Psalm 63:1-5), disregarding his circumstances;

“O GOD, You are my God

Early will I seek You;

My soul thirst for You;

My flesh longs for You

In a dry and thirsty land

Where there is no water.

So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life

My lips shall praise You.

Thus I will bless You while I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.”

No wonder when he was advanced in years he testified that he had not seen a man belonging to God being forsaken. He lived his life in the presence of the Lord and experienced the fullness of joy.  When he was supposed to be thinking of his safety and well-being, he longed to fellowship with His God. That is one man God endorsed as to be after His heart.

Another old man who knew living in the presence of the Lord is Joshua. When he was old and about to die, he called the people of Israel to deliver his farewell speech. He instructed them to hold fast (cleave) to the Lord.  He said, “Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and all your souls that not one thing has failed of all good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed,” (Joshua 23:14).

Our God is a faithful God. When we cling to Him we will not fail. No matter what we are going through at that particular moment, it is all complete in the presence of the Lord. When we are in constant communion with the Lord we shall not be afraid because we know that He will be with us. This therefore means that we are not bothered by what is happening but we have an everlasting joy knowing that we are more than conquerors. 

Pursue Joy

It is human nature to be in pursuit of happiness but it is divine nature to pursue joy. We are living in a world that is always chasing after happiness but on the contrary there is much misery and disappointment in the world. People are not at peace. Their minds and hearts are increasingly troubled. There is no happiness in the world unfortunately.

Should we be pursuing happiness in the first place? There is a danger there because happiness is dependent on what is happening around. Happiness is defined as an agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind.

When you get that monthly pay slip you feel happy. When someone says you have won the game you are happy. It is dependent on what is happening at the moment. It is temporary and in the absence of what will trigger that kind of excitement you drown in the pool of anxiety. Stress levels rocket sky high as the situation persists. Happiness is not sustainable and it is not sustaining.

Instead of happiness we are better pursuing joy. This refers to gladness (joyful satisfaction) or the state of being pleased. Joy is more than just happiness because it has to do with being content. Responding to the generosity of the Philippians whilst he was in prison, Paul says, “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I learned in whatever state I am, to be content;” (Philippians 4:10 – 11).

Whilst Paul was happy that the Philippians had sent him a gift, his joy was in the fact that finally the Philippians had their desire to show love fulfilled. Note that Paul said “I rejoiced in the Lord…” This is in line to what he encourages the Philippians to do, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say it, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4).

As believers we ought to rejoice always. After all we belong to the Kingdom of God which is described as righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The big difference is that happiness is the condition of the soul (mind) arising from happening of any kind and joy is an exhilaration of the spirit and comes from the Lord . Happiness is temporary and joy is eternal.