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Above All, Seek Wisdom
Joshua said, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success" (Josh. 1:8).

Another translation reads, "And then shalt thou be able to deal wisely with the affairs of life."

How can you be a success if you can't deal wisely with the issues of life? The thing most lacking among all the faith and charismatic people - and church people in general - is wisdom.

As a pastor friend said, "It's the easiest thing in the world to be involved with the Spirit, but the crux of the matter is in having the wisdom to know how to operate in the gifts."

People operate the gifts unwisely because they have not built up their spirit; they lack knowledge.

Wisdom is necessary in all areas of life; even in the business world. If wisdom abounds, you will operate your business wisely. If you don't have any wisdom, you'll operate the business unwisely and it will fail.

If your first store is barely making it, do you go out and open three more? That would be unwise, wouldn't it? You need capital to carry the new stores until they get going.

But for some reason or other, people who get into spiritual things launch out without using any intelligence, saying, "Well, God will take care of me." Then they get so busy they dry up spiritually. They run out of anything to give out.

I'm not advocating not being busy for God, but I am advocating not running all over the place trying to be involved in too many things. Settle down into one church and get involved there; don't run all over the country.

Success is not measured by anybody else in the congregation. Success is not measured by your peers or by any other church. God once told me, "You're successful if you're doing what I told you to do, whether you've got 3 or 3,000 people in your church. If you're doing what I told you to do, then you're successful."

If you're doing what God told you to do, whether it's working with children, teaching a class, taking the offering, or otherwise helping in the church, then you are successful - no matter what friends, relatives, or neighbors say.

Cooperate With God
The second step in being successful has to do with financial prosperity: Practice the Word.

A few years ago I was talking with my dad and I said, "All I have are the clothes on my back, our furniture, and one car. That's all the worldly goods I have - and I've got a family. I'm prospering, all right, but I want to build up something for my family. I've been claiming some things."

Dad said, "Well, here's your problem. It's the problem a lot of people have. They're always talking about prosperity, but they've never put their hand to anything."

I realized what he was talking about.

He said, "Son, you've got to get out and start doing something. You've got to do something for the Lord to prosper you."

I began to look for an area I could get involved in to prosper. I saved up a small amount of money and got involved in a real estate investment. I began to talk to it and pray about it. I said, "All right, I'm putting my hand to something. Now, Lord, I expect You to prosper it."

To God be the glory, in one year's time, my financial statement showed an enormous return on that small investment. I'm telling you, the way to be prosperous is to put your hand to something, but don't be stupid when you do it.

You see, you've got to have enough wisdom to know how to spend your money after you get it. And you've got to realize something else: The money that comes to you is God's money. You're the steward of it, so learn how to spend it correctly. Yes, God wants you to have the best, but He also wants you to learn to deal wisely. This is one of the most important aspects of being successful.

Another important point to consider is that God's Word does not change. It's the same today as it was yesterday. It will be the same tomorrow as it is today. It never changes.

Because God's Word never changes, we must practice the Word - meditate in the Word. Meditating in the Word is easy. Putting what you've learned into practice is a different story!

James says to do the Word. James says, "shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works" (James 2:18).

If you're going to have faith, it's got to have some legs, some arms, some muscle. You've got to do something; you can't just sit around.

A lot of people sit around, hollering that they want this, that, and the other, but they're not doing anything. They say, "I'm believing God for finances," but when the offering plate comes around, they turn up their nose and don't give.

Brother Hagin has told our students many times, "A lot of you come here to RHEMA and think you are going to live by faith while you go to school, yet you're not doing anything that He can bless for you to live by faith."

When a man enters the fivefold ministry and he's out every day ministering, doing what God's told him to do, God has something to work with to bless him.

Practice The Word
I'm tired of people who are sitting around doing nothing, getting spiritually fat and lazy until they become stagnant, sleeping on the church pew, hollering "Amen" every so often.

We have come to the place where people won't listen to anything except what their ears want to hear - and all they want to hear is faith. They don't want to hear anything about judgment, right living, the Second Coming, or other things in the Word of God. All they want to hear about is faith so they can live on some kind of an excited high that is false.

There are many people talking about faith who don't know what they're talking about, because they've never experienced it. They're mouthing words they heard somebody else say.

They'll hear somebody give a good testimony about how God gave them a new house, so they'll immediately say, "Oh, I confess one for me, too."

They're starting out wrong. They're basing their confession on somebody's testimony, not on the Word of God, so it isn't going to work. In other words, their confession of faith is based on somebody's experience that got them emotionally high; it's not based on the Word of God.

James says,
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
(James 1:23-24)
That's a good description of a man who's not practicing the Word.

The principal thing you must learn in order to be successful is the one commandment of the New Testament. It's spelled l-o-v-e. LOVE. Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Did you know you can't love anybody else until you love yourself? That's what's wrong with the world today. People place no value on their own life, so they have no value on anybody else's life. The Word says I'm to first love myself and then I can love my neighbor. I want myself to eat good, dress good, feel good, and have the best there is. If I love myself this way, I'll love the world this way.

The Word of God says when you see a brother in need, you're in trouble if you have the means to help him and don't. I'm not referring to the "giving to get" philosophy; I'm talking about ministering to somebody when you have the means. How can we expect God to bless us and give us good success in life when we aren't blessing anybody else; when we aren't practicing the Word?

Another aspect of walking in love concerns grudges. Never hold a grudge against anybody. You cannot be successful if you hold grudges, because that's not walking in love. Some will grumble, "Well, I'll forgive them, but I'm not going to forget it."

Save your breath.

Put the Word First
The third step to being a success in life is: Put the Word first in your life. Become Word-conscious. Let the Word reign supreme in your life. No matter what comes, think about the Word first.

We all face tests and trials. When these crises and emergencies come in the natural - and they will come - the person who is well versed in the Word will start recalling pertinent Scriptures. They'll start ringing in his head like a drum. If he faces illness, he'll immediately hear Scriptures like First Peter 2:24.

If he faces an ugly situation, Scriptures on love will start to roll over on the inside of him.

I believe we can be so saturated with God's Word that the first thing that comes to mind in any emergency is not "What are we going to do now?" but what the Word says. Very few people have reached that point.

Building the Word of God into ourselves like this will do away with worry and anxiety. We'll become overcomers - conquerors.

Be Guided By The Voice Of God
The fourth step toward being a success in life is: Instantly obey the voice of God.

The education and development of our human spirit comes by instantly obeying the voice of the Spirit. Proverbs 20:27 says, "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord." Romans 8:14 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

God leads us by our spirit, not our head. God informs our spirit, and our spirit informs our head.

If you're going to be successful in life, you've got to learn how to be guided by the voice of God. However, not everybody who is running around saying, "God told me to do this" really heard from God. God is getting blamed for a lot of things He never did - and even the devil's getting blamed for things he wasn't directly responsible for!

Unfortunately, there are many in charismatic circles saying, "God told me to do this," and God really hasn't told them to do it. They're doing it because it's what they want to do, so they say God told them.

I've never done anything God told me to do that's ever failed. But I've seen a lot of other people get into a mess over what they said God told them to do. Actually, it was what they wanted to do. They decided God was involved in the project with them, so they said God told them to do it.

You'd better be careful saying God told you to do something unless you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God said to do it. You can get yourself in trouble saying that. You'd better be sure it was God.

Some people say, "The devil made me do it." No, the devil didn't make you do it; you did it because you willed to do it. You've got a will of your own. You can control yourself if you want to.

There's a fine line to follow here. Be careful when you say God told you to do something. But on the other hand, learn to follow that inward voice immediately - not tomorrow - not next week - immediately. This is true in a service, too. When God speaks to you, you'd better act immediately, even if you've got something else planned.

Do you want to be wise and have good success in life? Find out what the Word of God has to say. Practice it. Do it. Live by it. Then get involved with it immediately as the Lord speaks.

Source: How To Be Successful In Life by Kenneth Hagin, Jr.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers

Author Biography

Kenneth W. Hagin
Web site: Kenneth Hagin Ministries
 
Kenneth W. Hagin, President of Kenneth Hagin Ministries and pastor of RHEMA Bible Church, ministers around the world. Known for calling the Body of Christ to steadfast faith, he seizes every ministry opportunity to impart an attitude of “I cannot be defeated, and I will not quit.”
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