You are the Key to Your Success

Often, we fail to reach our goals. At other times we fall short of our destiny. Sometimes we even plummet from our position. What happens when we do? Most often we dive into the blame game seeking to find the reason it all didn’t work out. We’ve heard the excuses (and possibly used them ourselves) – problems get blamed on parents, children, the government, race, age, gender, background, and the list goes on! As believers we often blame the enemy and sometimes rightly so because we know spiritual warfare is real. Many times, we are our own worst enemies but it doesn’t have to be that way – instead we can be our best advocates.  

It is a matter of sabotaging ourselves versus positioning ourselves for success. When we let our ego get in the way, we sabotage ourselves by refusing help and sound advice. Self-sabotage also happens when we struggle to keep our emotions (anger, greed, lust, etc.) under control or we fear failure. On the other hand, when we knowingly position ourselves for success, we seek good advice and put it into practice while also keeping negative emotions under control. When positioning ourselves for success we try learning from our failures and grow both in character and abilities.  

Take a few minutes this week and read the story of Hophni and Phinehas in 1 Samuel 1-4.
Hophni and Phinehas were priests in Israel, sons of Eli, who was also a priest. The issue was Hophni and Phinehas only served the Lord externally, not in their hearts. To the worshippers in the temple, they appeared successful but they had many personal shortcomings. At the time of their service, Israel was at war with the Philistines and could not understand why they were not successful. They failed to recognize their greatest weakness – God was not with them because of the actions of their priests, Hophni and Phinehas.