Secrets of Success

On our last Sunday on site, our team split up to three different village churches to speak and encourage the local believers. Half our team was sick and had to stay back so three of us went with a missionary to each church. I attended a village church that was only a year or so old. Previously, the village had been unreached. What a privilege to be a part of a developing congregation!

Below is the outline of the message I gave. Once again, it arose simply from what the Lord is teaching me and I don’t pretend to have mastered it. These are points in which I want growth. Perhaps God will use it to encourage you as well. (*I credit much of what I have learned here from the pastor at my home church. I’m so grateful for his biblical teaching).

Joshua 1:1-9

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discourage, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Four things stand out to me in this passage.

1)    God is bigger than our circumstances (vs. 1-5). Moses, a mighty man of God, dies. But God isn’t set back. He isn’t distraught. He doesn’t miss a beat. He can use whomever He chooses. And He is faithful to preserve His remnant.

1 Kings 19 tells the story of Elijah, a prophet living during a time of rampant idolatry. He becomes discouraged and wails to God that he alone is the only one left serving the Lord. The Lord reveals to him that in fact, He has reserved 7000 who have not bowed their knees to Baal.

The Lord will do the same in our day. He will always preserve His remnant. My heart has been so encouraged by my time in Ghana. I have seen pockets of the Ghanaian church that is alive and well! God is faithful. He will do it.

2)    We are called to be strong and courageous (vs. 6-9). In the span of a four verses, the Lord repeats this command to Joshua three times. Such a call suggests that the task ahead of him would not be easy. He was about to head into war.

Courage is important to the Lord. Faith is what pleases Him (Hebrews 11:6). In the gospels, we see that what impresses Jesus the most is faith (see Luke 7). The Bible tell us 365 times to not be afraid. The rest of the world fears. We stand out when we don’t.

3)    Abiding in the word is the key to success (vs. 7-8). In America, success is a popular topic. You can read books on it.  You can even pay people to coach you on it. Here in Ghana, success may be about getting an education or a visa to America. But God tells us the secret to success! We need to abide in the word (see Psalm 1). When we mediate on it and obey it, then we will be successful and prosperous (see Ezra 7:10).

Studying the word is an unnoticed discipline. But it is the daily, unnoticed disciplines that make us who we are.

At our last ministry site there were two young men who volunteered with the mission work. One day they will be mighty men of God. Right now, they are being discipled. They are serving. They are doing the tasks nobody else would want to do. One day people will look at them and wonder how they got to be where they are. It is because they are being faithful in the small things.

Exodus 33:10-11 is a telling verse as to why God appointed Joshua to lead the Israelites in Moses’ absence: “Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshipped, each at the entrance to his tent. The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.”

Joshua abided in the presence of the Lord. He was not campaigning among the people. He was seeking an audience of One. Notice that he did this while he was young. Youth, if you have dreams of being great, commit to the secret place. Know the word. Abide in His presence. That is the key to success.  

4)   The presence of the Lord makes all the difference (v. 9). The reason we do not have to fear or become discouraged is because He is with us. That “for” is the hinge word of this verse. If the Lord is with us, we cannot fail. If He is not, we can’t succeed.

Matthew 28:19-20. The reason we can be sent out and carry this gospel to the ends of the earth is because Jesus is with us. We don’t go alone. And His presence makes all the difference.


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