The Challenge To Find Success In Life

by Pastor Mark
December 08, 2022

 

Finding success in life

For this year’s Youth Conference, the theme is “My Strength and My Shield”. The challenge that Pastor Charles gave was for all to make a success of our life. Everyone has the potential to succeed, but only some do. God has given us every blessing to do well in life. But we need to understand His wonderful blessings and do our part diligently in working towards success in life. By learning from King Saul’s failure and David’s promising life, we can discover deep lessons that can guide us in our journey to success in life and ministry.

The failure of King Saul

1. The blessings of the Lord

  1. Externally, Saul had the potential to succeed with his good looks and might (1 Samuel 9:2).
  2. The Lord also blessed him with a chance to experience being a prophet (1 Samuel 10:11).
  3. He tasted the Holy Spirit working in his life.
  4. But when Saul became king, he did foolishly by disobeying the commandments of God.

2. The failure of Saul

  1. Saul unwisely disobeyed God on numerous occasions.
    1. He was to wait for Samuel to make offerings in Gilgal. But when Samuel was delayed, Saul went ahead to offer the sacrifices himself (1 Samuel 13:9).
    2. The Lord also commanded that Saul should utterly destroy the Amalekites, but he decided to spare the king and the best of the livestock (1 Samuel 15:9).
  2. The prophet Samuel highlighted Saul’s heart of rebellion and stubbornness (1 Samuel 15:23).
  3. He had rejected the Word of God (1 Samuel 15:23).
  4. Internally, Saul did not incline his heart to God, His Word or His ways.
  5. He remained unrepentant and defiant, choosing to follow his own ways.
  6. As a result, God rejected Saul from being king.

Let us be challenged to learn from the foolish failure of King Saul.

The promising life of David

1. The blessing of the Lord

  1. David had great potential to succeed in life.
  2. God blessed him with good looks and bright eyes (1 Samuel 16:12).
  3. The Lord also blessed David by anointing him with the Spirit of God (1 Samuel 16:13).
  4. He was chosen to be part of God’s plan to be the next king of Israel.

2. The growth of David

  1. One key difference between David and Saul was that David sought to grow in different ways.
  2. He grew in skill, strength, courage and wisdom (1 Samuel 16:18).
  3. More importantly, he grew spiritually as the Lord was with him (1 Samuel 16:18).
  4. David found His courage and strength in the Lord and His deliverance (1 Samuel 17:37).
  5. His faith and confidence were in the Lord doing battle for him, and he was able to defeat the giant Goliath despite the overwhelming odds stacked against him (1 Samuel 17:47).
  6. His wisdom grew as the Lord was with him in facing difficult challenges (1 Samuel 18:30).

As we approach Christmas and the end of 2022, how have we grown? Let us be challenged to grow more spiritually as David did, to realise our potential and succeed in life and ministry.

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