Mind your Success

STRENGTH FOR MY DAYS 
A Daily Devotional by Bishop David Bakare

Mind your Success

Tuesday, 20 August

 

And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Psalm 30:6

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Psalm 30:6-12 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.

 7 LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.  8 I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.  9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?  10 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.  11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;  12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

 

MORE LESSON: 1 Corinthians 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

 

The time for success is a very crucial time for a man to be careful. Anyone can be humble and seek God when he is in need. It is the time when things work fine that you need to be cautious so that you will not slip away from God. When a church has few people and growth is needed, a lot of fasting and prayer goes on; the congregation seeks God, 'Oh Lord enlarge our coast, multiply us, increase us, bring more workers, bring more pastors, the devil must be silenced etc.'' Then multiplication comes and you begin to have first, second and third services with overflows. The time when the congregation gets enlarged is the time to be careful. You can buy musical instruments without fasting; you can build structures just by announcing and asking people to put money together. This is the time you must watch your message and ensure you are still holding unto the principles and truths that God delivered to you. Increase in church means greater number of good and bad people. As more people come in, the devil also sends in fornicators, Jezebels, and moneybags who want to determine what you preach to them because they can pay for everything in church. At such times, you need grace to be careful and not let pride, men and the flesh lead you astray and destroy the foundation that you have laboured to build over years.

This is the same with a business man who fasted and prayed seeking for God's help and asking God to send increase, destiny helpers, favour, and to lock the devil up.

There is no problem with increase; you can be ambitious, hardworking and ask God for prosperity. But when the money reaches your hand, the god of this world tells you that making more money is more important than serving God or fellowshipping with Him. The time of success is the time to watch and pray more. Maybe you were always in church and belonged to several units when you were seeking for a life partner, now that you are married, you need to watch and pray lest you slip away from seeking God.

The psalmist, who sought God passionately, got to a place of success where he said to himself; and in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved: Psalm 30:6. Then trouble struck, but for God's mercy that located him and caused the mourning that he landed in to be turned to joy again and make his glory to sing one more time. Do not get to a point where, because God has blessed you, you say to yourself, 'No shaking anymore, we have arrived’, Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall: 1 Cor 10:12.

 

Prayer/Action

* Pray for the capacity that you will serve God when things are good and tough.

* Thank God for all that you have been going through.

* Pray against every success that will want to take the place of God in your life.

 

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: This day, I break every jail, known and unknown to me, that has been speaking restrictions to my destiny, in the powerful name of Jesus.