Video #34 - How to Be Successfully Prosperous!

It is probably a safe assumption that you want to be successful and prosperous, whether it’s at work, in your financial endeavors, or in your relationships with others, and so on.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing.  However, we must keep in mind that prosperity and success, as the world defines it, should not be our primary goal.

The top priority in your life must be to know God and to honor and glorify Him with every aspect of your life (1 Cor. 10:31; Col. 3:17).  So, ask yourself two important questions.  First, “What is most important to me?”  You can tell the answer to that by looking at two things: your checkbook (Where do you spend most of your money?) and your clock/calendar (Where do you spend most of your time outside of work?).  Second, “What drives me throughout the day?”  In other words, “What do I get excited and passionate about?”

Your answer to those two questions will say much about where your priorities lie.  If you are putting your emphasis on anything other than glorifying God and knowing Him, you will fail to achieve your ultimate goal.

Matthew 6:33 commands us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  Consider carefully what Jesus is saying here.  First and foremost, the things we are to seek after are God’s kingdom in our heart, and God’s righteousness in our life.  It’s kind of hard to do that when King Me is sitting on the throne.  When we are trying to build our own little kingdoms, seeking a different “king” to reign in our lives is low priority.

Let’s face it guys - we tend to put self on the throne daily.  We try to manufacture events and control circumstances in such a way that King Me is able to experience constant happiness and satisfaction.  Though it has the appearance of being a good thing - it actually isn’t.  When I am sitting on the throne of my heart, I become a slave to self—all my thoughts and energies are directed toward fulfilling the will of “King Me.”  We need to learn how to say, along with Paul, “I do not count my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24 ESV).

In Matthew 6:33, the word Jesus used for “seeking” Him first, carries the idea of craving something so much that you focus all of your thought and attention on finding it, so as to acquire it.  It’s like a heat-seeking missile that, when fired, has a singular target or goal and won’t stop until it reaches it.  Nothing can deter it from its purpose.  Just like that missile, we are to seek after God’s kingdom in our heart and His righteousness to reign in our life.  In other words, we should be seeking after God at any cost—bending our entire will toward pursuing and laying hold of Him.

Seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness means this:  You are denying your selfish desires while craving after and pursuing His rule, His will, and His authority in every aspect of your life—both public and private.  Seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness involves completely immersing yourself in the understanding of His will, and walking in total obedience to God at all times.

Before being prosperous and successful in any other endeavor, you should desire—more than anything—to be prosperous and successful as a Christian.  Only as you seek God’s kingdom and righteousness first in your life will you experience true prosperity and success.

Seeking God first in your life begins as you study and meditate on God’s Word.  God instructed Joshua that “this Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Josh. 1:8 ESV).

So, to be successfully prosperous, we are to open our Bible and “read in it all the days of (our) life, that (we) may learn to fear the Lord (our) God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them” (Deut. 17:19 ESV).  My personal challenge to you is to choose to “delight … in the law of the Lord, and on his law … meditate day and night. (Then you will be) like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that (you do), (you will) prosper” (Psa. 1:2-3 ESV).

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About Steve Etner
Steve Etner is a National Men’s Speaker, Author and Purity Coach (www.thepuritycoach.com). He has authored many books, including “Extreme Mind Makeover: How to Transform Sinful Habits into God-Pleasing Patterns of Life”; “The Pure Man’s Devotional Guide: A Biblical Toolbox for Purity”; and “Are You A Super Man? Becoming God’s Man of Steel.” 

Steve’s conferences, seminars and retreats focus on what God has to say about the way we think and the impact it has on our behavior. By teaching men how to live in moral purity by equipping them with Biblical answers, Steve’s goal is for men to have a re-ignited passion for Jesus and learn how to prepare their minds to successfully overcome their temptations and thus live pure lives for Christ.