10 Steps for Life Success

I just turned fifty years old.  In my short time on this earth I have learned some painful, but necessary lessons about life.  If I had learned them earlier, maybe my life would have turned out differently.  I do know that living here and now is exactly where God wants me and it is here that I know I want to be.  It is through these life lessons, that I would like to share with you and may they impact you so greatly that you employ them.

• Step 1– Know that GOD has a plan for you.  Where you are now is exactly where He wants you.  He will teach you and keep you in His peace, if you trust Him and have faith that He is taking you through your trials.
• Step 2- What you think you become!  Be aware of what you are meditating on.  Do you see only the problems of life? or Do you see the promises of each day?  Meditate on what you want to become and ask God to show you the plan that He has for you.  You can ask Him and He will show you!
• Step 3- Faith.You must believe not with your sight, but by faith.  Sometimes life is dismal, but that is when God desires that you grab His hand and ask Him to take you through.
• Step 4- Perseverance.  You have to prove that you want it so badly that you will go through anything to receive what it is that you want.  Usually God tests you and that means walking through the fire and being refined so that He can trust you with what you want.
• Step 5- Balance.  Find your balance in life.  Friends, family, God, hobbies, work, it must all be balanced.  This is the hardest to do but worth it. Finding balance is necessary in becoming a success.  All work and no fun will only make you more miserable and your activities will become sheer drudgery.
• Step 6- Tithes and Offerings.Giving God 10% of everything that you make starts in your heart.  This is the ultimate test in trusting God.  I find that the more that I give the more that I make.  I cannot stress that this is one of the most successful financial strategies that I have ever done. If God can trust you with 10% of your money then He will give you more than you can imagine.  See my testimony on the 700 Club with Pat Robertson.
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• Step 7- Obedience.When I spend time with God I can hear His voice clearly.  It is not audible, but a nudging, a feeling, a prompting.  It comes when you spend time with Him, you get to know Him.  I know that there have been times that I wanted to do something, but felt the prompting of God to do something else.  When I obey Him, that’s when I get the blessing.  
• Step 8-LOVE.  Can we all agree that love is one of the hardest things we can do?  I find the ones that need it the most are the ones that are the hardest to love.  I try to follow the example of Jesus Christ.  He loved me when I cursed him and still He saved me from the pit of hell.  Loving others is the most important act that we can do.
• Step 9- Be Still and Patient.  Personally, I find this the hardest to do.  After all, I am a doer, not a “waiter” and I love to be active.  I must sometimes get out of the way and let God do what He needs to do.  I just need to continue to prepare myself for where God is taking me and how He is taking me through this journey.
• Step 10-Accept Jesus into your heart.  Once you have Jesus in your heart, you have the ability to gain access into the kingdom of God and gain wisdom and insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Romans 10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  Acknowledge that you are a sinner, ask Jesus to forgive you, then ask Him to come into your life.  This is the most important decision that you will ever make, for it is the only decision that will affect your eternal life.  Once you accept Jesus as your Savior, you will have the power to become the greatest success, complete with His brilliant gifts.  My whole life changed as a result of accepting Jesus as my personal savior on Friday September 1, 1995 at 7:00 AM.  My life has and never will be the same.  May you make the decision today to have the greatest gift living inside of you.

Happy success to you!