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Obtaining Success
Joshua 1:8
"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."
The greatest book on success is the Word of God. You will find more fail-safe principles for success in the Word of God than you will in any other book. However, Joshua chapter 1 is probably the greatest chapter on success. The only time you will find the word "success" in the Scriptures is in the verse above. One of the reasons for that is because God wants you to focus more on the principles that lead to success than on the desire for success. If you will just practice the principles of success, then you will find success. You will find in the first eight verses of this chapter six principles that will lead you to success.
The first principle for success is initiative. In verse 2, God told Joshua to "arise." This is initiative. Successful people are people who have initiative. In other words, you must be able to get yourself going without someone else having to push you. Until you learn to push yourself, you will never experience success.
The second principle for success is drive. In verse 2, God told Joshua to "go." Successful people not only have the initiative to get up and do something, but they also have a drive that won't let them stop. In today's terminology we would call them workaholics. Initiative gets you up, but drive keeps you going. In other words, drive keeps you going when you don't feel like going. Drive keeps you going when you don't have immediate success. Drive is the determination that you won't let anything stop you.
The third principle for success is attitude. In verse 6, God told Joshua to, "Be strong and of a good courage." Your attitude is very important to your success. Attitude will determine whether you will go up or down. You must have a positive attitude in the midst of negative in order to succeed. You must have a fearless attitude in order to succeed. You will never succeed if you let fear control you. You must have a positive and fearless attitude to overcome the obstacles and believe that whatever you are doing will happen.
The fourth principle for success is counsel. God says in verse 7, "...that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee:..." Joshua got his counsel from Moses. In other words, good spiritual counsel is an important part of success. You must be willing to get counsel and follow it if you want to succeed. You will never succeed without counsel.
The fifth principle for success is obedience. God says in verse 8, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;..." Obeying God's Word is important to your success. You may succeed to a certain degree without following God's Word, but you will never achieve your potential until you obey God's Word. Obedience to God's Word brings blessings, and blessings are a big part of success.
The last principle for success is meditation. God says in verse 8, "...but thou shalt meditate therein day and night..." You must meditate, or think about God's Word in order to obtain success. That means you need to read God's Word daily if you are going to think about It. Furthermore, you need to take time to meditate or think of ideas. Thinking is a very important part of success. If you are not a thinker, then you will not obtain success.
Success never comes easy, but when you follow the principles that lead to success, it is much easier to obtain. Stop focusing on trying to succeed and simply focus on following the principles the lead to success. You will find the byproduct of those principles will be success.