How Do You Portray Success?

When we have success in our lives, or in our children we feel it's necessary to share it with others. Problems can quickly arise when good news about our accomplishments is too plentiful. While it is our natural tendency to want to share good news about all the great things going on in our lives, (or for parents in our children's lives) we should consider our motive and who we are sharing with. Naturally parents can share with grandparents all the accomplishments of the grandkids.  And we should share with our spouse and parents what we consider accomplishments.  However, we can share too much. The other party your sharing with can feel awkward, like a fish out if water. There is a fine line between sharing success and being prideful. What does success look like to you? Are you sharing out of gratitude of a blessing or are you struggling with pride? Yes, pride. That ugly sounding word, as you read it, are "oh, not me!" thoughts are rolling through your head? Do you share to make yourself feel better? Do you share to make you or your children look good? Do you share all the great things in life so that it outweighs the not so good ones? Philippians 2:1-4 "if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if thee is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look at your own interests, but also for the interests of others" There are SO many Scriptures about pride and boasting, but the passage from Philippians, really sums it up. When we are so intensely focused on our own success and interests, we're not one with The Spirit nor, are we showing compassion. Christ emptied Himself, becoming emptied to the point of death.  What a great example of humility. I challenge you - instead of being focused on yourself, your children, and accomplishments focus on The Savior, Jesus.

Luke 9:23 "if anyone desires to follow Me, he must deny himself daily, take up his cross and follow Me"
~ Submitted by Jeni Morelock

Get Over Yourself!!

Do You Need to Get Over Yourself?

by Joyce Meyer

I want to love God and help people. That’s my goal in life each day. And when people ask me, “What’s your dream? What’s your vision?” I have one answer: I just want to help people.

If helping someone means teaching them the Word of God, then I want to teach the Word. If someone needs a hug, I want to give them a hug. If I can help someone by paying their rent for a month, I want to do that. Or if I can help people in India by going there and sharing the love of God, I want to go to India.

That’s what it means to walk in love—the God-kind of love. It’s about letting God use us however He wants to use us and knowing it’s all about Him. It’s about getting over ourselves and getting on with what God is calling us to do. Walking in love should be the number one goal of every Christian.

Deception That Can Trip You

There’s a deceptive sin that can keep us from walking in love: pride. It’s deceptive because when you have pride, you’re usually too proud to admit it. I know this because I used to have teachings on pride and they didn’t sell well.

We need to take this issue of pride seriously. Proverbs 16:5 (AMP) says, “Everyone proud and arrogant in heart is disgusting, hateful, and exceedingly offensive to the Lord….”

Pride is an independent, me-oriented spirit. It makes people arrogant, rude and hard to get along with. When our heart is prideful, we don’t give God the credit and we mistreat people, looking down on them and thinking we deserve what we have.

It’s Not About Us 

Walking in love should be the number one goal of every Christian.”Sadly, the truth is, there aren’t many people who can be put in high positions who won’t start thinking highly of themselves.
 

God wants us to be dependent on Him rather than thinking we can do things ourselves and then take the credit when good things happen. It’s foolish for us to do this because the reality is our gifts, talents and abilities come from God (see John 3:27). We can’t take credit for them.

My ability to communicate is a gift from God. I thank Him for it and want to use it for His service. Whatever you do well, realize that it’s not because of you – it’s because God has enabled you to do it well. It’s all about Him, not us.

Check Your Heart for Pride

I realize this is a hard message to hear. But we need to be honest about pride in our lives because if we aren’t, we will create a separation between us and God. And that’s the worst condition we can be in.

If you want to check your heart to see if you’re proud in an ungodly way, ask yourself:

• How am I treating people?
• How do I think about others?
• Do I talk about myself more than I talk about God and what He’s done?

The good news is, we can humble ourselves and turn a bad situation around. Give God the glory for the good things in your life and show His righteousness by helping others—the poor, needy and oppressed. Make it all about Jesus.

Choose godly humility. With every success you have, tell the Lord, “I know I’m nothing without You. I can do nothing without You and I’m successful because of You.” When people compliment you, thank them and give them back to God. That’s where the glory really belongs. It’s all about Him.

This article is taken from Joyce's four-CD series, Guard Your Heart.

~ Beth Dishman
   ISBC Women's Ministry

   Publicity Coordinator