“What is Success?”
May 10th, 2008
Thru Priscilla Van Sutphin
Mark 8:36-38 NKJV
36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
The trouble with a pharisaical spirit is it doesn’t allow the person to believe
In the full grace of God, nor the fullness of His love. It’s too unbelievable to them.
So they try in their own strength, which is futile, to keep the law, and strive to please Me. The person who lives in GRACE and knows that I have redeemed them, and doesn’t strive understands that I am the guide for their life, and that all they have to do is LEAN on ME. And because they can FEEL MY LOVE FOR THEM, and EXPERIENCE IT, they love Me so much they don’t WANT to sin, even though they may fail over and over. They know that like a good Father, I am willing to take them in, because their HEART wants to love Me, and walk IN ME.
Once you walk away from GRACE, you are walking in WITCHCRAFT.
That leads to walking as YOU try and trying to meet some code of law you have set up in your mind to obey. It may be man’s rules, your rules & my rules, but it is tainted with lack of understanding of what I did at the cross. You are walking in YOUR ABILITY instead of MY ABILITY to keep you. You are trusting in YOU instead of in ME. That is what makes it witchcraft.
And that leads to not being able to do anything fully right because you are trusting in yourself. Then that person feels condemned and guilty all the time. Life is SO serious and weighty. The enemy is able to attack you more because you’ve opened your soul up to deception, and delusion is the next step. So it is KEY to walk in GRACE, knowing that apart from ME, you can do NO THING, NOTHING, NOTHING ! As a leader walks in this, they are led further and further down a path of striving to succeed, and trying out MAN’s WAYS of doing things to attain a goal of SUCCESS which is worldly, and not MY WAYS of success. Success in My Kingdom is walking in MY WILL for your life. Period !
Not everyone called to MY KINGDOM is going to be successful in the world’s perception of “success”. Today in the U.S. and Europe,& many, many places in the world, there is a perception of ME that is SO distorted and thinking that success in this world has to do with NUMBERS of people saved, or largeness of your ministry or church. SUCCESS in MY KINGDOM HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT !
Not everyone is called to BUILD a huge edifice, or building. This is not a measurement of KINGDOM SUCCESS, though men have said that, to build their OWN KINGDOMS !
TO KNOW ME is the greatest success. TO LOVE ME with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, emotions and strength is success. To learn what LOVING ME is all about, & to learn how much I LOVE YOU, and to love others with that love is what life is all about. I told you the commandments were contained in these two…
Mark 12:29-33 NKJV
29 Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
32 So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
If you love your neighbor, you won’t steal from them. You won’t gossip about them. You won’t murder them. You won’t entice their wife to adultery with you. You won’t try to cheat them, nor will you dishonor them. You wont’ do anything that you wouldn’t want done to you ! If you love them, you won’t cheat the people in your congregation to get money for a bigger home or car for yourself. If you LOVE you won’t take advantage of the weak, the humble and the merciful, nor trample on My prophets to make money for yourself. If you love ME, you will trust ME to provide all you need without stealing from others. If you love ME, you will live simply and humbly as I did. You won’t give in to SELF INDULGENCE at the expense of others. If you love others, you won’t be selfish with this worlds’ goods when others are in need.
My grace is sufficient for you. That means in ANY situation that you need ME, I am there for you with all that I AM. So if you are being tempted, CALL ON MY GRACE. ASK and it will be given you. When you go YOUR OWN WAY, and ignore ME, then you are going to struggle. If you get prideful and judge other’s walks with ME, then I will withdraw MY GRACE, and let you see how it is to do things APART FROM ME and MY POWER TO HELP YOU. Then you will LEARN that apart from Me, YOU can do NOTHING.
Sometimes I allow FAILURE for the same reason. When you get too prideful and thinking you are better than someone else who is TRYING to walk with ME, then you will find yourself struggling because you have denied MY GRACE is what has kept you.
You can’t ACHIEVE ANYTHING APART FROM ME.
I gave you that job. I gave you that wife, or husband if you relied on ME.
I gave you the brains to get through college or grad school.
I gave you the physical stamina to make it through hard things.
I gave you the emotional stamina to survive abuse.
I gave you the grace to confront lies with love, and to forgive those who’ve mistreated you. Do you really think you could have done all you’ve done without MY HAND on your life ? THAT IS PRIDE. Leviathan is alive and well in the Western church. But I HAVE COME TO ANNHILATE IT. I HAVE COME TO BRING DOWN THE PRIDE OF THE HAUGHTY.
Isa 10:33 NKJV Behold, the Lord, The Lord of hosts, Will lop off the bough with terror; Those of high stature will be hewn down, And the haughty will be humbled.
Dan 4:37 AMP Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, Whose works are all faithful and right and Whose ways are just. And those who walk in pride He is able to abase and humble.
Money schemes to get more were never a part of MY PLAN for religious leaders. Giving in to taking money from ungodly sources, was never MY PLAN. Living selfishly & extravagantly when others are starving was never MY PLAN. The early church helped each other, and never went without helping one another in every kind of difficult situation. Building large empires, or palatial mansions was not MY WILL.
Walking with one foot in MY Kingdom, and one foot in Satan’s kingdom was never MY PLAN FOR YOU. I will tell you what My will is. My will is that all men get to hear the plan of salvation. My plan is that they all also get FREEDOM from oppression. I am more concerned with their souls than your comforts. I am more concerned with feeding the hungry and housing the homeless, than with conferences to make more money. I am more concerned with PEOPLE than with THINGS.
Let me ask you sons and daughters, WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO GIVE UP THAT OTHERS MIGHT HAVE THEIR NEEDS MET ???? JUDAS was one who thought more about his own gain, than the needs of others. That is why he continued to fall into perdition. Look around you and see, how many there are now who think more of themselves than the common men and women they are supposed to SERVE and ask yourself, are you any different ? And HAVE YOU CONFRONTED their selfishness with your own kindness and demonstration of the gospel ? A laid down life will urge others to follow in your footsteps. Others will want to know how you do it. Even the sinners know when church is commercialized. So they avoid such hideous demonstrations and refuse what is presented because they see the selfishness.
It is only a laid down life that will attract the REAL hungry and thirsty. Demonstrations of MY KINDNESS is what is needed. THAT is why I have come with HEALING in MY WINGS.”
Mal 4:2-5 AMP But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy. 3 And you shall tread down the lawless and wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the Lord of hosts. 4 [Earnestly] remember the law of Moses, My servant, the statutes and the ordinances which I commanded him on [Mount] Horeb [to give] to all Israel. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. [Matt 11:14; 17:10-13.]
