Grace Tidings: You were designed for success

By Doug Mamvura | Aug. 13, 2023

This verse says that God knows His thoughts towards you and His desire is to give you an expected end.

Do you know God doesn’t create junk? His desire is for you and I to have dominion on this planet earth and never to die as mere man because the power that raised Jesus from the dead is resident within us. How sad that most of us who are believers die as mere men (Psalm 82:7).

God designed you for success. He made you to be a winner. This is true for every person regardless of what has happened in the past. God has never destined anybody to live a mediocre life.

Jeremiah 29:11 says,: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

This verse says that God knows His thoughts towards you and His desire is to give you an expected end. That end is promised in the Word of God. You can walk in victory like Moses. He was 120 years old, and his eyesight wasn’t dim nor his natural force abated (Deut. 34:7). He actually climbed a mountain the day he went home to be with the Lord.

These things are in the Word, and God is no respecter of persons. What we have today is superior to what Moses had in the Old Testament. We can be guaranteed success. Now, I’m not saying success can always be achieved without a fight or without effort, but we were destined for great things. We have a part to play. We don’t wait for miracles to happen whilst we are just doing nothing.

God created every one of us to be something special. I always say that God is a Father of all and a step Father of none. I also feel that we live in a culture that has totally misrepresented true success. As a matter of fact, I looked up the meaning of the word. The Dictionary defines success as “The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.” That’s a broad definition.

The second definition I found is “The gaining of fame or prosperity.” I don’t like that definition. That is not a godly definition of success at all. Lots of people have fame and prosperity, but they do not have true success.

In my opinion, success needs to be redefined. It’s not just doing something grand or big. In fact, not everybody is called to do something big. We all have ways through which we can be successful without necessarily being in the limelight. Your job may not seem as significant as others, however, as long as you are being faithful in what God has called you to do you are considered a successful person. That’s what I call a success.

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Some people think that being successful is being a prominent person with huge sums of money. How many people do you know who were very prominent but committed suicide? We have many people who may be prominent but are living miserable lives due to various challenges such as depression or sickness. Would you then equate that to success?

It is important to first fully understand God’s call upon your life then you faithfully follow that template. Those who are faithful in a few things will also be faithful in much.

Matthew 25:23 says, His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

If we are good stewards of what God gives us, He’ll increase us and give us more. The way that success has been presented is not a godly concept at all. I want to encourage anyone who feels like they haven’t done much: God has got something more for you, and you can succeed.

Your faithfulness will be rewarded. And for those of you who think you’re awesome, I hope I can help you recognize that success is not based on all of these temporary things that will pass away. God judges things differently than we do.

First Samuel 16:7 says, For man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

Many people look amazing on the outside, but in their hearts, they’re miserable—they don’t have joy or peace and certainly don’t have success. Understand this: There is nothing in this world that will minister to you or satisfy you more than knowing that you are in the direct centre of God’s will. In my opinion this is very critical.

Some of you reading this can’t say for sure that you know you’re doing what God has called you to do. You may love God and want Him to use you and bless you, but you don’t know for certain that you’re where you’re supposed to be. This is one of the reasons people aren’t happy and satisfied. In some cases, I believe God has given certain people a holy dissatisfaction. He’s trying to stir them up. This is one of the ways God motivates you and lets you know that there’s something more.

“According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For no other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

1 Corinthians 3:10-13: This is describing that as we go through life, we are either building with gold, silver, and precious stones or with wood, hay, and stubble. It does not say that everybody is building with gold, silver, and precious stones or that everybody is building with wood, hay, and stubble. We have a choice.

The sad fact is that many of us build things in our lives and accomplish things that aren’t what God intended for us. And we count these things as a success. But one day, we’re going to stand before the Lord, and He is going to put a fire to everything. It says in Matthew 12:36 that we’ll give an account of every idle word that we speak.

So, God will hold us responsible for every action and for every word that comes out of our mouths. Anything of wood, hay, or stubble even if it looks good to man and conforms to the world’s standard of success is a work of the flesh and will count for nothing.

A lot of people think wood, hay, and stubble are referring to adultery, fornication, and drug addiction. But did you know that people have done things that would appear to be godly started churches, been in a foreign mission field, and written worship music but none of it was led by God?

instance, I know someone who once pastored a church and later realised he was doing it in his own strength. His life became so difficult that he was ready to take his own life. That’s when God taught him grace and really turned his life around. It is never God’s desire to have us do our own things. He wants us to depend on Him and this is why the Bible encourages never to trust in our own thinking but to put our trust in the Lord. We should never lean on our own understanding. When one follows God’s will upon their lives that for me is success.

God wants you to do what He has called you to do, and He wants you to do it out of His ability. I think what some call burnout is just people doing good things in their own strength and power. God’s never had anybody qualified working for Him yet, so stop relying on your own ability. If you don’t trust in the Lord, you can’t accomplish the things He’s planned for you and you won’t be a godly success.