Blog in Audio:
Greetings,
As leaders we are called to lead others into the way of God that is prosperous and leads to good success. God wants us to be prosperous, and to have good success. What does it look like to be prosperous and have good success in the kingdom of God. The word success, found in Joshua 1:8, is not the success of the world. This word means to make or act circumspect.
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
This word for success in this text is the Strong’s Hebrew reference #7919: sakal / Definition: to be (caus. make or act) circumspect and hence intelligent. The word for prosperous is the Strong’s Hebrew reference #6743. צָלַח ṣâlaḥ; or צָלֵחַ ṣaleaḥ; a primitive root; to push forward, in various senses (literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive).
To be circumspect is to be aware of the possible outcome of a circumstance. The outcome of our path should lead to life for others, not merely the fulfillment of some personal desire. This is not even a desire of personal ministry. God wants us to grow in knowing Him and to grow in becoming like Him in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. This is the prosperous way of God’s kingdom. We push forward toward our upward call in Christ. To know the prosperous and successful way of God is to be alert for and aware of the path that leads to God’s life. That path is a path of God’s kingdom. It is a path of His will being done in our lives. This is the path that leads to the will and blessing of God. We must meditate on God’s words to be aware of God’s will and purpose in our lives. As sons and daughters of God we don’t think on the things of the world. We are no longer bound to think like those in the world think. We are enlightened in our hearts to the life-giving ways and testimony of God in all things. We are growing in thinking like our heavenly Father. He is a giver of life in all of His ways and to push forward in our destiny in Christ is to become life-giving to our world.
Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” 15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
We are children of light, and we are to walk in His goodness, righteousness, and truth. Some translations of this Scripture in Ephesians chapter 5 say that the fruit of light is goodness, righteousness, and truth. These verses in the New King James Version reveals that the fruit of the Spirit is in whatever is good, righteous, or true. In either case, the evidence is seen in the fruit, not pretend doing. Sometimes the lines between good and evil, righteous and unrighteous, true and false get blurred. A good indicator that we are walking in the path of life is the evidence of the fruit of life. We cannot do fruit; fruit is something that happens when we live in the place where fruit grows. Fruit is something that gives life-energy to someone else and produces seeds for a future generation of life. Fruit is not a self-gratifying thing; it is a life-giving thing to others beyond your own life.
To walk circumspectly is to be heedful of the path of light and life. It is the path that reveals the character of God, a relationship with God, and a testimony of God in our lives. It is a path that manifests God’s love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Meditating upon God’s general word and His specific words to us in life will give us an awareness of the path of God’s will and kingdom in our lives. Meditating upon His word is not merely intellectually memorizing what He has said. It is embracing a personal relationship with Him in a process of desiring to know Him. Meditating upon God’s words will enable us to be filled with His Spirit. When we are filled with His Spirit, the words that we speak to one another are life-giving words that are true to who God is. We will embrace a path forward with one another with an awe of who God is in or lives.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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