PRINCIPLES OF SUCCESS PRT 2

1. Drive

As with your car, drive is what propels you forward so that you can achieve your goals. It is essential to have zeal and determination if you are to be successful. While pursuing your goals, it is easy to become lethargic and lose energy when you are tired or things seem to be going wrong. But we are admonished to remain diligent and work with all of our might (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

2. Endurance

To be successful at reaching your goals, you should never give up. Most of us have felt like quitting at one time or another, and unless you are steadfast, it is easy to succumb to the temptation to simply give up. But in order to experience success, you must learn to endure trials and difficulties in order to persevere.

Those who run marathon races provide a great example of endurance. Despite pain and fatigue, they push forward and, in many cases, finish what they have started. Our Christian life is compared to running a race (1 Corinthians 9:24; Hebrews 12:1). To successfully enter into God’s Kingdom, we must endure until the end (Matthew 24:13). Despite the trials and setbacks in our struggle against Satan and our human nature, we should always remember that God will always be there to see us through (Hebrews 13:5).

3. Resourcefulness

While pursuing your goals, you are sure to face obstacles. Resourcefulness, which includes imagination, creativity and inventiveness, is the principle that helps us cope with emergencies and unexpected setbacks. Successful people have usually “failed” many times, but they keep trying, using new approaches. Though they are fictional characters, superheroes are often good examples of characters that use resourcefulness. No matter what crises they face, they always manage to find a solution to their dilemmas, such as a plan of escape.

In our lives not everything is going to go as planned, and it is wise to have a “plan B” to work around unexpected obstacles. In our Christian lives we can use resourcefulness to confront the temptations of this life. Christ admonishes us to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16).

4. Reliance on God

It is easy to become lethargic and lose energy when you are tired or things seem to be going wrong.

The last principle is the most important one of all. This seventh principle is to acknowledge God and Jesus Christ in our daily lives and to include Them in all our endeavors (Proverbs 3:6). This means praying for guidance and help in everything and trusting that God will answer in the ways that are best. We are to put God first in our lives and to love Him with all our heart, soul and might (Deuteronomy 6:5). You need to have God in the picture if you are to be truly successful. Remember that the most important goal is to be in God’s Kingdom—God’s family—and that certainly requires God’s constant guidance and help.