PRINCIPLE NO.2: HAVE FAITH
In the previous post we spoke about starting from the bottom. I must say that starting from the bottom requires a lot from you and it is important for us to explore the exact push that will propel you to your own success. This is very important especially looking at the journey of success not being an easy journey. Many people start from the bottom but lack FAITH and fail to get to the success level that they were meant to achieve. I wish to take you to the story of this giant of faith called Abram who later became known as Abraham, the father of faith. So you and me are counted for righteousness if we have the faith demonstrated by Abraham (Romans 4:12-13)
Genesis 12:1-6 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy father’s house, unto a land I will shew thee: 2. And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and though shalt be a blessing: 3 I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went fourth into the land of Canaan; and into the Land of Canaan they came.
The events of Abram’s life will always intrigue me and I believe it will have the same effect on you. He was visited by God who places the thought in his mind at the age of 75. He tells him to leave the country of his origin which surely came with lots of familiar advantages and disadvantages. This land where everything was already established with lots of livestock that he had and many servants. God does not tell him where he is to go but he says that he will show him. So Abram must take a decision to go to the place which he does not know yet, for the promise that God has put to him.
In simple terms, God asks Abram for Obedience in exchange for a blessing, legacy, and honour. This is not an easy thing to do for a man of Abram’s age considering also how established he already was. To do all this, Abram had to contend with three things; RISK, RELIANCE and UNCERTAINTY. We will continue with this a little later on in this article.
I know many of you have been challenged many times by the voice within that I can safely say it is not an empty voice. This voice comes to place a challenge of obedience to do something that you desire with a burning so bad in your heart. For some, this longing makes no sense because maybe there is no one that you know who has done it before. Such a longing makes you afraid. But it is in your heart every day and you just don’t know how you will bring it to pass. Maybe this longing feels and sounds too big that even when you decide to share it with other people you are made to feel that this thing does not match up with your capacity. Success cannot be made out of nothing, it must be made out of something, and it cannot be success when you duplicate what has been done already because your own success will always come from that which God has given to you to execute not what you are copying from someone. Let me remind you that the success I am talking about is the correct interpretation and translation of your innate gift to the manifestation into the physical.
Earlier, I mentioned that obedience is the result of risk, reliance and uncertainty. When a godly idea burns in your heart, it requires you to take risk because there is no outcome that will show from the beginning of this idea. There will be nothing to give you assurance that this idea will be a success. You are called to take a risk with this idea even when you are so uncertain of what will come of it. This uncertainty is the journey that you will embark on from the day when you become obedient to it. Importantly there is something that you need to do because this is not your self-crafted idea but God’s own. You need to be reliant on him who has brought this idea into your spirit for execution through obedience. In the passage of scripture above, we are told that Abram left Haran but we are never told how long it took him to get to Canaan. Nothing is said about what transpired on his journey to Canaan. I am sure that there were times when he got off the route because he was going to a place which he did not know. Even your journey can never be a smooth sailing because every journey you embark on to a destination unknown is very uncertain.
The story of Herman Mashaba, a black young man who grew up in Hamanskraal, notorious for gambling and selling “dope” is worth talking about. With such a background, this man moved from being a salesman at Super Curl to establishing what became a household name in the hair business, ‘Black Like Me’. Together with his former colleague, who happened to be white, became a rare combination especially at that time in our country’s political era. With a loan of R30,000 from a friend they launched ‘Black Like Me’ in 1985 and today that young man from the dusty streets of Hamanskraal has become a man of significance and influence. His influence has grown from being an entrepreneur of note to a politician whose heart has been routed in the plight of the people.
The truth is that nobody told Herman how big his desire was going to manifest into such huge company. The journey itself was never explained that one day he will have to contend with the pain of losing a factory to fire as his company was destroyed flat to the ground. This is the pain of the journey and it requires you to have enough reservoir to draw from. This township entrepreneur sold a stake of his business to Colgate – Palmolive in 1997, the relationship which did not last. He had to take back his company and continue to soldier on to see it through such times. As a devout Methodist, Herman Mashaba knew who gave him the desire and it is not surprizing that his journey has been that of success even in the midst of all the challenges he had. Like with Abram, he had faith in who gave him the idea of ‘Black Like Me’.
Faith is necessary for any kind of success you can ever dream of. Please walk with me through the following scriptures:
Isaiah 7:9 “Israel is no stronger than its capital, Samaria, and Samaria is no stronger than its king, Pekah son of Remaliah. Unless your FAITH is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.”
Matthew 17:20 “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: For verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
John 6: 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were sat down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.”
John 12:44 Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
The above scriptures are just a few of those that emphasize the need to be a person of faith if you want to see any success in your life. The last thing that you need to understand about faith is that it demands that you know who has given you the thought/ desire/ mandate/ gift that is keeping you awake at night. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. The same Jesus who pleaded with the father to give us the Holy Spirit to ensure success for what has been dropped in our spirits is the same one who says in the scripture above that if you believe in him, you automatically believe in the one who sent him.
Interestingly, In John 6:11 above, Jesus receives the loaves given to him by the disciples, before he gave to the disciples to give to the people, he gives thanks. He is the same who calls upon us to believe in the Father through him, who is showing us that he himself has faith in the father. In Matthew 17:20 above, he implores us to have a little measure of faith and declares it to be enough to shift things to our favour.
This confirms that when you want more success in your life for whatever life project that you feel burdened to execute, you are going to succeed only when you know who gave it to you. The knowledge of the giver and having faith in his ability to make you succeed is enough to activate that success. Having faith in God propels you to move forward regardless of the challenges that you face in your journey. In the story of Herman Mashaba above, Herman could have been easily discouraged when his factory burnt down to ashes, but his faith kept him going. The same God would not have given you that idea, or thought you have if He did not believe that you will succeed in it. Don’t get discouraged, keep going because your journey does not have the timeline. Abram’s journey started 10 years into his pensionable years by modern retirement standards, but he went on to obey God and eventually received the one blessing that became key to his success; a son, Isaac. This he never anticipated at that age, but the faith in God gave him even what seemed impossible.
I pray that the impossible in your life becomes possible. All the desires that are burning in your spirit should come into manifestation in Jesus’ Name. May your story be rewritten to become the success that it was destined to be. Amen
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Maano Ramadwa
www.maanoramadwa.com
