DATE: – SUNDAY 6TH DECEMBER, 2020
TOPIC: – SUCCESS GEMS (Part 1)
BIBLE PASSAGE: – 2Kings 2: 1 – 15
MEMORY VERSE: – “And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here I pray thee; for the PRD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel” (1Kings 2:2).
INTRODUCTION: – In the journey of life, it takes some qualities to make it. It is not everyone that runs in a race that receives the prize. Success in life depends truly on some gems which when lacking in a life, success may be a mirage.
LESSON OUTLINES
1) INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS
a) Will Power
Elisha asked for double portion of the spirit that was upon Elijah. That was really a good desire. But it was not just the fact that Elijah said I wanted double portion that made him get it. There were some things he did or make sure he got what he wanted.
Remember, there were some other sons of the prophets who were also aware of the exit of Elijah but were not bothered about it. Elisha went extra mile and he became extra ordinary; the difference between the ordinary and the extra-ordinary is the extra.
But what actually kept him going was his “Will Power”. The will power of a man is his ability to control his thought and actions in order to achieve what he want to do.
A man may be intelligent but if he lacks will power he would not achieve success.
Elisha had a very strong will power that distinguished him from the other sons of the Prophet. It was his will power that kept him going even when other sons of the prophet were discouraging him. It was his will power that propelled him on even when his master, Elijah was dissuading him on his mission.
A strong will power is an essential quality of a man who will succeed in life and ministry. Without a will power, it will be easy to distract a man from his life goals.
Take for instance, a man who want to check the strength of his will power and says everybody that as he walks on a particular road from his office to his house, when he gets to the bridge he will throw one stone into the water. He says, every day for the next six months. But if after ten working days while crossing the bridge he forgets and he was almost reaching his house when he remembered the task he set for himself. What should he do?
Now, it is a situation like this that would determine if the man has will power or not. If he says tomorrow I will throw two stones, he could as well have decided to count all the stines that he needs to throw for the six months and throw them into the river one day.
The goal is not many stones he throws into the river, it is the act of dong it over and over and over again and he remembered he did not throw a stone into the rive, he should tell himself I will punish you today.
Go back to his office and start the journey to his house over again, and when he gets to the bridge, throw the stones and heads home. Tomorrow, he will not forget. That way he is training himself in strong will power.
2) Persistence
The second thing to be considered as ingredient for success is persistence. This is one thing that is found in the man Elisha.
The widow of Luke 18:1-7 was also very persistent. She was importunate in troubling the Judge, until he answered her. Also Jesus gave a parable that when you go at the door of your friend to ask him to give you something at midnight, he is going to open the door not because you are his friend, but because you were importunate-persistent in knocking. Persistence wears out the resistance to your goal.
Persistence means insisting on a conviction without striving. Many people think if you want to insist on something you are convinced about, it must lead to quarrel. No, in fact many times you can behave as if you have put the gear in reverse only because you want to put it in gear once again. You can concede not because you want to re-fire.
Practice they say, makes a perfection, and that is persistence. You know why you are doing it and you take it seriously. Now, persistence operated on the wings of time. It means if we want to persist on something, you need time. That I am not raising the dead today does not mean that I am a failure. If I am still at the level of healing headaches, no worry, one day I will also get to the level of raising the dead. So, it does not matter where you are today. If you are confident and you persist, you will get there one day.
Persistent takes time away from other things and commits it to the new desire. This means any one who wants to persist and achieve results must be somebody who has put his will under control. He must be disciplined enough to control his time. Persistence also means that when you fail, you must be ready to start all over. You don’t give up when you fail that is if you go out to show yourself and people just say, this is not good, he is not presentable, you go back to the drawing room and start all over.
A persistent person cannot be discouraged and is always determined to carry on. It is persistence that brings out your hidden gift, the very best out of you. Your best attributes are discovered only in action not while sleeping.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
No one gets to the top except he has a strong will power. This is what distinguished you from the multitude and differentiate the player from the spectators.
QUESTIONS
- What is the distinguishing quality in the life of Elisha?
What is Will Power?