How to Stay on Top

TO STAY on top of things in life, you must be intentional.

On Top

God is deliberate in all he does. He turns chaos into serenity and complexities into order.

He knows the plans and thoughts that he has for you, plans for peace and well-being and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

When God wanted to bless Abraham, he said to him, “Go away from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house to the land which I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)

Abraham was not casual about God's promise. He knew that to do the Will of God is to give God pleasure.

So, he left his father’s house as instructed and put his faith in God to keep things on track.

However, Abraham took his nephew, Lot, with him when he left home.

And after a while, the land could no longer support their flocks. There arose strife between their men. (Genesis 13:8-10)

To prevent the relationship from becoming toxic, he released Lot.

If you want to move forward in life, there are two things you must know:

You need to know when to let go, and you cannot remain in the place where God has left.

When God rejected Saul, Samuel cried out to God all night. He wanted to remain where God had left him. (1 Samuel 15)

But Naomi knew when to let go. She released her daughters-in-law when the time was right.

She said to them, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.” (Ruth 1:12-13)

When you let go at the right time, you save yourself some pain.

Yochebed, the mother of Moses, knew she couldn't keep her son forever.

When he got older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and trusted God to do the rest. (Exodus 2:10)

Mordecai trusted God to position Esther.

When the king looked for a wife, he took her to Hegai, who had charge of the king’s harem and told her not to reveal her race. (Esther 2)

If you're going to remain on top, you must learn to keep some things to yourself and wait until what you're brooding over is matured, and everyone can see it.

Private matters should be kept private.

Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego trusted God to keep them when they chose not to eat from the meat dedicated to idols. And God honoured their prayers.

At the end of ten days, they looked better and healthier than all the young men who ate the king’s finest food. (Daniel 1:8-16)

Daniel trusted God to put him on top when he and his friends were threatened with death.

He told them to pray to God to reveal the king’s dream and its interpretation, and God revealed it to him in a dream. (Daniel 2:18-20)

‘God will turn your chaos into serenity, and your complexities into order.’

Nehemiah trusted God to position him when he heard about the state of Jerusalem and its inhabitants.

He prayed, “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” (Nehemiah 4:11)

He sought the favour of God to find the favour of men.

To be on top, you need to confess the Word of God.

Joshua 1:8 says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful.” Success is a sign of being on top.

When Paul had an encounter with God on the way to Damascus, he did not go to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before him. He went to Arabia to seek God. (Galatians 1:17)

If you plan to be on top, you must seek Him.

Final Thoughts

WE WASTE our lives when we do not pray, think, dream, plan, and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life.

God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that he really is — John Piper.

Prayer for the week: God, help me make every sphere of my life about you, and make me your living proof.