I have found of all the things that have been hardest in fulfilling the call of God on my life, is people have come with that kind of thinking. It is the hardest of all, when your life is committed to lay your life down, to sacrifice for Christ, and others encourage you to take an easier path and avoid the cross. There's no resurrection life without the cross, none whatsoever. If there was an easier way for us to be saved, Jesus wouldn't have had to die, so not only is the cross the power of God to bring salvation. The cross is actually a principle at the heart of God, Jesus lay His life down for the Father's purpose. The Holy Ghost served Jesus and fulfilled, empowered Him to fulfil the Father's purpose. You notice in all of it, that God is working, and the principle of the cross worked right through Jesus' life. If we have a Christianity with no cross, I guarantee you haven't got a Bible Christianity. You've got to help yourself, do good, feel good, gospel which has no power to change lives, so notice that. So let's have a look on - so connected to God, then our desires change. In Psalm 37, Verse 4, it tells us this. Delight yourself in the Lord. Delight in the Lord and notice what do you do? He'll give you the desires of your heart. Now that's an amazing thing. Many, many scriptures, God says He'll give you the desires of your heart - but you've probably got lots of desires and haven't seen any of them come about.
Well notice the thing that comes first, He says delight yourself in the Lord. That word is to remain pliable, soft, like Bluetack that you can squeeze and shape and move it around and make it into a shape. In other words, have a relationship with the Lord where you are soft and yielded and you have His interests at heart, and out of that relationship with Him, He will ensure the desires of your heart get fulfilled - maybe not the way you think, but He certainly will enable it to happen. So He tells us then to delight in the Lord, and as we delight in Him and are soft in His hands, then we begin to discover what parts of our desires are interacting, connected exactly to what He wants us to do. The most amazing thing - so how can you discover the will of God? That's a key question isn't it? You look at Jesus' life, in John, Chapter 5, Verse 38, He said I've come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of My Father, so He was very clear that His whole life was centred around advancing the kingdom of His Father. In John 17, Verse 4, he says I've finished my course, or I've got to the end of my life. I've glorified You or honoured You with my life - notice this - I have finished the work You gave me to do. Now that is a key to a successful life. I honoured God, and finished the work God gave me to do. Notice, it wasn't the plan of people.
Jesus many times stood in conflict against the desires of others for Him, His core driver to be a success in life, His core driver to be successful was, I want to advance the kingdom of My Father, My life is fully available for that. My resources are fully available for that. This is what motivates Me. That is the core of the gospel. That is the core of a successful life. Listen, you may look successful to the world, but how do you know that you're successful? Because you did what you wanted? Because you achieved these great goals? Because you fulfilled these great ideas? No, no, no. Jesus said very clearly, He said I've brought glory to My Father. Why? Because I discovered and found what He wanted Me to do, and everything He gave Me to do, I've done it. That is success in life. So you can look good in church, you can look good in a ministry, you could look good in business, you can look good in all kinds of things, as though you're successful, but only God really knows what He planned for you to do, and it's only by connecting with Him, and discovering that work He called you uniquely to do, you can really find success. The world, remember, has got it's own way of measuring success. For the world success is money, but Jesus died with no money, so He wasn't a success, see?