Focus: No Alternative To Success! (Pt.5)

Text: Jh.19:30

"It is finished."

So far we have considered the Source of success, Uncommon passion for success, Concrete planning for success, and now we focus on:

*Courage for success

No one succeeds in this world who is not courageous enough to face and overcome anti-success forces. A person who desires to succeed in any venture must have the courage to conquer life's challenges as they come.

Someone has said that courage is fear that has said its prayers. Risk-taking requires enormous courage and strong determination to do so. There's a lot of obstacles or discouraging things in the way of success. It is obvious to all of us that nothing good comes easily. It is common knowledge that the world will not give you the things you deserve, but only the things you fight for, and as you and I know, not taking risk is itself very risky.

It takes courage to succeed where others have failed. It takes courage to persevere until one succeeds.

 Golda Meir, a former prime minister of Israel, once said, "All my country has is spirit. We do not have petroleum dollars. We do not have mines of great wealth in the ground. We do not have the support of a worldwide public opinion that looks favorably on us. All Israel has is the spirit of its people. And if the people lose their spirit, even the United States of America cannot save us." In fact, she is credited to have said, "Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us 40 years through the desert to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil!" 

A courageous heart or spirit can turn failure into success, a desert, arid or dry place into a fertile land, and a no-place into a paradise.

Courage means possessing spirit and having a heart that insists, persists, perseveres, and forges ahead regardless of challenges and difficulties. Courage implies a determined mind and a never-quitting spirit. Paul says, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil.3:13,14). 

A courageous person sees beyond obstacles and challenges to possibilities and accomplishments waiting to be realized. Courage includes staying power, a fighting spirit, and pressing forward, no matter what. I say to you today, don't lose heart! Confidence and courage will translate to success in your life.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter