[Discoveries] 10-16-08 Real success -- Psalm 20:4-5

[Inspiration in Your Inbox]

/*May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans 
succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up 
our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your 
requests. -- Psalm 20:4-5*/

I love Psalm 20:1-5. I sign my books with this blessing because I 
believe it so much reflects the heart of God.

But this passage does raise questions. If God is so interested in our 
success, why does success seem to elude so many people?

I would like to suggest to you that God does not fail. God gives us 
desires because He wants us to have them, and He wants to satisfy them. 
When those desires get corrupted, He purifies them. God is the One who 
gives us dreams and plans and goals. Like Him, we imagine the future, 
and in step with Him, we experience the joy of realizing our dreams.

But sometimes we have to trade up. We need to exchange what we have for 
something better, because what we have won't work. If my early plans had 
succeeded, I would long ago have become a millionaire Ph.D. with a 
worldwide following. I also would be arrogant and worthless -- worthless 
to God and to anyone else. So, instead, God sent me to a school where I 
could really learn something -- and in this school I cleaned other 
people's bathrooms, and drove an old car that kept breaking down -- 
sometimes leaving me stranded and afraid. In those low moments, I 
learned life's real lessons and got an education that no certificate on 
a wall can match.

I keep on having dreams and plans and hopes -- and God keeps on 
unfolding His plan in my life, and in yours. It gets better and better, 
because, as His plans become our plans, there is no power that can keep 
us from success.

Be encouraged!
Dwight

What happens when you partner with Dwight Clough Ministries? Victims of 
violent crimes and survivors of abuse are finding peace, wholeness, the 
power to forgive and the strength to set boundaries. Those ensnared by 
addictions are finding freedom. Marriages are being restored. Families 
are strengthened. Christian brothers and sisters in restricted lands who 
face persecution are finding strength and encouragement. Young believers 
are learning how to walk with the Lord, and people are coming into the 
faith for the first time. None of this happens as a result of one 
person's efforts, but rather this is God's work as He blesses the 
sacrifice of many people including yourself. We partner with you, with 
other ministries, and, most significantly, with the Lord. That's how the 
supernatural happens.

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