Success

I dare you to achieve more this coming week than you have for any week in the previous 6 months.

Success is:-

1/ Knowing your purpose in life. 
2/ Sowing to reach your maximum potential. 
3/ Sowing seeds that benefit others. 
As John Maxwell would put it "success is a journey".

Most of us, for most of the time, take for granted the fact that we live and die, produce and consume, sow and reap within the context of law.

There are laws that govern success. Just like there are laws that govern the physical universe and laws that govern the spiritual universe. There are laws that govern every aspect of life and God’s laws govern over all.

We need to understand the laws that govern success and apply those laws to our life and circumstances in order to succeed. The Bible says "as a man sows, so shall he reap". We won’t necessarily see immediate results but as we continue to discipline our lives and live them according to God’s Word and His laws of success, we will regulate our lives for success. By the law of sowing and reaping, we are assured that if we persist in these principles of success then we will reap the rewards. As I write these notes I am thinking about the statement I started out with to achieve more in this coming week. I have been thinking about going to the Hillsong Conference for a couple of months but now as I write I am going to make the quality decision to go and as you are aware the week has begun and the conference is in progress. So, you will get these notes a couple of days late this week.

Well, I made the decision and I am glad I did. I had put off making that decision due to other commitments and a heavy workload that I wanted to get through. One thing that I have learned in life is that life is a serious of decisions and some major decisions can’t be made quickly but need time for deliberation. While other decisions must be made quickly, but I have found that all high achievers have the ability to make decisions in important areas because sometimes we can put off a decision and in doing so we hinder our ability to advance in life and our chosen field of endeavour. The Hillsong Conference was awesome, the speakers anointed and powerful and I also found the Christian Resource Exhibition to be of great value to any church, pastor or ministry. To be able to view, speak to and see new ideas to help grow a church and ministry, all under one roof was invaluable. I have made the decision to book a stand at the CRE pavilion next year during the Hillsong Conference for our World Harvest Missions.

We have a vision for our church, a vision for our missions, a vision for our cell groups, the Bible says "without a progressive vision the people dwell carelessly". I personally have a major life goal which just recently on a trip to South Africa in April. I condensed to one sentence, that is my goal in life and everyday I now think about what I do and line it up with my priorities in life. The decisions that I now make I make in line with my life goal in order to keep me focused, on track and progressing in my success journey. On top of my life goal I have a number of other major goals that I want to achieve during my life. Some of these are short term projects and other long term projects. For example one of my major goals that is along term commitment is to stay healthy and strong by choosing (making a decision) to eat healthy and exercise regularly. Then I have numerous minor goals and these can have specific time frames. For example one minor goal that I had this year was to throw a surprise birthday party for my wife. Obviously this goal had a specific time frame and was measurable and achievable. My family was able to keep it quiet and Kerrie was indeed surprised. More on goal setting in later editions.

Knowing Your Purpose In Life

The evidence is overwhelming that you cannot begin to achieve your best unless you set some aim in life. I believe God created every person for a purpose. Every one of us has their own specific vocation or mission in life. Every one of us must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Each of us has a purpose for which we were created. Our responsibility, our greatest joy is to identify it. I highly recommend that you read Forty Days of Purpose by Rick Warren. We need also to find the specific desire that burns in our heart that speaks to our deepest thoughts and feelings the mission God has created us for. I like to say sometimes the thing that infuriates you the most could be the very problem God has called you to solve. Believe in your divine destiny, believe in your purpose. It has taken me all of these years to get my life purpose down to one sentence and I intend to spend the rest of my life working on it.

Sowing Seeds To Reach Your Maximum Potential

It is never to late to be what you could have been. There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can. We can do anything but we can’t do everything. Many people let everyone and everything around them dictate their agenda in life, as a result they never really dedicate themselves to their purpose life. They become a jack of all trades, master of none. Rather than a jack of few trades, focused on one. We have to keep the main thing, the main thing. Sometimes we have to neglect the good to give ourselves to the best and if you want to accomplish great things you have to be willing to sacrifice much. It was said of Sam Walton the founder of Wal-Mart, there has never been a day in his life that he didn’t improve himself in some way. I dare you to improve everyday. I dare you to focus on the main thing God has called you to. I dare you to become an expert. It has been said "if you will study any field one hour a day for five years you will become an expert in that field". I dare you to read personal growth books. I dare you to take communion and line yourself up with the Word of God. As you take these challenges you will find that what you get as a result of your growth is not nearly as important as what you will become along the way. I dare you to forget the past, to see this as a new day, start afresh and along the way I dare you to sow seeds that benefit others. Mark Twain said "truly great people will tell you, you can be truly great as well". God showed me we are made great by each other’s greatness. As you inspire someone, stand with someone, help someone their victory becomes your bread. The Bible says "to bear one another’s burdens". We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Giving is the highest level of living. All of us are born for a reason, but most of us don’t discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or what you accomplish for yourself, it is what you do for others that counts.

I DARE YOU to sow a seed to benefit somebody else and succeed and be successful in life today. Success is no longer a distant future goal, it is a present reality.

God Bless You! 


Dr. Shaun Marler 
Senior Pastor 
World Harvest Ministries 

P.S. I dare you to attend Dr. Peter Daniels two night seminar on the 7th and 8th of September at 7:30pm, located at World Harvest Ministries, 53 Telegraph Road, Bald Hills Qld 4036. Dr. Peter Daniels is an entrepreneur business man and one of the most dynamic speakers on personal goal setting I have ever heard. This seminar will change your life, you will never be the same again….see you there!!!!