A Believer’s Response to Success

A Believer's Response to Success

What comes to your mind when you hear or read the word success?

Is success simply a favorable or desired outcome to you?

Or is it tied more to attaining wealth, favor, or eminence?

I found these definitions of the word success on Merriam-Webster.com.

How might these definitions change when we add the qualifier found in the title above, “A Believer”?

In 2 Chronicles 20:1-19, we learn that King Jehoshaphat learned three people groups were advancing to attack Jerusalem. His immediate response to this threat was to call the tribe of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to fast and pray to the Lord.

The Lord responded through a prophecy by Jahaziel with encouragement and assurance that He would handle the threat.

Yet they were still told to show up for the battle the next day.

We join the narrative at this point.

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What Does it Take to Succeed in Prayer?

Chickadee

Have you ever watched a chickadee learn to land on a feeder?

One morning when I looked out our window to check the status of our bird feeder, I had the opportunity to see baby chickadees attempting to master this exact skill.

They would sit on the tree branch nearby and ruffle their feathers several times before making each attempt to land on the feeder.

Mostly that day they kept missing the mark, skidding, and fluttering down to the ground.

But then, after a moment to compose themselves, they would swoop back up to the tree branch and try again.

Yes, at times they would miss the tree branch too!

I marveled at their tenacity and resilience to keep trying.

Even more amazing, by the next morning these tiny creatures had mastered this new skill.

It was astonishing to see them zipping from branch to feeder to branch to ground and back again looking like total experts at what just the day before was filled with so much failure.

What can we learn from the example of the chickadees above and Matthew 21:22 to succeed in prayer?

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