Redefining Prosperity and Success

In 1964, just before joining the United States Air Force, a retired Army colonel shared some valuable advice with me. He told me that if I got stationed overseas, rather than taking leave time to return to the States, that I should use my leave time to travel in the surrounding countries where I was stationed.

As a result of his advice, I traveled to more than 30 countries during my four years in the service. Another piece of advice that the colonel gave me was to always work a little harder and strive to do more than anyone else among my peers.

Being well-grounded in Scripture can help us discern between the popular views of success and real success.

Belief Systems Matter

During my college years, I was blessed to have a summer job selling books door-to-door with The Southwestern Company (now Southwestern Advantage). It was an accelerated learning journey and introduced me to many new concepts and principles of success.

A few of the important lessons I learned during those years included being teachable, following instructions, disciplined work habits, good communication skills, time management, and many others. With The Southwestern Company’s significant growth and diversification, it has become the Southwestern Family of Companies, led by some really amazing people.

During those years, that I was exposed to a whole new world of ideas and belief systems. While the majority were beneficial, many were destructive and damaging.

Over time, I discovered that much of the success motivation and human potential movements were influenced by unbiblical Eastern mysticism, borderline occult, and new age belief systems.

Fruit in its Season

“The only things that last forever are the Word of God and people. That realization should help us prioritize our time and resources. ”

Being well-grounded in Scripture can help us discern between the popular views of success and real success. Joshua 1:8 tells us that if we know, meditate on and obey the Word of God, the Lord will make our way prosperous. The Psalmist tells us if we delight in and meditate on the law of the Lord, we’ll be like a tree, planted by rivers of water that brings forth fruit in its season, and whatever we do will prosper.

Many people have become very successful—by the world’s standards, by applying biblical principles. In fact, several years ago, a leading success motivation professional admitted that the primary concepts and principles of success that they charge huge amounts of money for what can actually be found in the Bible.

Having been involved in, benefited from, and observed the success motivation and human potential industry for more than 50 years, I have gained a few helpful insights into the movement. Because there is such a mixture of worldviews and belief systems today, it is easy for some people to be drawn into these unbiblical beliefs.

Nothing Wasted with the Lord

While in college in the early 1970s, one of my professors introduced me to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the Transcendental Meditation movement. Thinking it was just another self-improvement and personal development methodology, my wife and I were initiated into the Students International Meditation Society.

Thankfully, our TM journey was short-lived but turned out to be a valuable learning experience. In retrospect, it gave us some insight and discernment we may not have gotten otherwise. The Lord has used those experiences to better equip us for witness and ministry opportunities to those being introduced to various unbiblical belief systems.

One of my spiritual mentors years ago told me that there is nothing wasted with the Lord. Certainly, the Lord uses all of our experiences, both positive and negative, for our good and His glory. He brings light out of darkness. He turns curses into blessings and is faithful to redeem us from all our bad decisions, sin, and self-centeredness.

What Lasts Forever

One of my friends and mentors was the late Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, an internationally-known speaker and author. He received numerous awards and recognitions in his lifetime. He tells the story about how a fire that destroyed many of his trophies, awards, recognitions, and photos. As he was lamenting the loss, he said the Lord seemed to say to him, “It’s okay Charlie, I was going to destroy all of them anyway.”

In reality, all the material awards we accumulate here on earth will one day be destroyed. The only things that last forever are the Word of God and people. That realization should help us prioritize our time and resources. There are very few things we can do here on earth that will last for eternity.

Jerry Wiles is the North America Regional Director of International Orality Network, and President Emeritus of Living Water International. He is an author and radio program producer and has been a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows and traveled extensively as a public speaker. Jerry is an Air Force veteran, a former pastor and university administrator. He and his wife, Sheila, have two grown children and seven grandchildren.

We’ll send one succinct weekly email 

with the best news, events, and info

for churches in the Houston area.

A version of this article was originally published on The Assist News Service 

Photo by Ruthson Zimmerman on Unsplash

God's Ways of Expanding His Kingdom

“When we introduce people to a relationship with the living Christ, it can have a reproducing impact.”

While staying at a hotel during an out-of-town trip, my wife and I met a couple who were serving on a church staff in a town where we had some longtime friends. In conversations with the couple, we learned that the man came to the Lord and was discipled by a man who was led to the Lord by a friend that I introduced to Christ in 1975. 

I guess you could say we have spiritual grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It is encouraging to know that when we introduce people to a living relationship with the living Christ, that it can have reproducing impact.

Principles of the Kingdom of God

That experience was a good reminder of some important principles of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, a very small seed can produce a large plant. 

He also said the kingdom of God is like yeast. A small amount of yeast can affect a large lump of dough.  Little things can have such a big impact, especially in relation to our service and influence in ministry and mission work. It is also encouraging to know how God can use many different ways of advancing His Kingdom and how we can participate in His redemptive activities. God often does His most significant work in the most difficult times and the darkest places.

Sharing Christ, by All Means 

“God often does His most significant work in the most difficult times and the darkest places.”

In the 1980s, I began hearing reports of how churches were starting and reproducing in remote areas through radio broadcasts. One program consisted of simply reading Scripture at dictation speed, with no commentary. What was discovered later was that students were copying the Scriptures, reproducing and distributing them to others. 

Discussion and storytelling groups were springing up around the life, teaching, and Spirit of Jesus. Churches were being planted, growing, and reproducing. This is a great example of how God uses multi-model methods to spread the gospel and advance the work of the Church. In this case, it included oral or spoken methods, along with the use of modern technology and print-based media.

In the Orality movement, we like to emphasize how God is using all means available for communicating the gospel, reproducing disciple-making, and multiplying movements. Of all the ways and means He has used and is using, most people have come to the Lord through personal contact and Orality-based methods. The rapid growth of the Kingdom these days is happening among cell groups, simple, organic, house churches, communities of Jesus followers who meet in board rooms, storefronts, in schools, under trees, and many other expressions of the Body of Christ.

Focus on the Few to Impact the Many

We are to take the Good News of Jesus to the highways and hedges, to the ends of the earth. There are many examples in Scripture and throughout history of how little changes can have a big impact.

“As followers of Jesus, we can trust that the Holy Spirit will connect us with those with open and fertile hearts.”

Most major movements and spiritual awakenings have started with one person or a small group. It has been a joy to introduce people to Jesus, then discover later the impact they have had on others.

It is actually the reproducing life of the Lord Jesus in and through our humanity that produces lasting fruit. There are many examples and demonstrations of the kingdom principles of the mustard seed and yeast. 

As followers of Jesus, we can trust that the Holy Spirit will connect us with those with open and fertile hearts. When we introduce one person to the living Christ, it often opens a door to an entire network of new connections and relationships.

The Mission Field We All Live In 

Every Christ follower lives in a mission field, made up of families, neighbors, co-workers or fellow students, and friends, as well as those in their normal traffic patterns. Every individual we encounter also has a network of relationships, made up of families, neighbors, co-workers, friends, and others. Being aware of the Trimtab factor can help us realize the potential we can have for the kingdom by sharing the gospel with one person. We can focus on the one, or the few, to impact the many.

It is valuable to know what it means to be salt and light and to realize that we can be part of reproducing and multiplying spiritual movements. Every member of the Body of Christ has the capacity and opportunity of participating in church multiplication.

“Every Christ follower lives in a mission field made up of those in their normal traffic patterns”

In our Orality Training and practices with Living Water International, we have observed that God often uses the most unlikely people to spread the Good News of Jesus. 

Sometimes all it takes is a spark that ignites a movement of reproducing communities of Jesus followers. My longtime friend, Dick Eastman recently shared on the topic of spiritual awakenings. He pointed out that every major movement of God throughout history started with a few praying people. He noted that from research by scholar and historian J. Edwin Orr that throughout Church history these awakenings started, on average, with eleven people.

God Honors His Word

It was encouraging to recently reconnect with a man that I led to the Lord almost 30 years ago. He shared about several family members, a number of co-workers, and others who have come to the Lord over the years. In fact, one of his brothers had become a pastor in a creative access country in the Middle East. 

When we sow the Seed of the Word of God, we can have confidence that it will not return void. If we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly, but if we sow abundantly, we will reap abundantly, as we are told in Scripture. God is faithful and will honor the little things we say and do in His Name.

For more information, visit – www.water.cc or  www.orality.net

Jerry Wiles is the North America Regional Director of International Orality Network, and President Emeritus of Living Water International. He is an author and radio program producer and has been a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows and traveled extensively as a public speaker. Jerry is an Air Force veteran, a former pastor and university administrator. He and his wife, Sheila, have two grown children and seven grandchildren.

We’ll send one succinct weekly email 

with the best news, events, and info

for churches in the Houston area.

A version of this article was originally published on The Assist News Service.

Photo by Dương Trí on Unsplash