We are living in days where people are saying that to have a successful life is becoming an impossibility. Well, let me tell you that although life can be very challenging, the reality is that if you follow and apply the instructions of the Divine Manual, then you can surely succeed.

Most people buying a new product never read the manual that comes with it. Even when forced to work with a new tool, most users will skip over the instructions and assume most of it can be figured out by using common sense. Well, the primary goal of a user manual is to give assistance to the user for safe and effective use of the product.

Last week, we looked at two of the five keys that will lead you to experience a successful life; so this week let’s continue to discover the other three keys, but let me remind you the purpose of a manual:

A Manual provides instructions or guidelines on how to perform an activity and serves as a reference book for the activity.

A manual not only helps users get started but also assists them with ongoing problems they might face. It usually contains step-by-step instructions which can help users tackle any situation that might arise with the product.

Reading the manual will reduce mistakes and improve the efficiency for the user, in other words, the manual will inform the user about how to use the product safely and warn them of any potential danger of its misuse. Therefore, it helps users to maximise the performance of the product as well as its longevity.

• Trusting and Standing on God’s promises from His Divine Manual must be your confidence. 

Scripture tells us, ‘for all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen’ (2 Corinthians 1:20 KJV). God’s Word is sprinkled with many promises, and here are some promises from the Divine Manual:

When FEAR comes – ‘Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand’ (Isaiah 41:10 NLT).

When DOUBT comes – ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them’ (Mark 11:23 NIV).

When facing IMPOSSIBILITY – God is ‘able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us’ (Ephesians 3:20 NKJV). In other words, know one thing: God is not a man that He should lie. That is why you can trust in God’s promises and be confident that they will come to pass – ‘Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise’ (Hebrews 10:23 NLT).

So, get hold of and stand on God’s promises until you see their fulfilment in your own personal life.

• Depending and relying on The Holy Spirit must be your strength.

There is a big difference between God’s strength and human strength, and you will never make it by depending on your own strength alone. The Lord is the one who will stand with you and strengthen you as you seek to live by the instructions in the Divine Manual. The reality is that we can get disappointed by each other, but never by God as His desire is for us to be successful in everything we do. It’s why God wants you to know that once you invite Him into your lives, he will come to reside within you by His Holy Spirit and will be there to help you in whatever situation you will face. Of course, if you allow Him to guide you, lead you and direct you through His Divine Manual then you can experience a successful life, even when challenges come your way.

• Loving God and each other must be your priority

Loving God should be our first priority. ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you’ (Matthew 6:33 NKJV).

Putting God first means that we keep the greatest commandment: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’ (Matthew 22:37 NIV). In other words, we are to totally invest ourselves in our relationship with God. Everything we have and everything we are must be devoted to Him; we should hold nothing back.

Loving each other should be our second priority. This second priority according to Jesus is to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ (Matthew 23:39 NIV). What does it look like to love other in this manner? Well, this is fairly simple: it means to consider and treat others with the same care and concern as you have for yourself.

Therefore, my challenge to all of us is to be diligent, to get the priorities of our own life into proper order if they are not so already, and then to remain vigilant to make sure they stay in the proper order.

Our flesh, the world, as well as the Enemy of our souls wants our selfish desires to always be at work to divert us away from God’s commands. That is part of the reason it is so important to be actively involved in the body of Christ in a local church, so that other believers can keep us encouraged and accountable even as you do the same for them.

Another important factor is that it should be our trade mark as disciples of Jesus. Here is what Jesus said in John 13:35: ‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’

So, in conclusion: remember!

– Your FOUNDATION must be reading and applying the Divine Manual

– Your PLAN must be seeking and fulfilling God’s purposes

– Your CONFIDENCE must be in trusting and standing on God’s promises from His Divine Manual

– Your STRENGTH must be in depending and relying totally on the Holy Spirit

– Your PRIORITY must be loving God and each other