No matter where we are on the road to our success, often times lost on a detour away from it, we always want to know if there's one, and we hope it's simple and easy, step that we can take that will help us leap right to a happy, prosperous, and successful ending. The problem is that we too often fall prey to anyone that offers the "secret" to success. Especially if they tell us that they have the one secret that everyone else isn't telling us. I hate ads like that...I almost always fall for them.

Is there some simple step, or set of steps, that we can take that will help us be successful?

I believe that being successful is as easy as being a failure and, since it's no harder to succeed, why not choose success? I know that some people will struggle with the idea that we can simply choose to be successful because we feel like Tevye in "Fiddler On The Roof" who, in the song "If I were a rich man," asks God:

Lord who made the lion and the lamb, You decreed I should be what I am-- Would it spoil some vast, eternal plan, If I were a wealthy man?

We believe that we are victims to some plan that is keeping us where we are. We think that we're powerless to do anything about it, but that's simply not true.

The Bible tells us that God's character, who He really is, is displayed in the things that He has created. If we simply look around at nature, we see that God is a God of infinite abundance. That everything He has created has the innate ability to be successful no matter what it is or where it is. Just try to keep things from growing in your garden. It's an uphill battle because something always wants to grow; it's just not always what we want to grow.

Man is created in God's image. We are born with the desire to have more in life; we are born with the desire to create. God has given us that desire, so why would he give us the desire for more if He didn't want us to have more? God is a creator and He wants to create great things through each of our lives.

So what's the problem?

In the classes that I teach I often ask people what it is that they want. Some will come back with generic answers like: "I want a lot of money," or "I want to travel." But those are things that we think we'd like to have, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, and if God, or anyone else, would be willing to give them to us. But those answers aren't real wants, they're just whims or wishes.

For us to have what we want in life, to enjoy all that God would have for us, we need to make a decision. We have to be very clear about what it is that we want, no if's, and's, or but's.

How clearly have you defined what you want in life? Can you get a clear picture of it in your mind? Is it written down somewhere? How often do you think about it?

In Mark 10:51 Jesus asks a blind man, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man answered, "Rabbi, I want to see." I think it's safe to assume that this was something he really wanted and not just a wish.

If God were to ask you that question today, would you have such a clear answer? Do you know what you really want?

Copyright 2006 Rob Marshall