WINNING THE WAR AGAINST LAZINESS PT4
 Pst. Favour



The is no substitute for hard work, if you want to succeed in life. Diligence or hard work is a major ingredient for success in life. It is a covenant requirement.

Proverbs 14:²³ In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

2 Thessalonians 3:¹⁰ For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

"In all labour there is profit." "He that does not work, let him not eat." These are all covenant demands, There is is bi substitute for hard work, if you want to succeed.

A gallup poll result in America came up with a statistics that revealed that 80% of the children of successful people in America do not succeed. This is because they are not exposed to the major ingredient that makes for success- hard work. Everything is done for them, they don't know how to do anything, so they end up not being able to keep a thing.

Every destiny decays in the hand of laziness, idleness and slothfulness. Just as success is as a result of diligence, failure comes through slothfulness.

Ecclesiastes 10:¹⁸ By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.

Success is impossible untill your hands are set to work.Until your hands become working hands, your life will no become a working life, for work is what determines your worth in life.

There is plenty in God's destiny for you, but the work you do with your hands is the avenue through which it will come. Even though God had promised to make Abraham great, we say Abraham getting busy with rearing cattle even at an advanced age of 75. He knew that the only way God would bless him was through the works of his hands. Genesis13:2 says this of him "and Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold." Solomon said:

Proverbs 10:⁴ He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. 

            13:⁴ The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

In Luke 18:1, Jesus spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not faint. This was ab advice, not a command. But when it came to work, He said, "I must work." It is not recorded anywhere in the bible where Jesus said, "I must pray." This is because if you do whatever He tells you to do, you won't need prayers to get Him committed.

Proverbs 22:²⁹ Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

 

DON'T GIVE UP (PERSISTENCE)

Laziness is a function of giving up. Giving up is not an option we have as Christians.

Those who play hard, suffer hard

Proverbs 14:²³ In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

Our work defines our worth. Give time to your work and don't take it casually.

Every profession has its rich people and poor people. There are rich musicians and poor musicians. There are poor doctors and rich doctors...

Everything you focus your attention on becomes something you have not seen before (you see it in new light)

Many great destinies have been reduced to nothing due to lack of zeal to keep trying and pushing something they believe in. An English saying says that 'if the deal is too sweet, think twice,' which means that more often the good things in life will not come so easily. It will require persistence for the actualisation of God's promise of a good heritage for you.

Genesis 26:12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.
13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:
14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
15 For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.

¹⁶ And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.
¹⁷ And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
¹⁸ And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
¹⁹ And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
²⁰ And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek(contention); because they strove with him.
²¹ And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.
²² And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
²³ And he went up from thence to Beersheba.
²⁴ And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.
²⁵ And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
²⁶ Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
²⁷ And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
²⁸ And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;
²⁹ That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the Lord.

Chapter 26 of Genesis starts by documenting the promises of God to Isaac in a land that had been stricken bu a great famine.


Genesis 26:1 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.
2 And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

Isaac wanted to go down to Egypt where there was no famine, but God told him not to, promising that He will bless him from there.


From vs12, we see the success of Isaac attracting opposition. He could dig a well and his enemies fill it up with earth all in an effort to stop him. he digs another one and they fill it up again, this happened 4 times.



Isaac knew what God had told him and he hanged onto that word and never gave up.


The tool of despair is one of the key tools the devils has continually used to rob believers of their glorious destiny. The devil knows that there is a great promise on your life and that if you keep believing and trusting in God it's just a matter of time and the promise will come to pass, so he will bring strife and opposition to make you give up.


Don't give up, God's promise over your life is sure. No matter how bad it looks or how low you get or how dark it becomes, I have a word of God for you...that God is still working behind the scenes for you.



The knowledge of this will energise you to keep working and believing, this will drive laziness out of your camp.

Things that people easily give up on:

1. The faith
2. Jobs
3. Relationships
4. Marriage
5. Life
6. Business Ideas
7. Country

When you give up, the energy to keep working slowly disappears, you lose passion in the things you were very passionate about, you even stop praying about them... the end of it is misery.

The promise of God is still true, no time to give up. HOLD onto his promise.