Keys to Successful Living: 12 Ways to Discover God's Best for Your Life (8 page)

I
TRUST
THAT
you are finding in each of these chapters a growing sense of strength and direction as you set out to apply them personally. Remember that each step or resolution determines attitude, attitude determines approach, and approach determines outcome. In our next chapter, which is the final chapter of the book, we will look once more at all twelve resolutions for purposes of memorization.

1. Let us fear
   
2. Let us be diligent
   
3. Let us hold fast our confession
   
4. Let us draw near to the throne of grace
   
5. Let us press on to maturity
   
6. Let us draw near to the Most Holy Place
   
7. Let us hold fast our confession without wavering
   
8. Let us consider one another
   
9. Let us run with endurance the race
   
10. Let us show gratitude
    
11. Let us go out to Him
    

In this chapter, we will cover the twelfth and the final key found in the book of Hebrews.

To me, this final key is very appropriate for the successful life, and it is very beautiful: “Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.” The final key is that which we are
going to go on doing. Are you willing to go on doing what this verse says—continually offering up a sacrifice of praise to God? It will make all the difference in what the future holds for you.

Gratitude Leads to Praise

This final key, offering up a sacrifice of praise to God, is related in a direct and practical way to the two previous keys. Those are, “Let us show gratitude” and “Let us go out to Him outside the gate.” Do you see the progression? Gratitude naturally leads to praise.

There are many passages in the Bible where thanksgiving is connected closely with praise. One of the most beautiful is Psalm 100:4: “[We] enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise” (
NKJV
). The first step in access to God is thanksgiving; the second step is praise. Thanksgiving leads to praise. It finds expression in praise. It flows out in praise.

The key just before this one, “Let us go out to Him outside the camp,” requires us to be identified with the cross of Jesus. To follow Jesus we must accept the reproach of His cross. As we pointed out, such an identification brings us release from the two slaveries of pleasing self and pleasing the world. This key is directly related to offering the sacrifice of praise. You might not see it at first, but the two hindrances to spontaneous, free-flowing praise in our lives are love of self
and love of the world. As long as our affections are centered in ourselves or in the world, we are not really free to praise God. But the cross removes these two hindrances and sets us free to praise Him.

The Mystery of Liberty

When we experience the power of the cross in this liberating way, we are no longer affected by what happens to us. We are not affected by our moods, our problems or by apparent adversity. We are no longer affected by what goes on in the world around us.

At times, we might sit and listen to the news, and afterward think, “The situation is pretty bad. There are problems, disasters, crime, immorality. . . .” But you see, we are not living in this world. The world does not dominate us. It does not dominate our thinking. We are in the world but not of the world. Then, when we are released from that slavery to the world, when the world no longer controls our thinking and our motivations, when we have been liberated by the cross in that inner attitude toward the world, there is nothing left to hinder our praise. At that point, we do not praise God just when all is going right with the world. We do not praise God just when all is going right with ourselves. Rather, we praise God because He is worthy to be praised. Our liberated spirits are not entangled with self-love and the love of the world.

There is a tremendous mystery regarding the liberty that comes through being identified with the cross of Jesus. Praise is a significant aspect of that mystery. You can find out a lot about people when you study how much praising they do. You find out what kind of lives they are living. Are they still slaves of the “old man,” or have they entered into the resurrected life of the “new man”?

The old man is a grumbler. When you hear a person grumbling, you know that is the old man speaking. But the new man is a praiser. So which are you? Is it the old man who speaks through you, or the new man who praises through you? The old man says, “I can’t take this any longer. Things are getting too bad. Nobody treats me right. I don’t know what’s wrong with the world.” The new man says, “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! I’m free. I’m a child of God. Heaven is my home. God loves me.” Which is your attitude?

In chapter 5, I quoted a sentence from Proverbs 18:21: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” There are two results that come out of the tongue: death and life. If you grumble, if you are negative or self-centered, your tongue will bring forth death. If you are liberated from all that, walking in the praise of God and the worship of God, your tongue will bring forth life. Please bear this in mind: Whatever your tongue brings forth in the way of fruit—whether sweet or bitter—you are going to eat that fruit.

Praise—A Sacrifice

I want to go back for a moment to that verse in Hebrews 13:15 and bring out one more important point. The writer says: “Through Him [Jesus] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.” One significant word there is
sacrifice
. Praise is a sacrifice. A sacrifice, according to the principles of Scripture, requires a death. Nothing was ever offered to God that had not passed through death. So we see from this insight that the sacrifice of praise requires the death of the old man.

The old man cannot really praise God as God deserves to be praised. There has to be a death. Then, too, a sacrifice costs something, and praise is costly. Let me put it this way: We need to praise God most when we least feel like it. Praise cannot depend on our feelings. It is a sacrifice of our spirits.

David’s Example

David gives us a wonderful example of this. The introduction to Psalm 34 says, “A psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed.” At the time this psalm was written, David was a fugitive from his own country. King Saul was trying to kill him. David had to leave his familiar surroundings and was forced to seek refuge in the court of a Gentile king.

All the while, Abimelech the king suspected him of being an enemy. In order to save his own life, David had to feign
madness. It says in the historical book that he scribbled on the door and he slobbered on his beard. That was his situation.

What was David’s reaction to this desperate situation? We read it in the first three verses of this psalm:

I will bless the L
ORD
at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the L
ORD
; the humble shall hear it and rejoice. O magnify the L
ORD
with me, and let us exalt His name together.

Psalm 34:1–3

Is that not marvelous? Right there, in such a terrible situation, with his life hanging in the balance and the shame of having to feign madness, David said, “I will bless the L
ORD
at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” That, my friend, is the sacrifice of praise. David’s overriding desire was to go on boasting in the Lord. There may be nothing else for us to boast in, but we can boast in the Lord.

This psalm also says, “The humble will hear it and rejoice,” followed by, “Let us exalt His name together.”

Praise is infectious. But grumbling is infectious, too. If you grumble, you will get fellow grumblers. But when we learn to praise God this way, others will join us. Can we learn to offer that sacrifice of praise to God continually? If so, we will be obedient to our twelfth step toward a successful life: “Let us offer up a sacrifice of praise.”

I
N
THIS
CLOSING
CHAPTER
,
I am going to review all the twelve keys we have looked at together through the course of this book. In addition, I will sum up the main lessons we have learned from each of them.

Review is an essential part of all successful teaching. I believe the review I am bringing to you here will help to imprint these keys on your mind. It will help to make them a real part of your life from now on. They have the potential to make your future years successful and blessed.

Key #1: Let Us Fear

Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.

Hebrews 4:1

This is the attitude of reverent respect for God and His requirements. Let me be clear: This is not a slavish fear—God has not given us a spirit of slavish fear. Instead, this is an attitude of reverence and respect for God, the opposite of self-confidence and presumptuousness. In order to walk in reverent respect and honor to the Lord, you and I must not only fear Him, but also lay aside any and all self-confidence and presumption.

Key #2: Let Us Be Diligent

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.

Hebrews 4:11

“Let us fear” leads us on to “Let us be diligent.” Not only should we not be presumptuous or self-confident—also we must not be negligent, but rather take life and commitment to the Lord seriously. As it were, we are to roll up our spiritual sleeves and go to work.

Connected to this key are two verses from Proverbs 10: “The blessing of the L
ORD 
.
 
.
 
. makes rich” (verse 22) and “The
hand of the diligent makes rich” (verse 4). We put these two principles together to experience the blessing of the Lord. On one hand, it is His blessing; but on the other hand, it is our diligence that receives His blessing.

Key #3: Let Us Hold Fast Our Confession

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Hebrews 4:14

It is our confession that relates us to Jesus as our High Priest. We must make the right declaration with our mouths, making the words of our mouths agree with God’s written Word. Every time we make the right confession, speaking it boldly in faith, Jesus is obligated by His eternal faithfulness to make sure our confessions are fulfilled. He is the High Priest of our confessions. We make a confession and then hold it fast in faith and perseverance.

Key #4: Let Us Draw Near to the Throne of Grace

Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

We are to come to the throne where Jesus sits as King—King of the universe, with all authority and power. He wants to help us, but we are obliged to be humble and acknowledge our need of help. This passage directs us to come for mercy and for grace, not for justice. Not for a due reward for our merits, but because we need Him. We come because He is faithful and because He invites us. We can come with confidence, therefore, even in the time of need, even when the situation is desperate. Even when we think there is no source of help, we can find help if we come to that throne of grace.

Key #5: Let Us Press On to Maturity

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity.

Hebrews 6:1

We must move forward rather than remaining static in the Christian life. The Christian life is not a place to sit—it is a path to move along. “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day” (Proverbs 4:18). Therefore, as those who are in that way of righteousness and faith, we must be moving forward. Our goal is maturity—to be fully grown up, complete individuals in Christ. In that context, the only alternative to obedience is a sad one. What is that alternative?
The condition of arrested development, remaining forever spiritual infants, always tossed to and fro, never stable, never mature. The best alternative for you and me is that we press on together.

Key #6: Let Us Draw Near to the Most Holy Place

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus . . . let us draw near to God with a sincere heart.

Hebrews 10:19, 22
NIV
1984

Putting together verses 19 and 22, “Let us draw near” in this context is “Let us draw near to the Most Holy Place.” In an earlier resolution (Key #4), we were exhorted to draw near to the throne of grace. That was our invitation to come for help. But with Key #6, we are invited to go right in to the Most Holy Place—the place of God’s own immediate presence, the place where God sits on the throne. We are invited to share the throne with Him.

Jesus is the forerunner who has gone before us. He is the new and living way. He died, was buried, rose again and was raised up into the glory of the Father. As we are identified with Him in each of those successive experiences—death, burial, resurrection and ascension into glory—we find that we have come into the Most Holy Place. We are entitled to draw near to that Most Holy Place and to enter in. This Scripture exhorts us to do so.

Key #7: Let Us Hold Fast Our Confession without Wavering

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:23

This key, of course, goes closely together with Key #3: “Let us hold fast our confession.” Two very important words, however, are added: “Let us hold fast our confession
without wavering
.” Why is it important that
without
wavering
is put in? Circumstances will come along that could make us inclined to waver. There will be times of extreme pressure. There will be times of darkness—when everything seems to have gone wrong and it seems nothing is working out. What are we going to do then? Are we going to quit? Or are we going to hold fast without wavering? You and I must make up our minds right now that the next time the pressures come, we will not be quitters. We will hold fast without wavering—because He is faithful who promised. We might not see Him; we might not feel Him; He might seem to be far from the scene. But He is still there and He is still faithful.

Key #8: Let Us Consider One Another

Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

Hebrews 10:24

Let us consider one another—this is our release from self-centeredness. Self-centered people are never happy people. They are never fully content. It always seems that something is missing from their lives, even though they may have everything the world has to offer. We can never find true peace and true inner rest as long as we are centered in ourselves. One practical remedy is to consider one another, to invest our lives in others, to provoke others to love and good deeds. I think one of the most applicable Scriptures for this key is Galatians 5:13: “Through love, serve one another.” Put others first. Be more interested in them. We will get a wonderful response from them and, at the same time, we will get release from our own self-centeredness.

Key #9: Let Us Run with Endurance the Race

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Hebrews 12:1

The Christian life is like a race. There is a course marked out ahead of us. We have a goal, and there is a prize waiting. But if we are going to achieve the goal, if we are going to win the prize, we must run the race with the right attitude. We have to run it with endurance. We have to hold out. And to do that, we have to go into training.

Key #10: Let Us Show Gratitude

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe.

Hebrews 12:28

There is a clear, close relationship between gratitude and grace. Having grace will always be expressed in being thankful. God expects us to appreciate what He does and to express our appreciation verbally.

Key #11: Let Us Go Out to Him

Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

Hebrews 13:12–13

This means that we identify ourselves not just with Jesus, but also with His cross. This means we are willing to recognize that this world is not our home, and that there is always a price to pay to be a Christian. We cannot lead the Christian life and reject the principles of the cross. The cross means death to self and death to the world.

Key #12: Let Us Offer Up a Sacrifice of Praise

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.

Hebrews 13:15

Praise is the natural outcome of the previous eleven keys. It also sets the seal upon them and makes them sure.

Are You Ready?

There you have it—twelve intentional keys you can take hold of not only for a better year but for a better life. It is probably somewhat obvious to you that these resolutions that we have outlined are as challenging as they are life-changing. In fact, you cannot put them into practice without significant help from the Lord. It will take His abundant grace to accomplish everything you have read in this book. The good news is that His grace is there for the asking.

Having read this book, and being convinced of the truths therein, are you ready to ask the Lord to help you put it into practice? You can do so right now by praying the following prayer:

Dear Lord, I want to and need to take up the keys outlined in this book. I believe and proclaim that Your truth has the power through these principles to change my life permanently for the better.

I come to You now in the name of Jesus, asking for Your mercy and grace to help me in my time of need.

As sincerely as I know how at this moment, I commit myself fully to You and to the process of using these twelve keys to successful living.

I place myself and all aspects of my life in Your capable hands. Help me, Lord Jesus, by Your Holy Spirit, to fulfill the demands and requirements involved in using these keys.

For every good result and blessing that comes through Your grace and my obedience to You, I will be careful to give You all the praise, thanks, honor and glory. You alone deserve it, Lord Jesus—for it is in Your name that I pray. Amen.