Success Happens One Small Decision at a Time

SUBMITTED BY GARY KEESEE ON JULY 27, 2012 - 1:49PM


What I’m about to say may surprise you.

There’s no such thing as a big breakthrough.

I don’t mean to disappoint you if you’ve been waiting for your big breakthrough, but there’s no such thing. Success happens one small decision at a time. Success never surprised the person who’s successful. They can remember all of those small decisions that postured them with the ability to capture a moment in time.

When the rest of us see that moment in time, we say, “Oh my goodness, instant success!” But what we don’t see is that God’s power has been working with that person for a long time, and that person has said yes to God and gone through some uncomfortable times, maybe even some painful times, and their moment has finally been revealed. But that’s not when God first saw them.

The Bible says you were known in your mother’s womb. God had a dream for you before you were born. And He had a breakthrough for you before you were born. No, not the kind of breakthrough we’re taught in church about having, but an assignment, and a purpose. He needed you to be here on the earth at this specific time to break through something. There’s someone out there waiting for you to break through. There’s someone out there waiting for you to be his or her hero. There’s a world out there that needs to see relevant Christianity.

God is waiting on you. His breakthrough happened 2,000 years ago on the cross. He gave you the entire kingdom. He gave you the mind of Christ. He gave you everything you have need of in life. He gave you every bit of equipment, every tool, every bit of wisdom and knowledge to become more than an overcomer.

God’s system isn’t instant. We live in a culture that thinks everything is supposed to be instant. People think it’s not fair they don’t have success. People think we should take money from the wealthy and give it to the poor. They think we should all just have fun and we’ll succeed. We’d rather play the lottery, or believe God’s going to just put money in the mailbox. But it doesn’t work that way.

You may not be ready for success.

Yes, I said that. Imagine someone is dreaming of having a company of 1,000 employees, but he can’t get himself out of bed in the morning. He’s not ready for 1,000 employees. Or, let’s say you sell and install air conditioning systems, and you get 1,000 orders in one day. What would you do? Could you handle it? Could you, occupy, or capture the moment of success you’ve been dreaming about?

God has to train us and raise us up with the capacity to capture the success and the destiny He has for us in our future. Unfortunately, that’s not popular because people don’t want to pay the price to prepare for success.

In Deuteronomy 7:22, the Lord told the Israelites that as they drove the nations out, He wouldn’t do it all at once; only little by little, unless the wild animals became too numerous for them. They weren’t able to occupy the land. God has to lead us little by little, and grow us under His training and mentorship.

There’s a lot we can do to speed the process up, though. In 1 Timothy 5:22, Paul told Timothy not to lay hands on people suddenly, or to place people in leadership quickly, without a lot of forethought. 1 Timothy 3:8 says, “Deacons likewise are to be men worthy of respect.”

That means that there’s evidence of character. They need to be sincere. They’re on time at work. They do what they say they’ll do. They only say the truth. They aren’t moved by dishonest gain. Take a look at the church sometimes. People try to get jobs under the table so they don’t have to have taxes withheld. People change jobs five times a week. There is no evidence of character in that.

So, Paul is laying this out. He’s saying they must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. He says they must first be tested. And if there’s nothing against them, they can serve as deacons. Now if Paul told Timothy, a pastor, to test people before he placed them in leadership, what do you think God does?

God tests us.

Yes, you’re being tested. In fact, there are several tests you must pass to enter into the destiny God has for you.

The first test I believe everyone has to pass is called the Vision Test. That’s where you have to see past the familiar. Look at Joseph’s dreams in Genesis 37:

“He told it to his brothers. They hated him all the more. And he said to them, ‘Listen to this dream I had. We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field, and then suddenly my sheaf rose and stood up, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.’ His brothers said to him, ‘Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?’ And they hated him all the more because of his dream, what he had said. Then he had another dream. He told it to his brothers. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’ When he told his father, as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, ‘What is this dream you have? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?’ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in his mind.”

God has a dream for you. He has a dream, a plan, and an assignment for your life. But when you first have a dream, there’s pressure to let it go. It’s too big for you. You don’t know how to do it. The familiar presses against you and there’s persecution. The normal, the average speaks and cries out to you. “Why would you want to risk anything that you have?” The dream stage is usually an insecure, lonely, and unpopular place. At the dream stage, your destiny is a fragile thing.

In the dream phase, you can’t handle the details. Years ago, when Drenda and I were struggling to find one hundred bucks, what would have happened if God had said, “Oh, you think this is bad? In a few years, you’re going to have to believe me for $100,000 a month just to pay for TV time, not counting the ministry.” I would’ve collapsed! I’d have said, “Forget it, bud. I don’t want to do that.” But God, in His mercy, doesn’t reveal the whole picture to you at once. He reveals just enough to get you headed down the right path.

Will you hold onto the dream? Will you hold on to the picture God gave you? Will you pass the Vision Test?

Learn how you can pass the Vision Test, the Loyalty Test, and more.