I've been thinking about the word "establish". So I checked out the meaning of the word and I discovered that there were 5 elements in something being established.
1. The Planning
2. The Preparation for the future event
3. The Presentation of the finished product
4. The Pleasure others enjoy
5. The Personal Satisfaction and SUCCESS!
As an example, you look at those five steps in the preparation of a meal.
We plan ahead, get the recipe and buy the ingedients.
We prepare the meal.
We present the meal to the family.
Hopefully, they will enjoy it.
Then the SATISFACTION of providing a good meal, knowing that all were well fed and the meal was enjoyable..... hence a SUCCESS!!
So, for something to be established, it means that the end result is satisfaction and success!!
As I was thinking about that, I realised, in the past, how often I'd only got as far as step three, and not steps 4 and 5. Maybe because the works were done in my own strength. When we do that, we are prone to not seeing the thing succeed..
'Thus says the LORD:
"Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,[a]
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit." (Jeremiah 17:5-8, ESV)
So when we pray that prayer, we are praying for the WHOLE process, down to the satisfaction and SUCCESS!! But that success is not for our own glory, but for God's. That IS the success in it, that God has been glorified.
Here's another verse to support that:
"Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed." (Proverbs 16:3, Amp)
And Jesus said:
"In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father." (Matthew 5:16, NLT)
"We must work the works of Him Who sent Me and be busy with His business while it is daylight; night is coming on, when no man can work." (John 9:4, Amp)
To say it all very simply, if we want to succeed in what we do, find out what God wants us to do, and then do it HIS way!! We don't do it FOR HIM, in order to get His approval! Instead, we can do it THROUGH HIM, because we have His approval!!... remembering:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Phil 4:13, NKJ)
