How To Attract God’s Favor For Success In Life

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But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

 James 4:6 (New International Version)

Everybody wants to succeed in life, but very few know the secrets to true success. In this post, I will be sharing with you on how being humble can make you a winner!

I am pretty sure you are wondering now, how is humility related to success? Or perhaps asking, what has humility got to do with my promotion? The straightforward answer is this: God values humility and rewards it accordingly. Let me put it in another way. Humility has the ability to attract the grace of God which essentially forms the basis for true success in life. The word grace, according to the Oxford dictionary, means the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. In other words, we have no right to anything in life, but the grace of God gives us all things. It is just by grace that we have what we have and we must never discount the role of God’s grace in our lives.

Paul taught the Philippians humility as an important life lesson (see Philippians 2:3). He encouraged them to stay humble, and to see others as better than themselves. From experience, I know this is a very difficult thing to do. For instance, relating to someone you are far more experienced or older than as though the person was rather more experienced than you or with someone you are more educated than as though the person was rather more educated than you. In essence, humility demands that you always present yourself as a child, regardless of status, rank, skill or wealth. Practicing this may feel unnatural at first, but if you keep at it, you’ll be delighted at its fruits in your life.

It is very important to practice humility consistently because it connects to success. You see, the grace of God is what actually secures success in life by creating opportunities and empowering you to appropriate them. Humility is what draws that grace. In other words, humility can trigger the flow of God’s grace which in turn unlatches the doors of all kinds of success into your life. Therefore, to guarantee success in the long run, understanding and applying this simple truth steadily to your life as a believer, is very crucial.

Take Moses for example. He was described as humble above all men in his time. As a child, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and named him as her son (see Exodus 2:5-10). By that act, Moses became a prince of Egypt and as a result was clothed, fed, housed, trained and educated accordingly. He had an upbringing which was entirely different from other Hebrew children. Nonetheless, Moses was humble.

Now the man Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.

Numbers 12:3 (New International Version)

Many people today who have high education and obtained various laurels for academic excellence tend to be proud or arrogant. They consequently stagnate and do not see further success. This, however, wasn’t the case for Moses. In those days, Egyptians were at their peak in literature, philosophy, astronomy, math and medicine. In fact, history acknowledges ancient Egypt’s great contributions to modern civilization, and Moses was educated in all the ways of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). He probably attended the prestigious University of Egypt which would have been the best university of his time. Furthermore, he would have had the best professors to bring him up to speed on all subjects. I have no doubt Moses was a grade A student and would have piled on the honors. But, instead of the number of awards, he was uniquely identified by his humility.

To add, Moses was not just an educated elite but was also a great prophet. Later in his life, he encountered the one true God and had many supernatural experiences that could have opened him up to pride. However, Moses was so down to earth and compassionate, choosing to always stay humble. There are several records of the mighty works God did through Moses that are wonderful and awesome. Believers today yearn to experience such dimensions with God but always come short. To everybody seeking to walk with God as Moses or any great prophet did, I will like to recommend humility as a good starting point.

The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.

Exodus 11:3 (New International Version)

From the above verse, it is evident that Moses was great, and his greatness was predicated on humility. Humility will always free up the grace we require to excel in life. Today, Moses is revered in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim worlds. I hope by now you can clearly see why as believers, we must be humble in life.

Paul acknowledged the grace of God in his life’s accomplishments (1 Corinthians 15:10). That’s, Paul attributed what he achieved throughout his ministry to the grace of God. The grace was made available to him owing to his humility. Please note that in the face of humility, greatness is certain. By contrast, without humility, greatness will be elusive.

As believers, there is no limit to what we can accomplish on earth as long as humility is our hallmark. Humility will certainly open the door for the grace of God and the grace would bring success. Please remember, we can do all things (Philippians 4:13). Let’s stay humble in spite of what God gives to us or where God takes us in life and keep the fire burning until the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ!

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Co-authored with Ferdinand.