James 1:17
‘every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from The Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning.’
- DAILY READING – Revelation 12; Esther 2; Psalm 105:26-45
J.C Penny stores is an international chain of departmental stores which grosses billions of dollars in income annually, and is regarded as one of the greatest store chains in the world. However, according to its founder, James C. Penney, this great success came only through total dependence upon God.
J.C Penney began life as an enterprising young man, who wanted early in life to succeed. Though born to Christian parents, he didn’t think he needed God, but rather thought that by his own strength and determination he could make it. So he worked hard and started his chain of stores in 1902. At first it seemed his hard work paid off, as his stores began to thrive and enjoy some level of success. He made money and became relatively wealthy by the standards of the day. Indeed he thought he had arrived, until something unexpectedly happened that changed all of that.
His wife of several years caught pneumonia and died. While he was still struggling with this, the stock market of 1929 crashed, leaving him in total financial ruin. His debts exceeded $7,000,000 and overnight J.C Penney went from being a very rich man to being a very poor man. He lost everything he had labored for, and was totally bankrupt. Unable to bear the weight of the calamity that had befallen him, physical collapse followed immediately. When he was admitted into the hospital, he didn’t even have money to pay his medical bills. One night while in an excruciating pain in the hospital, he felt his time to die had come. So he wrote a farewell letter to his family. As he closed his eyes in sleep, he didn’t expect to ever wake up again. But to his greatest surprise when morning came, he woke up. He then realized there must be a divine reason why he was still alive. Then at that moment he began to overhear the thread of an old, familiar hymn coming from the chapel. The hymn was ‘God will take care of you’. He listened to the words of the hymn which said ‘Be not dismayed whatever betides you, God will take care of you,’
Coming down from his bed, he followed the direction of the song to the chapel, where he found people praying. Someone then read a scripture passage ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest..’
On hearing this, J.C Penney finally surrendered to God. He had come to realize that without God’s help he couldn’t make it in life. And with this decision to follow Christ, soon afterwards things began to change dramatically for him. He became totally healed from all his infirmities. In the months that followed, he miraculously recovered his lost shops and his business once again began to thrive, but this time beyond his wildest expectations. He bought over many more stores and his business expanded to eventually become a very successful global venture.
The story of J.C Penney shows that ultimately man is dependent upon God for his success. Proverbs 11:28 says ‘he that trusteth in his riches shall fall’.
Indeed by strength shall no man prevail. God is the true source of success. It is His blessings that makes rich and adds no sorrow with it. And truly without Him we can do nothing. We need Him to live, move and have relevance in this life. This is why we praise God realizing He is the source of every good thing in our lives.
The bible says in James 1:17 ‘every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from The Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning.’
When we realize that it is only God’s grace, that could have brought us thus far, we remain grateful. It is not by power nor by might, but by The Spirit of God. Indeed our help is only in the name of The Lord. He is the doer of every good thing in our lives. And this is why we bless Him always. And when we praise Him, the earth yields her increase. Praise is the sickle of harvest.
Therefore to see the great and amazing blessings God has lined up for us in the coming days, we need to engage the power of praise. Praise is the key to fruitfulness. And as we praise God in everything, we are ushered into the realm of sweat-less triumphs. Indeed when we praise God, He turns our sweat to sweet and our pressures to pleasures.
PRAYER: Lord, today I want to deliberately thank and appreciate You for all Your goodness in my life. Indeed it is only by Your grace that I have come thus far. I thank You Lord for even the greater things You have in store for me this year. Indeed I know that I will only keep going from glory to glory in Jesus Name.
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Praise always guarantees you power for a raise, learning to praise God in season and out of season is key to fulfilling destiny. – WORDBITE 222.
[ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK DIVINE ORDER FOR A LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS]