In chapter four, we identified diligence as one of the covenant responsibilities you must embrace if you aspire to succeed in life. We will delve deeper into this subject in this chapter.

Indeed, there is no substitute for work if you want to succeed in life. Diligence, or hard work, is the main ingredient for a successful life. It is a covenant requirement.

“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” Proverbs 14:23

“For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.’” 2 Thessalonians 3:10

“All hard work brings abundance,” “The one who doesn’t work shouldn’t eat.” These are covenant requirements. There is no alternative to hard work in the race for success. A survey in the USA showed that statistically, 80% of the children of successful men in America do not succeed. This is because they are not subject to the major ingredient that generates success: work. Everything is done for them, so they know how to do nothing. This is why they end up being unable to hold onto anything.

Any destiny is ruined by lazy, idle, and slothful hands. Just as success is the result of diligence, failure comes through laziness.

“If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks.” Ecclesiastes 10:18

Success is impossible as long as your hands are not ready to work. Your life will remain unproductive until your hands are hardworking because it is work that determines your value in society.

There is abundance in the destiny God has reserved for you, but it is the work of your hands that constitutes the avenue through which this abundance reaches you. Although God promised to make Abraham great, we see him busy raising livestock at over 75 years old. He knew that God would only bring this blessing into his life through the work of his hands. Genesis 13:2 says:

“Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.” Solomon said, “Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.” Proverbs 10:4

When your hands are lazy, poverty is sure to meet you on your way. If you want to succeed in life, put your hands to work.

“A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” Proverbs 13:4

Failure only becomes your inheritance when your hands refuse to work. It is through diligence that you succeed. God has committed Himself by covenant to establishing His throne in the church of the last days because the law will go out from Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The last days’ church reigns. The Bible says in Proverbs 12:24:

“Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.”

You dominate, you reign by working! This is where many in the body of Christ have misunderstood. They try to replace work with prayer. But you do not reign by prayer. It’s through working! Prayers are spiritual desires, and if wishes were horses, beggars would ride them.

The Bible says that only the diligent will dominate, and the lazy will be subjected to labor. And the Scripture cannot be broken! Work is a commandment, even in the Bible. Jesus said in John 9:4:

“As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work.”

In Luke 18:1, Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. This was advice, not a commandment. But when it came to work, He said, “You must work.” Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus said one day, “I must pray.” This is because if you do everything He tells you, you won’t even need to pray for Him to be committed to your cause.

“Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.” Proverbs 22:29

“Skilled in his work,” not in his prayers. It is your disobedience to His command that makes you spend countless, useless hours in laborious prayers. A student who spends his time praying instead of studying will always fail.

You compel God to engage on your behalf when you diligently operate according to the principles of the covenant. Diligence is one of the principles of success on earth. If you do not work, you cannot access your covenant throne.

Jesus said, “I must work.” He didn’t stop there. He added: “My Father is always at His work, and I too am working.” So, God the Father works. Jesus, His Son and Messiah, also works. From whom do you get this laziness that is destroying your life in idleness?

Work authenticates faith (James 2:18). Faith is not what God will do: it is acting according to what God says to establish the desires of your heart. Do you want success? Then listen to what He asks you to do to succeed, and do it. And what does He say? Work! Either you are a worker, or you are worthless!

Work is of God. Hard work is His will. Success is a structure that each individual must build. No goodwill is strong enough to give success to a man unless it is coupled with diligence. There is no future in idleness, and no lazy person has a future in the kingdom either.

Dear friends, life brings nothing to those who only make wishes: it gives everything to the workers! It is better to pray little and work hard than to pray hard and work little. In the covenant, the harder you work, the more profits you gain.

When you spend time praying for success without working, you are not praying according to God’s will and should not expect an answer. But when you do what He commands, the miracle automatically awaits you. So go to work; the city is big enough to contain your success!

Diligence keeps you healthy. Since the day I began working full-time in ministry, I spend about 18 hours every day working, and I have never been healthier. My body is as strong as a rock, and all my organs function perfectly. You were created to work. When you do not work, you fall apart.

When you build a house and leave it unoccupied, don’t you see it slowly falling into ruin? The same way lazy people gradually wither away. Everything in them gets tired the kidneys, the lungs, the intestines, etc. Do not destroy your life like this. Nothing works if you don’t make it work. If you are not a worker, you will end up begging.

God the Father works. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. So how do you expect His approval if you spend all your days sleeping? Our ministry was commissioned on a Saturday, and I told the congregation that God must not find me at home on Monday at 8 AM. And on Monday morning, the entire staff and I were in the office a game room with a ping-pong table as our work desk! It was while we were there that we found more comfortable premises.

Do you remember the testimony of the brother in chapter three? The one who had self-declared Monday and Tuesday as holidays, along with, of course, Saturday and Sunday. You surely saw how poverty became his…

This text is an excerpt from the book “EXPLORING THE SECRETS OF SUCCESS” written by David O. Oyedepo.

We invite you to read the next article, “DECLARE YOUR SUCCESS.”

MAKE YOUR HANDS WORK. MAKE YOUR HANDS WORK. MAKE YOUR HANDS WORK.