The Reward Of Seeking God - In Life and Career.

Greetings, My Friends.

In my own journey, I have learned that success is not always a sign that we are on the right path. In fact, it is often in moments of achievement that we are most vulnerable to drifting away from God’s best for us. My encouragement to you, drawn from years of walking with the Lord, is this: seek God above all else. As 2 Chronicles 26:5 reminds us, intimacy with Him is the true foundation for lasting purpose, wise leadership, and the forward momentum He desires for your life and career.

Let us look together at 2 Chronicles 26:5 and the account of King Uzziah. Scripture tells us, “As long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him.” I have seen this truth play out in my own life and in the lives of many leaders I have mentored. Uzziah’s growth was directly connected to his pursuit of God and the wise counsel of Zechariah, a spiritual advisor who understood God’s vision. When that accountability faded, pride entered, and what seemed like unstoppable success became a sobering warning. This lesson is vital for every Christian leader who desires to walk in biblical prosperity and remain grounded as God opens new doors.

I encourage you to put these truths into practice through spiritual disciplines that have shaped my own walk with God: seek Him first in every decision, trust Him wholeheartedly rather than relying on your own understanding, and always acknowledge that every good thing comes from His hand. Surround yourself with wise counsel, especially as God brings success, and you will see His faithfulness in every season.

Tony Williams

https://www.seldicompany.com/

Transcript

Welcome And The Core Message

Tony 0:00

Greetings, my friends. Tony Williams here. Welcome to CELD, Summit Evergreen Leader Development Insights. Thank you so much for listening. God loves you unconditionally. And because He loves you this way, He has the very best in store for you. And the message He's given me to share with you is the reward in seeking God. The reward in seeking God in life and career. There is great reward in seeking God. And I want to share with you two or three key things that I believe God wants you to hear. Number one, God says, when you seek me with all your heart, you're going to find me. And when you find God, you have an intimate relationship with Him. And from that intimacy of seeking God, you get to know God. And in the process, you get a chance to know yourself and why you are here and your purpose and the confidence to go forward boldly with the vision that God has given you for your life and the goals that He's helped you set. This is why, my friend, I encouraged everyone at the beginning of the year to set a vision and goals that God would help us set for this year and beyond. And this is what God is saying to me today. I'm going to do extraordinary things in their life if they place me first and make a commitment to me. And he shared with me a verse that

Seeking God Clarifies Vision And Purpose

Tony 1:28

he gave me in 2 Chronicles 26, verse 5, approximately 10 years ago, and I want to share it with you. He continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had an understanding through the vision of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him. 2 Chronicles chapter 26, verse 5. God gave me that passage approximately 10 years ago, and I began to meditate on it, and it so grabbed my attention. I wrote it on a 3x5 card. And when I would travel to various cities where I would meet with groups of people to share insights and help them achieve their success and their goals, I would share this cart with various people along the way. I had it in my suit pocket on a three by five card. I wrote the verse down because God was sharing with me then an insight that he was saying, if you apply this to your life, Tony, you can have the same

King Uzziah And The Prosperity Pattern

Tony 2:30

success I gave to this man named King Uzziah. King Uzziah, this is an account of his life. God helped him and he was marvelously successful. The Bible says he was marvelously helped until he became strong. He became so powerful, so renowned and well known, he was one of the most successful kings during his time. And so God showed me that there is an insight that will help us as we go on our life and career journey. First and foremost, it said, He continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah. Who is this man named Zechariah? He was a man who the Bible says who had an understanding through the vision of God. You see, my friends, I was sharing earlier this year, having a vision for your life is essential. God wants all of us to have a vision for our lives. In addition, he wants us to set bold and courageous goals that he wants to accomplish, things he's prepared in advance that we should walk in them. This is what God wants us to do. And so if you have been following us since the beginning of the year, we've been talking about setting goals and having a vision inspired by God. This is what King Uzziah had. This is how Zachariah came alongside him and encouraged him in the disciplines of God. And I was thinking this morning as I began to meditate on that scripture. And I've continued to practice those disciplines. And God has shown me now, Tony, you are enjoying prosperity. And this is what happened with Uzziah. He said he continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had an understanding of the vision of God. And then he says, as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him. You see, seeking God is desiring to have an intimate relationship with him. Seeking God is listening to him and allowing him to guide us and instruct us. Just this morning, he gave me Proverbs, the third chapter, verses 5 through 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, Tony. Do not lean to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge me, and I will make straight your path. God was saying to me, Tony, I am beginning to bless you in ways that you can't even even fathom at this point. But I want you to trust me, continue to trust me, as you have been doing up until this point. This is what King Uzziah did. He trusted God, he relied on God,

When Success Turns Into Pride

Tony 5:20

as long as his spiritual advisor, Zechariah, was alive. But when Zechariah passed away, King Uzziah slipped from having an intimate relationship with God. He began to think that his success, his accomplishments were accomplished all by himself, and he became overcome with pride. Pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall. Pride was the downfall of Uzziah. He lost everything. He was stricken with an incurable disease at the time because he fell from his intimate relationship with God. And this is what God warned me this morning about. When I give you all this success that I have promised, foreordained for you, the prosperity, continue to practice the disciplines of seeking

Disciplines That Keep You Close

Tony 6:14

me, placing me first, an intimate relationship with me being your priority. I learned this in 2013 when a man came to me named Bill and he said, I want you to be a part of a disciple group where we're going to be studying the disciplines to have an intimate relationship with God. I joined the group and it was around that time I began a new assignment in my corporation. And I began to practice the principles that I was learning there with the people that I would encounter in my assignment. And I continued to do that throughout the years. I left the corporate assignment, and the Lord said, Now I want you to start a new company. It's called the Celdi Company. And now I want you to continue to share the insights that I've given you along the way with other people. Do you know God has given me prosperity? And here's what I've noticed. He has kept his promise. He said, If you seek me with all your heart, I will give you good success. And this is what we find in Matthew the 6th chapter, verse 33. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you. God is saying to you, my friend, make me your number one priority. Make intimacy with me your number one priority, and watch the marvelous ways I will help you. And then when you're helped, even now,

Trust God First And Give Thanks

Tony 7:40

have you taken the time to acknowledge that God has given you the success? Even now, if you're asking and believing God's going to give you the success, are you thanking him for it? Are you acknowledging that he is the source of every good thing? I encourage you, my friend, to make this your practice. Thank God for the success he's given you. There's a scripture that comes to me, and I shared it with a brother, and it's on my heart. Isaiah the 26th chapter, verse 12. It says, O Lord, you establish peace for me, for us. All that we have accomplished, you have done for us. Isaiah the 26th chapter, verse 12.

Three Takeaways And Closing Prayer

Tony 8:20

You see, my friends, there are three things I believe God is saying. Number one, seek me. Number two, have a spiritual advisor like Zechariah in your life that will speak godly truth to you, that will help you stay focused on your commitment and disciplines with your intimacy with God. And number three, trust and rely upon Him, and He will bring it to pass. All the good things He's placed in your path for you to accomplish. God will give you abundant prosperity. And this is what He's saying: all those who follow me, who trust me and rely upon me, I will overflow to them the prosperity that Uzziah enjoyed. But here's the warning: When you are prosperous and successful, do not forget the Lord your God. Continue to rely upon him, trust him, acknowledge him and praise him and share him everywhere you go. On the platform he's given you, acknowledge God. It is God who brought me here. It's my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who empowers me to be here. And when you do that, when you honor God, he knows I can trust you with more. Oh Father God, thank you for my brothers and my sisters. We trust you, we believe you, we rely upon you, we obey you, and we know that you love us unconditionally and you have the very best. And so we say yes, Lord, to your very best, to your glory, to your praise, and to your honor. Oh Lord, you establish peace for us. All that we have accomplished, you have done for us to the glory of God. Be blessed, my brothers and sisters, and share the goodness of God wherever you go. In Jesus' name. Amen.