Thus, while the rest of the disciples were contemplating a change of location, Andrew was searching for the oasis that must exist in the desert. And he found one – a lad with five loaves and two fishes and he reported that to Jesus. If Andrew had also lost hope and had joined the rest to ask the multitude to change the location, the story might have well been different. Therefore, a good sight or a good mind set is to be desired than seeking greener pastures because even in a land of milk and honey, one still needs a good mind set to identify an opportunity.

In other words, the Jew failed to get to the land of milk and honey not because:

¨ God was not with them.

¨ Moses did not have the ability to pray for them.

¨ They were not well equipped

¨ They did not have a Moses (a father) to lead them there

¨ Their enemies were more powerful than them.

The Jews stopped half-way on their journey of lives because success and failure start with a state of mind. The Jews felt on the way-side because the did not develop success mentality.

8 Steps for Cultivating Success Mentality.

1. A CLEAR PURPOSE

I told you earlier on that the first and perhaps, the most important step to success or greatness is to know what you want in life. The reason for this is that once you have made up your mind, or set your mind on what you want, it becomes the force to help you surmount whatever difficulty you may have on your way of attaining your goal.

Recall that when Aaron told the Jews that God had visited them and had sent Moses to deliver them from their bondage of 80 years, “… they bowed their heads and worshipped” (Ex.4:29-31).

Recall too that after Pharaoh had first refused to let the people go as Moses first demanded, but instead increased the burden of the Jews, the Jews saw Moses as the man who put a sword in the hand of the Egyptians to slay them (Ex.5:19-21). As a result of seeing Moses as someone who wanted to slay them, and his God as a God who would not be able to overcome Pharaoh, they made up their minds or, they decided on what they wanted, never to follow Moses to the Land of Promise (Ex.5:21). God seeing that the Jews had made up their minds never to follow Moses to the land of promise sent Moses to go and persuade them to change their minds (Ex.6:6-8). But the Jews gave Moses an, emphatic NO for an answer. “They hearkened not unto Moses” (Ex.6:9). Or, they refused to believe that God was able to free them and so stood their ground – never to follow Moses to Canaan.

Thus, right from Egypt, the Jews were definite in their purpose. They had made up their minds never to go to Canaan, and they never did. Please, don’t forget this, just as water gravitates to the Ocean, greatness and successes gravitate to those who have made up their minds to attract them. The Jews made up their minds to attract failure – never to go to Canaan, and that was what they got.

2. A BURNING DESIRE

When a man has established a purpose for which he wants to live and desires its attainment above anything else, he surely will have it (Mk.11:24). This is because it is a natural law that whatever a man imagines in his heart is what he will get (Gen.11:6). Secondly, man is created with a great imaginative power that is capable of translating dominating thoughts into reality.

The Jews did not only have a purpose never to get to Canaan, they desired to die in Egypt, or to return to Egypt if Moses took them out, or to die in the Wilderness that Moses took them to. Therefore, since their desire was not to get to the Promised Land they died on the way to the Promised Land as they had desired.