A Sermon
Delivered on Wednesday Evening, July 16th 2025, by
Evangelist PAUL ACQUAH,
Live on MZ Radio London, London UK.
Have you ever wondered why some people seem to rise to new heights while others remain in the same place? Is it just luck, or is there something more at work? The Bible teaches us that promotion ultimately comes from God. Yet, it also shows us that we have a vital part to play in God’s plan for our lives. Throughout the Bible, we see that those who were exalted were not merely lucky; they were faithful, diligent, and full of integrity in both small and great things. God opened the doors, but they walked through them with excellence. This means that while we trust in God’s timing, we must also take responsibility for our character, work ethic, and willingness to grow. By cultivating excellence, integrity, and faithfulness, we position ourselves to receive the advancement that God desires to bring into our lives. In today’s message titled “Promotion is partly up to you,” we’ll discover how faithfulness, excellence, and obedience position us for the opportunities God wants to bring our way.
Be blessed as you listen!
You may probably ask How can I be promoted? And the answer is promotion is partly up to you. “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.[7] But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. (Psalms 75:6-7). Yes, promotion comes from God but God doesn’t “sovereignly” make some people leaders and others followers. God is the One who promotes, but there’s more to it than that. It’s about what’s inside you. It’s about your heart’s attitude. Promotion is partly up to you. Therefore, cooperate with God.
The Word of God gives us great examples of godly promotion. The book of Daniel shows us how Daniel and his three Hebrew friends gained promotion in an evil, ungodly society. Though they arrived in Babylon as slaves, they grew in favour and influence with at least three different kings in two different world systems and became trusted advisors and rulers under each. Daniel, a Hebrew, became prime minister of Babylon and worked for at least three kings: Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius. How was this possible? How could Daniel and his friends experience so much favour under such adverse circumstances? Daniel 6:3 gives us the answer: “Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him”.
Daniel’s life and ministry covered the entire seventy years of the Babylonian captivity. Daniel, a captive from Israel, deported to Babylon at approximately age sixteen was preferred above rulers and princes! He and his three friends were promoted because they each had an excellent spirit. That’s awesome! The supernatural favour they had didn’t come from their external circumstances; it came from the inside. It was something intangible, something like attitude. My friend, promotion is partly up to you. Sadly, many Christians don’t believe God for anything. But heroes of faith like Daniel, Joseph, Moses, and David show us a different approach. They believed God for something more, and because of their attitude of faithfulness – their excellent spirits—they were promoted.
Promotion is partly up to you. If we want to experience the results they had, we must start doing the things they did. We have to start aiming at something. Aiming at being promoted: The bible says the righteous will continue to shine and shine. Maybe the difference between the things you see in your heart and what is actually happening in the flesh is causing you to walk around in a constant state of conflict and tension. Even though you may feel like giving up, you must remain faithful. Stay faithful and God will promote you.
Most people aren’t recognisng that God is their best way forward. He will promote you when nobody else will, and yet I meet people all the time and they say things like ‘but you don’t understand, it’s the colour of my skin or my lack of education or some people say it’s my gender, there’s discrimination against women and so on and so forth. They have all these reasons that they have put a ceiling, and they just say that I can’t prosper, and I can’t be promoted. Remember that your life is going in the direction of your dominant thoughts. The bible says, ‘As a man thinks in his heart so is he’. Therefore, think about what you’re thinking because promotion is partly up to you.
I can guarantee you there is not a single person that had as many strikes against you as Daniel and his three friends had. Think about this, Daniel and his three friends were among the Israelites conquered by the Babylonians and taken into exile in Babylon. I tell you, the Babylonians when they came in and conquered Jerusalem, it was brutal. You can read about this in 2nd Kings chapter 25.
Daniel and his three friends were captured and taken captive to Babylon and made eunuchs. The city was overrun, hundreds of thousands of people were brutally killed. It was terrible and although the scripture doesn’t detail it, it’s very possible that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego saw their families killed in front of them. At least they saw multiple people killed. It was cruel the way that the Babylonians came in and just killed thousands and thousands of people. So, they saw their beloved city overrun. They saw possibly their friends, at least family and people killed and then they were taken to a foreign land where they had no power, they had no position, and they were castrated. They were made eunuchs. That was terrible, all the things that they went through, being put in this position.
If anybody had anything going against them and reasons why they couldn’t be promoted, it would have been Daniel and his three friends. But these people continued to just trust and believe God and because of that they were promoted. Promotion doesn’t come from the south or from the east or from the west it’s from God. God will promote you, God promoted Daniel and the bible says that the reason he did that was because he had an excellent spirit in him. An excellent spirit is faithful, it’s consistent. It has a moral foundation that doesn’t fluctuate or compromise. It causes a person to do what’s right even when no one is watching. An excellent spirit will promote you in business, in ministry, or at home with your family. It will promote you with your neighbours, in your school, or at any place. God delights in excellence, and excellence begins in the heart. This is good news because circumstances are often outside our control, but attitude is a matter of the heart.
If you aren’t being promoted, or if it seems like everyone else is prospering while you struggle to make ends meet, or if you feel like you’ve been passed over, then check on the inside. Do you have an excellent spirit? The attitude of your heart could be hindering you from living out God’s best. You need to change that! The things that are opposing us, the things that are holding us back from seeing promotion in our lives, I can guarantee you they are less than what Daniel and his friends went through. Here’s a New Testament scripture that basically is saying the same thing. In Ephesians chapter 6 and in verse 5 it says, “5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free”.
At the time that this was written, it was talking about slaves submitting themselves to their masters. This isn’t an issue with us today, but you could say the same thing about employer and employee. What this text of scripture is saying right here and the admonition that’s being given would apply to each one of us today. Servants, or you could say employees, be obedient to them that are your employers according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as onto Christ. Not with eyeservice as men pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing service as to the Lord. And not to men, knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free.
This is a powerful principle that’s being put forth. He’s saying that even if you are serving a person who is not the best person to be serving, this isn’t saying only to the good and the people who are doing everything right but also the people who are deceptive, or oppressive. And it says that if you will do this from the heart as doing service as to the Lord and not unto men, then you will receive from God whether you be bond or free, whether you are in a good position or a bad position. This goes back to Psalms chapter 75. God is the one who promotes. It says doing the will of God from the heart. In that same verse, verse six, it says not with eyeservice as men pleasers.
