Moving Forward

"Moving forward requires three things: preparation, dedication, and revelation. To succeed, you must depend upon God for direction daily."

--TD Jakes Ministries, posted to Facebook, 11-3-11

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have been seeking God for direction in my life. It's interesting, as of late, how often He is showing me the same things over and over again. This post by TD Jakes Ministries reaffirms the messages I seem to be receiving consistently.

PREPARATION: Our destiny does not come about if we do not seek it. It isn't realized if we give in to complacency, comfort, or straight-up laziness. We have to be willing to do our part. We have to be willing to put in the time and effort to have our dreams realized. If we do not prepare, and we step out anyway in the direction of our destiny, sooner or later we will pay a great cost. God KNOWS what lies ahead, what is necessary for our survival in the Destiy he has called us to. We must spend time listening, praying, preparing as much as we can for what He's called us to do.

DEDICATION: Once we are "as ready as we will ever be" and, at God's Word, we move forward, we have to have the determination to keep going when the road gets tough. I have found that there is MUCH PAIN that will be endured when we follow after Christ, when we decide to really follow Him. And it can get tempting to stop, retreat, even recant. (I'm not talking about recanting our Christian beliefs--although persecuted Christians are asked/required to do this around the world every day or face death--as much as I am "recanting our Call"). We will never make it if we are not dedicated, if we are not persistent, if we are not able to "put one foot in front of the other" every day of our lives.

Last night at church, we had a missionary who said these words: "A fellow missionary once confided in me that he had been thinking of quitting his overseas missions position." He paused. Then, he said, "I told him that there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about quitting. But I say my prayers and go to sleep and wake up the next day and do it all over again!" He was talking about dedication! When the "new" or "awe" or "wow" factors wear off, and the rough stuff begins, and the enemy is all in your face, and the voices of encouragement cannot be found, THEN WHAT?!?!? Then you rely on your Call, what you KNOW you heard. And you hold on. And you trust God.

REVELATION: Even in the short span of time I've been in ministry--in this particular part of the ministry, anyway--I cannot express enough the importance of getting "Revelation" from God. Everything I do and say, and everything I attempt to do and say, is so much more REAL when I've heard from God. I don't think there's a person in the world who has not experienced "dry spells" and seeming silence when it comes to ministry, but (see comments in "Dedication," above) when you seek God earnestly, and the Holy Spirit reveals to you something, in His Word, for your own life, for His people, it's truly amazing. One Word of revelation can completely REFUEL, RE-ENERGIZE, and REVIVE a ministry that has staled. One Word of revelation can completely RE-ROUTE the man or woman of God--illuminating the right path for the current moment. I pray for Divine Revelation in my ministry ALL OF THE TIME. Because, let's face it: revelation makes preparation and dedication MUCH EASIER!!!