Jesus prayed to the Heavenly
Father in John 17:4 what should be the heart cry of every born-again believer,
“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have
given Me to do.” This should be our utmost desire as well and the key to our
success is commitment. Like Jesus, there is a price we’ll have to pay to
fulfill the call of God on our lives and the down payment is commitment. Psalm
37:5 says, “Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him and He shall bring
it to pass.” Likewise, we are told in Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your works to the
Lord and your thoughts will be established.”
Commitment starts out as an act
of our will. It is an act of giving and it means to give priority to that which
you are committed to. Commitment demands that you apply yourself by giving the
very best you have. We must diligently apply ourselves to the dream God gives
us and be willing to exert ourselves beyond the norm. Commitment will turn you
into the kind of person who goes the extra mile, one who believes that whatever
you set out to do will succeed and prosper.
It is your level of commitment
that will be the deciding factor as to whether or not you hear Jesus say when
you stand before Him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful
over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy
of your Lord” (Matthew 25:21).
Romans 12:1 says, “I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
The Amplified Bible calls the act of doing this “spiritual worship.” To be a
living sacrifice one must submit their will to God and become a yielded
instrument for His service. One’s whole being - spirit, soul, body - must be
presented by a decisive act of the will to God to be used by Him. Yielding must
not be thought of simply as a willingness to do some specific task. Rather, it
consists of commitment and dedication by a person to love God and do whatever
He commands.
When you are committed to
something or someone there is always a transfer of authority. It is an act of
putting in charge or trust, an inward decision based on loyalty and dedication.
It is the state of being obligated and it means “to surrender” or “to yield.”
When a person enters their work place they automatically surrender their will
to that of the authority of the supervisor. More so should we be committed to
God and the call He placed on our life. And if we get committed and stay
committed, if we don’t shrink back and pull away on the evil day of adversity,
then we’ll have the determination and power to rise up and keep going forward
when the storms of life blow our way.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.” Each of us has been created to perform
“good works” and God has anointed us to do so. Samson, for example, did what
was considered impossible because he was anointed to do so. Contrary to popular
belief, Samson did not have bulging muscles like Hercules. No, he was strong
because of the anointing and not physical muscles. When he responded to the
ability God put inside him he became strong in the Lord and in the power of His
might.
The Message Bible says in
Philippians 4:13, “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through
anything in the One Who makes me who I am.” The enemy will launch an assault
against everything God is doing and this is why we can’t be passive where the
devil is concerned. We are a mighty generation chosen by God and we must never
run from the enemy. Instead, we must rise up and prepare for war.
Much is at stake here. We are the
answer to the troubles of our society and generation and God is waiting for us
to step forward and do that which we’ve been anointed to do. We are not here to
survive the assaults of the enemy; we are here to start them. God is with us
and He will not leave us or forsake us. The anointing is a force that cannot be
overcome by the enemy. It can only be responded to. The first step in having
breakthrough and defeating the enemy is to once and for all get fed up with his
efforts to bring you down.
In Genesis 27, Esau found out
that his brother Jacob had deceived his father into giving him the blessing of
the firstborn. Esau lifted up his voice and wept when he found out the blessing
could not be reversed so he pleaded with his father to give him a blessing as
well. Here is what Isaac told him, “Behold, your dwelling shall be of the
fatness of the earth, and the dew of heaven from above. By your sword you shall
live, and you shall serve your brother; And it shall come to pass, when you
become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck” (Genesis
27:39,40).
To be restless means to be fed
up! You don’t get anywhere and you don’t accomplish anything until you get fed
up with your present condition. You can wish, hope, and cry all day long but
nothing will happen until you get fed up. Things happen when a holy fervor
rises up on the inside of you. Your countenance will change, you’ll speak with
authority and you’ll walk in dominion. Jesus said in Matthew 11:12b, “…the
kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” Get fed
up! Get violent! Draw a line in the sand and tell the enemy, “Enough is enough!” Get aggressive and
stirred up once again for what rightfully belongs to you. Get fed up for going
without and then rise up and exercise your God-given authority over the devil.
Live by the sword and never back off. The victory is yours if you get fed up
and never give up!
After the exodus out of Egypt,
God led the children of Israel the long way through the wilderness because the
people weren’t ready for war. If they were willing to fight the enemy in order
to possess what the Lord had given them then God would have led them by the
short route. War has been declared and to possess your mountain you can’t have
a lukewarm attitude when it comes to fighting the enemy.
Don’t be a weak kneed nobody but
rise up and go to war for the glory of God. If you ignore the devil he will
destroy you. Don’t be afraid of the enemy. He’s a defeated foe. Instead, make
the devil be afraid of you. You are a warrior in the army of God by choice and
by command. Your armor is not polished and nice but is tattered and worn. You
don’t go over the mountain the enemy placed in your path, you go “through” it.
This is why your victory is called a “breakthrough.” You don’t go around, under,
or over your trial. You break “through” that obstacle and take back what the
enemy has stolen.
Don’t let the devil steal your
focus and your purpose. He really doesn’t want to kill you. He wants to control
you and if he can’t do that then he’ll try to kill you. But those who know
their purpose never give up. Instead, they get fed up and fight! Your purpose
stays with you when you give your full undivided attention to it. There is no
vacation in the kingdom of God and you can’t be a mediocre weekend warrior. Purpose takes you out of the arena of the
soul and puts you in the arena of faith where you rise up and take the kingdom
by storm.
God is proclaiming a special
message to the body of Christ here in the last days. Christians today are not
living up to the potential that their faith would allow and God is saying
simply, “Use your faith!” Clearly, it is His desire for all believers to be
“perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4b). Therefore, if the truth
be told, sickness should have no part in the life of a child of God because
Jesus made provision for it when He bore our sins on the tree and “by Whose
stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Poverty and lack should not be
mentioned in the same breath as a Christian because as Paul says in Philippians
4:19, “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory
by Christ Jesus.”
Christians everywhere should
rejoice because depression and bondage of every kind has been done away with by
the life and death of Jesus. The Word instructs us to “stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again
with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). Jesus Himself said in John 8:36,
“Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” It is time
for believers to get so fed up with the devil that they rise up and walk in the
freedom that has been provided for them. For sure, it was bought with a great
price.
Christians everywhere should be
living on the high clouds of victory, success, and spiritual fulfillment. All
this has been made available to the body of believers and 2 Peter 1:2-4 boldly
proclaims, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of
Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to
life and godliness through the knowledge of Him Who called us to glory and
virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,
that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Although God in His abundant
mercy has given us all things to enjoy there is still a demonic enemy in the
world “seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). In order to live in the
manifestation of Christ’s victory at the cross and the provision thereof it has become the responsibility of all
believers “to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered
to the saints” (Jude 3). This is why Paul tells us to stand up and “fight the
good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12).
A “good fight” is a fight you
win! 1 Corinthians 15:57 says, “But thanks be to God Who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.” There is no failure or defeat in the good fight
of faith. Those who suffer defeat at the hands of the enemy have not had a
faith failure but, more times than not, have simply given up the effort
necessary for the manifested victory to be obtained. They lay back and expect
God to do all the fighting for them. Too often people are waiting for God to do
something while at the same time He is waiting for them to do something.
People need to understand that they have as much to do with the answer
to their prayers as they expect God to be. There is a sign on the Colorado
River which instructs white water rafters: “If you fall overboard you must be
an active participant in your own rescue!” For those who have the misfortune of
falling into the swirling waters of the raging Colorado River, they must take
charge of the situation even though thousands of gallons of water are flooding
over them. They must actively participate in their own rescue and cannot lay
back and let the rescuers do all the work. There is a part they have to play
and the same is true in the good fight of faith.
Before entering the Promised Land
God told Joshua, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I
have given you as I said to Moses” (Joshua 1:3). God gave the people of Israel
the land of Canaan but wars would have to be fought before they could possess
it. Likewise, God gives us blessings to enjoy but we still have to go get them.
To fight the good fight of faith we must press in to the things of God with persistence
and determination that will not rest satisfied until it receives what is
promised.
Hebrews 10:35,36 (AMP) says, “Do
not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence for it carries a great and
glorious compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast patience and
endurance so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God and thus
receive and carry away (and enjoy to the full) what is promised.” Genesis
32:24-30 tells the story of when Jacob wrestled with God all night until the
breaking of day. Verse 26 records the tenacity of Jacob, “And He said, ‘Let Me
go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go until You bless
me!’” When Jacob grabbed onto God, he got grabbed by God and received his
blessing.
Perhaps the most fundamental
verses describing faith is found in Matthew 11:22-24 which speaks about talking
to mountains and telling them to be cast into the sea. Verse 24 says,
“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that
you receive them and you will have them.” The word “receive” in this verse means
to ‘take by force.’ In Ephesians 6:10, we are instructed to be “strong in the
Lord and in the power of His might.” The word “strong” means ‘to seize upon, to
not let go.’ This is precisely what Jacob did. He grabbed onto God and wouldn’t
let go. He wanted a blessing and he took it by force.
Isaiah 53 foretells the
redemptive work of Christ on the cross and the things He suffered on our
behalf. Afterward, when the work on Calvary was completed, verse 12 tells us,
“Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the
spoil with the strong…” The Amplified Bible says that “He shall divide the
spoil with the mighty…” This verse makes it abundantly clear that we must
become strong and mighty in order to partake of the vast riches of the spoil
that is available to those who believe.
There is strength to be had in
being a Christian and it is faith and our faith in God that makes us strong.
Matthew 11:12 (AMP) says, “And from the days of John the Baptist until the
present time the kingdom of heaven had endured violent assault, and violent men
seize it by force (as a precious prize) - a share in the heavenly kingdom is
sought for with most ardent zeal and intense exertion.” Another translation
puts it this way, “The kingdom of heaven is being taken by storm and the strong
and forceful ones claim it for themselves eagerly.”
It is the responsibility of every
Christian who seeks to live a victorious life to storm into the kingdom and
take it by force. Know with certainty that there
is no place on the victory platform for laid-back, easy-going Christians.
The only place where “success” comes before “work” is in the dictionary.
Philippians 2:12b tells believers to “work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling.” In order to live up to the potential that our faith would allow, we
must get fed up, pick up our sword and fight “the good fight of faith.” There
is no other way.
** Written by Randall Brewer **
THE TRUTH MEDIA
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