Keep Keeping On

Whatever you have on your heart to do… whatever is right for you to do between you and God… if you have no question in your mind that this is the way you’re supposed to go, and it lines up with the Truth of God’s Word… don’t let ANY voice make you decide to stop.

If you have prayed about it, done your research, made a plan, counted the cost, sought wise counsel, and decided on YES… then keep saying yes. Take the next step, and the next step, and don’t look at everything that’s trying to distract you and sink your ship. It’s going to be hard at first. You will have challenges. But push through it and keep moving forward. It will get better.

Don’t wait until you are fed up to start encouraging yourself in the right direction. Don’t shut down on the inside and “power through” until you burn out. Instead, take time to pray and ask God to help you remember why you started this in the first place. Write down what made you so excited that you couldn’t wait to make these changes in your life! Something finally clicked and you could see all the end-result possibilities! That’s VISION. Write that down and read it every morning, every night, and every time you start to get discouraged.

The Bible says that without vision, we perish (Proverbs 29:18). And Habakkuk 2:2 tells us that when we do have a vision for what we are supposed to do and where we are supposed to go, we are to “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may RUN who reads it!”

The chapter goes on to say:

For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
    it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
    it will surely come; it will not delay.

Habakkuk 2:3

Make it a practice to build up your own faith. We so often worry about someone else’s faith, or someone else’s actions, and forget to look at our own. Where is the level of my faith? What am I doing to increase my faith and trust in the Lord?

Maybe it’s looking up encouraging Bible verses, or verses that will challenge you to seek after God. Maybe it’s turning off the TV and listening to worship music, or last Sunday’s sermon from church. Maybe it’s pulling out that old devotional you haven’t looked at in a while, and picking a place to start reading. Whatever you choose to do, it will be the best decision you can make for your life… and it will give you the strength you need to succeed!

Probably the biggest reason I’m writing this message tonight is that I’m doing some new things in my life right now, too. And though I haven’t yet overcome in these particular areas, I have overcome in many others. It encourages me to be reminded of how to keep moving forward… how to keep pushing through… little by little, day by day. And it especially encourages me to remember that I’ve never overcome anything on my own.

The greatest lesson I have learned in my life is that I cannot follow the Lord in my own strength. “The Lord will accomplish that which concerns me,” (Psalm 138:8). He will accomplish it, not me.

Follow me here. Yes, I must stir up my faith, and put my faith in action. But I can’t take those actions on as a burden… striving for perfection, putting heavy chains on my life. That’s not living, and it’s not His plan for us. I have to remember that whatever is not done by-Grace-through-Faith is chaff, a completely meaningless waste of time. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain,” (Psalm 127:1).

I give the burden of a thing over to the Lord when I simply ask for His help. With this new thing in my life, I’ve been asking for a year… “Lord, please help me with this. Change my desires. Help me to be healed and whole in this area.” And little by little, day by day, He has helped me just as He said He would in His Word (Exodus 23:30). My desires began to change, and with each step, I changed my actions. And now I’m ready to take on BIG changes, and prepared in my heart to follow through, because I know that “even though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,” (Proverbs 24:16). And so will I.

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

Psalm 90:17