The Power of Purpose

The common maxim is that "If you don't know where you're going...any road will get you there". Everyone, at some point in their lives, wants to have significance and count for something, being "a meaningful specific", rather than "a wandering generality", with no direction or focus in life.

Focus

"...our eyes fixed on Jesus, the source and the goal of our faith" (Heb.12:2)

The story is told of a farmer training his young son to plough furrows in a large field, for turning up the soil, and planting. He had told his son to simply fix his eyes on an object at the other side of the field, and move toward it; thinking this would help the boy to keep the furrows straight. When he came back in the afternoon, the furrows were wiggly lines, all over the place, and anything but straight. When asking the boy if he had obeyed him, and tried to keep focused on something on the other side of the field, the boy answered that he had; he had kept moving toward a cow on the other side. Well, of course, the cow obviously moved, and so did the furrow lines. If the focus is not consistent, but constantly changing, production and performance will also change.

Consistent and Persistent

 "...when the time was come that He should be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem" (Lk.9:51)

If you drew a straight line toward an object, and varied in accuracy, even by 1 or 2 percent, it would seem, initially, that you were still moving in the desired direction of your purpose, but the farther away the object is, the more obvious it would become, that the 1 or 2 percent variation, has caused you to totally veer off course from your desired direction and the object you were aiming for. It takes consistent and persistent effort, not only to be focused, but to remain focused on achieving the intended result.

Completion

"This man began to build, and was not able to finish" (Lk.14:30)

We have had elections in our province, and the one prominent characteristic of the newly elected premier, is that he is known for tenaciously moving toward the completion of a worthy objective. He is not flamboyant; offensive; or controversial, but he completes the tasks he has set out to accomplish, with tenacious resolve.

Reward: The Source of Motivation

"Let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Gal.6:9)

"...[Jesus] for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb.12:2)

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil.3:14)

The land of milk and honey was not a figment of imagination, but a very real; tangible; potential attainment. Like the carrot dangling in front of the proverbial donkey pulling the cart, the reward is the motivation that keeps an individual, or group of people, moving forward through immense adversity, because the prize is big enough to produce motivation; change; and productivity, despite the negative situations or circumstances, that stand in resistance to achieving that goal. Never give up on the dream God has placed in your heart, and it will become a reality in your life.

The Source of Success

Joshua 1:8

"This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success" (KJV, modern)

"This scroll of the law must not cease out of your mouth, but you must talk to yourself therein day and night, that you may take heed to do according to all that is written therein, for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success" ( Rotherham)

"...then you will cause your way to prosper, and then you will act wisely" (Young)

"The law you have in writing must govern every utterance of yours; night and day you must ponder over it, so as to carry out all the terms of it faithfully; so will you guide your steps truly and prosper" (Knox)

"Let not this book of the teaching cease from your lips, but recite it day and night, so that you may observe faithfully all that is written in it. Only then will you prosper in your undertakings and only then will you be successful" (Jewish Study Bible)

The constant; continuous consumption of God's word, is the only way to guarantee a 100% success rate in life.

The Power of Purpose

"The impartation of your faith, impacting and transforming yourself and others, will come into existence, with the releasing of divine energy and power, producing change, as you have a full revelation, totally altering the way you act and speak, of everything you are; everything you have; and everything you can do, all the good, in Christ Jesus" (Philemon 6, paraphrase from the Greek)

"May your sharing in the faith become effective, in the fuller knowledge of all the good that is in you in Christ Jesus" (Knox)

Live your life by the following truth, and you will succeed; you will prosper; you will have, good success!

God can do what He says He can do - I can do what God says I can do

God has what He says He has - I have what God says I have

God is who He says He is - I am who God says that I am

You are God's Best and God's Best is Yours