“On Your Mark”

Life can sometimes catch us off guard and throw things at us that are tough and difficult to deal with. If we are honest, sometimes it is due to our own disobedience. Truth be told, difficulty and obstacles are not a matter of if, but when. Further, being a Christian doesn't exempt us from trouble but guarantees it. So what do we do. Well, we trust God and His Word. We understand that we will be brought through. But not just brought through for survival, but to thrive. This series will speak directly to that thriving and how to do it. We don't just come out...and we don't just come out victorious: We come out in such a way that our victory is so grand and so sustained and so elevating that we don't even appear to be who or what we were when we went through. That is the point and purpose for the pain, the hurt, the heartache, that we are stronger and strong enough to handle the elevation that God has intended for us. We don't just survive it, we thrive after it and because of it. We don't look like, what we been through...we, look more like God.

Knowing more and more about God and about Jesus gives us tremendous confidence and trust in Him and His Word. It allows us to move forward when we can't see our way clear. But it is our knowledge of who He is and a better understanding even of ourselves that allows us to trust Him and move forward by and in faith.

Remembering what has happened gives us great insight into, one, what is possible and 2, what is likely. With God, remembering and recognizing His great acts in history, in His-story and in our story gives us great insight into His capability. It is also meant to give us great trust in what He will do when He calls us to move and maneuver on His behalf.

Do you know Him...I mean really "know" Him? That is a question we all must ponder. Knowing God and putting in the energy and effort to get to know God will have a direct impact on our faith actualization and faith utilization. Not just knowing about Him or having some type of passing insight, but a real passion and pursuit to get to know the Living God. As we do so, we will find our ability to stay faithful and to stay in faith go to new heights.

It is amazing how powerful the word and actions of Jesus are. It is also amazing that we get to access and walk in that power when we walk in and by faith. When we do, we can utterly baffle those around us who are used to seeing us one way but come to recognize that we are totally different because we have had an encounter with Jesus and by faith we are walking out His words over our lives.

With God, the power of His Word is so strong, that we as Christians, by faith, step out on the Word, stand on the Word and stay on the Word.

Sometimes something that seems so insignificant at the time can turn out to be so powerful in a different time. That is why it is so important that we pay attention, especially to The Word of God and the voice of Jesus. He will often tell us things and give us directions that may seem trivial and even insignificant at the time. But in time, we will find power flowing from and through that word if we will stay in faith no matter the situation.

There are times when life can hit you so hard that it knocks you of kilter. During those times emotions are typically pretty high and it gets increasingly difficult to make a good decision. It is during those times when it becomes extremely important to employ the proper strategy. But things can be going so haywire it can be hard to do that. So what do we do? We have to take a timeout. We have to step back and regroup so that we can employ the proper strategy. For Christians, this will involve pulling back and getting in a place of worship to hear from God. This will allow us to get the proper strategy and by faith, carry it out.

When doing math problems, the order of operations matter...a lot. As it is with math, so it is with God and having faith. There is a strategy that must be followed in order to arrive at the correct answer. There is a order of operations, a taking the right actions, the first actions that will lead us to what and where God desires us to have and be. It won't always look the way we want and it won't feel good but employing the strategy, adhering to the proper order of operations will guide us to fresh blessings, fresh favor and fresh anointing.

Strategy is important in most every area of life. As important as it is, it seems to be equally ignored. At least that is when we need it most. The point of the strategy is to help you, hold you, steady you in the difficult times. To give you a bit of stability and an anchor when it gets rocky. We have to learn to stay with the strategy God has given us even when what we see doesn't match what we thought we would see. We rely not on what we see but on what we have seen of God. We rely not on what we see but what God said. That strategy will anchor us when our sight is obstructed or worse when our sight is filled with all the things that convince us that we can't accomplish what God has empowered us to do. Staying with the strategy of God given by God will carry us to victory.