Tuesday, October 11, 2011

"Don't just finish the race, but Finish well..." (2 Timothy 4: 7)




(Romans 8:18) - 

If things are getting tougher in life, consider the enemy is only trying to wear you out because he knows what is about to be revealed in you." 

The devil may not have fought you when you first started this race, but now that you are about to finish He will do everything in his power to keep you from completing the task God has given you.

One of the most important things we will ever do in life is to finish what we start. It's by the grace of God we are allowed to start things, but how often do we consider it a privilege of His grace to finish something?

God gives us the grace to finish. So what in your life needs to be finished?

(ex. School, commitments, conversations, degrees, love, a book, a career, a family...)

A crown acknowledges those who finish...He is waiting so He can give us beauty for ashes...when we finish..

We will never learn what life is like unless we finish something. Life is more than the mountain top experiences, it's the valley below that makes the mountain top experiences worth celebrating. Give us something to look forward to. 

One of the most important things we will ever do in life is finish. Whatever it is, we need to finish it. Starting is sometimes the easy part, it's the finishing where most people give up, where the enemy has his way, where kingdom doesn't come because one has chosen to give up then step up...

We may never be successful in life unless we learn to finish things God has given us to do. Beware of people who have a hard time finishing things. Often these people will keep you from finishing for fear that you will outshine them. When in fact, you playing small serves no one. And when you give into someone else fear you make yourself more like them - fearful. Instead of who we were created to be - fearless. Respect those who finish.

God is a finisher. And we were made in His image and likeness. Therefore the identity in beginning something (alpha) that lives in us to give life to projects, babies and relationship, is the same life that lives in us to complete or finish (omega) what we started.

Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. He can complete what He started in our life, but we need to put ourselves in position for completion to take place.

It is a grace given to us in life to finish what we start.

3 aspects of finishing and being effective in what we begin:

1.) Finish in phases - manage the goals so gratification and accomplishment can be experienced. Don't let life overwhelm you. If you keep quitting and start blaming others you cease to understand your value and loose confidence in yourself. 

Often a product of lack of follow through provides room for erosion to occurs weakening your own word. You must prove to yourself you can finish before others will believe and trust you can finish.

Please know that I am a project. Please be ready to understand I am a work in progress. Forever under construction. I am not perfect, but I am found strong in Him with my perfect imperfections..

If you just finished what you started...how much farther would you be in life?

The behavior you'll reward is the behavior you'll repeat. Don't wait to receive the reward. When you complete something that was done in phases, reward yourself along the way. Gives you something to look back at and press into as His will reveals truth in your life.

2.) Finish your course - "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my race. I have kept the faith."

God will give you the grace you need to finish your course. Don't be a cheap copy of a great original. Just be you.

The closer you get to completion the harder the task will become. The closer you get to your goal the tougher life will become. That's the way He works in places where we can not finish He comes along and takes our hand and says "I gottcha..." 

3.) See more than you can finish... (Ecclesiastes 3:10)
One man plants, another man waters and God gives the increase. 

Do what God has called me to do and know that He will show me more than I can complete myself, but it's important for me to see it, but not try to complete it.

Just because I can see the next step, doesn't mean I am called to do the next step. 

Sometimes God allows me to see what's ahead in order that I may share with someone else and prepare their hearts for what's to come based off what He's done for and through me.

Let God continue to challenge you as you finish the race, He has set before you and be blessed in knowing that the journey is the accomplishment. And finishing is the reward...

Finish you race...well

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