Tenacious Continuity

Once a purpose is finalized focus is needed. But focus is not enough if it is sporadic. No project worth undertaking can be completed unless it is tackled tenaciously and continuously. Only then can a project be competed. In a fast-paced world of immediates it is no wonder that it usually takes an individual an insurmountable time to finish even the smallest of projects. The “Fast Food Nation” mentality combined with the dumbing down of the Human spirit has produced a nation of sloths. While this may be a natural result of unregenerate man, it should not be the testimony of the Redeemed.

Good Intentions

Every professing child of God begins with good intentions. However,  good intentions never bring a project to fruition. Good intentions usually begin strong, and may remain for a season, but they quickly grow old and are finally left off for something new. The process then repeats. At last nothing of any value or lasting effect is established. As with the parable of the Sower, if the grounding of the intent is not rooted in God and His Kingdom’s honor then once the sun comes up, or the fowls of the air bring distraction, the original intention is left for dead. Good intentions are only good if they are accomplished with tenacity and resolve. This requires continuity. It requires a covenant obligation oath before God to get something done.

Do the Hard Thing

Sticking to a project or a ministry for God’s Kingdom advancement is not an easy task. It takes commitment. It takes focus. It takes much prayer. It takes the intervention of God the Holy Spirit. Committing to a task, especially when that task will take years, or even a life time to accomplish is no small feat. It is not easy. If it were easy everyone would be productive in building a legacy for the Glory of Christ. Commitment requires conviction. Persuasion is not enough. A man that is persuaded one way can be persuaded another way if the argument is cunning enough. The persuaded man easily vacillates and may even become unstable.  But a man of conviction is immovable. Christians that are given a Divine conviction know what they to do. They are convinced by Scripture that it is Christ’s call that brings them to contemplate this or that service. As a result, the convicted Christian remains steadfast because the conviction is of God. Without conviction, the hard things will derail the entire purpose of every good intention.

The Plan

Everyone should have a plan. When God created the Universe and all that is therein is, He had a plan. His plan is precise to the minutest detail. Everything is mapped out. Nothing is left out. Before executing His Divine plan, He made sure that once it began it would come to fruition and culmination. He also wrote it down. In the counsel of the Eternal God-head God constructed the plan. He made a Divine decree by an oath before He executed it so that it would be perfect and competed within a certain time frame of history. The oath also contracted God to compete the plan. He divinely obligated Himself to complete it. Moreover, it is a long-term plan executed with patience over time and throughout many generations.

If we Christians are to think God’s thoughts after Him we must being with a plan. We should use a daily log-book and write down what we seek to accomplish for the day, the week, the month, the year and the next 5 years. We also need to keep tract of our progress and accomplishments. Only what is measured is managed. In this way we can have a running account of whether or not we are closing in on the culmination of or desired task or ministry. I have always encouraged folks, especially young Christians to have a Christ-Centered 1-year, 5-year, 10-year and 25-year plan. But if they cannot even plan for the week or the month ahead then a 1 to 25-year plan is impossible. Without setting goals, goals cannot be realized.

And yet, this model is still incomplete. A Kingdom centered 25-year plan still

omits the generational aspect of planning. We must look beyond our mortality into the next several generations. Christians must build for a generational Inheritance. Christians are to look into the future and plan for the years after they are long gone from the face of the earth. Then God will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant…enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Matthew 25:23