Walking in the sun
Faith for the Harvest
MOMENTS OF MEDITATION
 
A weekly newsletter of Faith Harvest Ministries               June 8, 2015 Issue 21                
:

How often have you found yourself in a situation where a godly desire rose up within you to launch out and do whatever God asks you to do, only to find that the path you take doesn't always go as you had planned and you begin to rethink and recalculate the cost? Jesus said, "For which of you, intending to build a tower sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?" (Luke 4:28). It takes a deep resolve within a person to remain optimistic when everything they are facing wants to steal away that desire to complete what it is they are asked to do. That is why we have to know how to live and walk by faith and not by sight.

 

 

COUNTING THE COST   

  Finding Grace to Finish our Race  

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and

counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it."

                                                                            -   Luke 14:28

 

 

            I always remind myself when I read this particular verse of scripture, how important it is to finish whatever it is we start. So many people begin a project with great enthusiasm, but somewhere along the way they falter in their pursuit because the task becomes more than they expected. This is why Jesus taught his disciples that they were to first sit down and count the cost.

            There is a cost to carrying out the will of God in your life. Sometimes you think you can calculate what it is going to take, but you can never really know the full price you may have to pay. When Jesus said you have to sit down first and count the cost, I don't think he was saying we have to know everything about what we are going to face when it comes to doing God's will. I think he was simply pointing out that we have to know within ourselves that whatever comes we are determined to maintain our resolve to finish what we started.

            I recently read a report that stated that approximately 1700 ministers leave the ministry each month and that somewhere around 7,000 churches close their doors each year. That is staggering statistics! And while I am sure there is a multitude of reasons that lie behind these numbers, what appears so obvious to me is that somewhere someone simply failed to count the cost!

            Jesus never said the task to do the will of God was going to be an easy one. What he did tell us was that if we expect to be worth our weight in salt we have to learn how to bear up under anything and everything that comes with a determination that we will never take our eyes off Him! Hebrews chapter twelve says, "Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who 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. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (Heb. 12:1-3). Somehow Jesus found within himself the means of looking beyond his own suffering and took hold of the joy at finishing his race.

            Paul captured this same sentiment when he said, "And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:22-24). In both passages, we find the words "joy" and "finish." If there is anything that should speak to our hearts concerning what it takes in counting the cost it is learning how to maintain our joy until we finish what we started.

            The Bible is very clear in teaching us that the "joy of the Lord is our strength" (Neh. 8:10). I would venture to say that the biggest reason people stop pursuing the very thing they set out to accomplish is they lost their strength of endurance because they stop enjoying the journey. If somehow you have found yourself getting weary in well doing remember God's grace is your sufficiency. Keep your eyes on him, and never lose sight of why you are doing what you are doing in the first place. And never forget what Mary said to those servants at the wedding of Cana: "Whatever he saith unto you, do it!"


 

PRAYER

Father, today, I ask you to strengthen my resolve to not give up or lose heart in my pursuit to do your will. You said in your word, "The kingdom of God is not meat nor drink; but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). Let your joy rise up in me now with such divine strength that I finish my course strong. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

CONFESSION

I will not become weary in well doing. I stir myself up to take hold of the sufficiency of grace to finish my race. I will run and not be weary. I will walk and not faint. I choose today to abide in the land of the living. I will make faith a way of life. I will keep my eyes on the prize and throw off the weights that try to beset me!

 

DEFINING MOMENTS...

Probably one of the hardest things we face in carrying out God's will for our lives is the natural tendencies we find ourselves falling into at being influenced by our physical senses. When things don't appear to be changing as we think they should, we oftentimes allow ourselves to be overly concerned. This is why we have to learn how to walk by faith and not by sight. There is a joy that we can maintain even when we face hardships. That joy depends on us being prepared at staying true to our call no matter what comes our way. This is what it means to count the cost. We have to look deep within to find the resolve to stay the course and do it because we love him, and not because we seek the absence of pain along the way.

 

In His Grace,

 

Pastor David

Faith Harvest Church