Final Quarter - Gather Momentum, Gain speed

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do,
and your plans will succeed".

Proverbs 16:3

… and then the senior Pastor at my church, last Sunday, reminded us of when the next Prayer meeting will be; encouraging us to attend. He told us that it will soon be September, which will mark the beginning of the last quarter of the year. Well I don’t know about everyone else in the meeting, but that hit me square in the face! POW! We were about to step into the final Quarter of the year 2009, and by today that I write this, we have indeed moved into it. Praise God!

Quickly, I did a mental assessment of what I had accomplished in the previous quarters and what I still needed to do. After my mental analysis all I could do was scream... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggghhhh!!! all in my head of course.

To you all my wonderful readers, I welcome you into the FINAL QUARTER of 2009!

I’m almost tempted to add suspense music at this point…

• Momentum is defined as: moving power of pulling everything together.
• Gain is defined as: to get something desired as a result of one’s effort.
• Speed is defined as: Rapidity in proceeding or performing; it is swiftness like the speed of light.

How many of us remember the first of January 2009 and all the excitement we felt at the onset of a brand new year? I want to see a show of hands! There is usually something about the first of January that gets our adrenaline rising through the roof. There is something about the beginning and the start of things. There is hope and tremendous expectations, and the believe that "there are no impossibilities within our realities". We are able to visualise the future, we can hear God’s voice loud and clear, we are less confused and more focused and determined to succeed at every single plan, action or agenda.

Alas, here we are now, a the onset of the final quarter of the year? Now, how many of us can look back and say we still have that same adrenalin rushing through our veins, the same excitement, zeal and hope?. How many of us can say we can still hear God’s voice loud and clear as it was on January 01 2009? How many of us can say were still focused and weighed down with the daily mundane things of life? How many of us can say we have achieved all we set out to do by this time of the year. I would like to see a show of hands please. Yes we are showing and telling our red faces in this post.

Well, I am here to encourage everyone, (myself included) that, all hope is not lost! . You might not have accomplished one line on your plan till date, but we serve a God that specialises in impossible situations, which includes what seems like impossible time lines! As long as we are WILLING AND OBEDIENT to do all that we has been entrusted to us, will EAT THE BEST OF THE LAND, as confirmed in Isaiah 1:19. This means, we will see progress in all our work. But we HAVE TO WORK THE PLAN.

What can we possibly do if we find ourselves far behind the plan, that we can’t even see our own behinds I hear you ask? Here are a few things (not all) that we could do as a starting point:

• Repent of our sin: Acts 3:19 reads “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, those times of refreshing may come from the Lord, (NIV)”. We must repent of our sins of not being responsible and diligent to work on our God given dreams and aspirations. Also, for probably not managing our time or resources properly.

• Go back to our first love – God: When we rekindle our love back with God, we set ablaze the desire and excitement we should always feel about achieving our purpose in God’s kingdom.

• Encourage ourselves in God: 1 chronicles 22:13 b reads “… do not be afraid or discouraged”. It is easy to get discouraged and look at the year, and count it as a loss. But we still have some time to make right. One second is enough for God to work miracles in our lives, but we must be willing. We must encourage ourselves in God and in His abilities to help us with our plans.

• Seek God’s path: Psalm 25: 4 – 5 encourages us to seek God’s guidance in all things. It reads “4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, or you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long”. When you work with God’s plan and guidance, He will lead you to success.

• Review and Revise the plan: It is wise to review the plans we are working with to make sure that it is updated with your renewed understating and wisdom of God's plans for you. I wrote about how we could possibly do this in "AS YOU MEAN TO GO ALONG” and FIRST QUARTER REVIEW and ARE YOU AN ANT .

• Pray Over the Plans: Proverbs 16:3 says it all, it reads "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed".

• Take Action: Gather together your mind and body, spirit and soul and focus on the task at hand. Put your mind and hands to work. You must physically work that plan, so that you will have works to show for the faith and hope you have in God to manifest the results. Faith without works as we are taught in James 2: 26, which reads “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead”.

So here I am encouraging us all to ‘GATHER SPEED AND GAIN MOMENTUM' as you journey through the final quarter of this year.

Keep the fire of your God given vision burning as it was on the day God revealed it to you. Be aware of the importance and urgency of your actions, remember, it is all about the advancement of God’s kingdom. Time is of the essence when it comes to our work for and in God’s kingdom.

Do all you can and have to do to REIGN in accomplishment and victory. I pray that come December 31 2009, we can all confidently declare like Paul and say “in 2009, I ran my race and I won the price” and I made God famous along my way.

Much Love

Remi Banjo

***pictures by photobucket***