WE HAVE TO CONTINUE IN WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR US BECAUSE ANYTHING THAT WORKS, WE MUST BUILD A LIFESTYLE AROUND IT FOR IT TO KEEP WORKING
- Pastor Mensah Otabil at International Central Gospel Church Accra | Sunday Service
We have had nine continuous weeks of praying and fasting in the presence of God. When you are in a season where God has done so much for you, you wonder ‘what do we do next?’. My message today addresses what Do we Do next after so much spiritual engagement over time, what next is to continue.
So my message today is simply titled ‘CONTINUE’.
The early Church was a very consistent church so when you look at the book of Acts where it describes the activities of the early Church, you will find scriptures that tell you that they did what they did continuously.
Acts 1:14, Acts 2:42, Acts 2:46
You see in all these three passages, the word ‘continue’ is used.
What Does it mean to continue? It means to hold on to something. When we say we are continuing, it means that we are holding on, we don’t leave it.
Secondly, to continue means to give care and attention to something. Not forget it, not leave it alone but focus on it.
Thirdly, to continue means to persevere and not faint. Don’t get tired or give up.
So when the Bible says the early Church continued it means that they held on to something, they paid attention to what they were doing and they persevered and did not faint. You can tell from this readings that the early Church understood that to obey and serve Christ they had to continue in Him. Between the beginning and the end we must continue. In a race when we start whether a whistle is blown or the gun is shot, you must continue till the end. You don’t just have an experience and stop. You don’t allow God to touch you and stop. We must continue.
What must we hold on to as we continue? We must hold on to what God has given to us. How do you know God has given something to you? You know God has given something to you when His Spirit makes a connection with you. It could be on your bed, in a vehicle, while the preaching is going on or even in an atmosphere of worship.
We cannot have 64 days of concentrated spiritual activity and not have a divine moment. So during this nine weeks, at some point in your life your spirit made a connection with God. That point of divine connection is when something dropped in your spirit and you feel God has done something for you. Sometimes it’s a word you receive, sometimes it’s an inspiration or an idea that drops into your heart. When you receive something from God, you hold on to it.
You don’t only hold on, you pay attention to what you have received from the Lord because Spiritual moments can be easily lost. We can have a deep spiritual moment and step out of it easily. Sometimes after a power service, you do something that will take your mind totally off everything that you have received. We have to pay attention to what happens after spiritual moments because the devil’s job is to make sure that the seed that has been planted will be eaten by birds and the way to do that is to distract your attention. Take you off line when your children, husband, wife, the government annoys you and every thing you received is gone because you allowed the annoyance and nuisance of life to get to you.
You don’t have to get tired waiting on the Lord. Over and over in the scriptures we are exhorted not to faint and not to get weary. If you are continuing, one of the things you will have to watch is getting faint or getting tired. Naturally waiting is not pleasant for any body. Many of the things that will help us don’t happen instantly. That is not how it works, you have to continue.
Let me take you to a very familiar story in the Bible of a man who continued and he got the results, let’s look at the life of Isaac.
Genesis 26:12 -13
He sowed in the land and reaped a hundred fold, that would have been a good end of story. It’s like going to a service and being soaked in the anointing and the power of God is so heavy upon you and you could say you want to stay there forever but that is your hundred fold, what next?
The first you would notice is that Isaac began to prosper, he experienced God’s blessing in his life. It is a big deal when you have a spiritual moment or some kind of result but that is just the beginning. Your hundred fold is the beginning not the end. Isaac received a hundred fold but he didn’t close the book because it is just the beginning.
It is possible for you to have a hundred fold beginning and lose it. It is possible to have a great spiritual moment and then loose it. Isaac began but he didn’t end there, he continued. He received a hundred fold but he didn’t close his file. Isaac increased the blessing of God on his life. Receiving a hundred fold is one experience, continuing is repeating the hundred fold over and over. Continuing takes one victory and multiplies it over and over and over. You arrive at the first breakthrough, you continue and repeat what you experience. What ever you did to give you the hundred fold, you have to keep doing it over and over and over.
When Isaac got a hundred fold, he planted again and again in the land. So, when you sense the power of God at the meeting? That is not the end. You have to continue sensing it after then. If you sowed a seed and God blessed you, you don’t just stop. You building a lifestyle of sowing seeds to keep having the experience. We don’t live our Christian lives in one-off experiences we continue in what God has done for us.
The third thing that passage tells us is that Isaac became. He began, he continued and he became. What does it mean that he became? It means he grew into the fullness of God’s blessing for him. He started it, he continued and he became it. He didn’t just express prosperity, he became prosperous. There is a difference between experiencing something and becoming the thing. There is a difference between experiencing healing and becoming healed, because sometimes people lose the healing because they don’t continue in the faith.
God doesn’t just want us to begin, he wants us to become. When you become no one can take from you what you have received. It is not one day up, one day down. One day prosperous, one day broke. Sometimes we get excited and testify prematurely. That is just the beginning, we must continue because God wants to take you to where your testimony is permanent. How did Isaac become? He continued. He got to a point where the Philistines hated and envied him but they couldn’t do anything to him. When you become, they can fight you, attack you but what you have will never leave your hand because you are now in the permanent stage of blessings. The early church continued, Isaac continued.
Between beginning and becoming, we must continue.
After all that God has done for us, we can only say “This is only just the beginning”.
Father we thank you this morning that your Word comes to direct us, instruct us and lead. We ask that you help us not only to receive but also to continue till we become. I pray for every one that has heard me, that your Word will be our light and that the Wisdom of your Word will be our direction, in Jesus name we pray.
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