Earlier this week, I was sitting at my desk and asked the Lord to encourage my heart. Inside half an hour, three people independently messaged me these simple words: Keep your eyes fixed upon Jesus. I decided not to only receive the immediate encouragement that it was to me, but also to search out what it is the Lord might want to speak to me about. After all, three times seems to indicate that He really wants to get a message across!
I’ve been re-reading ‘Qualities of a Spiritual Warrior’, and how we are to hold onto our confidence with a firm grip at all times (p72). We read that Peter miraculously walked on water towards Jesus, but when he took his eyes off Jesus, he sunk into the sea. So it can be with us at times, when we look upon our situations and allow ourselves to be tossed about by what can feel like overwhelming circumstances. But when we let go of our confidence in who He is, we can miss the breakthroughs that the Lord has set before us.
However, when we have fixed our hearts upon the confident assurance that He will never leave us nor forsake us, we can be sure that in all things He will lead us through every storm. When we have a joyful expectancy of seeing His hand at work, and that difficultly only fast-tracks our growth, we can lay hold of our inheritance with patient endurance. Not only can we survive the storms, but we can thrive in them.
Hebrews 10 says this: “Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” Read that again! Endurance is the key to breakthrough into what God has promised!
As I encouraged myself in the Lord afresh today (David did this when he was distressed – 1 Samuel 30:6), I looked over my prophetic words and promises in a different light. Some of the breakthroughs I’m waiting on, before seeing those promises completely fulfilled, are there drawing me into a greater place of trust and surrender. The provoke me to grow in the fruit of the Spirit, such as patience and joy. They allow me to be refined by the fire of His love and holiness. Endurance is something obtained for a long distance run, not a short sprint.
So as I fix my eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, I choose to look upon His majesty and faithfulness afresh, knowing that He is forming something in me that is lasting and victorious. A friend reminded me today that diamonds are formed in the dark and under pressure. I trust that under pressure and difficulty, something treasured and beautiful is being formed within me.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been perfected, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have laid hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:12-14
By Victoria Boyd
Warrior Commission Member
