Dear Friend,
As we enter the month of February, my thoughts have turned towards the race of life we are each engaged in and how we are choosing to live our lives. We each can choose to enjoy life in the blessing or endure our lives, under the circumstances. Enjoying life in the blessing does not mean there are no challenges or no opposition. The issue is not the challenges we are faced with neither is it is the storms we face, rather it is how we respond, and it is the foundation upon which we have chosen to build our lives.
To enjoy life in the blessing means we can go through life confident of the outcome, joyful and victorious. How do I know this? God’s intention is that we always enjoy life, that we always triumph [2 Corinthians 2:14]. A life that is enjoyed in the blessing comes out of daily fellowship and intimacy with God and a yielded heart (not my way, Lord, but yours). In a life that is enjoyed, one can make no assumptions on how to live and one’s daily choices must be made with a surrendered heart. This means that one always checks in with the Father and only do what He has called us to do that day.
When we wake up every day we have to carry on the business of living but we must recognize that we are on God’s clock. The question you should answer daily, is this – ‘am I all in?’ Being ‘all in’ means that you live life not holding back from who you are in Christ; that you are fully invested in living life in tandem or partnership with the Holy Spirit; that you are giving life all the best you’ve got (all God has invested in you).
God has called each of us to a life He has planned for us (Jeremiah 29:11) and He has made provision and equipped us for that life (2 Peter 1:3). God has supplied each of us with all that we need to run the race of life, and to run it well. My encouragement to you is this – DON’T QUIT! Don’t quit, because the race is not over. God intends for you to win this race of life; it is not over until you win. The enemy wants you to quit but he cannot stop you if you don’t let him; you are the only one who can stop yourself in this race. You have what it takes to run the race of life and win. How do I know this? Because the Word of God declares that the grace of God is sufficient (ample, abundant, enough) for you (2 Corinthians 12:9) and His promise is grace upon grace upon grace. Your faith can take all that grace has provided. Friend, you don’t have to endure life, you can enjoy life. You have what it takes to enjoy your life; you have:
§ the faith of God (for He has given to every man the measure of faith – Romans 12:3b);§ the love of God (for the love of God has been shed abroad in your heart – Romans 5:5)§ the peace of God (peace I leave with you - John 14:27)§ the joy of God that is not based on circumstances (for the joy of the Lord is your strength – Nehemiah 8:10)
Don’t quit. You quit when you stop looking at the Word and start looking at circumstances, feelings, the passage of time, the testimony of others, the economy etc. We quit when we give up on our inheritance – the promises of God; we quit when we don’t believe that God can use us or that He has laid a table for us in the presence of our enemies; we quit because we are not trusting His Father’s heart. Know this, it is not how well you start, it is how well you finish. Don’t quit. I choose to not quit. How about you? My prayer for you is that you will enjoy your life in the blessing, you will not quit the race of life; you will live life all and continue to be fruitful in 2019 and beyond.
Yours in His service,
Ayodola & the W2NM Team
