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Did you know our rewards, our rank, even our responsibilities in heaven are going to be determined by what we do here on Earth?

For a few brief years here, we have the opportunity to influence people around us. We have the opportunity to let the character of God flow out through us and reveal God to the world. Just a few years and that opportunity will be gone.

How do you get the kind of spiritual aggressiveness, the kind of urgency it takes to lay hold of that opportunity?

First, you have to determine your focus and spend time with God. "[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him," said the Apostle Paul, "that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him..." (Phil. 3:10 AMP).

I need to warn you, you will have to bring the flesh under the rule of your spirit and be willing to simplify your life.

I discovered this as I was honoring a prophecy the Lord gave through Kenneth Hagin: "Don't take up all your time with natural things...give your spirit opportunity to feed upon the Word of God...to commune with the Father above and build yourself up on your most holy faith.

"It doesn't take a lot of time, just an hour or two out of 24. Just pay a tithe of your time unto Me saith the Lord, and all will be well. Your life will be changed. it will be empowered and you will be a mighty force for God."

The tithe of my time to the Lord changed my life because I purposed in my heart to not be lazy, draw back, hold back or sit down. I purposed not to spend my life wasting time on natural things. I set goals that I was determined to do every day.

It wasn't easy. When I started I could hardly pray for even five minutes. But I stayed with it. Seizing the kingdom isn't easy. God doesn't say it will be easy, but He does say it will be worth it.

Think about it. If you spend an hour with God every day, that's 365 hours a year. Don't you think coming into His presence for an hour every day will do something for your life?

Even if you just spend 15 minutes a day, that would be 90 hours a year of prayer and time with Him. You follow your heart. But see to it that you give the Father time to impart His strength into you.

Do you want Jesus' resurrection power to flow in your life? Then get to know Him! You can't feed on the world's goods and have God's Word come out of your mouth in faith and power. It just won't work.

What you give your attention to is what will be on the inside of you. And what's inside of you will determine the outcome of your situation. Your future is stored up in your heart (Matt. 12:34-35 NIV).

Once your focus and your fellowship is in place, press. To press means to act with steady force or weight. It means to go forward with energetic or determined effort.

Paul said, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14). To be a winner, you press. You press into what God has called you to do. You press forward by faith, believing the Word of God and not what natural circumstances say.

Remember, the natural will always tell you that you can't do it, that it's too big for you. You're too foolish, too weak. But God just says, "Do it, and I'll make up the difference."

Stretch forward to the things that are in front. Paul never stopped stretching. When he was imprisoned, he wrote most of the New Testament. How was Paul able to do this? Look at Acts:
"...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)
Paul could stretch toward the goal without distraction because he didn't count his life dear to himself. He had found something worth giving his life for.

One day while I was reading this scripture the Lord impressed me, Gloria, this is the key to your success spiritually. If you count your life dear unto yourself, you won't finish the race. Jesus said if we would lose our lives for His sake, we would find them. That's a life worth living.

Paul knew where to look for his joy. He said he would "finish [his] course with joy." He was going to complete the ministry to which he had been called. He was going to finish his race and when he crossed the line there would be a smile on his face. I like that. I'm not only going to finish my race and win but I'm going to enjoy it!

Don't let the natural realm determine your courage or your disappointments. The life of spirit beings is not sustained in the natural. A lot of our troubles are caused because our desires are wrongly focused. Peace and joy, however, belong to those who keep their hearts full of God. So look in the right places for your joy.

One day each of us will stand before God. I personally don't think I will live out my natural life on earth. I expect Jesus to come before that happens. When I get up there, nothing will matter except that I finish my course.

Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka:  Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Author Biography

Gloria Copeland
Web site: Kenneth Copeland Ministries
 
For the last 50 years Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have been passionately teaching Christians all over the world how to apply the principles of faith found in God's WORD to their lives.
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