Today we continue our series, “Progress On Purpose.” I told you that God wants us to walk in “NEW LEVELS IN 2021!” But if we are going to do so, we must be intentional about our progress. With that in mind, as we lay the foundation for the year, I told you that I would discuss “Leveling Up” in five areas:
1. Spiritually
2. Financially
3. Physically
4. Internally
5. Externally
In the last area, I am addressing leveling up your external relationships. I will cover the following topics in this section:
1. The three people you need in your life (the roles you need filled)
2. Discerning when to let people go
3. The importance of choosing the right friends
4. Surrounding yourself with people of like-precious-faith
Setting the stage:
A friend of mine sent me a text at 5:38 am today. The text contained this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt67dqnWDHw
It’s a song by Bishop Paul S. Morton entitled “Be Blessed.” This song really ministered to me. So much so, that I want to share some of the lyrics with you, because it lines up perfectly with this series.
Lyrics
Be Blessed my brother
Be blessed my sister
Be blessed wherever this life leads you
Let me encourage you
Let me speak life to you
You can depend on God to see you through
You can depend on me to pray for you
You might be hurting
You might be crying
You might be worrying and, and frustrated to
Let me encourage you, let me speak life to you
You can depend on God to see you through
You can depend on me to pray for you….
Now let me prophesy for a minute
I see you in the future
And you look better
I see you walking in favor and prosperity too
Let me encourage you
Let me speak life to you
You can depend on God to see you through
You can depend on me to pray for you
I’ll pray for you
You pray for me
And watch God change things…
We all need friends like and we all need encouragement like this, from time to time.
The lyrics in this song capture what I have been teaching. We all need encouragement like this in our lives.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Becoming the man/woman God called you to be is a long journey.
(Ecc 3:11 AMPC)
God has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
— God made plans for us before the world began.
— We were born oblivious to those plans.
— Once we are Born-Again, the Holy Spirit begins to reveal TO us what God prepared FOR us, that was concealed FROM us.
— Once we get a clear picture of what God is revealing to us about our future, if we a humble enough to submit to God’s plans, our life then becomes about what we saw… what God revealed. Our life becomes a tireless pursuit of becoming what God is continually revealing.
— Every time God reveals something to us about our future, He makes it clear that He has already been there, He has already seen us doing it, and for Him, in eternity, it’s already done. For us, who live within the continuum of time, it is literally just a matter of time before what God revealed from heaven manifests in the earth.
— The text says that this revelation becomes a “divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy.” In other words, if you are truly determined to live a life of faith, you will never be satisfied until you become what God revealed. You will live life with a constant flow of revelation from God, and you will continually desire to become everything God is revealing. As one dream becomes a reality, you pursue the next, and then the next, and so on, until you arrive at God’s overall expected end for your life.
— Since the life of faith is a long journey, you will need encouragement along the way. You will need people who send you notes like the one I received this morning or call you when you need it or show up at your house to give you an encouraging word. If the journey were short and easy, you may not need encouragement. But the journey is neither short nor easy. So you will need people to encourage and support you along the way.
— If you are determined to never give up on your faith, you continually submit to the Holy Spirit, and you accept the help of your support system, you will become the man/woman God called you to be. It won’t be easy. You will have to face more challenges than you wanted and overcome more obstacles than you expected. But if you remain on the path to your purpose, you will get there. The only way you can lose is if you quit. When you have the right friends around you, they won’t let you quit!
*** The journey is long. We all need friends to not just arrive at the destination, but to enjoy the ride!
2. We all need people who know us well enough to identify when we need a course correction.
(Isaiah 53:6 KJV)
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
In context, this verse is talking about salvation and how Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sin. However, I am going to make a point here about friends.
The text says that we all go astray “like sheep.” The Bible likens us to sheep and likens God to our shepherd. Sheep have a terrible sense of direction. But sheep don’t need to know where they are going if they know who they are following. Just as long as sheep can see their shepherd, they are okay.
Here’s my point, since the journey we are on is a long one, and since we have to hear from the Holy Spirit along the way continually, there will be times when we get off course. How do sheep go astray? LITTLE BY LITTLE!
— We need people around us who are close enough to us to know when something is off.
— We need people around us who are so intimate with us that they can tell things that most can’t.
— We need people who can see when we are going astray and shifting off course.
— God can use these people to provide us a course correction when we need it.
— If you are going off your course and you correct it early, it won’t be a big deal. But if no one corrects you, you can wind up so far off your path that it will cost you dearly to get back.
— Life is much better when you have people close to you who can sense when something is off, who can tell you the truth about it, and whom you honor enough to listen to. Without these people, you run the risk of never arriving at God’s desired destination for your life.
Friends matter!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for revealing Your plans for my life to me. I live by the revelation I receive from Your precious Holy Spirit. All I want is what You want for me. My single desire in life is to become the man/woman You called me to be. I want nothing more and nothing less. I know this journey is a long one. I am still breathing because purpose is still locked up inside of me. I am determined to get it ALL out. As I go down the path to my purpose, I know I need help and support. Thank You for giving me amazing friends. They know me. They know when something is wrong. They know when I am drifting off course. And I declare that I am open to receiving the course corrections I need to remain on the road to destiny. I LEVEL UP my relationships in 2021! GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
