If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If
you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving
forward.” Martin Luther King closed his remarks to a group of students at
Washington University in 1957 with these words. They spoke to me this morning from
a poster in my office as 2015 comes to an end. He was challenging those
students to not give up or in until segregation was over and to keep fighting
to achieve their goals without bitterness and violence. I thought to myself how
relevant those words are to those of you that are in transition right now. How
powerful they are to those of you that are tired from a long year. How
important they are to those of you that are beginning a new assignment, job, or
ministry as January approaches. As I sat staring at these words, I heard the
Lord say, don’t stop moving!
The word stagnant then immediately popped in my mind and the
definition I saw slapped me in the face. It means “(of a body of water or the
atmosphere of a confined space) having no current or flow and often having an
unpleasant smell as a consequence; showing no activity; dull and sluggish;
characterized by lack of development, advancement, or progressive movement.”
(Dictionary.com, Google)That’s rough! Why? Because God has called you to more.
He has called you to advance His Kingdom with your songs, your writing, and
your words. He has called you to reach the lost and the hurting. If you’re
sitting on your gifts, holding onto your past and generally not moving, how
long do you think it will be before your lack of movement starts to smell or
become unpleasant to be around?
Folks, as you are preparing for this new year, it’s time to
move. It’s time to stop being stuck in what used to be and look at what God has
said will be. It’s time to stop letting fear keep you from walking fully in
your gifts, taking that job, or writing that book. It’s time to take that step out
of grief and into healing. It’s time to change your answer from no to yes. It’s
time to move forward. MLK made it clear that it doesn’t matter how you get to
your destination, you just have to keep going until you get there. The Lord
sent me to a familiar passage and the words of Paul to encourage you in this
journey and remind you to keep moving forward toward your victory.
I’m
not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on
my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me.
Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of
this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to
Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. So let’s keep focused on
that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have
something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear
your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s
stay on it. (Phil. 3: 12-16, MSG)
Don’t you want everything that God has for you? Well, God
is not stagnant and He certainly isn’t sluggish and dull! I’ve never heard
anyone tell me that God told them their potential was capped out in the 1st
grade. Nope, He wants to grow you and mature you. He wants you to move forward
in the plan that He has for you! You know…the one with a hope and a future!
Moses tells us in Deuteronomy 1:6-8 that God told the children of Israel, “You’ve
stayed long enough at this mountain. On your way now. Get moving. Head for the Amorite hills, wherever people are living in the
Arabah, the mountains, the foothills, the Negev, the seashore—the Canaanite
country and the Lebanon all the way to the big river, the Euphrates. Look, I’ve given you this land. Now go in
and take it. It’s the land God promised to
give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their children after them.”
(MSG)
It’s time! “If you can’t fly, then
run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever
you do, you have to keep moving forward.” Your tomorrow is waiting on you to
move. Your 2016 is waiting on you to move. Your breakthrough is waiting on you
to move. May Jehovah Jireh, the God that sees ahead and then provides, bless
you as you move!
Amen…
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