Keep On Keeping On

A Leader in the Making: Essentials to Being a Leader After God's Own Heart
by Joyce Meyer

(Page 5 of 5)

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Galatians 6:9 KJV

One time I became frustrated because it seemed the seed of a dream I had inside of me would never bear fruit. At the time I was teaching a little Bible study and not doing much else. It was a time of real discouragement for me, but every time I turned around it seemed that Cod was giving me this Scripture in Galatians 6:9.

It came to me on greeting cards. It was on my calendar. I drew it out of my Promise Box. The preacher spoke on it. I mean, every time I turned around I was hearing or seeing it.

During this time I had my first encounter with the ministry of a prophet who came to our church. In his presentation he picked me out of the audience and said, “The Lord says to you, 'Be not weary in well doing, for in due season you will reap if you faint not.'”

I got so mad at God. I thought, I do not want to hear that Scripture one more time. I already am weary, and I don't want to reap something later on; I want to reap it now!

After the meeting was over, and I had calmed down a bit, I was walking through the graveled parking lot kicking rocks. Finally I stopped and said, “All right, God. What are You telling me?”

He said (not in an audible voice but in my heart), “Joyce, just keep on keeping on and you'll get there.”

Nobody can promise you that you will arrive at your destination in a week or a year or after one trip around the mountain. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness around the mountain called Mount Seir for forty years making what was actually an eleven-day journey.

You may have to go through one difficult trial or test, or it may be ten or twenty. You may have to put up with one obnoxious person or deal with three unlovely people. But you don't have to go through it in your own strength and ability. God will give you His grace to help you make it through. His grace is His ability and strength to help us do what we could not do without Him, and it is freely given to all of us who have received His Son Jesus in our heart.

If you are ever going to develop the potential Cod has put in you, you must make up your mind that you are not going to quit, no matter what, until you see manifested what God has placed within you.

Have you been convinced that your life will never change? Remember, the devil will tell you that because he wants you to quit, to give up and believe that you are always going to be in the same mess. But don't be trapped by misbeliefs that stem from his lies. There is one kind of person he can never defeat-one who is not a quitter!

RUN THE RACE TO WIN

Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but [only] one receives the prize? So run [your race] that you may lay hold [of the prize] and make it yours. Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things. They do it to win a wreath that will soon wither, but we [do it to receive a crown of eternal blessedness] that cannot wither.
1 Corinthians 9:24,25

How are you running your race? You need to be running it to win.

The devil doesn't want you to win because he knows that if you win you will become a world changer. Your life will change, which will cause many other lives to change. If you develop your potential, you are not only going to have a positive effect on your life, but on someone else's life. That person will then go on and develop their potential and effect other lives, and so on and so on.

In this passage the apostle Paul says two things about running the race that make us feel uncomfortable. First, he says that those who cannot run to win conduct themselves temperately. That means they cannot allow themselves to do everything they want to do. Second, he says that they restrict themselves in all things. That means they live a balanced life. There is no area of their life in which they are out of control.

To some of us, leading a balanced life may mean something as simple as going to bed at a decent hour so we won't be tired the next day It may mean cleaning our house even though we don't feel like it. These are simple, practical things, but they reveal how much or how little we are in control of our life.

In the body of Christ today there are a lot of people who are trying to cast out devils who have never taken authority over a sink full of dirty dishes!

According to the Bible, a leader has got to get their own house (or life) in order first before they can go out and set other people's houses (or lives) in order.

There are many ways to prepare to be a leader. Getting your life in order is one of them. It involves making some changes on your part. But with God's help and your hard work and determination, you can break old habits that are hurting and hindering you and form new habits-ones that are healthy and will help you make progress toward developing your potential and reaching your goals.

Potential is a priceless treasure, like gold. As you will see next, all of us have gold hidden within, but we have to dig to get it out.

Copyright © 2001 by Joyce Meyer

About the Author

JOYCE MEYER has been teaching the Word of God since 1976 and in full-time ministry since 1980. She is the bestselling author of more than fifty inspirational books, including How to Hear from God, Knowing God Intimately, and Battlefield of the Mind. She has also released thousands of teaching cassettes and a complete video library. Joyce's Enjoying Everyday Life radio and television programs are broadcast around the world, and she travels extensively conducting conferences.