Finish What You Started

The new year is in full swing – are you?  Tell you what … some of my days have been slow going trying not to get ahead of myself in excitement.

Oh, it’s not that I’m pumped about all the “projects” I have on my vision and goals list, it’s that I had SO much unfinished stuff that I didn’t know where to start first!  Can you relate?

Maybe I wasn't the Queen of Unfinished Projects, but it sure felt like it.  Finally things were moving forward and I was off on the right foot.

I was actually on schedule (like that’s hard to do only a few weeks into the year!), when my computer began having hissy fits after we loaded a new bible software program.  That changed the game plan instantly, and sent me into overdrive trying to figure out how in the world am I going to catch up at this stage.

It didn’t seem fair!  I was doing life coaching, getting people started on their own journey to success when mine stopped before I barely got my hands on the tasks.  Then God reminded me of a conversation during prayer time just a few months ago when I was getting discouraged about my own incomplete goals list for 2019.

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God Doesn’t Attend Pity Parties

You know it’s easy to be radical wanting to make changes about life, especially when we feel the new year brings fresh beginnings for “do overs.”  We actually make plans, and start in on phase one feeling good about what we’re going to accomplish thinking this will be the year I do it!

After a few weeks the excitement of phase one dwindles and is soon gone.  The pity party invitations go out and woe is me gets a foothold in the heart door.

It’s not long before we let discouragement win and think “it wasn’t to be” I guess.  Dreams shatter and we fall right back into the same old pattern we hated, but can’t seem to break.  Ugh!!! A million times ugh!

You know what?  God had no intentions of attending or participating in my pity party.  As a matter of fact, He put something before my eyes that I’ve done in the past, but haven’t practiced lately.  It led me back to the Old Testament and the prophet Haggai.

Come Back Here

There was a time when the citizens of Judah were excited about the message the prophet Haggai gave them which involved the re-building of the temple.  However, after a short time the Jews lost their enthusiasm and stopped all the work leaving the city still in ruins.

After a time at the daily grind their values changed. The work of God diminished.  Instead they sought out their own dreams and built elaborate homes for themselves, even though they were smack in the midst of the assignment. 

Having a vision of building their own homes wasn’t the problem.  It was their lack of finishing the task God gave them first.  In the beginning they were like enthusiastic toddlers, but soon grew bored with the project when things got a little tough or it was taking too long.

Rather than sticking to the plan they quit and left, leaving a big mess in the middle of the city!  Parent’s can you relate with giving instructions to your kids to pick up their toys only to find out that they have left the room to seek after something better to do? 

You can kind of imagine how ticked off it must have made the LORD.  Parents don’t mind that kids want to do other things, but need them to get back in that room and first finish what you asked right?  Of course!

When God Says Enough

Needless to say (but I’m going to anyway …), God wasn’t pleased with the behavior of His children and had no intentions of letting them slide in following through with what they started.  I can picture it like a father getting after his kids to pick up their toys to put them away after the Mom (like Haggai) already gave the instruction. 

Whining and stomping their feet, they begin giving Dad a ton of excuses as to why they can’t do it or haven’t gotten around to cleaning up the disorganization they created.  He’s had enough of their disobedience and doesn’t want to hear it. With an outstretched arm he points them back to the task, staying to watch as they finish gathering their belongings to put them in their proper places.

Can’t you hear the squabbling that went on as Haggai tries to reason with God over their poor behavior?  Don’t we do that in coming up with excuses as to why we didn’t finish what we started?

The people basically said:

We know God wants us to do this, but it’s not the right time.  We have our own harvests to bring in and don’t have the time at the moment.  It’s not convenient right now. 

That’s it!  Enough is enough!  God sent Haggai the prophet to stir them into action again by putting them in their place.  He refused to accept their excuses for not sticking with the vision God laid out for them to follow.  In other words, he was ticked off and was about to spell out the consequences for their lack of obedience.

Consider Your Ways

We learn about God’s response in the book of Ezra, (beginning in chapter 4) where He in essence read them the riot act and why their work hadn’t been blessed by Him. This was Haggai’s message to the Jews in Judah:

“The word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet saying, is it time for you to work on your own houses while the temple is in ruins?  Consider your ways and what you’ve done!

You sow a lot, but reap little, you eat and there isn’t enough, you drink but are still thirsty.  You wear clothes but aren’t warm, and make a living but there’s never enough to pay your bills.  If you consider your ways and what you did instead of what I told you, then you would know why I haven’t blessed the work of your hands.

As soon as you made a little profit, I blew it away because you let My house remain in ruins while everyone went and visited your houses leaving mine empty!  So, I allowed the drought to fall on the land, your harvest, livestock and everything you did fell in ruin with the poor seeds you sowed into my vision!

Now, consider what you did and get back up to the mountains. Pick up the wood and build the temple.  I will be with you to bless this project and cause favor from the King in giving of supplies. This is what will please and glorify me. (taken from Haggai chapter 1 and Ezra chapter 5; emphasis mine)

The people gladly received the message and immediately went to work finishing what they started in rebuilding the temple of the LORD.  When they obeyed, God was with them, the task was completed in record time and they were able to establish their vision as well. 

“Take delight (get excited) in the Lord, and He will give you the

desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4-5)

Do This First

Remember I mentioned in the beginning of the year how I was really on schedule and everything was going as planned until the computer thingy?  Well, it’s true and although a monkey wrench was thrown into some projects, I didn’t get flustered because of that conversation I had with the Lord over my past goals.  It’s literally what turned things around and kept me from climbing back in the boxing ring to beat myself up over what happened that was out of my control. 

My not being able to finish everything on the “goal” list for my vision board from last year wasn’t the issue, even though I thought it was.  In my spirit I heard the Lord tell me these four words:

“Finish What You Started!”

I didn’t need to make another list or add new things.  In my thinking, the old ones obviously weren’t God’s plan since they didn’t happen.  That wasn’t it at all.

Get Back to the Mountain

Gifted Christian musician Tim Oladeru got this concept and it gave him peace like it did me! Just because it’s a new year doesn’t mean that you have to start everything new!  Sometimes, the best thing you can do is be disciplined enough to finish what you started the previous year or improve on it.

When making out my vision board and goal planning last year, didn’t I bring it before the Lord in the first place?  Wasn’t He always a part of the process? 

Yes, then why did I think it wasn’t good and I needed to ditch it for something else?  There wasn’t a reason at all, other than the world trying to tell me I failed and needed to do something else instead. 

I merely need to finish what I already started!  In other words, like God told the Hebrew children … get back to that mountain and tackle it by finishing the job you started! 

Was this a big revelation?  Not so much … more like disobedience and fault finding I’d say.  This is a matter that only I could get under control and correct – so I have and am in the process of some major overhauls.

This is something I always did, but somewhere along my journey I strayed off the straight and narrow path.  I just needed to get back to that mountain (or shall I say “mountains”) I was trying to avoid!

“So, finish what you began to do.  

Then your willingness will be matched by what you accomplished.” 

(2 Corinthians 8:11 God’s Word Translation)

The Lord has given clarity to this 20/20 vision request to stay focused and get organized.  Be diligent and determined, then you can move on to something else with a clear mindset. 

Start Right Now

When you walk around your house and see something needs to be done do you look at it and say, “I need to do that someday,” then walk away with the project still left undone?  Generally speaking, we all do this I suppose, but that particular “someday” never comes does it? 

This is where we need to retrain our brains and stop the excuses.  When we change our mindset to think “excellence”, we won’t let things go by.  Start practicing that now is the right time to get things done.  When the Holy Spirit puts it before you, now is the time!

God blesses us for our obedience and satan knows that, so learn to consider your ways in which you go about daily activities.  The devil watches our patterns and behavior, because he cannot read our minds.  When we put things off over and over, he swoops in to devour our progress knowing blessings aren’t coming to this person who continually quits before finishing.

What have you let slide by in not getting organized or following through on something you started?  It doesn’t matter why you didn’t finish, that’s in the past. 

Start right now and do something today.  It doesn’t have to be major, but you have to begin and take this seriously if your goals are ever to be accomplished. Every little step counts so take that step to re-start the process.

Go to God in prayer and ask Him where you should begin, and then get to it so you’ll be back on track for His blessings on your work.  If needed, ask for a reminder of the last thing He told you to do, and then do it without hesitation.

Instruction and obedience shouldn’t have a long period of time between them.  Immediate obedience is the difference between blessings being manifested today, tomorrow or never.

Let’s not get in the position where God has to chasten us for not finishing what we started.  We all know how that would end if we take that path correct? 

You Have to Start in Order to Finish

Do you remember a few weeks back when I talked about Paul not going to Troas because God changed his direction?  Well, on Paul’s 3^rd missionary trip he was able to return to Troas and fulfill his commitments, finishing what he started.  It was just in the process of the journey that God took him on a bigger road trip.

I want to encourage you to believe in your dreams again and have hope. Get back to the mountain you avoided and start over; God isn’t through with you!  He wants to bless you with His favor, but it begins with obedience in finishing what you started.

“I have fought the good fight, I have stayed on course and finished the race, and through it all, I have kept believing.  I look forward to what’s in store for me: a crown of righteousness that the Lord – the always right and just judge – will give me that day (but it is not only for me, but for all those who love and long for His appearing).”

(2 Timothy 4:7-8 Voice) 

What did you start in the past that you haven’t completed?  Maybe it’s a business, working out, losing weight, mending emotional fences.  It doesn’t matter; the fact is you weren’t able to complete it for some reason.  For me it was classes!

We all have them - those ongoing projects that are still waiting to be finished!  Perhaps you did start something, but need to improve on what you already have to better serve people and bring God glory.  That’s fine, but get back to that mountain and tackle it until you are finished the task.

If you are right on target and ready to begin something new with God, that’s great – go with God in His favor.  For most of us though, we’ve got some Masterful work to yet to finish, but this time we’re going to move forward with patience instead of frustration in achieving our goals.

“Finishing is better than starting.  Patience is better than pride.” 

(Ecclesiastes 7:8)

In 2019, my husband and I had a blessed and productive year accomplishing things in areas that I didn’t expect, but fell way short in others.  Together we faced extremely difficult situations as well as some happy times.

However, in December when I was feeling discouraged and pressured to get more crossed off my life goal list, the Lord’s message “finish what you started” turned out to be words of insight, concepts and ideas.  Instead of a browbeating for not achieving all my goals toward the vision in my heart, I was encouraged and motivated to keep going.

We never know what a day (or year for that matter) may hold, but God does.  The Lord knew which events would take place (such as hubby’s eleventh hospital stay), and that I needed words of affirmation, not chastisement for a vision refresh.  Not this time anyway!

God wasn’t angry or disappointed with me; He merely wants to complete the good work He began in me with His full favor and blessings.

“I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6 ESV)

That’s all it took, and I firmly planted myself in position to finish something I had started.  For me it was additional courses toward another degree that took me eight years when it should have taken less than two!  Hey … I was a little busy!

Finally, on December 31^st, 2019 at 11:45 pm I finished that goal!  The weight was lifted and feels so good not having it constantly nagging at me to get it done.  I can fully attest to what scripture declares … finishing is truly better than starting.

This Week’s Challenge:

2020 Vision Refresh

Although you may not have accomplished all your goals or vision in past years, do not be disheartened.  You just need a little refresh of the correct steps to take, which include finishing the ones He’s already given you.  Friend, Hallelujah - if it’s of God, it’s still there and in His plans. 

“But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His 

heart through all generations.” (Psalm 33:11)

I love that verse, don’t you?  God has given each of us a specific vision for life; get it back in focus and start refreshed.

Consider the things you have been doing that took you away from the “mountain” so to speak.  Were they always legit, or simply not following through when you had the opportunity?  Maybe it was both, but not anymore!  Ask the Lord for the 2020 clarity you need to accomplish your goals in finishing what you started!

Never forget that all things work together to those that love the Lord God and His vision.  Believe that this is going to be your best year of clarity for the manifestation of vision and goals.  As soon as you are back on track, stay there by sticking to the plan of God and His favor will surely come.

“May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed! (Psalm 20:4)

Be Thou My Vision – Selah

Until next time, believe God for renewed vision favor!

“Rest on My vision for miracle favor.”

- Jesus Christ

*Unless noted, the names in articles are changed to protect the individual (s) privacy.   

Note: Prayer from the blessings in Deuteronomy 33 and 1 John 1:2 Amplified Bible. 

When used, the words satan or devil are not capitalized deliberately, because we give him no place in our lives. 

Disclaimer: Article information is not meant to be used as treatment for mental or physical issues, but geared toward spiritual awareness.            

What’s New This Week: Click on link.

The Overflow Blessing: From Vision to Manifestation 

By Andre Pierre Bright (paperback)

  

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