Maintaining Momentum

We have been listening to a week of messages at night that have challenged us and have turned our eyes back to Jesus. As a family, we would gather around the phone set to speaker, and listen for 75 minutes, and feel the pull of the Word of God drawing us back to Him, the One who wants to lead us through this crazy life we are walking.

The final night's message started out with comments encouraging all of us in continuing on this spiritual high we may have attained through the week of purifying, reviving and eye-opening truths. I really like that idea of maintaining the momentum from a spiritual mountain top experience. It has caused me many moments of thought and pondering, especially during my morning milking time.

Now, I know life can't be all mountain-top experiences. No one can sustain the energy that is needed for that kind of life. Our former pastor once told us that, "life is full of peaks and valleys, the mountain top experiences can't go on forever."

But...how do you keep the momentum going for long enough to make a difference, and establish new thought patterns and new habits in our lives?????

When I became born-again, what a spiritual high that was, and God immediately delivered me from some besetting sins that had plagued me mostly all my life. I was elated, enthusiastic and very verbal about my God, and how wonderful He had been to me.

Time passes, and we lose that focus.

Then, my husband got born-again, and we went through another phase of excitement, this time together (which is a much better way to go through these mountain-top experiences, and we brought our first child home from Russia on the wings of that experience.)

We went back to Russia for #2, and came home in a valley-emotional, physical, spiritual, it was a long valley, that took a year or so to climb out of.

We found a new church, a real Bible-believing family that loved us where we were at, and helped us to grow; another high!

We had wonderful nights of intense Bible-study with a wonderful man who taught us so much about spiritual warfare, and prayer, and we saw wonderful evidences of God's working in and around us for the entire time we met with him-another high.

We went to see Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ!! Wow, we were sure it was going to be a life-changing experience. How do you sit through the terror and horror of Christ's death, and not be profoundly affected by it? We both walked out of the theater in tears, sure our hearts would stay tuned to God for sure this time.

I have attended 2 Women of Faith conferences, and they were both amazing, and Christ-centered, and powerful, but, I came home, and within a week, found myself losing the momentum and zeal that had been rekindled.

What is this thing called "real life?" Why does it have the power to steal our joy, and take us down off that mountain of zeal and love for the Lord?

I am not doing an intense Bible Study on the problem, I am just chronicling my thoughts and opinions here, so I know there are scripturs that can back some of this up, but here are my thoughts.

Real life, when done in our own strength, and our own might, and our own way, will bring us to our knees with fatigue, worry, anxiety and stress. We think we can give God a few moments of our morning, listen to a little Christian Radio sometime during the day, pray intermittently, and give God a little time at night before bed, and we should be fed and nourished!

But God says, "it's not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit"

We lose the focus of the intensity of the teaching we have encountered, because we just head out into our day, and don't really connect with God before, during or after.

So, the question remains, "How do I stand firm, how do I remain strong, how do I keep the focus???" Why do I allow the world, my flesh, and Satan to waylay me countless times throughout the day?

I so badly want to live a life that is sold out to the Lord, that is lived with passion and purpose, yet I feel empty and powerless to follow through on even the simplest of plans I make. I do believe it has a lot to do with accountability. We need to have people around us who are committed to praying through for us, who will lovingly confront and uphold us when needed, and who are persuing the same goals and walking the same road as we are.

But, we also have an accountability with God, our Father, our Creator, our Savior, and our Friend. All we really need to do is ask Him, and if it is His Will, He will gladly bring it about.

Dearest Lord Jesus, It is my desire to be on fire for you, and to cast aside the things of this world that so easily deter us and sidetrack us. The tyrrany of the urgent is continuously before us, and you take the back seat. Focus our thoughts, and our hearts on you, your love, your grace, and may your grace be poured out upon us in unequaled measure. May your Holy Spirit strengthen and enable us to walk the straight and narrow road, without traveling down all the rabbit trails that sap our strength and energy. In Jesus' Holy and Precious Name We Pray