Unstoppable Purpose

When you think you’re down for the count, someone will be there to help you up.

December’s Awakening, Day 10

Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.  

 —Nelson Mandela

Don’t get out of step by focusing on your own personal difficulties and misfortunes. Keep your eyes and thoughts on the Lord so that your spirit will be sensitive to His leading.

 —Franklin Graham, “Living Beyond the Limits”

The Lord Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen. This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? Isaiah 14:24, 26–27 NIV

In the gauntlet and battering ram of life we have all been hit hard and knocked down flat a multitude of times. But what’s important is getting back up, dusting ourselves off, mending the wounds, and grabbing the reins again to finish the good work and purpose He’s begun in us. Quitting is not an option, only running the race to finish strong and win is acceptable with Him.

When you’re down flat and feel as if you can’t get up, just remember the horrific flogging and beating that Jesus endured, and the Via Dolorosa—the “Way of Suffering,” the way of the Cross—the path that Jesus endured carrying His crosspiece to the crucifixion site at Golgotha, “the place of the skull.” How many times do you think His knees gave way under the heavy burden He endured for us? It happened, His knees caved and He could not bring the immense weight of the crosspiece laden with the sin of humanity back up again. The Roman soldiers immediately commissioned Simon of Cyrene to help Jesus carry the crosspiece to Golgotha. Can you even imagine what Simon must have thought and felt, helping to carry the crosspiece of his Lord, the symbol of his very own salvation?

Prepare your heart to never give up in your purpose, for you are not walking down your path alone. Jesus Himself, and others, are there to help you and pick you up when you fall. The ultimate plans and purposes of the Lord will always prevail.