By Pastor Thad Callahan
I am a sports nut! Anyone who knows me would agree with this statement. The Lord often speaks to me through sports analogies. I guess it is just easy for me to understand and relate things to others through this avenue. One of the things that frustrates me about sports is when one team has a big lead on another team. They are tearing them up and the game is as good as done (except for the time left on the clock) and that team stops playing. They stop doing the things that got them the lead and they begin “trying to not make mistakes”. I’ve seen team after team do this and then the other team starts to catch up. The game begins to get close and the team who had that big lead decides, “I guess we had better start playing hard again.” However, it is not that easy and by that time it is probably too late. I’ve seen many of those teams lose those games because once they lost the momentum it is almost impossible to get it back.
Beloved, I’ve seen too many Christians do this same thing. They get saved, start going to church, start reading their Bible and praying, start witnessing and experiencing God’s blessings in their lives…and things are going great. They are kicking the devil’s head in! Then…they decide it’s time to put things on cruise control. They think, “I’ve been doing this thing or that thing for so long, I’m going to take a rest.” And they begin to take it easy. They start focusing on other things. And then all the sudden…BAM…they start noticing that things are not as victorious as they once were. The devil seems to be getting more and more shots in and their knees are starting to buckle. What happened? Why is this happening to me? Why do bad things happen to good people? Beloved, it’s simple! You lost your momentum and are losing your lead.
The enemy loves to distract Christians in order to steal their momentum. Understand, in the Christian life (just as in sports) momentum is everything!
Momentum is defined as, ” a property of a moving body that determines the length of time required to bring it to rest when under the action of a constant force; strength or force gained by motion or through the development of events.” In other words, momentum is when you’ve developed strength and force in an area and when it get’s moving…it is very hard to stop. I believe that this term is kind of like the word “patience” in the Bible. Patience is defined as consistency and constantsy in your life. Patience is momentum. Hebrews 10:36 says, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” In other words, after you have done what God wants you to do, anything that God wants you to do, you need some momentum. You need to keep going in the direction that you are heading…it is a force that will bring you to your promise from God. There are many areas that the enemy loves to try to slow you down in that if he succeeds… will steal your promises from you. Here are a couple of areas that the enemy loves to destroy your momentum in:
- The Word of God and Prayer!
Many Christians start their walk with Christ by spending a lot of time with Him. They read their Bible and pray…..a lot! Because they do this, they end up growing quickly and getting a lot of momentum in their Christian walk. However, after a short time they get sloppy with their time with God or they allow the things of this world to keep them from these things. Therefore, they loose that momentum. Beloved, when you loose momentum in reading the Word of God and in prayer, you will quit growing in the things of God and start to lose ground. You will give place to the enemy and begin to loose the blessings of God.
- Christian Service!
When a person gives their life to God they will have the tendency to begin working for God. Whether it me witnessing, working in the nurs-ery, cleaning the church or something else…they begin to work for God. Well, being faithful in what is another mans is something that God puts in the heart of a child of God that will bring the blessings of God to you. However, when you have done it for a while the enemy will come in and try to get you to quit doing the things that you are doing. He will give you good excuses, but all he is trying to do is get you to lose your momentum.
- Church Attendance!
Another sure fire way that the devil will get you to lose your momentum is to keep you out of church. When you get born-again your natural desire is to go to the house of God so that you can learn about His good-ness. However, the enemy loves to come in and put things in your life that will conflict with your church schedule or he loves to tell you that you don’t need to go every time. Now, it is true that your Christian life doesn’t depend on you going to church, however, your faith being built and the strength in your Christian life does depend on it. When you stop going to church… you stop your momentum and it will effect the blessings of God on your life.
- Giving!
A natural thing that new Christians will want to do is to give. It is the nature of God and when you are born again you will begin to operate as God operates, which means you will want to give. Tithing is a momentum thing! If you start tithing…it is easy to continue to tithe. Giving of offerings is a momentum thing! Once you start giving.. it is easy to continue to give. However, when you decide to quit giving (or tithing) you are in trouble, because it will become hard to start again and your blessings from God will be effected by quitting!
Get Your Momentum Back
In sports it can be almost impossible to get the momentum back in a game. That is why it is important to keep your focus and keep doing what you did to succeed in the first place. Well, it is the same thing in your Christian walk. If you loose your focus you will loose the momentum and it will be almost impossible to get back to where you were. Note, it is almost impossible, not impossible. It can be done because with God there is nothing that is impossible (Matthew 17:20). However, it is going to come by a little work. When Jesus walked this earth, the one thing that Hedid consistently was keep His focus (Isaiah 50:7). Well, that is why He never lost His momentum. In a sporting event, when a team starts losing their momentum they call a time-out in order to get their plan together and regroup. Well, if you’ve lost your focus and lost your momentum…call a time-out TODAY!
Don’t wait until tomorrow…do it TODAY! Renew your focus on the Word and prayer. Renew your attention to serving God and others! Renew your affection for the House of God. Renew your passion for giving! Then watch your momentum return…watch your blessings return…and ultimately watch every attack that the enemy puts to you fall by the wayside!
