MAKING PROGRESS IN DESTINY

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” – Acts 1:8

Beloved, join me to meditate and pray: “LORD, GRANT ME PROGRESS IN DESTINY – usher me into increasing spheres of advancement and impact.” Progress infers forward movement, advancement, improvement or development in different aspects of life. The Lord Jesus at the threshold of His ascent, gave the Church a model of Progress in terms of her missionary mandate: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). We have focused more on the power-dimension of that scripture than the progress dimension. The power to witness produces progressive impact. The Church was designed to progress in witness and influence from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the uttermost part of the earth.

God’s Power produces progress, expansion and increasing circles of influence. That’s the divine pattern. Jesus our Master modelled this pattern: “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who WENT ABOUT doing good...” (Acts 10:38). The Lord enjoyed unhindered, unrestricted, and unlimited progress. He performed to full potential. We are meant to do likewise. Just like the Church, the individual believer in Christ has been divinely programmed to make Progress in Destiny: “But the path of the just is as the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day” (Pro.4:18). The “just” – the righteous in Christ – is ordained to make progress on the “path” of destiny.

Progresss is a vital sign of Life. Stagnancy is contrary to living. Progress is an evidence of life. Stagnancy is an emblem of death. The living move; the dead are still and dormant. The spiritually alive are on progressive, forward and upward movement, but the dead don’t move. The devil wants to stagnate us in life, while God is determined to accelerate us in destiny: “It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil” (Isa.10:27). God is determined to remove whatever burden and destroy whatever yoke the devil wants to use to stagnate us in destiny. Beloved, you have a right to progress, in spite of Satan’s unrighteous decrees and grievous prescriptions: “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed” (Isa.10:1). No unrighteous decree or prescription of misfortune shall be able to stop our progress, in Jesus name.

By nature, God has programmed every living thing for progress. It is in the natural make-up of man to grow, develop and mature. God has programmed every New Creation in Christ for spiritual and other dimensions of development: physical, material, mental, financial, social, relational, professional, and ministerial. However, all other aspects are hinged on spiritual development: “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things ane be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 2). It is time to ask yourself: “Am I making personal progress at all in the direction of my destiny? And at what rate? It is only wise to take stock in time; because the rendering of accounts in eternity is inevitable: “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom.14:12).

Let’s prophesy: In Jesus name, my tomorrow shall be more gloriuous than my today. My journey in destiny shall not be hindered, delayed or terminated. I shall never be paralysed on destiny’s pathway. No Herod of fear or intimidation, and no witchcraft threat or occultic persecution shall hinder my progress in life. The Lord has anointed and empowered me for steady progress in all realms of life. By the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus declared: “Take away the stone...” (Jh.11:39a). They did, and Lazarus leaped back to life. No stone shall stop me from making progress in destiny – beginning from my Upper Room of Prayer to the end of the earth!