5 Steps Overcomers Take in Overwhelming TimesSample

Step #3 for Overcomers: Look Ahead

Jesus endured the cross because of the joy set before Him. He looked ahead to His resurrection. Don’t let what’s going on around you sabotage what God is doing within you. Instead of feeling frustrated where you are, focus on where you’re going. Look ahead, and you’ll get there!

As a runner, I’ve learned an important secret about successful runs. I make up my mind beforehand exactly how far I’ll go. If I don’t take that important step, my body quickly decides the run is over. This secret to running is also a secret for living: Finishing the race requires looking ahead and knowing your end goal before you even take that first step.

When life’s chaos blocks our view of the hope set before us, how can we run our spiritual race with endurance? I want to share six different ways to build up our endurance so that when seemingly impossible moments come, we’re ready to embrace the resistance and push through it. Here are six ways we can put into practice looking ahead:

1. Create the right atmosphere: Praise. When you can’t change your circumstance, control the atmosphere with praise-filled thoughts and words that shift the trajectory of your day from worry to worship, from panic to praise.

2. Connect to the right power supply: the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our constant companion and teacher. I’ve found it’s impossible to function without the Holy Spirit’s fire!

3. Get the right information: God’s Word and truth. What does the Lord say about your situation? That’s the only information you need!

4. Get in the right location: Be open to where or what God has for you. Don’t live in yesterday’s expectations. Go or stay where God calls you to be today.

5. Get the right focus: we must shift our attention off of ourselves and onto others. We all have needs, of course, but when we focus on the needs of others, everything changes. What you keep in your own hand shrinks, but what you put in God’s hand multiplies.

6. Get the right timing: God’s timing, not always ours. All His promises have a time frame. He is not a right-now God; He is a right-time God. You need to know what time God’s clock is on and get in sync with it, which will help you keep looking ahead.