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| [Image by Tom O'Connor] |
Last week, I sat on a comfortable cream-colored couch in a beautiful house at the end of a winding street, meeting with some wonderful inspiring people. After praying, singing, reading some scriptures, and sharing little snippets of ourselves, we began to answer some questions as a sort of ice-breaker.
One question got me thinking. "What characteristic has brought you to a successful point in your walk with God?" I considered this for a while, crossing my legs, one over the other, fully aware that the answer I would eventually give would be something that has truly changed my life.
Consistency.
That was it. Consistency. In the past few years of my life, this is one thing that has pushed me forward. I've had to wait for so many things in the scope of my vision to happen. But consistency is what has always seen me to the end-- in my writing, in studying the bible, in my housekeeping efforts, and in other day-to-day activities.
See, consistency has nothing to do with perfection. In fact, I think it should be a term confined to imperfect people. Perfect people don't need to try to be consistent, they already are. But imperfect people need to TRY. They need to get up every morning and make up their minds to be consistent. They need to remember the process of success, and they need to repeat the steps of that process all over again. In my case, although I came short sometimes and I forgot, when I eventually remembered the steps of the process to achieve a goal, I continued in that path. I fell more than seven times, but more than seven times I got back up again. That's consistency.
How To Be Consistent:
1) Pray until something happens. God is never far away from each of us. He always comes at the right time. I've found out that we continue to pray, not because God hasn't heard, but because we need to keep our expectations at the high end. We pray because we want to stay in that "expectant" place, ready to receive the answers at any time. We pray because we are exercising our faith and because we know the answers will come. [Read the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-5]
2) When you remember, continue from where you stopped. Consistency is not relegated to those who remember all the time. Some of us forget the steps. Some of us have gone back to step 1, time and time again. But consistency happens when you always remember to get up again and continue. Consistency is to continue to push. To continue to strive even when no one is looking. ["For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again..." Proverbs 24:16]
3) Be faithful in little. Many times, we want to see big results from our small efforts of consistency. May I remind you of the parable of the talents? No matter how much is distributed to you, be it one talent, you can work on it and produce two. You don't need to bury your single talent under the sand. Consistency is working with what you have in your hand right now. [And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’ Luke 19:17]
4) Always strive to increase. Now, some may ask, "Isn't consistency doing the same thing over and over again?" Yes, it is. But let's not forget that God's purpose for us is not to remain stagnant. The kind of consistency God wants us to have is one that brings an increase. Therefore, we must do the same things over and over again, but after a while there should be an additional step. There's always a next step to take you to the next blessing. There's always something additional you can add to your first step of consistency. It's like climbing a ladder: when your legs are steady on the first rung of the ladder, unless you move one step higher, you'll never reach the top. [But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up,increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred. Mark 4:8]
Question for the Day: Are you inspired to continue doing something you stopped doing a while ago? Today, you can continue doing that good thing. To everyone who reads this, I pray that this year you will be consistent in everything God has called you to do. Amen. Happy Monday everyone.
