Daily Impact: 6th August 2023
Topic: Pursuit
Text: 1 Corinthians 9:24
1 Corinthians chapter 9:24: Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize, run in such a way that you may obtain it?
There is a way a man runs, and yet he does not obtain it. But you are to run in such a way that you may obtain it. And it is my prayer that you will obtain your purpose, you will obtain your dream, you will obtain your desires in the name of Jesus.
What exactly is pursuit?
1. Pursuit is taking practical and pragmatic steps in the direction of your divine purpose and destiny. Don’t forget, the first thing in the three-point strategy to maximize your life is to find your purpose. You need to find your purpose, to know where you are going in life and why you are going to that destination. Having found your purpose or the direction your life should go, take practical steps in the direction of that purpose.
Are you taking practical and pragmatic steps in the direction of your destiny? Listen to me. If you have a goal, a purpose, and you were told to produce 100 mangoes, and then you start looking around for apples, and you are coming back with 100 apples, you have failed woefully.
You have not taken steps in the direction of your destiny or your purpose. Your purpose is to bring 100 mangoes and not apples. You have done something, but you have not done the main thing in the direction of your destiny. So taking practical and pragmatic steps in the direction of your divine purpose and destiny is what I mean by pursuit.
2. Pursuit is running with a vision, and running to obtain. Run with that vision that God has given to you. Habakkuk 2:2. Then the LORD answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.
Run with the vision God has given you. There’s a vision ahead of you or before you. Pursuit is running with that vision, running to obtain a goal, running to press to the mark for the price of the high calling of God.
Don’t forget, Paul advised that you run to obtain it. Everybody runs, but not everybody obtains. Not everybody is rewarded, but you are to run to obtain and that is pursuit. May you obtain as you run in the name of Jesus.
3. Pursuit is being proactive and not just reactive with your life. Be proactive with life, don’t be reactive. Two categories of people live People who react to life and people who respond to life. The people who respond are proactive in their approach. People who react are reactive. They are the ones who react to the event of life. The reactive people are the people who let life happen to them. They let life happen, whatever happens, that is what they accept, and that is what they take. Things happen to them. So they are in subjection to the circumstances of life and destiny.
Circumstances rule their lives and their destinies. On the other hand, proactive people are those who make life happen. They take steps, they make things happen. They condition and create their circumstances. They do not allow things to create them. They create change. They create their circumstances. They create the things they’re looking forward to in life. They know that life may not give them what they deserve but what they are willing to go after. They produce their circumstances. They make life happen. These are proactive people. So pursuit in life is being proactive. Don’t just wait for life and events to happen. Go out and create your event.
4. Pursuit is pressing towards the mark.
In Philippians 3:14, Paul the apostle said, I press towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I press towards the mark. I press towards the goal. Press, there must be a pressing.
Every man of destiny is a man who presses. The man of pursuit is a man who strains himself, who stretches himself. He presses to arrive at the place that he is going. There is a need for you to keep pressing. Pressing is not going to be conducive. Pressing is not going to be easy but you’ve got to do it with all that you’ve got, with every strength in you.
5. Pursuit is also trading your talent or selling your wares. Trade your talent. Every one of us has got talents from God. Maybe one, maybe two, maybe five, maybe 10. In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:15-18, the word of God makes it clear that God gave to every man according to his several abilities. The man who had got five talents went and he traded with his five and he made five more, 100% gain. The man who had got two talents did the same and he also made a 100% gain. The man who got one did not do anything, he did not trade his talent, he hid his talent. The first 2 pursued their destiny, they were men of pursuit. The third man did not pursue his destiny, he had a talent but he did not trade that talent. You’ve got talent, dear listener, go and trade your talent. Go and do something with that talent that God has given to you and go and win more.
Prayer Focus
Lord, I receive grace, the grace to pursue my purpose, to take practical steps in the direction of my purpose and destiny.
I receive the grace not to sleep when I should be working. I receive that grace to press on, I receive that grace to run and to obtain, I receive the grace to be proactive and not reactive, to make life happen, to create my change.
I receive that grace to press towards the mark, I receive that grace to trade my talent in the name of Jesus.
Father, help me not to run another man’s race. Help me not to run in another man’s lane. Help me not to labour for others in the name of Jesus. Help me not to be distracted from my purpose, from my dream, from my goals in the name of Jesus. I receive help from you, the living God, in Jesus’ precious name.
Father, let my life produce a profit. Let my destiny produce a profit. Let me be productive and profitable to the glory of your name. Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray that in life and destiny, I will be productive and profitable.
