13 February 2008 - I know what I'm here for: Overcoming the Obstacles to Fulfilling our God Given Purpose

I remember the moment clearly.  Over a period of weeks I had been playing a game of "Championship Manager" (a computer football management game) with a friend.  It took up a reasonable chunks of our day, but then we were students with plenty of spare time.

As the game evolved we had the top two teams in the country, my team was creative and defensively sound but lacked the killer goalscoring touch.  His team was less balanced but had an excess of quality goalscorers.

We came to the end of a season when, in the game, one of the leagues' top goalscorers became available (I even remember his name Wayne Gates, how sad is that?).  This was the missing piece of the jigsaw for me...   But I was stunned when my friend spent every pound he had to steal the player from under my nose.  I didn't expect it, or see it coming.

He didn't  need the player, he had better ones, or equally good ones in that position, but he spent everything so that I would not be able to complete my team.  It was his team went on to dominate the league and win trophies after that.  His ruthlessness shocked me.

Ruthlessness.  Jesus did not mess about or negotiate with the devil in the wilderness.  He was not going to be distracted from his mission and purpose...

Is anything getting in the way of you fulfiilling your calling?  (Name it now before God, in fact why not be brave and name it to a Christian friend you can trust: be accountable.)

Is anything stopping you becoming the person you know God is shaping you to be?  (Again, name it both to yourself, God and a friend who can help you overcome it.)

Be ruthless with the obstacles, deal with them, overcome them, and press on for the glory...

Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

David Brown