by Charlie Rogers

How many times have we found ourselves receiving direction from God either by speaking to our heart or through the Word of God. Yet, we fail to follow through with what God has instructed us to do. I’ve noticed this in many areas of people’s lives, but especially in the giving area. Whether it is the giving of our finances or of our time, most believers have a hard time following through with what God has seemed to be instructing them to do.

I have especially found it more so when a believer purposes in their heart to give of time or finances so they can help in the Kingdom of God. To purpose in your heart to do something is when you freely choose to do something without being beat over the head with threats of a curse. You haven’t heard God speak to you necessarily, you just purpose in your heart that you want in on what God is doing in the world today. You have made a decision to do it even without the promise of money coming back to you. Even though you have the promise of a reward in heaven.

2 Cor 9:7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. NKJV

Many have good intentions when they hear God or purpose in their heart that they are going to do something for the kingdom. But as I said following through on that commitment or God’s instructions is another matter. Usually in spite of our good intentions we don’t finish our race in that area not because of what we do afterwards, but because of what we don’t do after God has spoke to us. We want to do what is right, and what He has told us, but either because of a character flaw or our faith fails us we don’t follow through. Let me put it to you the way the Holy Spirit told me, He said "people let their faith be whipped, people have whipped faith in areas."

Gal 6:9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. NKJV

Heb 12:3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. NKJV

How many times have we left a church service or our prayer closet riding high, knowing that God just gave us something to do, some special instruction. Then in the following days to come that special thing God put in us just grew dimmer and dimmer until we never kept our commitment to God or the body of Christ. Then we find ourselves once again waiting for God to give us new, special instructions and we never finished the previous thing He illuminated to us. (Usually when this happens He will just bring us right back to what He told us previously.)

Many times I have heard people say, "Well if He wanted me to do this it would have stuck with me and not left me." That’s not necessarily true; it depends on whether we stayed in His presence, in communion with the Holy Spirit. Maybe we just received that wonderful thing from Him and just went on about the affairs of this world and this life we live in. How can we follow through if we don’t stay in His presence! To stay in fellowship with Him is an opportunity to increase our faith or at least maintain the faith we have at that moment. Maybe He wants to give us more instructions about how to go about doing or giving what He has told us.

For example, maybe you were in prayer one day and He told you to give $200 each month to a ministry or your church. You know He did, you heard it, as clear as a bell, it was Him. You feel so wonderful and your faith is so strong concerning it that you could walk on water. But you don’t have $200 each month to give or maybe you start out trying to give the $200 only to find it too much of a struggle with a lot of reasons in your mind and excuses along the way.

Here is a good one, "it’s not been provided to me to give the $200, it must not have been God I heard." But God He wanted to show you in your heart the way or how you could give the $200 and to increase your faith that you could have the $200 available. Maybe He was going to tell you the rest of the instructions if you stayed with Him in the following days. Maybe He wanted to get across to you that to be able to have the extra $200 He wanted you to cut a garage off your 3 car garage. Maybe He wanted you to cut out one trip to Wal-mart each month, but if you don’t hang around to find out what His full instructions are you would never know.

So you grow weary of trying to follow through with His instructions and end up aborting God’s plan for you at that moment in time. You try and try to have the faith to complete what He has asked of you but its just not there. My friends we will only have the full instructions or the faith necessary to finish our course for those instructions if we spend time in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, you become like and get what you need from who you spend time with. I have always said, "If you’re a druggy you get your drugs from a drug dealer and become a drug dealer." If you want to become like Jesus and finish your course, you hang around Jesus and your get your faith from the author and finisher of your faith.

It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about finishing our course in this moment of time (the small picture) or the race Paul talked about fulfilling the will of God for entire life (the large picture). You cannot let the enemy talk you out of what you know you’re to do or to whip your faith. We must follow through with what He has instructed us to do!