Gaining Stature in God

Luke 19:4:So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

The more the crowd surrounded Jesus and prevented Zacchaeus from seeing Jesus, the more he ran ahead of the crowd. In my last blog, I stated that there will always be a crowd problem in the equation of life. I defined the crowd as the many excuses/limitations we give not to seek Jesus or press for more of God. Legitimate reasons but not sufficient! 

Notice how Zacheaus addressed his crowd problem; he ran ahead of the crowd! He wasn't trying to struggle with the crowd; he wasn't trying to force himself into the crowd. He ran ahead. The solution to gaining stature with God is not to struggle with your crowd; Don't struggle with your limitations. The answer lies in running ahead of the crowd.

What do I mean? How can one run ahead of the crowd?

Never try to rationalize, encourage or engage with your crowd. Ignore your crowd; ignore your limitations. Don't give voice or audience to the weakness of your flesh. For example, When your body wants to sleep during your prayer time, ignore it and run ahead in prayer. Don't negotiate with sleep. Don't say I will rest for ten more mins, and then I will pray. No! Run ahead in prayer. That ten mins rest can turn into 5 hours of sleep. Trying to rationalize your limitations is operating in the sense realm, and because the devil is a master of the sense realm, you will always lose to the devil in the sense realm.

Run at the pace of your hunger and passion. Some of us have an intense hunger and desire to do great exploits, but our running is shallow. For every deep longing, there needs to be commensurate running. When you come to church, and you get fired up, don't just let it stop at church. As you leave the church, keep running with that fire. Zacchaeus had a strong passion and hunger to see Jesus. He wouldn't let decorum and civility cheat him out of destiny. As deep as his hunger was, so was his pressing and running. Have you seen a pregnant woman craving a particular food? Even if that thing she is craving is in Kafanchan, somebody must go and get it! Don't just develop a hunger for spiritual things; run in the direction of that hunger.

Men of stature are runners. They don't stop to pay attention to distractions. They are always running, always praying, always fasting. They are not praying because they want a breakthrough; Prayer has become their default mode. They spend their strength and time pursuing the things of the spirit. They are always on a spiritual project, from one fasting season to another, from one retreat to another. They don't take vacations from spiritual things. They don't sit down and say they have prayed or fasted enough. They keep running. The devil can hardly keep up with them; they are out of his reach. 

I would assume that the people closest to Jesus in the crowd will never see any need to run. These people represent the complacent believers who have become so used to the things of God. They have become familiar with God and see no need to run as Zaccheus did. These people will boast of their years of service in the things of God. They are dwarfed and stunted and don't even know it. Men who are so close to Jesus but far from the move of God. Their eyes are wide open, but they can not see. These are the group of men who think that those who are running are overdoing it. They will tell you things like, "your own is too much" Is it only prayer you know how to do? They will tell you, "calm down; we have been there before; we have done that before." They will even lace it up with scriptures.

When you encounter such men, they are part of your crowd, ignore them and increase your running! Don't even stop to engage them. They are the old prophets of life. Young prophet, pay no attention to them and keep running. Isn't that the mistake of the young prophet? He stopped running to engage the old prophet, and he eventually died. This journey of faith is portrayed as a race. My question to you is: are you still running? Are you fainting? Have you given up?

There is an unspoken rule for men of stature. You don't stop running to give an audience to the crowd. You are never a match for the crowd. The wisdom is to run ahead of the crowd. Dear friend, please don't stop running, don't stop to rest. To rest is to become a casualty. Don't rest from praying, don't rest from fasting, don't rest from spending time with God! You are already enlisted in the race; there is no turning back!

This is the season of outrunning your crowd

This is the time to outrun horses and chariots

It is your season to outrun footmen

You are breaking out of every weight that will hinder your race!

RUN again; I say RUN!!!!