Here we are at the end of the series. I hope you have been following us throughout the episodes. If you haven’t you can always go back to read it. It has been an interesting journey writing these blogs – enlightening and quite soul searching for me, realizing how much intentional we need to be about going after God. This sequel is sort of a summary and an encouragement to each of us – those in the chase and those about to begin.

In our intro post of this series, I described the components of a chase, what make a chase a chase and not a sprint or a race. We looked at the object of pursuit, focus, determination and strength and endurance. We will take a look at these components once again but in a different light.

MY OBJECT OF PURSUIT

Who is my object of pursuit? Who or what is the one my soul delights in?

As we discussed in our intro post, the path a chase leads us on is not as important as our object of pursuit. Our object of pursuit is the one our heart races after. The question is, “Beloved, who does your heart beat after?” The lioness rises at dusk because of hunger in her stomach and that of her cubs. Hunger drives her out of her warm den into the cold night to hunt. What is it that is driving you to go after academic excellence or job security or a great marriage in a beautiful house? What drives your rising up from the bed daily? Is it your job or your sweetheart or good grades? As said in the previous post, the object of pursuit of a believer should be GOD. If He’s not the one our heart beats after, if His voice is distant to us or if the hunger in us is for anything but Him, brothers, we need to think again.

May the Lord be the one our heart seeks daily. May He be the most treasured prize in our collection. For that to happen He must be our chosen portion.

“The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.”
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Psalms‬ ‭16:5‬ ‭ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

MY FOCUS

“A different term for focus is to “set your heart” as the Bible puts it in Colossians 3. It is to be totally fixed on a specific point.”

One thing the Lord has taught me as a student is “Focus on One thing at a time”. Focus is an element that is important for success. A divided mind achieves very little if anything at all. As believers we need to begin to identify the things that distracts us from the Lord. When the apostle Paul said, Set your heart, there was an unspoken “you” at the beginning. You set your heart. Focusing on the Lord or setting your heart is a personal and conscious decision. I believe it to also be a daily decision because day by day we encounter different things that will try to distract us from the Lord. As the Hebrew writer said,

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
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Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Before we will be able to lay aside these weights and distractions, we need to identify them. The Holy Spirit, our help is far more able to show us these things. For example, He will whisper to you, “You can search on bing instead of on Youtube”, knowing very well that whenever you go on Youtube, you are distracted by interesting videos. The Lord knows us too well, He knows our past and our future and He will help us identify and lay aside our weight. Our focus is on Jesus and it is our job to set our hearts on Him.

MY DETERMINATION
God’s determination in His pursuit of us from the beginning of time, from Adam till now, is a clear demonstration of His desire for us. The Lord could always have given up on us and start a whole new plan. It would still have great and just. But He didn’t, He kept on loving us. Love never ends. In the same way, the Lord expects some sort of determination from us. Let us not be wearied, brothers, in our walk with the Lord. The enemy may try to frustrate us bringing many urgent things that also need our attention but let us decide to push on and in due time, we will receive our reward.

MY STRENGTH & ENDURANCE
To build strength and fortitude in our bodies we usually go to the gym or even in our homes engage in aerobics and cardio exercises. In the same way, there are certain spiritual exercises that can build strength in us.

• Speaking in tongues: We have heard it preached many times – Speaking in tongues helps us build our inner man. It is that cord that connects us to the power source. Not only for our spirits but also for our mind and our bodies.
• Fasting – skipping food and bodily pleasures to spend time with the Lord. It is not just denying your body of its desires but also giving your Spirit what it desires. Fasting usually goes along with longer than usual time of prayer.
• Personal time of Praise & Worship: God is magnified in our eyes and in our hearts such that regardless of what is thrown at us we are able to perceive it as little because our God is exalted bigger than our circumstances.

These exercises procure divine strength that is from the Lord and they will help us in our weary days, when it seems like our world is against us. When it seems that nothing at all is working together for your good. We need this quality of strength and endurance to keep moving forward, reaching out for the Lord.
They not only build fortitude in us but they also make us fall in love with our Precious One. Our hearts are drawn to the Lord as we daily spend time with Him. We learn to desire Him more as we learn to be with Him because we get a hold of His desire for us and reflect it back to Him.

The Lord is an amazing help. He wants this chase more than we want it. It is not His desire to put stumbling blocks in our way. It all comes back to the person of the Holy Spirit. He is our Help. We can go nowhere without him. He guides our path every step of the way and prevents us from stepping into a ditch. The holder up of our heads, He is always with us. Let us engage Him in prayer, in reading of the Word, in having conversations with Him. He is always and always ready.

Brothers, the chase is on….
For those of us who are already in the chase, Keep going. Keep pushing. More grace as you move to take hold of that which Christ hold of you. Get a hold of another chaser and encourage yourselves to go for the Price.
To the one who is about to begin, welcome to the chase that does not end. It is not as daunting as it sounds. It’s exciting, it’s liberating, it is full of challenges but it is also full of rewards – in this world and in the world to come.

Thank you for joining us in this series. It was great having you. Don’t forget to leave a comment.

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