Compelling Motivation

When I concluded my blog post last week; Stay Focused, I realized that we will need something to keep us focused especially when it gets really hard and we are faced with obstacles. The more I meditated on this, the more I realized that what we need is a compelling motivation. As I researched and prepare this blog post, I began to understand that there is more to compelling motivation than its application to staying focused.

During my days in the university campus, I attended a number of Marriage Seminars, especially as a postgraduate student. At one of such annual seminars, the speaker stated that, it is essential for us to know why we were convinced that the person we desire to marry is God’s will for us. She noted that such convictions will become very important later on in the marriage. So she encouraged all the singles at the event to examine their hearts, wait in the presence of God, and be convinced that they are in the will of God before proceeding in their relationships.

I also have asked this question of many intending couples, I have by the grace of God, had the opportunity to talk with during pre-marriage counselling sessions.

Why do you think this person is God’s will for you?

What are your convictions from God about the individual you want to be married to?

Why him or why her?

The truth of the matter is that these convictions will become the compelling motivation that will keep you going when the marriage is hit by the dark seasons of “for poorer, for worse and in sickness.”

I know this from experience. My marriage has experienced all the seasons we pledged in our wedding vows: “for better for worse, for richer for poorer, and in sickness and health…” Knowing without any iota of doubt in my heart that God brought my husband and I together for a purpose, kept us through the difficult and challenging seasons. I love, respect and appreciate him more today, through all we have experienced together as couple, than on the day I first found I’m in love with him 24 years ago. That love has grown and matured, having been tested by fire.

This principle of having a deep personal conviction based on the knowledge of God’s will and faith in His leading, wisdom and guidance, is applicable to everything we do in all the spheres of our lives. My friend and Sista, Bidemi Mark-Mordi in her recent blog post, Is Your Wheel Balanced?, referred to these spheres of our lives as “the seven spokes of a wheel: spiritual, family, financial, physical, mental, personal and career.”

Every aspects of our lives must be governed by the same principle:

http://www.languagepossible.com/2011/12/what-motivates-you/

Why are you doing what you are doing in each area?

Why are you pursuing a particular goal, dream or vision?

What are you seeking to achieve at the end of it all?

Bottom-line:

What is the why behind what you are doing or what you want to do? Your convictions. Your driving force.

http://hoopboost.blogspot.ch/2012/02/how-hungry-are-you.html

Motives are what lie behind an action and they determine whether the act is righteous or sinful, good or bad. It is the moral reason for doing what we do. It is possible to do the right things for the wrong reasons.

These moral reasons must be compelling because they must be able to capture and hold our attention in a strong, powerful and irresistible way. So compelling motivations refers to the strong and irresistible moral reasons for doing what you do. They lie deep in the heart and in the foundation of every Christian life. Without a compelling motivation, you will not be able to endure to the end,

What are your motives?

Could it be: Passion, Possession, Position or Popularity?

If these are the motives compelling your decisions and actions, first they will not sustain you when the going gets rough. Secondly, they will push you into the rat race and further away from the will of God to the place where the end is used to justify the means. That is not the place you want to be as a Christian. It is a place where integrity is sacrificed at the altar of gain, where long term pleasure is sacrificed for immediate gratification and where the focus is on now instead of eternity.

A compelling motivation,

Takes hold and manifests,

To possess as if obsessed,

Without question to where one is destined.

Lawrence S. Pertillar

  

Compelling Motivation to live a godly life:

For those of us who are called by the name of God—Christians, what should be our compelling motivation?

God has done so much for us, He has been so gracious to us, and has loved us with such great love that we must therefore give loving, grateful answer to that goodness by living a faithful and fruitful life. Therefore, gratitude to God is a very strong reason to live a godly life. A truly grateful heart will long to demonstrate its thankfulness by pleasing the One Who has been kind and generous to him. A Christian lives a godly life because by doing so, he is showing gratitude and thankfulness to the God, his Saviour.

Another compelling motivation for living godly life is the fear of God’s judgment. That is, the fear of the immediate and future consequences of disobeying God. Closely related to this, is the reward for living faithful and righteous life in this life and in the one which is to come. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2Cor 5:10). We also know that each of us will give account of himself before God, our Father (Romans 14:12). A consideration of this should prompt us to faithfulness in our walk and relationship with God. It is a very strong moral reason to desire to live a holy and godly life before God and men.

“There is no more compelling motivation to worthwhile endeavors than the knowledge that we are children of God, that God expects us to do something with our lives and that He will give us help when help is sought.”

– Gordon B. Henkley

Compelling Motivation to stay focused and committed:

The desire to do what God has called you to do will keep shining as light in the darkness of difficulties, opposition and obstacles, you may face in the process of doing what you know God has called you to do.

Therefore, your conviction is based on the fact that you know that God has called you into that particular relationship, or to a ministry, or an assignment or to fulfil a purpose. You know that the vision and dream in your heart is God-given and oriented towards accomplishing something in God’s grand plan. Given this conviction, you can keep doing what you know God has called you to do, even when you are faced with resistance or opposition or you cannot see the immediate impact of what you are doing.

I know I am called to write. I cannot but write. Despite the many obstacles I have faced in the process of writing and the time and resources it requires, I simply cannot stop writing. I am learning each day to depend on Him for the grace and the willingness to write the words He gives me to write. I am learning to trust Him to take care of those who read these words and use them to touch their lives for good and to make a difference in their lives. I am also learning to rely on Him to take care of my needs as I obediently pursue the task assigned to me even when it is very hard. I am convinced that He is able to take my writing to the highest level He has in mind for me.

Do you know what God has called you to do? What has been the compelling motivation keeping you on the track and focused on the goal? Share with us and let us encourage one another.

I will continue this blog post next week as I expound on compelling motivations to keep us committed in our relationships and to keep abounding in good works. Until then, may the Lord grant you an ever-increasing revelation of the knowledge of His will to give you strong irresistible moral reasons to stay faithful to Him and His calling upon your life.