Tony Miller - Journey To Significance: Break Free from Mediocre Faith and Discover a Higher Realm of Authority and Anointing

Qualified
to Be
Multiplied

E very journey must begin somewhere. Every building has to have a foundation before it can become an awe-inspiring edifice. There is no real criticism justified for those who havent arrived as long as they are on their way. Starting points! We all have to have them.

In his book Can You Stand to Be Blessed?, Bishop T. D. Jakes teaches the importance of understanding that the ability to walk in the blessings of the Lord and our full potential is tied to our ability to discern the prerequisites for success. If you do not lay the proper foundation for the life to which you aspire, you can easily find yourself occupying a place in life that you are unable to maintain. This is what the secular world has come to know as The Peter Principle. The Peter Principle is used to describe peoples ability to rise to the highest level of their incompetencies.

Many people have discovered the harsh reality that it is easier to obtain than it is to maintain. For example, it is much easier to get married than it is to love, encourage and nurture a marital spouse. One only takes moments, the other a lifetime. One comes with a flash of emotion and giggles, while the latter demands focus and commitment, even through the tears.

If our life is going to new levels and places of enlargement, we must step out of the routines of mediocrity. Too often we find ourselves running in circles, ending up at the same place in life, because we are captured in a cycle. The truth is that we are disoriented, confused about where we are and where we need to go.

Recently my wife and I visited a major city in America where we had never been. Weor she, Im not sure whichdecided to go the local mall to do some shopping. We knew of a particular store where we wanted to shop, but we were unsure of its location. As we entered the mall, there in the middle of the aisle was a directory listing all the stores and their locations. There was also a map of the mall, with the floor plan of each level, showing the exact location of the store we wanting to go to. On the map was a large yellow arrow showing the entrance where we had just entered. Next to the arrow were the words, You are here. The management of that mall knew that we could not find our way to where we were going if we could not locate where we were.

That same fact is true in our lives. Instead of wandering aimlessly through life, hoping we accidentally bump into our destiny, we have to stop and locate ourselves in order to move forward with effectiveness. We cannot treat our purpose in life like a lotto game of chance. Fulfilling your destiny is never a matter of chance, but rather a matter of choice.

It was the ability to choose that separated mankind from all the other creative order. The members of the plant kingdomtrees, shrubs, flowersdo not get to choose their time of blossoming and bearing. They respond to seasons. No matter how much faith is exercised, a maple tree in Maine will lose its leaves in January, and a tulip will not bloom in Wyoming in February.

The members of the animal kingdom do not make destiny choices either. While many animals have been domesticated and trained, the fact remains that, left to themselves, they will respond by their instincts and not by reason.

But man is different. When God made man He put within his DNA the power of volition. He was a walking, talking and thinking reflection of God Himself. God did not make him a robot that would serve by command void of choice, but instead a creative partner that must willmake a determined decisionto serve because of desire. As a member of humanity you are not locked into seasons. In fact, you can be fruitful in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2). Nor are you bound to reactions of instinct only. By Gods design you have the power to resist your base nature and to respond to sound judgment. So, therefore, the ability to chose becomes one of your greatest gifts and freedoms.

It is important to note that the only real freedom we have in life is the freedom to choose. That freedom should be exercised with wisdom and counsel. For once you choose, you become a captive to your choices.

As you earnestly choose to walk in Gods ways, seeking to fulfill His purposes in your life, you will find that He qualifies you for increase and promotion. No one is born qualified; we become qualified through Gods shaping. It is His processing in your life that enables you not only to obtain, but also to possess your promise without having to forfeit the new territory you take.

That pathway toward greatness begins with what seem to be simple, insignificant decisions. Yet, when lived out over the span of a lifetime, those decisions create a transformed life. The people who continually make decisions based on Gods plan become the world shakers and history makers of each generation.

King David began his steps toward greatness in a place of seeming obscurity. David was a Bethlehemite working in a family businessmuch like the early years of Jesus, who also came from Bethlehem and worked in His fathers business.

NO ONE IS BORN QUALIFIED; WE BECOME QUALIFIED THROUGH GODS SHAPING.

For both of them, Bethlehem was more than a birthplace. It came to represent the place of beginnings. That is where the dream began... at home, among those who knew them best. Giant killers dont begin as giant killers, but rather as those who, in the midst of their ordinariness, sense the invitation to a life of greater significance.

Bethlehem speaks to us of the ability to be faithful in natural things! It is there we learn the foundational truth that faithfulness is always the starting point on Gods avenue of promotion.

One of the reasons for stories like Davids being in the Bible is so we can locate ourselves. Most of the time the biblical characters that we read about are not being presented to us so much as role models but rather as examples of men and women who learned how to deal with and respond to God. They were not perfect people... living perfect lives... enjoying perfect conditions. It was not so much their lifestyles or accomplishments that got Gods attention, but rather their hearts.

The God with whom we have a relationship has not chosen to reveal Himself to us only in the celestial context of the heavenlies. He reveals Himself to each of us through the earthy: on earth as is it is in heaven (Luke 11:2). The earth dimensionwith all its intersections and interruptionsis the context of Gods working through our lives. For David, it was shepherding. For Jesus, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered while being subject to His parents and their family business (Heb. 5:8).

For you to believe that you can become what God has prophetically declared you to be, you first must be able to recognize that God is present and actively involved in the earthly human dimension of your life right now. He cares about the mundane. That which is taking place at your present addresswhere you live and workis Gods anvil, shaping and processing you for future significance.

Jesus, who came to reveal God to us, did not just appear on the scene as an overnight wonder. His birth was anticipated, predicted, prophesied, promised and prepared during two thousand years of Jewish history. Paul refers to this purposeful pregnancy in Galatians 4:4 when he declares, When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son. Jesus came in time, on time!

Once He was born into the earth, there was still a timing issue before He was manifested as the Messiah. He was born, as prophesied, the seed of a woman! Not full grown, not casting out devils and healing the sick, but as a baby.

Friend, you will not arrive at the place of your purpose until the fullness of time has taken place. Recognize that Gods beginnings are often small, sometimes as insignificant as a seed. We must first become