The late Bob Proctor used to say that if you are not creating you are disintegrating. In other words, if you are not going forward you are going backward. The Bible says it like this: the wages of sin is death (Romans 3.23). That’s a very stark and strong statement. If you do not trust God and dream big, and remember whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14.23), then you are now in reverse. You are flowing the wrong way – everything is a Struggle.

It is a struggle to advance. It is a struggle to plant new churches. It is a struggle to raise new leaders, to build the character and loyalty in people to stand firm in higher places, it is a struggle to deal with the inevitable jealousy and envy that come when you are fruitful. Success is hard. Today I am reeling from a yellow fever vaccination I need because I am in Africa, I have to go to the embassy tomorrow to get my visa to Liberia on a one day emergency basis because next week I am in Turkey. I am preaching in five different churches in the next two weeks, I am travelling all over and it is a lot of fun but it is a struggle. I have only just got back from Argentina. We are growing, and I am being stretched so much right now. I am making new friends, building new relationships, operating on a new level. Our pastor’s meeting in the last few months has gone from six people to thirteen. It was busy! It has changed, and I had to learn how to process that and get stuff still done.

But I am advancing which means I am walking with this principle! I am working with the principles of faith – which mean advance. When a church goes backward, it goes against those principles, when a ministry, a leader, anything goes backward it goes against those principles – and that is infinite times harder! When you are advancing, no matter the struggle things work so well. The money comes in, the people turn up to lift up your hands to help, the people grow with you and it’s easier to promote them.

If the struggle to do something is so immense it hurts, double check you are going the right way. Are you doing God’s will? You of course cannot tell God’s will based on resistance, but if there is resistance AND on the inside you feel no strength or power to push forward and you are otherwise walking pure with the LORD and in the light, maybe this is a wrong move. No matter the resistance if you are walking in the Lord’s will there is a flow, I don’t know how better to describe it. Getting ready for this crusade in Liberia has been hard – it has stretched me, but there has been a flow every step of the way, and today things just snapped together in such a wonderful way. When things happen like that, you know you are doing it through the principles of dreaming, putting faith in God’s grace and operating in favour.

The major problem most pastors have with advancing is not big obstacles though, it is actually trivia. I don’t know how else to say this, it’s that people get worked up and spend far too much time taking care of things that do not matter and will never be remembered in history. Ever been in an elder’s meeting spending two hours discussing the colour of a carpet? That’s the sort of thing I mean. Often the choice doesn’t really matter, make it quick and get on with the big issues.

If some event or person is not changing the direction of your life, is not helping you find your Purpose, do not spend time on it. That’s like the river bank if you stay there too long you will miss the flow of your destiny. If you flow, then the water will just guide you where you need to be.

We had a guy who was helping us with a project and he just disappeared. I mean vanished. So I kept going with the important bits, and someone else turned up and took over and it kept working. I love that – you walk in the paths of righteousness and life comes your way. You do not need to seek things, you need to seek the kingdom and these things will be added to you.

You have to find your destiny. You have to find your purpose. A couple of times the difficulty of planning a foreign trip this year, especially several in a row, and putting systems in place for when I go, it has pushed me to my limits. I also have other people misunderstanding me and what I am doing before God.

So I sit down and I see myself preaching at gospel crusades, I remind myself of my purpose, I see what I saw in person in Argentina – the salvations, the healings, the life, and then I keep sailing, keep flowing, keep going. If you understand nothing else understand this:

PURPOSE is the only reason you will be WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE TO DO THINGS.

You need to find your purpose – what you love, what moves you, what you have to change, what problems you have to solve. What you cannot sleep without having in place. I said at our leadership conference everyone has a super-power, something you are exceptionally good at. You are better at that than anything else you do. There is a major clue.