Momentum

Heavenly Father, 

First, I give You all of the glory and all of the honor for being God above all. Thank you for your power and for your love. Thank you for gifting us with the fruits of the Spirit through salvation. As I begin to write, I pray that the Holy Spirit has His way with me. So that Marcus would decrease, and your Spirit would increase in me to allow people to hear a word from You. 

In Jesus name I pray, 

Amen.

At the beginning of the year, I told my accountability partners that my word for 2025 was MOMENTUM. While I didn’t fully understand why I chose that word at the time, I also did not know that 2025 would challenge me in ways that would break me down spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. But the build up of this breakdown started in 2023, when my wife and I started In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). We were excited and hopeful when we received the news we were pregnant. But then, we found out we had a miscarriage. As I think about my feelings and my choices as a result of the news, I realize that I became angry.

My reactions to God saying “not right now” brought feelings that I associated with failure. As I think about my feelings and my choices I acknowledged that I was angry. 

Not getting what I wanted led me to choose decisions rooted in sin instead of choosing God. I thought that I could fill the void that I was feeling as a result of my disappointment with substances of this world. The devastation of the loss of a child impacted my marriage.  We certainly were not as aligned as we could have been. Through the storm, it was God’s grace that kept my wife and I together. This year we tried our second round of IVF, and unfortunately we were unsuccessful again.

Here is where that word “Momentum” would come alive! Feeling this excruciating pain again I thought to myself, “How am I going to respond to God’s “not now” this time?” But yet again, I responded with anger. My spiritual momentum was stalled once again because I chose to glorify Marcus instead of glorifying God. I had allowed the enemy the opportunity to enter and gain a foothold on my life because I had feelings of disappointment and resentment. My anger was so overwhelming that I chose to detach from the things that God was calling me to do. I have learned that if I try to heal on my own, it creates a place for the enemy to enter. 

I needed to get back to the things that drew me closer to Him like: Prayer calls; Bible study; praying with my wife; and honoring God. Continuing to pursue those things, strengthening my relationship with Him, and yearning to learn more about Jesus’ time on earth. This time, I have the opportunity to do something different.

Substances of this world did not provide any satisfaction the last time, so why would I continue down the same path and try to use them now? Well, maybe because I’m human I thought. 

The Bible says in Romans 3:23 (NKJV) “For we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. 

I am so thankful to God our Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and happy to say that I have heard from him clearly, and the remedy to rising above the more than occasional temptation to sin is found in His Word. 

Jesus said in Matthew 6:34 (NKJV) “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble”.

Jesus encourages us to not worry too far ahead and to let tomorrow’s troubles be on tomorrow’s menu. That translates to the addiction recovery concept of ‘one day at a time’. 

So the word for 2025 is MOMENTUM and it really didn’t make sense to me at the beginning of the year, but when I focus on the first six letters M-O-M-E-N-T, it makes total sense to me now. To think about overcoming sin, simply by taking it one MOMENT at a time. 

Think about it.  What if, we adopt the same COMPETITIVE spirit that we have when we are playing a game (i.e., basketball, football, checkers, chess, X Box, PS5… any game, you name it) and use it when we are faced with temptation to sin. I COMPETE naturally regarding non-spiritual things that I want to WIN so let’s keep that same energy when fighting for my salvation. I believe if we begin to stack MOMENTS of VICTORY through obedience to the Holy Spirit, they will eventually lead to living and stacking days of Righteousness. 

Here are two questions for you to consider:

1. What is your response (ACTIONS) when you get angry with God? 

2. What substances are you choosing to fill the void in your life when something doesn’t go your way?

Keep in mind we are fighting for our salvation and inner peace. We are fighting to break the generational chains that bind us. Each time we choose to sin we hinder our ability to progress forward. Our choices to sin push the enemy’s agenda forward. He wants us to be dead Spiritually.

Win the MOMENT, gain MOMENTUM, and press forward to reach the Kingdom of God.  

Stay Blessed. 

Peace and Love to you all,

MARCMYWORD