Momentum is defined as the impetus and driving force gained by the development of a process or course of events.  The word originates from the Latin word movimentum and just means to move.

The Force is in the Promise

When Jesus left the disciples in Acts 1 they were a confused bunch.  They had already started going back to fishing for fish again and they didn’t understand why Jesus didn’t restore their kingdom.  He told them, just wait and see you are going to be my witnesses, but you need to wait for the promise and then he was taken up in a cloud.  I’m sure they had more questions than ever at that point, but they stayed in Jerusalem staying upstairs at a home.

Momentum Is the Force Not Just an Experience

Momentum has been the force behind just about every great long-term work God has done and yet like the disciples we often choose to exchange momentum for an experience.  Momentum is the force of energy gained over time, but an experience is the force of energy compiled for a moment.  Let’s go deeper.

The disciples had the present in mind, their vision was shortsighted, they just wanted to get their kingdom back, they wanted to have their moment of glory, but then what?  Would they just lose it again?  When they kept asking Jesus, He kept pointing them back to God and His plan to do something greater in His time.  But, what could that be and how could it be greater than restoring their kingdom?

Event Mentality Can Rob Us of Long Term Success

Failing to understand momentum can keep us from changing the part of the world we’ve been given.  Instead we easily choose to live for the experience.  The experience can be defined as an event.  We invest time, money and people planning for events and once the event occurs we pat ourselves on the back and go back to things as they were.  After the event, we are glad it’s over and tired from the planning, but very little is accomplished for the long term.  Jesus knew this and saw that his disciples were already slipping back into old norms.  His coming was not to be an event, a simple occurrence, but it was to be the catalyst to start the cycle of momentum for God’s kingdom that would grow to take over the world.  He wasn’t trying to restore their little kingdom, He was setting up the kingdom of all kingdoms for all time!

He needed them to understand that momentum is developed over a prolonged time of very disciplined effort.  Go wait for me until I come, he told them.  The next time we see them they are all gathered together praying.  They prayed for ten days and then boom, things began to happen.  We see several times in Acts where they went back to praying and then again something happened as each time they built more momentum in the Spirit.  We are shown this cycle over and over and yet we continue to try to plan our little events to somehow gain momentum when events by nature kill momentum unless the event is planned within the structure of building momentum.  In other words, the event is not the goal, but it can be a means towards building our future plans.

Sacrificial Discipline Helps Build Momentum

Even in our personal lives, we can easily move from job to job, relationship to relationship or church to church and ultimately fail to get where we want to go, because we haven’t taken the time to build momentum or we allow the enemy to stop our momentum by creating issues that hinder us along the way.  The Holy Spirit works by building momentum as we allow him more and more access to our lives and situations.

Building momentum is a skill and it begins by developing sacrificial discipline.  Sacrificial discipline in when we determine to become disciplined in an area that requires sacrifice on our part.  Like prayer, fasting and giving and its accompanied by waiting for his timing and plan.  We see over and over in scripture where God purposely delays His entrance to see if they would wait or do their own thing. 

Our Goal Shouldn’t Consist of Building Our Kingdom But Partnering to Build God’s

The season to take major ground is before us, but it won’t be done by our power, might or ideas, it will be done by His Spirit and that means He will build momentum in us, direct us toward his plans and then release His power to move forward, we need to partner with him without slowing it down by our choices and impatience.  If it were easy everyone would be doing it, but this road is narrow and straight.

The goal is not to build our own kingdom, but to partner with God to build His and that means the driving force behind it all must be His Spirit.  Anything else will just burn up.  Don’t underestimate the process of building momentum to take ground God is giving you.   It’s the force behind the work that sustains you and grows to dominate all other plans.  May His force be with you!