“Determination”
2 Chronicles 2:1 “And Solomon DETERMINED to build an house for the name of the LORD, and an house for his kingdom.”
I want you to think about the power of a determined man. The word determined as defined in the 1828 Webster’s dictionary means to resolve, appoint, to settle, or have a fixed end. In essence it means to know where you’re going, and what you’re going to have to do to get there. Regardless of the adversities you have made up your mind to accomplish your objective.
There are a lot of people with dreams and even direction but not determination. These people may get started well but adversity quickly talks them out of their plans. A determined man will not be persuaded to forsake his objective. He can not be talked out of what he has already made up his mind to do. In our text king Solomon had accepted the orders his father gave him. Which was to build a house for God, and he was determined to build it.
2Chronicles 5:1 “Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the Lord was finished…” Solomon was a determined man. Many people confuse stubbornness with determination. The difference between being stubborn and determined is that stubborn people have made up their minds to live in sin regardless of what God say’s about it (1 Samuel 15:23 “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry…”). Determined people have made up their minds concerning good behavior (1 Corinthians 2:1 “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”
). If you’re going to be determined you have to make up your mind about God’s word. People “fall” into sin because their mind was not made up. They had not determined to please the Lord. It is a choice that each one of us has and each one of us will give an account of before the Lord. If you would determine to please the Lord you would find God determined to bless you. You will accomplish things you never thought possible. Make up your mind concerning your finances. Make up your mind concerning what kind of health you want to enjoy. Make up your mind concerning the education you want and job you want. Make up your mind concerning the projects you want to finish at home and at work. The determined Christian can accomplish a lot more than what seems possible because you have the Lord with you. Matt Long was a fireman for NYCFD. He was an avid runner and triathlete who had just finished the New York City marathon a few months earlier with a time of 3:13 minutes, that’s moving. December 22, 2005 while riding his bike home from a work out he was hit by a 14 ton bus. The fact that he was alive when the medics got there was a miracle but to think he would ever run again, let alone run a marathon was beyond belief. You see his belly had been pierced with the bike handle all the way to his rectum. His left leg had been crushed and nearly torn off. After some forty surgeries on November 2, 2008 he ran the New york Marathon again and plans to keep on running them. Determination, do you want it?
Read: Proverbs 24
