How many have ever heard Progress NOT perfection! I know I have.
It’s something about when we say the word “perfect” we immediately go to a place of judgment. We are comfortable with progress, but when we put perfection paired with it somehow it has a negative connation. It turns sour. If someone were to say, I am perfect, he or she may a get the quick head turn, with the eye roll, and a questioning of who do they think they are?
One day while in my office maybe after saying that quote to encourage someone I began to engage with our Father about phrase and specification - PERFECTION! I wanted to know what HE had to say about it. Immediately He began to download revelation to me.
We are in a season of LEARNING, UN-LEARNING, and Re-Learning.
I’ve been coaching, teaching, and leading for over 20 years and somewhere along the way I picked that perfection was NOT for me, with me or ME!
Let’s be honest, most of us like the phrase: Progress NOT perfection
It protects our “mess ups” “our mistakes” or our “ignorance”. I pray that as you engage with the Word of God your eyes will be open to this false deceptive stagnating declaration made every time we come into agreement the phrase – progress not perfection. We have a perfect Father.
Here is what the Lord gave me to move forward with: Progress WITH Perfection!
Progress definition:
Noun: a(1) : royal journey marked by pomp and pageant; a state procession
tour or circuit made by an official (such as a judge)
an expedition, journey, or march through a region
2 : a forward or onward movement (as to an objective or to a goal) : ADVANCE
3 : gradual betterment: especially : the progressive development of humankind (synonym: perpetual)
Verb:
1 : to move forward : PROCEED
2: to develop to a higher, better, or more advanced stage
Take some time to declare over your life: I am in a perpetual state of……fill in the blank of the direction you want to go! Before you make the declaration ask the Lord what direction He wants you to take.
Perfection definition:
1: the quality or state of being perfect: such as
freedom from fault or defect : FLAWLESSNESS; MATURITY
the quality or state of being saintly (holy)
2 A : an exemplification of supreme excellence
B : an unsurpassable degree of accuracy or excellence
3: the act or process of perfecting
Unsurpassable doesn’t that sound like it can describe a city that is set on a hill – like that’s the city you just don’t go beyond. It is the place you want to be. I can just imagine that city sitting up, set apart. Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Anciently cities, for the sake of defense, were placed on hills in biblical times. Such cities are seen from afar. So must the church give forth its light.
What if perfection is a strategy, a weapon, a response the Lord has given us for protection. What if this type of progression with perfection is a response, a posture, an attitude we can take on to live exceedingly and abundantly.
I truly sense in my spirit that the enemy has deceived some of us to think if we just shrink back because you don’t want to be perfect, if you just don’t do the work you can see and can do because you don’t want anyone to think you are trying to be perfect, if you don’t put your flawlessness (definition) on a project, in the room, you are being humble.
We are going to look at what the Bible says about PERFECT – perfection!
James 1:17 King James Version
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights (city set on a hill, be a light), with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
God is beyond PERFECT! He cannot lie –
What are some gifts we know of in the Bible?
· Word of knowledge, increased faith, the gifts of healing, the gift of miracles, prophecy, the discernment of spirits, kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues.
· His son – Jesus our Saviour
He commands us to be perfect as our Father is perfect. We have access!!
· Matthew 5:48 ESV You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Perfection is our portion!!! We are in a season of learning, unlearning, and relearning! The enemy is coming after our progress (movement, voice, decision making)!
One experience the Lord wanted us to draw from of a woman who progressed with perfection was a Samaritan woman at a well found in John 4 (please read the story).
Highlights of John 4:
Verse 7 – Cometh to the well; come to a familiar place
Verse 28- Jesus gave “her” a way to progress with perfection! She had an encounter with a perfect gift; she heard the perfect message; He erased her old story and gave her a NEW story
- She left the pot, her old story, and the past
- Some of us are holding on to what God is requiring us to let go of – what happened last time, what they did last time, or it’s familiar this is the way it’s going to be…
HE wants you to progress with perfection.
Because of her testimony Jesus stayed there two days!! Do you think she was there every day? Things began to change around those parts once Jesus had an encounter there. Perfection showed up.
Last, I want to encourage you to number your days.
Psalm 90:12 KJV 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
To say we have FAITH is a correct response but not complete. It is a starting point where we can progress – we must have faith that manifests itself into the action of good deeds, good days, good time, good attitudes, good character, James teaches us this.
All our days are numbered – they should all have a place in worship of God.
We ARE saved by Faith alone but saving faith should yield/produce/progress a fruit. It never stands alone; it reveals itself through obedience and the fruit and belief.
Now don’t get confused we cannot be saved by any number of good deeds/works.
Going from NOT to WITH – Progress WITH Perfection
Meaning of “With”:
· Accompanied by (another person or thing):
· Possessing (something) as a feature or accompaniment:
· Indicating the instrument used to perform an action:
Let Jesus be with you as you progress, and perfection will be there!
Amen!
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