One of the most effective military strategies is called concentration of forces. This strategy is used to create a breakthrough in enemy lines because once their lines are penetrated they must retreat to keep from being surrounded. A force in retreat is then far more vulnerable as they must try to fight off the attack while moving backwards. This gives the attacking force an opportunity for total destruction of the enemy force. This strategy is just as effective for destroying our spiritual enemy’s strongholds.
This is also an effective strategy for overcoming personal strongholds of sin or carnal behavior. Most of us still have many areas we need to overcome. As it is the enemy’s strategy to “wear out the saints,” one way he does this is by having us try and fight all of our problems at once. If we apply the strategy of concentration of forces, focusing on just one thing until we have a breakthrough, this will usually result in victory over many more.
Just as the devil tries to wear us out personally by having us take on too many battles at once, this has also been a main strategy against churches and ministries. As churches and ministries become weary from trying to fight too many battles, or do too many things at once, they get weaker and vulnerable. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13, “one thing I do.…” Fighting on too many fronts has never been successful militarily, and neither has it been spiritually. We need to build a victory mentality with solid victories that come from taking on one thing at a time.
I host our high school seniors for lunch a few times during their last year before graduation. My main purpose for this is to help them focus on their next major step in life. The first question I ask them is what they would pursue in their next level of education, or as a profession, if what they chose they would be guaranteed to be successful at. This is to help them focus on the deepest desire of their heart because Jesus said “Living waters flow from our innermost being” (see John 7:38). If they will resolve to pursue what is the deepest desire of their heart, there will be life and fulfillment in it. If they do not, they will likely go on to much frustration and bear little real fruit.
Since we’re told that we were known by God before the creation of the world, we can know that He put the deepest desires in our heart because they are related to the purpose for which He created us. Yet, it seems few people ever connect with this and are doing what is really in their heart to do, and therefore, what they are called to do. There are points in life, such as graduations, when very important decisions are made that can affect us for the rest of our life.
Many will read this and feel remorse for having not made the best choices, but be comforted; only One has lived this life perfectly or made perfect choices. We must never forget that we serve the Redeemer. He can “redeem the years that the locusts have eaten,” or the years that we were distracted from our true purpose. This often requires a major step of faith, but we are called to walk by faith, and big steps require big faith.
President Truman once said, “Most people are defeated by secondary successes.” There are many things most people could be successful at, but is it the deepest desire of their heart where the living waters flow? Settling for a level of success in things that are not their real passion is a reason that many are successful in profession, but frustrated, unfulfilled, and living a life inferior to the one they are called to.
It’s noteworthy that many biblical characters often worked in a profession related to their calling. King David was a shepherd, and the Lord said that He would make him the shepherd over His people. Peter was a fisherman, and the Lord said that He would make him a fisher of men. Paul was a tentmaker and he was called to build the church, the tabernacle of God. John was mending nets when he was called, and we see how his Gospel ties the other Gospels together, his letters tie the other Epistles together, and his Revelation ties the entire Bible together.
For those who are pursuing the desires of their heart, it is likely that they are in a profession that is related to their calling and is being used to prepare them for it. Many Christians who want to serve the Lord relate ministry to the functions they see in the church, but those are but a small part of the ministry of the body of Christ. Of all the heroes of the faith in Scripture only four were Levites who served in the temple. The rest were merchants, farmers, soldiers, administrators, etc., and they were the ones who had the greatest impact for the Lord.
We must not conclude that we’re not in our ministry because we are in a secular profession. Even if we are not in a job that is the desire of our heart, when we obey the biblical exhortation to do all that we do as unto the Lord, it turns what we’re doing into worship, which sanctifies it. This can turn even the parts of our job we may not like into joy as we experience the presence of the Lord in it. As we are told in Psalm 16:11, “In His presence is fulness of joy.” Those who abide in the Lord experience His joy regardless of where they are. This cannot only change our job into something wonderful, but this can change the spiritual atmosphere of our workplace and open the door for the Lord to move.
To our original point, focus and concentration can create breakthroughs and victories. So, if we turn even the most dreaded jobs into worship, doing it with the excellence and focus that service to the King of king’s deserves, it can become a place of great victory and open the door for many more to follow.
© 2021 by Rick Joyner. All rights reserved.
