Apokaradokia

The most amazing thing about God is that He knows exactly what you need even if you ask for it in the wrong way. I have to say getting to know God has been exciting for me because it brings with it a new perception of Him every single day and it breaks down the boxes I have tried to put Him in before. So, I was struggling with a certain decision and I needed clarity with regards to endurance and the next step. I came across this sermon by Steven Furtick where he was speaking on the subject, “ Are you headed in the right direction”. Like it is most of the time where God’s word is concerned, it was completely different than what I had hoped but it was exactly what I needed. It was really inspired and what I took most from the sermon was the term Apokaradokia. It is a Greek word that Paul made up because at the time he could not find any other word to describe his eagerness and hope. Broken down, this is the word;

APO- turn away from; intentionally ignore

KARA- literally translates to head

DOKIA- which is best described as stretching forward

This word, coined by Paul was used in his letter to the Philippians which he wrote when he was in prison in Rome. Even though his situation did not encourage and endorse the hope he had, he still held tight to it. He chose to look away from the chains that bound him and he instead focused on the effect that his situation was going to have, the end result, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” Philippians 1:20. It is truly encouraging to see that in spite of what Paul faced, he looked ahead. “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.” Philippians 1:20. He looked at how his situation served to strengthen other people to boldly proclaim the word of God.” And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.” Philippians 1:14

Hearing this, I took the word back home, applying it in my own life and I realized that so many times we get so distracted with what is going on around us that we ignore the end result. We get so caught up in the means that we lose sight of the end. We so easily give up in our walk of faith because we fail to perceive what the word of the Lord says in John 16:33 ("I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.") We need to get practical and stop waiting for this shift of focus to happen automatically, because truth is, it will not. I perceive that it takes a change in the interpretation to view the storms in our lives as the very thing that could work for God’s end goal in our lives.

So my take away from this is that, we should learn to intentionally take our eyes away, turn away from what is lesser, to lay hold of the greater. It is vital to have anxious and persistent expectation of what is to come ahead while we are in the midst of the storm and God will use that expectation to hold us up and bring us through.