Today we continue our series “God is faithful!” I have been meditating on God’s faithfulness since the series started. On Sunday morning, before I went into our church service, the Lord led me to share a quick video on social media. I will build on the thoughts that I shared on Sunday today.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. God never promised it would be easy.
— Standing in faith to experience, in the natural (the earth realm), what you believe God revealed to you in your heart can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. It can also be one of the most challenging.
— When God reveals something to you about the plans He made for you, you must realize a few things:
a) The plans are future to you, but past to God because He has already been to your future.
b) Although God made it seem like the promise will be manifested “NOW,” that is only because everything is “NOW” to God. He sees everything from the perspective of eternity. He is not limited by time. So it may have sounded like it will happen “NOW,” but it may not happen for weeks, months, years, or decades.
c) God expects you to believe what He said until you see what He said. This will require you to make decisions, in the present, based on what you believe God revealed to you about your future.
d) God does not take time into account, but you will have to. You must continue to believe, no matter how long it takes!
e) God does not give you all the details! God conveniently leaves out off the challenging times you will have to experience along the way.
f) God does not take suffering into account, but you will have to. You must believe what Paul said (I paraphrase), “It does not matter how much suffering I must endure in order to see what God said. I reckon that the suffering I endure right now is nothing compared to the glory that shall be revelaed through me as I experience God’s promises!” (Romans 8:18 Rick Pina Version).
— God never said it would be easy. He just promised to be with you every step of the way!
2. You can choose to quit if you want to.
— God will never force you to perform His will.
— If God ever forced you to do something, it would then be an act of manipulation on His part, and it would not be submission or faith on yours.
— In the Old Testament, the Lord, through Moses, said the following to the nation of Israel, “Today I am giving you a choice of two ways. And I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses of your choice. You can choose life or death. The first choice will bring a blessing. The other choice will bring a curse. So choose life! Then you and your children will live” (Deuteronomy 30:10).
God was basically saying:
a) You have a choice. You can choose life or death, blessing or cursing. The choice is yours.
b) God made it clear that He was not forcing them to choose. But He was telling them which choice to make.
c) God will never force you to choose His way or any other path because if He did, it would not really be YOUR choice.
d) God made plans for you before the world began. In the New Testament, God reveals those plans to us by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit then says, “I am giving you a choice of two ways. And I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses of your choice. You can choose my way or your own. You can choose the life of faith, which will lead to the life I planned for you. Or you can choose your own way, which will fulfll your selfish desires.”
— Unlike Deuteronomy 30:10, once you are Born-Again, you have already made the decision that leads to eternal life. So the choice now is not between life and death. The choice now is between living life on your own terms or dying to self so you can become the man/woman God called you to be.
— If you get tired of the life of faith, you don’t want to have to pray, seek God, and believe God for everything; you can go back to simply living as a mere human. If you are Born-Again, you will still make it to heaven. But you will not maximize the purpose and potential God placed inside of you. You will make it to heaven only to realize that you missed out on God’s best. You forfeited your destiny because you were tired, and you were selfish.
— The life of faith is not always easy. But it is rewarding if you don’t give up. If you want to give up and just do whatever you want, go ahead. God will not stop you. But you will miss out on God’s best, and it will not be God’s fault.
That’s enough for today. Tomorrow I will deal with the fact that if you believe in God’s faithfulness, you will find the strength (by God’s grace) to keep believing!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for leading me to LEVEL UP in this season. I LEVEL UP by believing every promise You have given me and by refusing to quit. I am determined to become the man/woman I am destined to be. I will never derail myself from my destiny. I believe everything You have spoken over me, and I do not allow what I see to cause me to change what You said in my heart. Every promise from You shall come to pass! I am not moved or shaken. I keep believing until I see everything You said! GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
