That's why the enemy will try to use your present "location" discourage you.  He wants to convince you that you will die in your current position or circumstance.  He uses disappointments, break-ups, injustices and lack in your life to crush you and make void the Word of God.

If you lost a house to foreclosure, he wants you to believe you will never own again. If you lost a marriage to divorce, he wants you to believe you will never find the favor of God again.  If you lost a business, he wants you to believe that you will never be self-employed again.   

After Moses confronted Pharaoh with the commandment of the Lord, Exodus 5:6-9 records: 
 
"The very same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, you shall no more give the people straw to make brick; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of the bricks which they made before you shall still require of them; you shall not diminish it in the least. For they are idle; that is why they cry, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.  Let heavier work be laid upon the men that they may labor at it and pay no attention to lying words."

PHAROAH CALLED THE PROMISE OF GOD A LIE.  

RIGHT NOW, the enemy is trying to make your dream, your plans, goals-the promise of God-look like a lie.  Like it will never develop or come to pass.  That's what it looked like after 400 years in Egypt and even after Moses arrived on the scene. 

At one point, Moses questioned: "Why did You ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people, neither have You delivered Your people at all.  This is the same result I got last time." (Ex. 5:22-23)

What do you do when where God sent you, doesn't seem to get better, but worse?
 

"Remember this Word when the taskmasters become crueler, the jobs get tougher and the people get more frustrated: "And I will give this people favor and respect in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed."  MOSES, I AM TAKING YOU SOMEWHERE.  But, you will get to a place where you will say to yourself:  "I don't know why I am here; why I took this job or how I let myself get to this place; AND when everything within is telling you to quit, TELL YOURSELF, "I will not leave this circumstance EMPTY-HANDED."  This job or experience will pay me (it will compensate me with something more valuable than wages for the land God is taking me into.)"

God's rewards take longer, but they last forever (extend to a thousand generations.)

"And He will establish you to the end [keep you steadfast, give you strength, and guarantee your vindication; He will be your warrant against all accusation or indictment so that you will be] guiltless and irreproachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).  God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); (Col. 1:8-9)

WHEN MAN, YOUR HEALTH AND THE ECONOMY FAIL, GOD CAN BE DEPENDED ON. 

Jacob worked under cruel conditions for twenty years.  He told Laban, his father-in-law and employer: "These twenty years I have been with you; I did not bring you [the carcasses of the animals] torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss of it; you required of me [to make good] all that was stolen, whether it occurred by day or by night. This was [my lot]; by day the heat consumed me and by night the cold, and I could not sleep. I have been twenty years in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks; and you have changed my wages ten times. And if the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread [lest he should fall] and Fear [lest he offend] of Isaac, had not been with me, surely you would have sent me away now empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and humiliation and the [wearying] labor of my hands and rebuked you last night." (Gen. 31:38-42)

You see, despite what people have done to you, God still wants to do extraordinary things through you. 

Dictionary.com defines that word extraordinary as:

Extraordinary lives take extraordinary measures.

Whatever circumstance you are in, God promises a change.  But a change of seasons must result from a change of climate in your heart. 

One of my favorite sports is football, because no matter what the climate, you have to still play the game.

In the game of football, the goal is for one 11-man team with possession of the football to try to advance the ball down the field and cross the goal line without fumbling the ball.  When the ball carrier or passer drops the ball, that's a fumble.

Any player on the field can recover the ball by diving on it or running with it. 

In life, sometimes we fumble crucial possessions and fail to recover them.  We rely on others to pick up our mistakes.  We desperately want to get the ball into the hands of the next generation; the people God called us to lead, yet fail them in hostile "playing" conditions. 

But Bart Starr once taught that "A clean hand-off is not the running back's responsibility."  His eyes are looking up field around the line of scrimmage to strategize how to elude defenders. 

As the quarterback (the Moses), we are called to master the art of the handoff firmly in the hands of the next generation.  I don't know about you, but I have fumbled the ball (of decisions, integrity and forgiveness) to my children or others many times.  

Today, you can pick the ball up.  You can still go back to the drawing board, get in the end zone and champion the second half of your life.  Identify the halftime adjustment you must make to inspire the world. 

An entire stadium of generations is watching you.

Moses prepared a Joshua: 

·        Who is in the shadow of your "wings?" 

·        Who will live in the favor of your exploits? 

·        Who is depending on you to confront their Pharaoh?

you can pass through what was intended to drown you.  But you must do something out of "Your ordinary."

chalk up the next play; IT'S YOUR BALL.

 

 

VISIT CHAMPIONS UNLEASHED NEW E-STORE