Talk about an inferiority complex! Satan gets thousands of eviction notices every day! Kicked around. Kicked out! Cast out! Driven out!
I am the head, not the tail! Thus saith the Lord in His Word. Dt 28.
I am above only, never beneath! Thus saith the Lord in His Word. Dt 28.
I'm blessed going out and I'm blessed coming in! Dt 28.
My kids are blessed! Dt 28.
My bank accounts and investments are blessed! Dt. 28.
My career is blessed! Dt. 28.
The work of my hands is blessed! Dt. 28.
Isaiah 40:31 could be translated this way using the Hebrew meanings: "They that spend quality time with the Lord shall lock their wing joints like an eagle who catches a wind draft to sore above, they shall exchange strengths from theirs to His, and as a result, they shall move swiftly without getting worn down, and walk on without quitting!"
I had rather DO THE RIGHT THING and lose, than to DO THE WRONG THING and win.
There is LONG TERM WINNING and there is SHORT-LIVED winning. Winning is what God says it is, not men! God defines what true winning lloks like!
Sometimes DOING THE RIGHT THING is not rewarded in this world, but rest assured - it will be rewarded in the life that is to come! Nothing goes unnoticed by God. All good is celebrated and rewarded. All bad is penalized.
DOING THE RIGHT THING, CHOOSING THE RIGHT THING, SAYING THE RIGHT THING... can get you thrown to the lions, thrown in a fiery furnace, cast into a deep well or a prison cell, crucified upside down, decapitated, sawn in two, excommunicated to a distant island, tongue cut out, burned at the stake, and the list goes on and on. BUT DO THE RIGHT THING YOU MUST! This is possible by considering the eternal rewards of correct decisions as more valuable than immediate reward.
Hebrews 11:24-27 KJV - By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosingrather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
Often God will save a people or a nation, not because the majority deserve it, but because the minority have stood in the gap, interceding in prayer, and making the right choices despite the majority.
It was God's will for Daniel to be smack dab in the middle of a rotting culture and corrupt government. Same for the Old Testament Joseph. Same for the New Testament Joseph.
It was God's will for Esther to be in her Catch-22 of the evil king's harem, because unbeknownst to her, she was going to be the wrench God threw into the devil's gears! She was destined to be God's Secret Weapon, though she knew it not.
We need to stop squirming and trying to get out of every hard spot, and realize that the Lord may have strategically placed us right where we are in order to blindside the devil, help a lot of people, taste the victory, and give God greater glory!
Genesis 45:4-8 KJV - And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near . And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved , nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
Sometimes God strategically plants us in a hard place. In our humanity we see no purpose for this, but God sees the bigger picture. I am sure the Apostle Paul would have preferred to continue with his evangelistic crusades instead of being stuck in prisons writing letters to churches. (Hence half of the New Testament.) I'm sure Peter, after a night of catching zero fish, had no idea that Jesus would borrow his boat to preach from, and then give him a catch beyond his fondest dreams.
God shows us just enough of our future to get us motivated and heading in the right direction. But He refuses to show us too much of our future so we have to depend on Him to get there.
God will never tell you to do something that can be accomplished without His help.
God instructs you to do something that will require total dependence on HIm.
God instructs you to do something that will require your undivided attention and total concentration.
God instructs you to do something that will stretch you, challenge you, and build you into a bigger person in the process.
There is matching grace for whatever you face.
Where God carries you, God cares for you.
Whom He appoints, He also anoints.
Dreamers who dare must learn to ignore Critics who glare.
Dreamers dare. Critics merely glare.
Sink yourself into something bigger than your own litttle world.
Lose yourself in a higher purpose.
Throw yourself into a noble cause.
Isaiah 32:8 NIV - But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands.
