4GIVEN

Delay doesn’t mean denial. The enemy will always get in your ear to discourage from waiting on God. Let’s be honest when circumstances become acutely difficult it’s easy to shake our fingers at God saying,”Really God?” If the enemy can blind you it makes it easy for him to rob you of hope, joy, peace, and comfort. That’s why it is critically important to ask God to be the loudest voice your hear. Let’s face it for some it’s not that we doubt God’s ability rather His timing and for others perhaps it’s doubting both. Habakkuk 2:3 nailed it, “These things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!” So today, evict Satan and rely on the Lord! God isn’t finished with you, either, so keep moving forward and make note even the snail reached the ark by persevering!

I.C.E. stop, drop and worship. IOW, if you you are waiting on God; try worship! Your response to difficulty and unexpectedness should always be worship. Worship is a conscientious and deliberate act of spiritual devotion to God. Look at it this way, why devote your time and energy to negativity? Doing this only produces more negativity and toxic thoughts which leads to unnecessary stress. Worship means reverence and humility it means revering God and dispelling delusions. When you worship God you are essentially asserting the reality of God’s existence. Yeah, that problem, challenge, or difficulty is real however; the God we serve is real and He is bigger than any problem, challenge, or difficulty. So today be resolved to worship the God of your salvation and remember that worship allows you to see life’s problems, challenges and/or difficulties in the light of God rather than in the darkness of despair and defeat.

I don’t see a lot reversible jackets but back in the 80’s reversible jackets were off da chain! What a value; 2 jackets for the price of 1! Did you ever notice although you had 2 choices to choose from that generally you preferred to wear one side? As it is with reversible jackets so it is with experiencing failure. Most people fail to realize that failure is reversible because it’s really success turned inside out. You see that’s why you should see the value of failure. Here’s the value: the one who falls and gets up is so much stronger than the one who never fell. So today remember failure is not final and it’s reversible! God inserted success in failure so that we couldn’t take credit for the victory!

It is easy to doubt and more difficult to trust especially when you can’t see where your going. Perhaps Jonah felt the same way however; it was in the darkness of the whale’s belly that he learned to trust God. You might be asking yourself, how can I trust where God is leading me when I don’t know where He is taking me. My response to you is that as His children we are to walk by faith and not by sight (Hebrews 10:38). We have been justified by faith in Christ (Romans 5:1) and the bible reminds us the just will live by faith. So if you are anything like me when doubt or ambiguity begins to creep in remember God knows the plans He has in stored for you. Notice that Jeremiah didn’t say He knew the plans rather; he said God knows the plans. So today walk with your eyes wide shut (by faith) and leave the consequences to God!

This is a great scripture to embrace today and for the rest of your life! “The Lord is good to all, and has compassion on all he has made.” Ps 145:9 AMEN!!

I acutely remember as a gymnast the dangers of over/under rotating. In order to stick a perfect dismount the rotation had to be nearly perfect or else I would fall on my butt. As Christians we often fall short of God’s glory (Rms 3:23). We learn from Matt 27:32 that Simon a man from Cyrene carried the cross up to Calvary because Jesus was severely fatigued after being beaten and tortured prior to His crucifixion. You missed it; even Jesus fell under the weight of the cross but He didn’t give up and after 3 days of sleeping in a borrowed tomb He got up! He completed what He started and so it is with us when we fall under the weight of the cross…..God causes all things to work together! We will never find perfection in us but we can find perfection in Christ. So today if you have fallen don’t just sit there….kneel up and seek God’s forgiveness! His word will never return empty. He said that He will forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness! Life’s perfect dismounts can only be experience in Christ!

Don’t use your words to describe your negative situation rather use your words to change your negative situation into a positive one! Stop speaking defeat and start speaking victory. You need to possess an “in spite” of spirit…”in spite” of this (___________) I am a victor and not a victim. I am the head and not the tail. I am above and not beneath! Greater is He who is in me. Romans 4:17 put it this way, “as it is written: “I have made thee a father of many nations”), in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which are not, as though they were.” So today faithfully speak life over every dead situation and give God glory for what He will and can do!! Let the redeemed of The Lord say so!

Don’t succumb to negative opinions of others. The bottom line is opinions are like ear lobes; everybody has at least one. Stand firm on God’s promises. He created you to be you. You are a living master piece crafted by the Master’s hands. When Shimei son of Gera cursed David he responded in 2 Samuel 16:12 by saying, “Perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses today.” What’s the message? In Psalm 45:7 we learn that we have been anointed with oil of joy. So today don’t let anyone or anything take that anointing from you!

How do you defeat the spirit of pride….by denouncing it! Pride and arrogance are weapons of mass destruction that can potentially destroy lives and relationships. C.S. Lewis said, “As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.” If this message is inapplicable, great! However, if it is then denounce it and live in the spirit of genuine humility and freedom!

Sometimes God will subject us to pain, dispair, discomfort, ambiguity, isolation, and various test so that we are reminded that He is God and He is in control. Don’t believe me? Check out Matthew 26:39, “He (Jesus) went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” So today remember God causes all things to flow in harmony even in and thru troubled waters!