When Disappointment Becomes Despair – II

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.”

2 Corinthians 4:8

I am confident that the Lord sees our hearts because His word in Proverbs 13:12 proclaim that, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

So what happens when you feel like your hope is deferred?

How do you faithfully respond when the eagerness and faithfulness to cling to a word that God has given you is seen as delayed from where you stand?

What do you do when your own minds starts to wage war against you and call you crazy for believing in the promise in the first place?

When you have done all you can, when you have done your best in being patient, when you have mastered worship as a response to the pain of waiting, and still your circumstances portray everything unlikely to the promise of God, then what?

Does the heart then not become sick? Does disappointment not then become despair? Does your fleeting hope then not make you so grievous that you dare to question the intent of God when He gave you the desire in the first place???

Believe me when I say I stand with you in that place of confusion, uncertainty, and tiredness.

But we cannot stay there!

We must not stay there!

By the power of the living Christ, WE WILL NOT REMAIN IN DESPAIR in Jesus name!!!

Because that is not what God promised. That is not what God called us to. That is certainly not what God has brought us this far to do.

I confess that these last few days felt like hell. I felt such a grieving distance from God that it pained me to pray and utter faithful words like I did when the promise was first revealed to me. But like a refreshing rain, the Holy Spirit poured into me in my hour of hopelessness.

When I was about to give up, when I was about to tap out, when I was about to release my hope completely and claim defeat over this word, God turned ME around. God shifted something in me and called me to decide.

Friend, the only thing between your disappointment and your despair is your decision to change your mind about how you see the disappointment in the first place.

No, it may not look anything like the promise. No it may not feel like your faith is strong enough to withstand the process to the promise. But I am here to remind you that God is not man that HE should lie. God told you He would. He promised you something. He said He would do it, so HE will do it.

IN FACT, IT IS ALREADY DONE!

For we serve a God who is timeless, a God who WAS, IS, AND IS TO COME. So if you got a word that is to come, know that it is already done and you are only yet to see it manifest.

I am praying for you as I am praying for myself, may the Lord renew our minds today. May our hope be renewed and our confidence strengthened in our mighty God who has never failed. You can count on God’s word! He has done it before and we will see Him do it again, Only bigger than the last time in Jesus name. Amen!

When Disappointment Becomes Despair – I

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.”

2 Corinthians 4:8

I cannot begin to name all the reasons that has kept me from posting for over 3 months. I cannot begin to count the many battles fought, lost, and fought again till won to be here in this present hour. But to God be the glory who fights our battles even when we are too stubborn to let go of the reins.

Despair is defined as the complete loss or absence of hope.

For any believer to find themselves in a place of despair is nothing to joke about or skid over. It is serious business when you reach a place in your journey, a time in your life, a realm in your walk of faith, that dares you to look God in the eyes and say that you do not believe the promise anymore.

I don’t know about you but for me, to despair feels like an agonizing breach of contract with God. It is a state of mind that abruptly rips apart the intimacy between me and God because I confess that I no longer have confidence in what God said to me.

I was in that place these past few days and I am still recovering from the war it was to fight back the strongholds that tried to keep me there.

It honestly began with a subtle disappointment. Then that disappointment reminded me of another disappointment over the same promise, then another fell in line, and then another, and before I knew it, I was immobile in my house under the heavy weight of despair.

See the thing about hoping on the word of God is that it necessitates expectation. Hope stirs up in you a distinct level of expectation from God where you look for the promise everywhere, every-time. Hope will do that to you.

Hope will have you stretching all your limitations and believing in God for an unseen type of miracle.

But what happens when your hope starts to feel the weight of waiting???

FINISH HERE!

It’s a Trap!…Be Still…

armour

“Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.”

Psalm 31:4

How quick are you to react on a negative impulse? How easy is it for you to ‘defend’ yourself when you feel attacked by another or unfairly treated?

For some of us, saved or not, when our anger or emotions are stirred, we loose all recollection of the Word in Ephesians Chpt 6 vs 12 that states,

our struggle is not against flesh and blood…but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in higher realms.”

Friend, don’t you know that the schemes of the enemy are intended for you to stumble and speak hate instead of love?

Will the enemy not entice you with situations that he is certain will evoke the bad habits that have distanced you from God’s best in the past?!

The question here is whether or not you are spiritually aware!

You and I both know by now that nothing just happens. We serve an intentional God. So why would the enemy who opposes our purpose and destiny for God’s kingdom, not be intentional in his own deceitful ways to cause us to misstep on our path to glory?

We are warriors for the God’s kingdom, you and I. Even God’s Word remind us that we are indeed in a fight. The glorious thing about the side that grace has safely positioned us, is that victory is already ours through Christ’s sacrifice.

Nevertheless, as the battle rage on, we cannot walk blindly in this life without the armor of God.

Friend, you have to put on your armor! Do you even know what your armor is?! I urge you to get in your Word, and along with God’s own wisdom, you will find His armor.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground…Stand firm then, with the belt of truth…the breastplate of righteousness…your feet shod with the gospel of peace…the shield of faith…the helmet of salvation…the sword of the Spirit…and prayer.” Ephesians 6 vs 13-18

So, the next time you feel a rise in your temperature because of one matter or another, let you full armor fight the battle before you.

The armor of God will teach you to be still and avoid the many traps of the evil one. The very same armor will remind you of God’s truth when the lies of the enemy creep into your thoughts and threaten to overwhelm your spirit. Your breastplate of righteousness will fight for you against the wages of sin because you will remember that Christ granted you salvation. The gospel of peace will grant you serenity amidst the chaos of life. And the sword of the Spirit will readily rebuke and fight off the temptations of sin.

So you see, we can no longer walk blindly without our armor. God provided it for you and I because He knows what we must face as followers of Christ. Pick up your armor and walk confidently with it and in it!

May God, in His Faithfulness, continue to grant us our daily victories against the enemy in Jesus name. Amen.