That is the statement someone said to me when I asked them about their day. I wasn’t aware of any particular problems this person could’ve been facing, they didn’t outwardly show any struggle. But the elderly woman said to me, that in-spite of everything that was going on… I’m Making a Choice to Rejoice.
I’m fond of little catch phrases and this was my first time hearing this one in particular. It meant a lot to hear her say that because little did she know, I was facing some personal challenges that day. You see, over the past several years, it seems my wife and I are faced with something at the beginning of each year. It has never failed and like most, this January in 2024 has been one for the books and not the desirable kind.
What also has never failed, is that things tend to get better as the year goes on… But only when we are resilient enough to persevere.
So, my response to that lovely statement was….
“You know what, I am going to do the same!”
I won’t wait until the situation begins to turn, but I’ll rejoice right now when I’m facing it.
Today, no matter where you are, no matter what you are facing….
Make a Choice to Rejoice!
It will not always be easy, some days you may not feel like it, and it won’t always change the problem. But it will change how you see that problem and that is sometimes all you need to keep going….
Day by Day, Step by Step…Make the choice to persevere.
This week we studied about faith, how our past hinders us and how we could over come our doubts and fears. Often times people; especially leaders tell others to just have faith. Make it sound easy but it’s not. However, if we could overcome our doubts and fears and apply faith, we will truly be living our best lives.
But what is the definition of Faith?
Webster defines it as:
Belief and trust in and loyalty to God. Firm belief in something for which there is no proof.
In Hebrews 11:1 it is define as:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
“Physical eyesight produces a conviction or evidence of visible things; Faith is the organ which enables people to see the invisible order.”
David Guzik
Faith is the substance of my hope, Faith makes what I’m hoping for a spiritual reality. Faith makes possible to see what am hoping for, it doesn’t contradict reasoning but it may go beyond it.
Example:
I acknowledge that I am sick. But my hope is that by Jesus stripes I am healed. My faith is applied to make my hope of being healed a reality.
I acknowledge I am broke, but my hope is that my God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. My faith is applied to make my hope a reality.
Very little details were given about Bartimaeus, besides the fact that he was the son of Timaeus and that he was blind. We do not know if he was blind since birth or if an incident occurred which brought him to become blind. Either way Jesus coming to town presents an opportunity for him to receive a healing and become whole. Bartimaeus realizing this, positioned himself in a position to meet Jesus when He leaves Jericho.
What faith did it take for Bartimaeus to do this being blind?
How does it feel to be blind?
Are we blind spiritual?
Types of Spiritual Blindness
Partial Blindness
This type of spiritual blindness says that you can see what God wants to do with your life, but its unclear at the time. So, in our uncertainty we tend to hesitate with going forward without clear understanding. We want clarity or confirmation, because we are to afraid to trust what God said since we can’t see what He is doing.
Blurred Vision
You see there is something in front of you that God wants you to have. But you’re unsure bout this whole spirituality and Christian thing. It all sounds crazy and doesn’t make sense. So I’ll stay complacent where I am cause either way I’ll be good. If it works, I’m Gucci. If it doesn’t work, I’m still Gucci but I’m in the middle. We feel God pulling on us to do more and have a relationship, but fear grips us to the point of making us doubt everything we know to be true. You have Blurred Vision.
Total Blindness
You don’t know what God is doing. He’s not saying anything, seems like He is not doing anything and feels like He just forgot all about you. It’s all dark, confusing and you don’t know where to begin. This type of blindness tends to make an individual shut down from doing anything and just simply give up or lose hope that things will ever get better. You are totally blind.
But I want to encourage you by stating, there was a time when I was just like that. Returning home after dropping out of college the first time and I felt like a failure. Things went from bad to worse when I felt everyone was against me and I didn’t know who to trust. So, I chose to shut down and just ignore everyone. I was totally blind. But, God took me from there to where He has me now. It was all a process to get me to see clearly than what I have ever seen before. And thats what He wants to do with you.
So, don’t let the missed opportunities of life eat at you. Yes you have some mistakes but those mistakes do not determine the outcome of your life, there is always hope, things can get better, but you have to take advantage of the opportunity when it comes around again. That’s what Bartimaeus had to do, he saw an opportunity to receive his healing and he seized the moment. He yelled out to Jesus in order to gain his attention and once he got it, he made his request known. His actions took an activation of faith. How did he know it was actually Jesus? What made him think that Jesus would actually do it? But the biggest question is, what did he have to lose??! Either way he loses nothing, but if he goes forward with trust Jesus, then he has the chance to gain everything! That should be our motto for this year, What do I have to lose in trust God??
Make your declaration, What do you have to lose?
Speak your decree, What do you have to lose?
And just like Bartimaeus, it will be by your faith that you receive. So, even when you can’t see what He is said, I just trust what He is doing.
As we enter into a new year, many of us have different dreams and aspirations about what we want to achieve or what we want to see God do. Often times I have come to realize that we also tend to unintentionally bring old mindsets, old hurts and old disappointments with us as well. So, While we are trying to believe for more, we find ourselves hindered by past experiences. Which in turn, causes us to not fully trust God enough to manifest our decrees. But as we are going to study in this devotional, though at times we may waver in our belief, if our hope is sustained, we will persevere.
In this text, Paul was writing to the Romans with the intent of convincing everyone that the only one way to salvation which is being justified by Faith in Jesus Christ.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.(Romans 5:1)
Thus, according to God’s law, none of us were capable of upholding it’s requirements but now being justified from that law by faith because of His grace, we have a peace in God.
But this in found peace does not come without challenges and trials. We often times find ourselves on the recipient end of more attacks when we are trying to do good then when we were doing bad. It is in this place that it becomes hard and difficult to trust God. The attacks have one sole purpose, to deter our faith and kill our hope. See, Faith is needed to please God and He uses our faith to move on our behalf. Some of you may have experienced this in the previous year; decrees were made and prophecies spoken over us, but the year ended without seeing a manifestation.
So, where do we go from here?
Was the word wrong?
Did God chose not to do what He said?
I’m sure some of you may have thought this at some point coming into this year. Now, we find ourselves caught in-between believing God for more and holding on to the disappointments of the past. How can I trust God is going to do something Big in my life when it seems I have no hope left? The answer to that question may be simpler that what you imagine. See, you have more faith and hope in God then what you think. Don’t believe so? Then why haven’t you given up on God yet? Even with all the disappointments and let downs you have experienced from believing in God. Why do you continue to pursue Him? Cause in spit of it all, there is something deep down that just won’t allow you to let go of God. It’s this hope that makes us continue to believe God is going to do what He said. And just when you are about to reach your breaking point, God loves you just enough to cause you to believe again.
This is not a form of manipulation, but rather it is God’s way of leading you to green pasture, just like a good Shepard would. There’s more in store, but He has to lead us there before we are able to experience the manifestation. Every thing we go through builds us, the scripture says:
“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
Therefore we praise while in the midst of the storm, that’s why we keep shouting even while going through, cause we know God is just building our hope. And this hope, is not going to disappoint, but rather it’s to help push you to more, push you to greater and push you to Big!
“We are not to be ignorant of Satan’s devices and schemes.”
Our adversary the devil has many tactics in which he uses to seek, kill and destroy humanity. Although it may at times feel like these tactics vary, the Bible declares that there is nothing new under the sun. So, these tactics are very much the same, but they always come with a twist.
In the text, Paul is writing to the church of Corinth because he did not want to return there in person. An issue arose in the church concerning one of the members sinned against them and Paul asked them to forgive this brother and restore this member. The premises surrounding this notion was to make sure that the member did not become deceived by Satan and he take advantage of them. How very true is this statement even in today’s time? We all know that once we begin down a slippery slope, it becomes very difficult to bounce back and we even find ourselves going deeper and deeper into that sin. This is the enemy taking advantage of us and using his scheme to keep us off track.
“Take advantage (the ancient Greek word pleonekteo) is used in four other verses in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 7:2, 12:17-18, and 1 Thessalonians 4:6). It has the idea of cheating someone out of something that belongs to them. When we are ignorant of Satan’s strategies, he is able to take things from us that belong to us in Jesus, things like peace, joy, fellowship, a sense of forgiveness, and victory.”1
Schemes of the Enemy
In John 8:44, the writer makes the statement that Satan is the father of lies. We know this to be true and he often uses those lies as a form of deception. One of the many tactics of the enemy is that of deception. While Jesus was in the wilderness fasting and praying, at the end of those 40 days the devil came to tempt Him. All that he suggested to Jesus was that of deception shaped in form of lies. So it is with us, but we must have willingness to discern that. Nehemiah 6:1-3 helps to the know how discernment comes:
Discernment come from the Word of God & through Prayer
If we are to overcome this adversary, it must be with the application of both of these things. There are many different types of spirits being released by the enemy. But the wrong discernment could result in nothing being accomplished. But with proper use of the Word, we are able to recognize a spirit by the fruit or symptoms it produces. The judging of this fruit will help us to determine which scheme we are facing and ultimately grant us victory in that area.
Prayers:
Lord, teach my hands to war and my fingers to fight (Ps. 144:1)
Deliver me from my strong enemy, from them that are too strong for me (Ps. 18:17)
I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. (Eph. 6:10)
“The ability to endure and withstand hardship, adversity, or stress. We are to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
In this text, Paul starts off by telling Timothy to be strong in grace of Jesus. Paul knew this letter was to inform Timothy about Spiritual Warfare, so Paul made sure to let Timothy know he is going to need Jesus for this. There is no way we can engage in Spiritual Warfare without the grace of Jesus. So, before engaging in Warfare, let us be sure to make ourselves strong in Him. Next, we must be willing to endure through this thing. The term “must” indicates that it is a guarantee, there’s no way around it, it’s going to happen. So, if we are to endure hardships, let’s do it for the cause of Christ. Enduring signifies that it is something that must be walked through rather than a situation is one is removed from or out of…Im sorry, you might as well change your prayers. If God has not delivered us yet, then it’s a process to go through. Instead, let’s pray God strengthen us for the process, help us to learn the lesson in it and give us the ability to overcome. Lastly, A solider does not have the time to entangle themselves with what the civilian world worry about. To do so would affect their job of the bigger picture. So it should be with us in spiritual warfare, we cannot get entangled with the cares of the world. Somethings are not worth the time wasted on it and is a distraction. To get entangled in it would cause us not to identify the enemy and/or see what God is doing.
So, be Strong in Jesus, Put on your armor to be able to Endure and Remove all distractions so we can focus on God.
Life Changing Hope 