By: Annagail Lynes
I have been believing God for certain things in my life. They are desires that God Himself has placed in my heart. However, the more I believe for these things, the more hurdles seem to park their way in my path until all I can see is the forest of problems instead of the end result. And I ask myself, “Are these things I am believing for really worth all the pain and anguish?”
Have you ever suffered a setback? You were on your way to achieving your goal, and an obstacle blocked your path?
At one point or another, we have all been there. We have all felt like giving up, like our goal will never come to pass. It is in that moment, that you have a choice. Do you give up? Or do you press on?
Paul in Philippians 3:13-14 writes, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
We are to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. We have to press forward and do what God created us to do. We were all created to accomplish a goal. We all have an assignment given us to Almighty God, and we must press forward and complete that mandate.
On the way to accomplishing that purpose, there will be obstacles. If you complete your mission, people’s lives will be changed and the Kingdom of God will be furthered. The devil doesn’t want that. The more the Kingdom furthers, the less time he has.
The devil has a limited time to stop you and the rest of the world from completing their destinies. If you read the Revelations, you see that God wins and the devil loses. And the devil is trying to prevent that from happening.
He can’t stop your destiny, but he can get you to abort it yourself. The devil can throw so many obstacles in your way that you sit down, put your head in your hands and just give up. He is trying to get you to give what is rightful yours.
If you are a Believer, if you’ve accepted Christ into your life, you are a Child of God, and as such, you have certain rights and privileges. You have the right to be healed, to be saved, to be delivered, to prosper and so many others that can be found in the Word of God. Fulfilling your purpose is one of those rights.
Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” By thief He was referring to the devil.
The devil is out to take what is rightful yours, and in most cases, he uses you to do his dirty work. We see this in the lives of so many of the people in Bible.
Abraham is a very good example of this. Abraham had a promise from God that he would be the father of many nations. But Abraham had some obstacles. He was old. From all accounts, he was in his seventies when God made him this promise. His wife was barren. She couldn’t conceive any children… and she was up there in years too.
Year after year, they waited, but no child came. Sarah decided that maybe God didn’t want Abraham to have a child by her, so she suggested that Abraham sleep with her Egyptian slave girl, Hagar.
The devil was probably pounding Abraham’s mind with thoughts like, “What if Sarah’s right? What if God’s Will is for you to have a child by Hagar? Maybe that’s why it is taking so long.” He agreed to sleep with Hagar. Probably to cover all his bases…just in case.
When Hagar became pregnant, a rift occurred between Sarah and Hagar. And Abraham was caught in the middle. He had to choose between his wife and the mother of his child.
He had a setback in the quest for the child God promised him. He now had a son by another woman other than his wife. And as much as Abraham, Sarah and Hagar wanted to believe that Hagar’s son was the promised child. He wasn’t. God’s promise had not been fulfilled but delayed.
Approximately thirteen years later, Abraham finally held the child God promised him. Isaac, the son bore to him by his wife, Sarah.
Although Abraham had several setbacks, in the end, he still received the promise God made to him. Why? Because Abraham never stopped believing God’s promise. He never stopped believing in God. He knew that what God promised God was faithful to fulfill.
And we too must never stop believing that God will do what He promised. Set-backs may delay the promise. But no one can stop the promise but us.
The devil is trying to get you to give up on the promise, on God and on yourself, but if you keep believing, you will see eventually see what God promised you come to pass.
Remember what Jesus told father whose child was filled with demons that the disciples could not cast out, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes” (Mark 9:23b NKJV).
Don’t give the devil the satisfaction of giving up on God’s promise to you. Keep on believing. Keep on pressing on until you see your promise fulfilled.
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