Dear Partner,
Happy New Year! It’s a brand new year,
a brand new start, and it’s time to step into it with optimism, faith and
expectancy. Your dreams have been postponed long enough. Doing what you were
born to do has been postponed long enough. It’s time to harvest your seed. It’s
time to reap all that you have sown. 2009 is a year of opportunity—a season for
you to take advantage of opportunities.
So what are you waiting for? What keeps
stopping you from starting?
However you answered that question, the
truth is, the devil is the one who is always after us to stop us from starting.
And if he can’t stop us at the beginning, then his next tactic is to get us to
stop what we have started. He knows exactly how to make us defeated and discouraged…but
the Word tells us how to overcome and win:
“And
let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint
not”.1
Tests
Come to Every One
So if you’ve sown some seed—toward a
dream, toward your future—if you’ve started a new project or a new business—if
you’ve started a new job, a new phase of life—if you won’t stop, if you won’t
quit what you have started, due season is imminent and you will reap! Harvest
will become your reality.
But the devil doesn’t want that for
you. He’s been robbing people of their dreams and opportunities for centuries.
He’s determined to try and stop you from ever realizing your harvest. He knows
that if he can kill your seed, then he’s already defeated your harvest. Because
it’s easier to kill a seed than to fight a harvest.
So he works to get you into a cycle of
stopping and starting, stopping and starting. He knows that cycle will
eventually rob you of all initiative, bring doubt, unbelief and weariness…to
the point it brings failure…causing you to quit altogether. … and think
thoughts like:
·
God doesn’t love me.
·
This faith stuff doesn’t work!
·
He won’t give me another chance.
·
I’ve been doing this for so long and nothing is working!
But that’s not God’s nature or His
character. He is for you and not against you. His thoughts are always toward
you. God’s word assures us:
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he
shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love
him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.”2
The word for temptation
in these verses means “to test”—and tests come to every one. But when the tests
come, people often attribute the test to God. They say, “God allowed this to
happen to me. God must be trying to teach me something. Where are you God? Why
are you doing this to me?”
But didn’t James say, “Let no man say when he is tested, I am
tested of God, for God cannot be tested with evil, neither testeth he any man”?
Just imagine our defeat
if the devil can get us to believing God is testing us! He knows that if he can
get us blaming God, then we’ll be working against the answer we really want,
because our victory—the answer—is in God.
What’s Really Being Tested
Your answer will always
come from walking in agreement with God just like His word reminds us, “How can two walk together less they be
agreed.”3
God isn’t trying to stop
you! “My brethren, count it all joy when
ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith
worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect
and entire, wanting nothing”.4
The truth is, YOU are
not being tested! YOUR FAITH is being tested. Your faith in God and His word is
being tested. And the enemy of your soul—Satan—is the one putting pressure on
you to get you to back off, to grow weary, to quit…to stop.
So what does the devil
know that we need to know?
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone “.5
To overcome, to realize
our dreams, we must live out what we believe. Our attitude must validate our
faith in Him. Our words must be in agreement with His Word. Our responses to
situations and challenges and pressures must affirm God and His Word. Our
actions must confirm our trust!
Is your faith being
tested today? Are you being tempted to stop—even before you really get started?
If so, you are being
tested to determine whether you truly mean what you have declared to the Lord,
because whenever you make a commitment—whenever you make a decision—it will be
tested. You are being tested as to whether you meant it when you sowed that
seed…when you determined to take advantage of that new opportunity.
But don’t quit! Don’t
stop!
If you stumble, get up
and start again, just as the prophet Micah said: “When I fall, I shall rise again”.6
When I fall, I WILL START AGAIN!
So what are you waiting for?
Get Up & Get Going!
"Count it all joy when you are
tested. Joy is a spiritual force. It’s your strength to get up and get going
again. It’s your strength to sow even more seed. It’s your strength to work
even harder at your dream. Just count it as joy!
The devil doesn’t know what to do
with people who rejoice. He doesn’t know what to do with people who don’t quit.
So make up your mind and heart that you won’t ever quit.
Declare this aloud:
“Nothing will stop me from
starting!
Nothing will stop me from
continuing!Nothing will stop me from my
harvest!
I will get up and get going now!”
Missy and I love you and appreciate
you. 2009 is a year of opportunity, so we believe for you to recognize those
opportunities and to take advantage of this season. This is your year! The
world’s economy may still be troubled, but for the believer, it’s the year to
live in your dream. It’s the year to do what you were born to do. It’s the year
to experience the power of possibility!
1Galatians 6:9
2James 1:12-13
3Amos 3:3
4James 1:2-4
5James 2:17
6Micah 2:8
Posted on
Saturday, January 10, 2009
by Scott Johnson