Believe you can and you’re halfway there. – Theodore Roosevelt

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

I once heard a preacher discussing the power of the Holy Spirit.  In his teaching he talked about how we often feel beat down by life but pressed into the listeners that we shouldn’t stay there.  We should have a “bounce back” in our spirits.  Do you remember the inflatable toy that was oblong shaped that you could punch?  Because it was weighted on the bottom, it would pop back up.  No matter how hard you hit it….it would go down and immediately pop up!  Well, we need to have that same bounce in our spirit.  Although the enemy has hit us with his best shot…we’ve been attacked in our finances…we’ve been attacked in our physical body…we’ve been attacked in our relationships…we’ve been attacked on our jobs…we’ve been attacked in the church!  The enemy has come at you from every direction with some hard-hitting blows that could have taken us out.

BUT…..according to 1 John 4:4 “But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”

Yes, you may FEEL defeated but its NOT a fact…you are not defeated!  You cant keep a blessed man or woman down!  

Romans 8:31-39 tells us, “31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.  35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.  38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Yes, If God is for us…WHO can be against us?  When we walk around licking our wounds with our heads down in a defeated state.  We are saying to ourselves and the world, that your problems are greater than your God!  We ought to walk in the blessed assurance that our God the Creator of the universe is well able!  No matter the situation or circumstance!

Let me share one of my numerous testimonies, this one was based upon a financial blessing.  I was in need of $2,000.  And I needed it fast!  The enemy came yapping in my ear saying…borrow from your 401K..take out a payday loan…get a title loan from your car, blah blah blah.  We have to learn to close our ears to the enemy and open our spiritual ears to hear what God is saying.  God will talk to you through the scriptures and from what I knew of the Word…I knew loans were not an option because Gods word says that “I am a lender and NOT a borrower”

I know that these loan places charge over 100% in interest, God would not put me in a position to make my current financial situation worse!  Quick fixes are never from God!  We went into prayer and the Lord said that the money will come in the time that we needed.  So, we held on to Gods word.  Although the days were going by, my flesh wanted to get agitated ….my flesh wanted me to make calls to people I knew that would have it.  But God told me, “What did I say?”  So, I remained still and chose to believe God.  I mean heck…God IS our provider…He knew my situation…He brings the provision…so why would I doubt?  When the Apostles needed to pay taxes but had no money, Jesus made the money appear in a fish’s mouth!  Come on!!  Our God is able!!!

I was about three weeks away from my deadline.  Then we had a terrible storm that damaged many homes around the area and flooded our basement.  Of course, I thought…not now Lord…this is not what we need right now!  Let me tell you…within 7 days after the storm, we received a check for $2,500 from our insurance company!  God blesses abundantly! Tell me God won’t use a situation that we think is negative and turn it around for our good!!  Glory to God!!!  I had the money I needed before I needed it and the Lord blessed us with extra on top of it!!!  My God!!! I hope you all are getting hold of this!!

So you may say…what about the damage to your basement?  They sent the money to fix the damage..if you used that money for something else how did you fix the basement?  You better sit down for this one……We had no damage to the basement!  The amount dispersed by the insurance was the basic payout for flooding.  Our basement at the time had not been finished …it was all concrete.  We purchased a wet vac to drain any standing water and placed a couple dehumidifiers to soak up any moister in the concrete. The basement was good as new! 

God is able!  God is true to His word! The Word will hit the mark!

You may be waiting for God to do something, and He is telling you to be still.  When He tells you this be still!!  Remember God knows the future…He knows how things will turn out; we only need to trust.  Yes, our flesh fights us in a mighty way, but our spirit must be stronger.  We need to have that bounce back and say, despite all these things God is for us, and nothing will separate us!  God wants to bless us…walk in the blessing!

Meditation verse – John 15:7 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

Blessings!!

Keishana