You’ll never
make it. You’ll never be successful. You’ll never get
married. You’ll never change. It’s never going to happen
for you.
Have you ever
heard these lies parade through your mind? I know I have and so
have countless others like me who have dreams for their lives.
When you are on
the right track, the enemy comes in and attacks your mind with these
thoughts that things are never going to change, that you are going to
be stuck in your present circumstances for the rest of your life.
Jesus says in
John 8:44 that the devil is the author of all lies, that the truth is
not in him. Whatever he tells you, the opposite has to be true
because he is a liar.
The devil cannot
stop your destiny, your purpose in life, but he can get you to abort
the mission yourself. He beats your mind down with the never lies
until you want to throw your hands up and wave the white flag of
surrender.
You can’t let that happen. You have to stay the course. You have to fight the good fight of faith.
How do you do
that? By building yourself up in the Word of God. You have
to study who you are--and your rights--as a Born-again child of the
Most High God.
Feed on the
Word. You wouldn’t go into battle without reading the battle
plan. Neither should you do battle with the devil without reading
the Battle Plan--the Word of God.
Play CDs and
cassettes while you are sleeping. Make time each day to read the
Bible. Listen to good teaching on television and on the
radio. Continuously put the Word into your ears because faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
Talk the
Word. Speak what God says. Agree with His Word by
speaking it. When you get a bad report, speak the Word.
Alone in your car? Speak the Word. Get up in the morning
speaking the Word. Go to bed at night speaking the
Word. Keep the Word continuously on your lips.
Praise
God. Having a rough time? Take five, ten, minutes a day
just to thank God for all the good things He has done in your
life. Do this every day, and in time, your attitude will change.
Continually
feeding on the Word, speaking the Word and praising God--these are the
antidotes to the never lie. So the next time the devil tells you
that you will never change or the other never lies, hit him with the
antidote–the ever-living, True Word of God.
- Annagail Lynes
What have you been up to since we graduated high school?
That question
has been coming up a lot lately. And at first that question made
me cringe because I didn’t take the path that most of my friends
did. I didn’t get married or become as great a success as most of
them...yet.
For me, life has
been a process of learning who I am and what I am meant to be. A
series of trials have brought me to where I am.
I didn’t like
the trials, the problems, but now on the other side of them, I see how
they have made me stronger. I see now how they have made me the
person I am.
As Joyce Meyer would say, “I am not where I want to be, but I am not where I used to be.”
I still have issues. We all have issues, but we have to step back and look at the situation from another perspective.
What have we
learned over the years? Where have we been? Who have we
met? Has our relationship with others improved? Has our
relationship with God improved?
If we have improved in some way, we are making progress. We are making headway.
To gain
perspective, I like to take the trials and problems in my life and look
at them on a grander scale. I ask myself when all is said and
done and I meet God, is that thing going to matter? Will it
be important?
What is He going
to ask me? Where I went to school? Whether I married at 23
or 33? Or is He going to ask me whether I fulfilled my purpose in
life? It will be the latter. And I know what I want my
answer to be: yes.
I help
people. I encourage people. That’s what I do. And
when I share with someone something that happened in my life and
someone is helped through it, that’s when I know I am doing my job
right, that I am fulfilling my purpose.
When you put
things into perspective, your problems, your circumstances, your
situations, look quite different, less severe. What troubled you
a year ago probably doesn’t trouble you now. What worried you a
month ago might not worry you now.
Life is a
process, but if we try to do it alone, we will go nowhere. It is
when we learn to rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us and guide us that
we make progress.
Step by step,
little by little, inch by inch, we change in one area, then another and
another until we are no longer the person we once cringed at when we
looked in the mirror. Instead we are becoming the people God
created us to be.
~ Annagail Lynes
Awhile back, we
bought a new washer and dryer for our home. When we went to
install it, though, we discovered that a part was missing. A part
that was essential.
After calling
the store, we learned that we would have to pay for the part if we
wanted it. Even though it should have came with the machine to
begin with. The sales people were rude and kept hanging up on us.
We lodged a
complaint through the company’s online form, and within forty-eight
hours, the district manager told us it would be on the truck and would
be delivered to us free of charge.
However when the
truck came, they knew nothing of this conversation we had with the
district manager. The moment we mentioned his name, though,
everyone bent over backwards to accommodate us.
His name was the key to getting things done with that company. It was the magic word. The password.
For us as Believers, we have a name that is our password with God. It is the name of Jesus.
Jesus’ Name is the only Name you can call upon and be saved, be forgiven, be healed, be whole.
God has exalted
Jesus’ Name above all else. Above the name of sickness.
Above the name of disease. Above the name of debt. Above
the name of marriage problems. Above the name of mental issues.
If it has a name, it must bow to the Name of Jesus (Philippians 2:10).
Jesus died for
us. He took our sins on His sinless body. He took our
sicknesses on His healed body. But not only did Jesus redeem us
from every curse of the law, but in essence, He also said, “If you have
any other problems, if you need anything, ask my Father. Make
sure you tell Him I sent you.”
He gave us the
right to use His Name–to pray, to be saved, to be healed, to pray for
others to be healed, to ask for whatever we need.
Every time you
pray and say “In The Name Of Jesus” or “In Jesus’ Name,” don’t just say
the words. Stop and think about what Jesus has done for you.
Stop and take a
moment and praise God for what Jesus did because Jesus didn’t have to
do it. And if He didn’t, where would we be? On a train
headed for hell.
God Bless,
Annagail Lynes
Come unto me,
all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. - Matthew 11:28 -
29.
Close to nine
years ago, I suffered a loss. My grandfather, whom I was very
close to, died. For years, I had dreams of his passing, but none
of them prepared me for the harsh reality of the situation. I was
devastated.
When I am under
stress, I don’t eat well nor do I sleep well. This time was no
exception. I had been up for days with only a few hours of sleep
in between when I collapsed in complete exhaustion.
Then one night I
was reading my Bible and Matthew 11:28-29 jumped out at me. For
some reason, that Scripture gave me comfort, and I slept through the
night.
Recently,
though, I have felt a prompting in my spirit to study that word
rest. What does it really mean? Does it mean going to
sleep? Does it mean not doing anything? What does it really
entail?
I went to an online Bible study center and looked up the word rest as it is used in Matthew 11:28-29 in the Greek.
The
transliterated word for rest here is Anapauo, which means 1. to
cause or permit one to cease from any movement or labour in order to
recover and collect his strength, 2. to give rest, refresh, to
give one's self rest, take rest, 3. to keep quiet, of calm and patient
expectation.
For most
of us, when we are under stress or in a crisis, we are always doing
something. We are always striving to make things right, to make
things happen for us. As a result, our strength is
depleted.
And I know that
when I am under stress, I usually say things that I regret, snap at the
people I love and if I am frustrated, I might start complaining–very
loudly.
But this word rest means to keep quiet and have a calm and patient expectation that God is working on our behalf.
Some times we
have to just learn to keep our mouths shut. We need to quiet
ourselves and trust that God is in control, that He knows what He is
doing.
We need to stop
doing God’s job. Our job is to bring our need before Him
(Philippians 4:6), do everything we can (Ephesians 6:13) and have a
calm and patient expectation that He will come through on our
behalf. Not because we deserve it but because we are His
children...because He loves us and is on our side.
We need to remember that All things work together for good to them that love Him and are called according to His purpose.
I challenge you to go around and say, as I am learning to do, “Lord, I don’t know what You are doing, but I trust You.”
At first you will say it by faith, but eventually, it will become a reality in your life.
About The
Author: Annagail Lynes is an inspirational writer from Phoenix,
Arizona, who uses her writing to encourage others. She asked Jesus into
her heart at the tender age of nine and loves to share what God has
done in her life. Her writing has appeared in various online and
offline publications, including You!, Christian Home and School and
Writer's Digest.
Her books are available at http://www.annagaillynes.net/bookstore.html
Used books, videos, DVDs and tape series for sale:
http://www.annagaillynes.net/usedbookstore.html
