The Battle Is Not Yours

I've had lots of dreams and goals throughout my life.  I'm guessing you have too.  Some I have been able to accomplish easily and others are still an uphill battle.  When it seems like the odds are stacked against me, it's easy to give up hope or start to believe the negative voices that say "I can't do it".  Some of those voices belong to family or friends, who mean well, but in trying to protect me from disappointment, inadvertently make me doubt myself.  Some of those voices belong to people who don't have my best interest at heart and want to be a roadblock, preventing me from reaching my goals.  And one of those voices often comes from inside of me.  

I have lots of insecurities.  I've fought with myself for years.  I mean years!  I let the enemy remind me of how imperfect I am and of the many mistakes I've made in my life.  Even though I have repented and God has forgiven me of my sins, for a long time, I hadn't truly forgiven myself.  So I made it really easy for the enemy to keep me bogged down in my own shame. That shame manifested itself as depression and I allowed that to get in the way of going after my dreams with confidence.  But I was reminded recently that those feelings of shame are a lie. If in the pursuit of my dreams, I am moving in accordance to His Will, then I already have victory through Christ.  

I have a note clipped to the inside of my Bible.  It was passed to me in Church years ago.  (Yes, you caught that.  Don't judge....I was passing notes in Church.)   I don't remember what the sermon was about, but I do remember it was something that convicted me and I was in tears. The kind of embarrassing tears you can't stop even though you desperately want to.  But those tears prompted a very special woman who was in the pew in front of me to pass me a note that I carry in my Bible to this day.  A note that although tear stained and tattered, still encourages me every time I read it.  It reminds me that I am loved.  It reminds me that the victory has already been won.  That no matter how I feel, or what the enemy tries to whisper to me, I should praise God,  because as a child of Christ, I get to share in His victory!

I may not know what challenge you are facing.  I don't know the stumbling blocks you'll run into on your road to accomplishing your dreams.  But I do know that you are loved.  I know you are blessed. I know that God has a very special mission for your life and you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength.  (Philippians 4:13) So don't give up. Don't let the negative voices in your life deter you from the amazing things God has in store for you. Have confidence in God and when you feel discouraged, speak the Word out loud to remind yourself you have the victory!

2 Corinthians 4:8-9  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

John 16:33  I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Deuteronomy 20:4  For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.

Romans 8:31-32  ...If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

1 John 5:4  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.  And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith.

Jamila is the founder of loved+blessed. On her personal mission to leave a legacy of encouragement, she blogs about her own life lessons with the hope that it will bring joy into others’ lives and help them find the courage to keep walking in faith knowing that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord. Read her testimony of how God turned her misery into ministry.