MICAH 7:8 NIV
“Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I WILL arise! Though I sit in darkness, the Lord WILL be my light!”
Folks, I won’t be long this afternoon, but I am here to preach to somebody today that “Down Is Not Your Destiny”.
There are some, who have been under continual attack of the enemy.
The devil and his imps have barraged you with assaults and you have wondered, will it ever get any better!
Will things ever change for me and my household?
You have been talked about.
You’ve been physically sick.
You are tired and worn out.
You’ve been depressed.
You’ve been ostracized and banished from some who you once called friend.
You’ve been told that you’ll never make it.
You’ll never be an over-comer!
You’re finances are gonna always be this way.
You’ll never find true happiness!
You’re health will never be better!
You’re job situation will never improve!
You’ve been down and heard it so long until you wonder, “Will I always be on the bottom, will I always be behind, will I ever do any better than I am right now!”
I am here to proclaim to you this afternoon, that YOU are a child of the Most High God and DOWN IS NOT, NOR WILL IT EVER BE YOUR DESTINY!
Let me ask you something, are we, as Christians today, defeated?
The Apostle Paul says in Romans 8:37, “No, in all things we are MORE than conquerers through Him who loved us.”
Hello?
We’re not JUST conquerers, but he says that we are MORE than conquerers through Jesus Christ!
There is absolutely NOTHING that the devil can send our way that can defeat us!
There’s no plan that he can devise that can bring us down to destruction.
Folks, when we have Jesus Christ living in our hearts and we are surrendered to Him, we may face some tough trials and we may face some rough roads, but there is absolutely NOTHING at all that can defeat us!
You may be down at the moment, but Honey, this too shall pass!
This too will be a part of your past!
This too will be part of your testimony!
Down is not your destiny!
Some of you’ve had trouble coming at you from every angle.
You’ve wondered, “How much more can I bear?
Can I go another day?
What will I face next?”
You have been flooded with troubles from every side.
You’ve been knocked down and wondered, “Will I ever get up again?
Will I ever be able to stand up right again?
How will I ever overcome this flood of turmoil in my life?”
The prophet tells us in Isaiah 59:19, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight”.
I’m telling you this afternoon, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit that God is about to raise up a standard against the enemy who has been barraging you with trouble.
It’s time for a breakthrough to victory!
I spoke last week about walking in the blessing of God, by living a life that is pleasing to the Lord.
One that turns it’s back on the life of sin and lives a repentant life.
As we read in His Word, we know that we are made righteous and are saved, not by our works, but by the blood of Jesus Christ.
But, if we want the blessing of God in our lives, then we must learn to WALK in the Spirit and not in the flesh, but in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord.
Folks, the Lord has promised in His Word to make us the victor and not the victim.
Listen, I know that we are going to all have troubles in life.
I believe the entire Word of God and I know that the rain falls on the just and on the unjust, but I also believe the promises of God that tell us that we are going to overcome and we will not be defeated!
I’m about to walk through some scripture and I’m gonna take my time walking in it, because I want you to grasp ahold of these truths today.
This is powerful and it’s a promise.
Deuteronomy 28 says,
“All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.
You will be blessed in the city and in the country.
The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock.
You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you.
They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. (He’ll Break them UP!)
The Lord will send His blessing upon your barns and everything you put your hand to.
The Lord your God will bless you in the land that He’s giving to you.
The Lord will establish you as His holy people as He’s promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.
The Lord will open up the heavens, the storehouse of His bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands.
You will lend to many nations, but will borrow from none.
The Lord, will make YOU the head, and not the tail.
If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God, that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will ALWAYS be at the top and never at the bottom.”
I’m telling you today, that you may be low and it may seem like you’re on the very bottom, but let me tell you that you aren’t on the bottom.
Somewhere down the road, you’ll look back at this time in your life and you’ll say, Had it not been for the Lord on my side, I would have surely hit rock bottom and perished.
But because of what the Lord has done in my behalf, I am a child of the King of the universe and He has promised that down is not my destiny!
You may have fallen today, but you shall arise IN JESUS NAME!
When you were born again, you became a brand new creature.
You became a child of God and the Bible tells us in 1st John 5:4, “For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world…”
In other words, if you were born into the family of God, there is NOTHING in this world that you cannot overcome through Him.
Through Jesus, we can overcome all things.
The Apostle Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 15:57, “Thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
In other words, if you’ve got Jesus, you’ve got victory!
How do we attain victory?
Through our own self-striving efforts?
Through our own intellect and thought?
No, we’re already victorious in Jesus Christ!
He’s overcome the world and if He’s the ruler of our lives, then He’s also made us victorious!
We need to trust in Him and realize that He’s already working everything out for our good.
You may say, “But Pastor, maybe I’m out of the will of God.
Maybe I’m not living in His will.”
Well, how do we know the will of God.
That’s an entirely different message and I’ll preach on that soon, but let me cover a couple of points here today.
First of all, we need to recognize the fact that each of us have been given our own self-will.
Then we need to become willing to surrender that will to the Lord.
When we surrender our will to the Lord’s will and we walk after the spirit and not after flesh and we attempt to live our lives in a manner that is pleasing to God, then He will impute or transfer His will to us.
In other words, our desires, will be His desires.
When His Spirit lives on the inside of us, He will lead us and guide us in His ways.
Romans 12: 1 & 2 says, “Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve, what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
It’s as though the Lord is urging us here to live in surrender to Him.
He tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, in other words, surrendering the desires and lusts of our flesh to Him
He then tells us not to conform to the ways of this world, but to be transformed by having our minds renewed.
In other words, allow His Word to saturate our minds and give us a new way of thinking and allow His Spirit to guide us.
Then He says that when we do that, we’ll be able to test and approve what His good, pleasing and perfect will is.
Why? Because His Word and His Spirit will be guiding our lives and when we make decisions concerning our lives, they’ll be based upon His Word and the will of His Spirit.
I’ve heard many people say that “the Lord will give you the desires of your heart.”
Well that’s both true and false.
The Bible DOES say that He will give you the desires of your heart, but just like so many other scriptures, people only take a part of it and leave the rest.
Folks, you’ve got to read all of it and put it in it’s proper context.
If the Lord, is not ruler over your heart and you do not delight in His ways, then He’s not going to grant blessings to you.
The Bible says in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the LORD and He WILL give you the desire of your heart.”
In other words, if the Lord is living in your heart and His Spirit is guiding your life, then your desires are going to be His desires, therefore your will is going to be His will.
Isaiah 58:11, “The Lord WILL Guide You Always!”
Folks, if we will follow the Lord and lean on Him then He is going to guide us.
We can’t go wrong, if we are truly following after His leading.
I’ve used this scripture several times in the past couple of months, Proverbs 3:6, “In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He WILL direct your paths!”
His Word and His Holy Spirit will guide you.
Psalm 119:105, “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
Folks, I am simply trying to let you know that if you are living a life pleasing to the Lord and you are following His Word and you are walking in the Spirit, then you ARE WALKING IN HIS WILL!
And if you are walking in His will, then you are victorious!
These things that have come against you, cannot defeat you.
They may try your faith, but I want us to allow the Lord to move in this place this afternoon and allow Him to STRENGTHEN our faith.
You see, you need to know what the devil already knows.
You need to know, understand and accept the fact that he is forevermore defeated!
Jesus Christ defeated Satan at Calvary over 2000 years ago and you simply need to place your faith completely in that finished work!
I’ve heard people say, “Well, if I could just see it, then I can have faith that it’s so.”
Well, that’s not faith.
The Bible says that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
If you see it, then you don’t need faith to believe it.
Faith is believing that something is so, even though there’s no tangible evidence to prove that it’s real.
So, I’m telling you this afternoon, do not let your circumstance dictate to you how it is.
Do not let the devil have a say so in your life.
I don’t care what your circumstance says, I want you to begin today to look at your circumstance and in faith begin pleading the blood of Jesus over it.
If God is the ruler of your life, then your life is His domain and the devil has no place on God’s property.
It is high time for you to drive the devil out of your circumstance.
Folks, there is life and death in the words that we speak.
If you walk around constantly saying that you’re defeated, then you’re going to be defeated.
If you’re constantly saying that life stinks, then you’re gonna always be believing that life stinks.
If you’re always saying that you’ll never have revival, then you won’t, but I’m not buying that today.
I lived for the devil for 17 years and He tried to kill me, oh but then Jesus stepped in and changed it all.
Therefore, I’m gonna believe what He says is so in my life and I’m gonna praise Him and give Him the credit!
Folks, God has called us together for such a time as this and He has a purpose for us individually and as a body.
Phillipians 1:6 says, “He who has begun a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Folks, God has begun a good work in us and He is gonna continue this work and we are going to see mighty results through it.
Abundant Grace of Hattiesburg is not just some idea that Renee’ and I have dreamed up, but it is a burden that is burning down on the inside of me and God has planted a vision in my heart that this is going to be an assembly that is going to be a soul winning church.
And things at Abundant Grace may be small and tight today, but if you will simply look at it through the eyes of faith, you’ll see a church that is bringing souls into the family of God.
Down is not our destiny!
But we are going up in the Lord!
God has begun a GOOD WORK in us and He will see it through to completion.
I want this to be a house of worship, because the Lord inhabits the praises of His people, but even more than that, I want our main focus to be evangelism and decipleship.
I want this church to strive toward always fulfilling the great commission.
God is going to raise us up for His glory!
AMEN?
Now, the devil has taken some things from some of you.
He’s taken your joy, your peace, your happiness, your strength!
He thinks you’ll just give up in your pity party and your depression and wither up and die.
But I believe differently today.
I believe that the devil is sorely mistaken.
I believe that I’m preaching to some people today who are about to latch onto what belongs to you and you’re about to take it back from the devil.
He’s pushed you around long enough.
It’s time that you stand upon the Word of God and begin to call upon the name of Jesus and remind the devil of who you are.
It’s time to get your peace back, your happiness back, your joy back, your strength back.
Folks, We’re about to worship the Lord, because He is the one who gives us victory.
I’m telling you that Down is not YOUR DESTINY!
