Your life will never change until you come to a point when you are desperate enough to say, enough. You must come to a defining moment, a moment when there is an awakening in your heart to change the course of your life completely. You can no longer take the insult, the disappointments and the failures that life throws at you; something rises within you to alter the conditions of your life.
Indeed, there may be things beyond your natural and immediate control but there comes a time when you are ready to pay the price, to do all that is within your ability and exhaust all your options. You are no longer going to deceive yourself or withhold yourself. You are ready!
You need to know that self-pity, crying or getting emotional will not bring the change that you desire. It is time to rise and take charge. It is time to rise and act decisively about what is happening.
Remember Hannah? She was one of the two wives of Elkanah and she was barren.
And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat (1Samuel 1:6-7).
Hannah cried. She didn’t eat. But all that didn’t stop the provocation of her adversary. She continued to make her miserable. And year rolled into years but nothing changed. Even when they went to the house of the Lord, her rival didn’t stop the harassment. The enemy followed her to the presence of God. This is why just going to church or attending religious gatherings may never solve the problem.
It also seemed Hannah was satisfied with all the love her husband was showing and showering on her.
Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” (verse 8).
As long as Hannah continued to believe the lie that her husband was equal to ten sons, her case lingered but thank God her adversary didn’t stop the provocation. The harassment continued.
God often allow the enemy to continue his harassment so that we can wake up. He wants to rouse us out of our comfort zones.
Maybe you have been experiencing some provocation. Maybe there is economic harassment. Perhaps, some spiritual, domestic or external pressure is being mounted on you. Then, you need to respond. You need to rise.
The pressure that life mounts on you is a call for you to rise.
If there is any pressure around you, it is a call from God for you to wake up.
That’s exactly what Hannah did.
“So Hannah arose…” (Verse 9).
That was the rising that would completely alter her many years of barrenness and change the course of her life.
You must rise too. It is time to respond to life. It is time to stop the provocation and the harassment of the enemy. It is time to alter the course of your life.
Everything you have suffered or experienced in the past are meant to culminate in this crucial moment. God wants you to rise. He wants you to respond. This is your turning point!
Enough Is Enough!
“You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighbouring places in the plain, in the mountains and the lowland… See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers…” (Deuteronomy 1:6-8).
This is true about you. Yes, you have overstayed your time at this level. You have spent enough years in that condition. You have dwelt long enough on this mountain. It is time to break free and move forward. It is time for a change of story. It is time for you to break free from the yoke of stagnation and delay. Enough is enough! O to gee!
Look at the number of years you have spent on this matter. You have hoped for a better life for this long but nothing has changed. Even God is not pleased for you to spend another day in this situation. He wants you to move! He wants your story and status to change. It is time to break camp and advance.
Wouldn’t know what mountain has become your station all these years but God is saying your time is up and it is time to move! Mountains sometimes connote an obstacle or hindrance. A situation has become a mountain when you no longer have the capacity to deal with it.
A mountain may also connote a pseudo success since climbing a mountain is a kind of achievement. The dark side is that one success can become an obstacle to other successes ahead of you. Yes, you have achieved something that once looked impossible but since then you went back to your comfort zone, relaxed and made that achievement your abode. You know within you that there is more your life is meant to achieve but you are no longer willing to pay the price, you have come to a plateau and you have decided to take it easy, to settle down with the second best.
I noticed that while the Israelites decided to settle “at this mountain,” there were many more mountains ahead of them. God asked them to “go to the mountains of the Amorites.”
Thank God you are now married. Thank God you have a good job. Thank God for where you are but there are many more lands for you to conquer. I do not believe that this is all your beautiful life is meant to achieve. And you have dwelt long enough at this mountain. You have begun to forget the dreams and visions God gave you many years ago.
Whatever your mountain is; either a mountain of a temporary challenge or a pseudo success, God said your time there is over and it is time to move.
Is your manifestation commensurate with your potential?
The writer of Hebrews observed a grotesque aberration among his audience, the Hebrews. They were living less than who they ought to be.
“…though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” (Hebrews 5:12).
There is a critical question you need to answer, is this who you ought to be at this time of your life? By this time, are you supposed to be where you are? Is the output of your life proportionate to the input?
If you take a critical look at your life, you will notice a disparity between who you ought to be and who you currently are. The achievements of your life are not commensurate with your potential. You have not fully expressed the content of your spirit. You have not taken full advantage of the time, opportunities and resources that have come your way.
You cannot afford to stay on this mountain!
Let Us Go On!
I know how difficult it can be to move when you have stayed at a spot for a very long time; when you have become used to your predicaments. Your flesh often finds it difficult to adjust when a place has become your station. There is also the force of inertia, the tendency to do nothing or remain unchanged. Only a powerful external force can alter it.
This is why what I am writing to you is not just motivation; this is a prophetic word from God designed to move you to your next level.
All the Lord need from you is to agree with Him. He says you have stayed too long at this point but do you agree with Him? Are you tired of where you are? Are you willing to respond and rise?
“Therefore let us go on and get past the elementary stage… advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead formalism) and of the faith [by which you turned] to God,…”
I can see the Holy Spirit holding you by the hand and saying to your spirit, “Let us go on!” He is right there beside you and willing to give you all the support that you need. What you should never do is remain at the same spot after reading this.
Friend, it is time to move on, to move past everything holding you down. Let us go on. Break free from whatsoever is in your past or present and face the future that God has for you.
“Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighbouring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills… See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers” (Deuteronomy 1:6-8).
There is a journey ahead of you. There is something your life ought to achieve. That is why you cannot allow “this mountain” to hold you down. It is time to take your journey and advance.
I also need you to take this word to every aspect of your life. Imagine that your walk with God, business, ministry, carrier or profession can hear your voice, then hold them by the hand in the spirit and say to them, “Let Us Go On!” Speak to that aspect of your life that won’t move despite all you have done. Say to it, “Let us go on!” Speak to your marriage! Command it to move to the next level. Let there be an increase in your spirit. Let your financial status change. Let events begin to happen that will show that you have moved!
If any aspect of your life lags, it will hold you down in virtually every other sphere of life. Rise in your spirit and ask them to move forward in Jesus name.
Also, you need to hold your friends, that relative of yours and all your family members experiencing delay or stagnation in the spirit and say to them, “Let us go on!” Let there be a shift and a change of status! Let us go on! Let it be that the next time the enemy checks us where we used to be, may we be able to tell him; we have moved!
Olufemi Babalola
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