One thing this world is filled with is opinions and unsolicited advice. What I’ve learnt in my new role is that has crippled us not to think for ourselves and not to be unapologetic about what we want when we know it is for our wellbeing. In the end we listen to people and compromise the life we want. We listen to the people who say “you’re too old to go back to school”, “you’re too young to head a company”, “as a black person you don’t stand a chance at …”, “you can’t just do it, you need to know someone (a top person)”. This doesn’t start when you’re an adult.
From the memes on social media, it is clear we lived the same lives, regardless of the country and even race. As children, many, if not everyone received criticism and that’s where the first seed of doubt was planted. Throughout your childhood into your adulthood, it is watered with very pure water such that the doubt and lack of faith become fruitful and multiply. You end up not believing in others and definitely not yourself in the way you should.
One of my favourite pastors said “you fuel what you believe” so if you don’t believe in anything, what are you fuelling? Nothing. Then your life ends up in this maths of:
Believe Nothing x Fuel Nothing = Achieve Nothing. The sad part is we really want to achieve something, something great, phenomenal, exciting, fulfilling, and legacy rich. The good news is the answer to achieving the life we want is in the root of that equation. Believe then you really will Live. Then you can extend it to Believe in someone Great and watch your life go exceedingly abundantly far more than you could ever ask, think or imagine.
Last Saturday I heard the story of Daudi & Goliath in a way I hadn’t thought of before. In human eyes, Daudi was the underdog. He wasn’t a giant, he wasn’t armoured, didn’t have prior experience in war with humans and only had a sling with stones. Not just any stone, smooth stones. Surely, he was set to fail in human eyes. Goliath in the spirit of intimidation tried to mock him and I am sure the others including those in Daudi’s camp must have been thinking the same thing. There’s No Way he would do what he said he was going to do. Well, we know how the story ends in the Excellent Book.
At the beginning of working on anything you are trying to do that can turn your life around, its important to pay attention to what people are telling you. The reason I am saying we need to pay attention is to then match it to what we know God says about us, directly or from the Excellent Book. If it doesn’t match, my testimony is dismissing what they say will serve you better. Others in the Excellent Book have also gone through this.
They didn’t believe Noah when he said there would be a flood. Imagine if he didn’t build or go into the ark because of what the others said. I don’t know if Sarah told her friends what God had promised. If she did, the human thing would be to tell Sarah there’s no way she could conceive a child in menopause. I really love that story because it really shows how there is nothing too hard for the Lord, a sentence that is my favourite verse, that comes from that story as said by the Lord himself. If he says it why should I believe in anything else!
The thing with humans is not just the unbelief, if there is some belief, you are now labelled as the underdog. Many people would look at Daudi and Goliaths story as Daudi being the underdog. The sermon I heard last week taught me that Daudi was never and could never be the underdog. Gideon could never be the underdog. Deborah could never be the underdog. Here is why.
If we go back to the day Jesus won the grave, I can say he won it for so many reasons. The first is Nothing defeats God, not death, not the grave. The Excellent Book says the Spirit of God raised Jesus and his work did not end there. This same Spirit of God is the same one who lives in us. So, if the Resurrection power lives in us, how can Daudi, Gideon, Deborah, (Insert your name here), Tracy, ever be the underdog. Impossible!
In my new career it can be intimidating and overwhelming to see what I need to do to get to my vision. This beautiful God wanted me to know this vital piece of freeing and non-self-limiting information not just last Saturday but on Monday again. He knew I will need it this year. During my sermon time on Monday, I thought I was putting a new sermon only to hear the same sermon being preached. God didn’t want the lesson to end there.
During the week, candidates who sat for their high school exams received their results and there was a programme on tv highlighting the stories of 4 young teens who had done phenomenally well despite their humble backgrounds. Their parents despite limited income had worked hard to find means of educating them. Some received help with their school fees because their parents despite their efforts couldn’t afford the fees. One of the students used to travel a long distance to get to school and her principle only found out a year later the lengths her and her father travelled to ensure she got her education. In human eyes, they were the underdogs.
So many things impressed me about their stories. They had big dreams and from their success, it was only right and fair that they pursue the paths they had chosen to get to their vision. They were young, articulate, confident, humble and their faith is what impressed me the most. To see 18-year-olds clearly and unapologetically acknowledge their success to the God of all wisdom was so joyful to see in a world where many young people and God are like the North and South of a magnet, they don’t meet with let alone believe in God. Any young person who chooses to believe in God, in a world that says forget about it is very inspiring. The life of humans is actually the same as time goes by because my all-time role models, Shadrach, Meshack & Abednego were faith strong and they were only teens.
My lesson from this week was to understand from the sermon that I watched twice and from the impeccable students that also amazed the host of the programme, that I should never consider myself at any stage of life, regardless of what people say, as intimidating as the circumstances may be, as an underdog, because when God is in you, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
As the residence of the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, to consider myself the underdog or at a disadvantage is something the devil would want me to believe so I can ultimately give up. Through the strength of God, and the testimonies of others that have been brought to me this week, I refuse to believe what others tell me. This is not to say if I am given feedback to work on or improve something that will ultimately help me grow, I will refuse. That wouldn’t be wise.
Any statement(s) based on unbelief in the power of the Sovereign God is what I am committing to dismiss. My testimony is that in this 16 months in my new career, when I have moved with God, believed in God, trusted God and listened to God as my number 1 consultant and as one of the phone networks slogan says, Great things happen and I believe there is so much more to come! Why? Because God is Good, God is Great, God is the Ultimate Best and that is his character forever!
Related Verses
Mark 5:36
1 Samuel 17
Genesis 6:13-22
Judges 6
Judges 4
Daniel 3:8–18
Romans 6:10-11
Philippians 4:13
Proverbs 3:6
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Next Post out on 20/01/2024
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