By Him, Through Him, For Him

What would you say if I told you that God created your enemies? Not just that coworker that gets on your nerves, or that family member that alway brings up who you used to be, I mean the spirit, the driving force behind whatever opposition you may face today. Is it truly possible that a God as great as ours…would create a storm, a spiritual attack, a stronghold….that could take us out? Yep. If He didn’t create it Himself, He allowed it to be created. Everything you have, everything that's tried to defeat you, and everything that'll ever exist was made by Him, through Him, and for Him. Therefore, it was made...for your victory. 

Colossians 1:16 says it like this: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” Let’s try to break this down a bit, k? First of all, God created everything. Like…everything. Seen, invisible, powerful, seemingly powerless. Heaven? He did it. Earth? Did that too. Looking at it? Yep, He did that too. Can’t see it? He still made it. Thrones & dominions? Work of His hands. Principalities (Bible talk for good & bad angels or various realms of authority) and/or powers? Guess who did it? MY GOD! (Boom! lol) He either created it Himself or allowed it to be created. There’s nothing roaming this Earth that He didn’t authorize. Actually, He didn’t just create them, He created them for Himself.  It’s all a set up for His glory. Through Christ, we know the Ultimate Creator, the Ultimate Victor, the ‘be-all and end-all’, the…BOSS! Soooo….question: why don’t we act like it? 
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     If God created us, and He knows us so intimately (like…’hairs on our head, weave included’ intimately), would He not know the principalities and storms that come against us as intimately? Does He not already know their weak points? Does He not already have the power to silence the voices of our enemies? Does He not already have the key to remove & destroy any stronghold that may be hovering over us?

     It’s easy to say “yes” to all of these questions, but what would you actually worry about if you truly believed that everything was subject to God’s power? How would you live if you stopped viewing this battle through your own eyes & your own power, and dared to believe that when storms come against you, they come against the God that lives inside of you? That when ‘these things’ come against you, they’ve started talking back to the very being that created them? I’d be willing to bet that you wouldn’t worry about a thing…if that was truly cemented in your brain. Yet, we all have moments or worry, doubt, and flat out fear. Why? Why are all of those grand things I said about storms, and God, and guaranteed victory so…hard to believe in reality? How can we jump about it on Sunday and second guess ourselves by Thursday? Well, I think I’ve got a few reasons…

1. Partial knowledge. We dont know the full will of God. He sees the end at the beginning; we can’t physically, and let’s be honest, trusting something you can’t see can be rough. So because we weren't invited to the heavenly board meeting that planned out our lives, we wonder what on Earth God is doing. However, do we really need to know the full will of God in order to believe that we have the victory? Nope! Sometimes, we have to drop the lovely, HD picture we've created about how this should work out, and trust that regardless of how He works it, He'll work it in our favor. He may not do it the way you want Him to, but He'll win every time. 
2. Partial faith. It's the classic 'I know He can, but I don't know if He will' mentality. Then again, even if I know that He will....will He do it by my deadline? This is connected to the previous point in a way, but not entirely. See, here, it's not a question of if God knows what He's doing or what He's doing; it's often if He cares enough about us to bring us out. 'I've heard the stories of people getting random checks in the mail, but that'll probably never happen to me. My life isn't that exciting.' OR 'I've messed up, done too much, or gone too far for God to do anything for me.' ORRRRRR 'if God was going to do something like that for me, He would've done it when I was _______ (fill in something that's already passed...to you).' Sometimes, we don't doubt God's capability, we doubt our own qualifications. Do you believe that you're qualified to be blessed? To receive a miracle? It's not based on what you do; it's based on who you are. You only need to be a child of the King, and believe that He doesn't need your deadline to deliver you....He only needs you to trust Him...even after the deadline has passed. 
3. Partial vision. We look at the storm more than we look to the hills. It's like focusing on the villain & never looking at the superhero. It sounds ridiculous right? You came this far to watch Batman win again....and spent all of your time magnifying The Joker. So many times, we discuss our problems more than we discuss the greatness of our God (and wonder why we're so sad). If the woman with the issue of blood thought & spoke the way some of us do, she would've died with her sickness. Thankfully she didn't. She focused on her healing, not her illness, and her faith made her whole. If you struggle with this, I have a couple of suggestions. First, listen to yourself more. The more that you speak about your situation, the bigger it'll be in your mind. Additionally, when you do speak about your situation, end with an affirmation about God ("but God is still able....is greater....is working it for me, etc.). That personally helped me looked the hills more than I looked at my storm. Eventually, I realized that while my storm may have been hovering over me, God was hovering over the storm.

     Today, I want you to walk a little taller, and believe that The Ultimate Creator dwells inside of you. He works in & on you. He’s given you access to His power, so why believe in the storm more than you believe in your God? Why serve a God that you don’t believe actually has your back? God has not called us to fear or doubt due to our partial knowledge, partial faith, or partial vision. He's called us to a life of wholeness, a life of abundance, & a life of power. So as you go through this day, and the rest of your life, I dare you to believe that whenever ANYTHING comes against you, it is coming against the undefeated, all powerful, all sufficient God. There's no way to believe that, and also believe that you don't have the victory. You will receive whatever you focus on. I dare you to focus on Him more than you focus on them, and watch things turn in your favor. You've got it in you, because you've got Him in you. 

(Bonus: I did a bible study over this recently, and this was the prayer I ended it with. Pray this prayer with me [or nah...I won't cry lol] and let's be better together) 
God, I ask that you forgive me for ever doubting you, and that you help me to trust in you more than I trust in the storms of life. Help me to believe in your power to bring me through more than I believe in their power to take me out. God, as I live the life You’ve called me to, help me to dig deeper into your power. As the storms increase, let your power in me increase. For you have already created and ordained every issue that will ever rise up against me, but please help me to never forget that to come against me is to come against the God of Heaven that is within me. Help me to live through you, and not on my own. Thank you in advance for the victory, and for yet another demonstration of how great, how vast, how powerful, and how magnificent you truly are. 

Background Music: Thank You for Being God - Travis Greene

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