You’ve been playing out a big battle in your head, preparing for hardships that haven’t even happened and struggle you haven’t even stepped into. You’re gearing up for whatever it is you face to be hard and every scenario you imagine grows harder and harder. But my sister, what if it doesn’t have to be hard? Really, what if the battle has already been won and all that’s required of you is to stay close to Jesus and step when he directs?
Isaiah 43: 1-3, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, and the flame will not burn you. For I am the Lord your God, your Savior.”
Where in this does God direct you to imagine overwhelming odds and ultimate defeat? Where in this does God warn you of debilitating failure and depressing setbacks? Where in this does God tell you prepare for every step to be misery? It doesn’t. Honey, the flame will not burn you! You will not be overwhelmed. God has called you, he has redeemed you and he has saved you. You have absolutely no reason to fear. And you have no grounds to build imagined stories of battles that are harder than they need to be.
Stop the stories now. Why have you assumed this will be so hard? Why have you already gotten yourself so worked up over scenarios that haven’t even happened yet?
On my own journey, here’s what God has told me: He wants me not only to choose joy regardless of circumstances, but he wants me to take responsibility for the stories I allow in my head.
Did you know 90% of what we worry about never even happens? What a waste of our precious time and energy. And what a disservice to our God who has promised redemption and commanded us to not live in fear.
I have to wonder if we have dismissed ourselves from pre-determined victories by telling ourselves stories that are harder than they have to be. God has given us a game plan and our next steps, but when the next step is “just go and trust me”, we get stuck in imagined battles God has already cleared on our behalf.
What if you get there and there isn’t even a battle waiting? What if you get there and the door is already wide open? What if you get there and the answer is already yes? What if the stories you’ve told yourself of how it’s going to be is an unnecessary hardship.
Girl, I want you to hear God right now … THIS DOESN’T HAVE TO BE HARD.
Why do we expect this to be so hard? Why do we prepare for a battle that may not even unfold? Why do the stories in our head always have to be negative? What if it’s not negative? What if it’s not hard? What if it’s not a battle? What if it’s unbelievably and miraculously simple?
Remember when Moses is leading the Israelites out of Egypt and their enemy is hot on their heels and they come to an impassable Red Sea? Guess what … it didn’t have to be hard! All Moses had to do was shut down the stories in his head and listen to what God was saying. Exodus 14: 15-16, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to break camp. As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”
There was no battle with the enemy. Verse 20 says, “Neither group came near the other all night long.” God had separated his people from their enemy. He did the impossible for them and it wasn’t even hard. There was no drowning sea, there was dry land. It didn’t have to be hard because God had already made a way.
I don’t know what the enemy has been threatening you with, nor do I know what impassable problem has been standing in your way, but I know with God, it doesn’t always have to be hard. He does the impossible for his girls, and he makes it look easy!
Isaiah 43: 18-19, the Lord says, “Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
Honey, stop fighting. Stop resisting. God has made a way for you and he will guide you on the right path one step at a time. Surrender to his way.
What’s done is done. You can’t go back and change it. God doesn’t need you to go back and change it. I know you wish you would have done some things differently, we all do. But that’s not necessary because God doing a new thing right here and right now.
He’s making a way through this wilderness! A way through it means you won’t be stuck in it! Your story doesn’t end here. Defeat is not your destiny. You are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells me that “God has not given you a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love and self-discipline.”
You have hesitated to begin your journey or take the next step because you’re afraid of how hard it will be. Hear God now as he says, “Stop expecting hard.” Seriously, stop building the battle in your mind. Stop creating scenarios of imagined circumstances that haven’t even happened. Take those thoughts captive and command them to be obedient! I will not allow my thoughts to overwhelm my emotions and stall my feet. I will not imagine defeat when my God has already declared victory. I will not assume this has to be so darn hard.
If God can keep the enemy’s army from ever coming in contact with the Israelites, he can do the same for me! If God can part the Red Sea and create dry land for the Israelites to pass through to the other side, he can do the same for me! He can do the same for you!
Speak the name of Jesus and ask your God to move. Play out stories of breakthrough and changing circumstances. We don’t show up demanding easy, but we’re going to stop talking ourselves out of showing up because we expect hard.
This doesn’t have to be hard. You don’t have to be afraid. God is at work, he is making a way and victory has already been declared!
Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com
