I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:4-5
Jesus loves to be part of our daily activities as well as touching lives through us. Taking a ride with Him equips us to address challenges that He would have tackled if He had been here physically. We are the extension of His love and compassion to the nations of the earth.
When you look around or travel to other places you will see needs begging for answers. You wish you could duplicate yourself or do more than what you are doing to offer solutions to all the needs stirring at you for solution.
In the scripture, from the point that Jesus started His ministry till His death, resurrection and ascension to heaven, it was all work and service to humanity. He crowns it up by giving His life for us to be able to follow His footsteps as we take a ride with Him on our journey on earth.
Doing God’s will and replicating the mind of God on Earth comes with its challenges. The enemy will throw everything it can at you so you can give up, and doubt the presence of God with you.
The mind will be attacked and the emotion will be attacked just for you to get discouraged and alight or discontinue your ride with the Lord. God doesn’t want us to go through the scheme of the enemy by ourselves, He wants us to know that we have a protector, a defender, a deliverer, a provider, and the guardian of our soul.
When He breathed life into you, He didn’t just put you on the earth and say, “Good luck, you are on your own”. He said, “I’m going to guard you, I’m going to use you to push back the forces of darkness and put smiles on the faces of many around you and beyond.
However, sickness, opposition, and betrayals may come, but they don’t have to stay, Don’t open it up, rather say to those challenges “No, thanks, you are not welcome here”. Don’t accept it, don’t learn to live with it. Quit calling it “My sickness, my anxiety, my problem, my addiction” – it’s not yours, none of it belongs to you, it’s on foreign territory.
Your body is a temple of the Most High God. Sickness doesn’t belong in your temple, depression doesn’t belong in your temple, fear, addictions, and lack do not belong there.
As you continue your ride with the Lord, stand firm and keep that door closed. I’m not asking you to deny the facts or act like you don’t have a symptom of sickness, but you don’t have to accept it in your mind, don’t let it become permanent, thinking it’s always going to be that way, see it as temporary and that it shall pass too.
Someone may say pastor, I am on a ride with Jesus why should Jesus not stop the challenges from disrupting our ride? When He said “I am with you even to the end of the age”(Matthew 28:20) He never said challenges will not come but He says, You will go through it and it will not overcome you. (Isaiah 43:2)
Facing challenges in your ride with the Lord does not equal a lack of faith – not at all. The scripture says in Psalm 34:19, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.” There are times when challenges come, we prayed and believed but it didn’t work out how we wanted it to work out.
When challenges intrude into your ride with the Lord, don’t get discouraged, don’t give up on your dreams or discontinue your ride with the Lord, He knows what He is doing.
If you keep the right attitude, that challenge is not going to hinder you, it’s going to cause you to blossom. The enemy may have meant it for your harm, but the reason God allowed it is so He can bring you out better than you were before.
Psalm 91 starts by saying, “If you dwell in the secret place of the Most High, you will abide under the shadow of the Almighty”. The next verse says, “I will say of the Lord, you are my refuge, my fortress and my God”.
Significantly, the Psalmist didn’t just say, “I’m going to stay in the secret place, and that will keep me protected”. He said, “I will say of the Lord”.
What you are saying is going to make a difference, whether you see God’s protection, divine health and favour as you should depends mostly on what you say. Pastor, I will always have challenges, I don’t think my business will make it, and I don’t think my health will be better than this. You need to zip that up, you are opening doors to more challenges.
MAKING DECLARATIONS BY FAITH
If you are going to activate God’s protection or victory, you must stop talking and stop accepting defeat, you have to do like the Psalmist and start saying to the Lord, “Lord, thank you that you are my protector. Thank you that you are shielding me from every plague, rescuing me from every trap of the enemy. Thank you, that I’m going to come out of this challenge victorious. The way to see the hand of God in your ride with Him is by faith and declaration.
David was a man who had a wonderful ride with God yet he had all kinds of opposition, he had people trying to kill him, armies coming in against him, and his son trying to dethrone him. He could have lived afraid, complaining, “God, you anointed me, why am I having all these challenges? rather he never stopped making declarations.
Now, listen to one of David’s declarations in Psalm 27:1-5, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear. The Lord protects me from danger, why should I be afraid? When enemies come against me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army surrounds me, I will remain confident. For in the time of trouble, God will hide me, he will place me out of reach; high on a rock”.
David knew how to activate this shield. You have to thank God for it, you can’t go around worried, panicking, and expecting to see this hedge and God’s protection.
When you are doing the right thing in your ride with the Lord, people will come against you, trying to push you out, don’t worry, that’s not your battle, you have a protector and a defender in God, You don’t have to fight, focus on your ride with the Lord and God will keep you out of reach.
He will hide you when you need to be hidden. He’s not going to let that adversity stop your purpose. Don’t live upset, afraid, trying to pay people back – let God be your defender, He knows how to take care of the opposition.
God has ways to protect you, that you’ve never thought of. He knows how to distract your enemies. He controls the universe. You don’t have to figure out how it’s going to happen, all you have to do is believe. “Lord, thank you that you are my protector. Thank you, that you are my defender. Thank you, that you are my way maker”.
When you realize the Most High God is guarding you, then you can say with David, “I will fear no evil” because I am on a ride with the Lord. I’m not going to fear this opposition, I’m not going to be afraid about my future. You can stay in peace, knowing that the God who created the universe is the guardian of your soul.
There is a lot of negativity in the world: people are worried, afraid, panicking. I know the threat is real, but don’t let that get into you. A ship doesn’t sink because of the water around it. It can be in a huge ocean surrounded by hundreds of miles of water on every side. Water around it is not a problem, but if that ship lets what is on the outside (water) get on the inside, then it’s a problem.
You can’t entertain negative news all day and stay afloat! If you constantly take in negativity, you are going to sink. If you entertain negativity all day it may take six weeks to get out of that pit.
Tune it out and tune in to what God says about you, don’t let what’s on the outside get on the inside. The scripture says (Philippians 4:8), “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Find something to watch that’s uplifting, something inspiring, and think about things that will build your faith. This is not the time to call negative family members and talk about all the doom and gloom and how bad it is, that’s poisoning your spirit.
You are feeding your inner person by what you are taking in. If you always feed it with negativity, it’s going to pull you down. One of the best things you can feed yourself with is what God says about you. “Lord, thank you that my latter days will be better than my former days. Thank you, that what you started in my life, you will complete.
What you are up against may seem bigger, stronger and more powerful, don’t worry; it can’t touch you, God has a hedge of protection around you. Don’t go around verbalizing your fears, Negative talk is like bait, it attracts the enemy, and it will make things worse. The way you activate God’s protection is with faith-filled words.
If you can get this down in your spirit that the Most High God is on a ride with you and has put something in you that makes you undefeated against the enemy, You would not go through life, worried, afraid, and wondering how it will work out. You will live from a place of peace and a place of faith, knowing that you are going to have a fulfilled and amazing destination with the Lord.
Prayer
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’ Numbers 6:24-2
