Keep Believing
This blessed me, encouraged me and lifted me…I hope that these words by Lysa Terkeurst do the same for you. Speak the Declarations over you life and know that God sees and hears you right where you are…2 Corinthians 4:8 states, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair.”
Do you ever feel like you’ve slipped through the cracks of God’s good plans?
It’s the subtle lie that slips in when life isn’t turning out the way we thought it would. One hard thing seems to give way to another hard thing, and then more hard things. And there just seems to be too many days like this. We try to pretend we’re fine, but we’re not. We’re disillusioned, devastated, let down, driven to the brink of utter frustration ... disappointed.
And in those quiet, unexpressed, unwrestled-through disappointments, Satan is handcrafting his most damning weapons against us and those we love. It’s his subtle seduction to get us alone with our thoughts so he can slip in whispers that will develop our disappointments into destructive choices.
If the enemy can isolate us, he can influence us.
And his favorite entry point of all is through our disappointments. The enemy comes in as a whisper, lingers like a gentle breeze, and builds like a storm you don’t even see coming. But eventually his insatiable appetite to destroy will unleash the tornado of destruction he planned all along. He doesn’t whisper to our disappointed places to coddle us. He wants to crush us.
But I want to be the friend who declares to you today that while the enemy may be vicious, we don’t have to let him be victorious in our lives!
When our hearts hurt and life gets really hard, we need reminders of God’s goodness. And I’ve found that declaring the Word of God increases my trust in God.
DECLARATIONS
1. I love the Lord and I know He loves me. I’m declaring today over my situation that He will rescue me; He will protect me because I acknowledge His name. I can rest assured that when I call on Him, He will answer me. When Satan tries to isolate me, I will remember that with the Lord, I’m never alone. He promises He will be with me, deliver me and honor me in the midst of my most troubled seasons. So I’m holding tight to these promises right now and believing them for my life.
2. I declare right now that I will not fear bad news or hard things that I may face. They do not have any control over my heart or my relationship with Jesus. Instead, I will cling to God’s Truth, which never changes with the news I receive. Truth is what I will build the foundation of my life upon! Yes, my heart belongs to the Lord and I fully trust in Him, even when my feelings beg me to doubt His goodness. Feelings don’t have the final say; Truth absolutely does.
3. There are many hours, days, months and years that make up my seasons of suffering. Sometimes it feels unbearable. But I’m reminded that God cares so intimately about me that He has placed wisdom in His Word to guide me through these times of disappointment. Truth tells me that I can pray! So I lift up my raw emotions and honest struggles to the One who knows every intimate detail of my situation. And when I’m cheerful, Truth tells me to sing praises! So I lift up my voice to worship my God, in every season, for He has been so good to me.
4. Life may be swirling all around me, threatening to steal my hope, my peace, my joy. But I am declaring right now that I will not be swept up into a storm of fear and wild emotions. The Lord has promised me that He will keep me in perfect peace when I fix my mind on Him. I very much recognize I will steer where I stare. So I must watch what I fixate on. If I keep staring at the wrong things, I’ll go in wrong directions. I am choosing to place my attention on the Lord in this very moment. I am choosing to focus on trusting Him and believing His promises. And as I steer my attention more and more toward Him, His peace will come and flood my heart and settle my anxious mind.
5. I confess that there are many days when I buy into the lie that I am helpless and hopeless. But today I am declaring hope and truth over my life. I have been equipped and blessed with the precious and powerful Word of God. His Word is steady and sure. I can stand firm on it and hold fast to it. I can keep moving forward, today and every day, as God’s very breath on the page breathes fresh hope and life into me. Yes. I am loved by God and well equipped by God. And I am choosing today to fix my eyes on His Word, fill my heart with the hope I have in Him, and let the love and grace of His Son Jesus Christ strengthen and encourage me for all He has called me to do.