It's. Not. Over.

Often times we find ourselves in a holding pattern. We’re waiting for God to move in some area of our lives and He isn’t moving as fast as we want Him to or how we want Him to. We wonder how much longer. Some of us are like Jacob and crying out that we won’t let go until He blesses us. Some of us are fasters and trying to show God that we are serious about our petitions. Some of us are just quietly lying before the Lord and some are travailing. This morning as I waited for a Word, I heard God say “It’s not over.” I started to put an exclamation point just now but it wasn’t like that. It was a statement. It was like when someone looks you in your eye and gives you their word and you believe it. So I asked Him to give me a scripture and immediately Romans 8:18 dropped in my spirit. “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”(NLT)  Wooooooooooo! Now you can break out the exclamation points!

Romans 8 is my “go to” chapter in the Bible. I find so much encouragement, promise, and strength in this chapter. I encourage you if you haven’t read it, lately or ever, to read and study it. My uncle taught me to read it whenever I needed to remind myself who I am in Christ. What a blessing! So after God gave me that Word, I came back to it and sure enough I got what I needed. It’s human nature to be emotional and responsive to what happens in our lives. When things don’t go our way, we might cry or get angry or even want to give up but God is telling us today that it’s not over. Finances are a mess, marriage going awry, children acting crazy but God has said that this is nothing compared to what is to come! There is a future glory that we can look forward to!

I remember when Bennie Hinn announced that he and his wife were divorcing a few years ago. I watched the statement and thought how sad he looked.  I don’t know him personally, obviously, but it made me sad too. I wondered what happened to break up a 30 year marriage and why couldn’t they call on God to fix it. They were apart for a couple of years and no matter who or what was to blame, they both had to journey through that period of adjustment and difficulty. Then one day, I heard that they are reconciling. I was so excited by that news because you don’t hear that often. I imagine that at some point, God whispered to them “It’s not over.”

Remember Hannah? She desperately wanted a child and endured year after year of taunting and waiting. She cried out to the Lord and was truly discouraged. God saw and with my spiritual ear, I can imagine Him whispering in her ear “Peninnah doesn’t have the final say, your husband doesn’t have the final say, even the priest doesn’t have the final say. It’s not over.” And it wasn’t! Along came Samuel. What if she had given up? That’s why Romans 8: 18 – 25 is so important. We must have hope and believe God when He says that it isn’t over. “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” (Romans 8:24-25 NKJV)

Don’t give up! There is victory in your perseverance! “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” It may seem that you’ve been holding on for a long time…waiting but God is faithful and He is present. Don’t let the enemy convince you that your story is over. We never know why God does what He does. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. But we can be confident that He has it under control. If God promised you something, He is good for it. What did he tell us in Isaiah 55:11? “So shall My word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Sounds to me like IT’S NOT OVER!  

Be blessed! AMEN