No more excuses...

The Lord has had me parked at John 9:1-4 since 5:30 this morning when I got off a powerful call.

Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”  Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.” (MSG)

The devotion leader talked about the verses and highlighted that you have to do the work that God has instructed you to do while you have time.  It truly blessed me and I kept replaying those verses.  It has taken me all morning to discover why I could not move away from it and why God had me to read it in the Message translation.  Verse 3 says, “Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.”  This is where God made me sit up! The man’s blindness was not about someone’s fault. It was about God’s glory being revealed through it.  Listen!  Some things have happened to you that have been hard - that transition, that divorce, that death, that foreclosure. They were crushing but what they were not meant to be the end of you. Stop looking at those things as where your life stopped and instead let them push you to a new beginning. Look at what God can do through you because of what you endured and overcame instead of the event itself. He does not make mess and He does not give mess. People are the ones that mess things up when they taint His instructions with flesh.  Jesus said just do what God sent you here to do! Take your eyes off the wrong things. It is simply time to stop asking the wrong questions about your life and get moving! Hear the Lord.

No more excuses. No more saying what you cannot do. No more holding on to dead things and places. No more allowing the enemy to rule what does not belong to him. No more repeating the traits and traditions of your parents because it’s what you know. No more using fear as your crutch and safe place. No more complaining about what you don’t have. No more whining about what someone else did or said. No more excuses. The Lord told me clearly today that until you stop owning the pain of your past, your today will continue to look like your yesterday. He said until you make the choice to tell the truth about your feelings and your issues, you will stay exactly where you are. He said it is time to move and He is tired of the excuses. He said that He does not give out instructions, gifts, or assignments just for the sake of doing it. He does it for the advancement of His Kingdom.

What right do you have to give more credit to the enemy’s schemes and plans than to His word? Before you start to deny it…Yes, you do! When you allow fear to keep you somewhere that you no longer belong, you are crediting the enemy. When you perpetuate the wrongs of your family, pastor, boss or whoever, when you know it’s not right, you are crediting the enemy. When you refuse to honor the visions, plans, and ideas that the Lord has given to you, you are crediting the enemy. When you blame others for what is wrong in your life instead of seeking deliverance, you are crediting the enemy. No more! It’s time out for all of that! You see, the Lord is not playing. He has GREAT things in store for you but until you look at what God can do rather than what the enemy has said you can’t do, you will continue to live an average life. You will continue to keep waiting for the promise rather than walking in the manifestation.

I have had to repent for making excuses this morning. I have had to repent for giving the enemy my time and attention. How about you? Are you ready to leave the excuses behind and walk into what God has for you? Wholeness, freedom, victory? Come on! Let’s do it! What God plans for, He always prepares for. Therefore, He has given you everything you need, the only thing you need to add is your faith. NO MORE EXCUSES!

Amen