Contending For Your Destiny

Scripture Reading: Matt 16:21-23; Eph 5:13-17

Mat 16:21  From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

Mat 16:22  But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

Mat 16:23  Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Matt 16:21-23 (NLT)

Whose Report Will You Believe?

One sure promise that God has given to us concerning this year, is that there will be changes to the stories of our lives; changes that will glorify His Name and move us into His destined purposes for our lives in this season. Can you say “Amen” to that?

Now as God has spoken, you have a decision to make – you can either choose to believe the word that God has spoken and start declaring it over your life and situation, or you can choose to continue to look at the things that you see in the natural, and ignore the word that God has spoken. But please remember, whatever choice you do make, you will eat the fruits thereof. Selah

As Paul writes, “we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” (Heb 10:39)

The enemy’s strategy has always been to position himself to challenge the truth of the word that God has spoken to His children, and to try to derail them as they pursue the fulfilment of the word in their lives; he did it with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he did it with Jesus at the temptation and in the Garden of Gethsemane; and no doubt, he will try the same strategy against you.

As the enemy did with Peter in Matt 16:21-23, sometimes, he will even use the people that are close to us, to give us “well-meaning counsel” that will bring us out of alignment with the will of God and His timely purpose for the season that we are in.

“Do not be foolish and thoughtless, but understand and firmly grasp what the will of the Lord is…!”

Maybe even now as you read this, he has already started to Weave his web of deception and lies to confuse your mind and prise the word of faith from your heart, make you change what you see, so that he can make you change your confession….and this is only the second month into the new year!

We will end today’s meditation by reflecting on the reading of our second scripture text from the Amplified translation of the bible:

Eph 5:13  But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light [of God’s precepts], for  it is light that makes everything visible.

Eph 5:14  For this reason He says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine [as dawn] upon you and give you light.”

Eph 5:15  Therefore see that you walk carefully [living life with honor, purpose, and courage; shunning those who tolerate and enable evil], not as the unwise, but as wise [sensible, intelligent, discerning people],

Eph 5:16   making the very most of your time [on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence], because the days are [filled with] evil.

Eph 5:17  Therefore do not be foolish and thoughtless, but understand and firmly grasp what the will of the Lord is.

Selah

Pastor Wale Ola

Prayer Focus

• Lord let the words that I speak concerning my circumstances align with the word You have spoken concerning my destiny.
• Dear Lord, please give me the wisdom to discern the counsel of man that is out of alignment with Your purpose for my life and my season.
• Speak into and command every area of your life to obey the prophetic declaration that God has spoken concerning your life.

• Prophesy into the month of March and call forth the release of every resource (material, financial, spiritual, human) that you will require to fulfil God’s agenda for your life in this new month.
• Pray that as you have found favour with God, men will also honour, elevate, celebrate and favour you in Jesus’s Name. Amen.