GO FORWARD II- Confronting the Enemies of Progress

The greatest factor in life is divine connection – the God factor. Before you can go forward, you must face the right direction. This is because you may be going forward in the wrong direction. Many today who think they are succeeding are actually failing. Many succeed to fail because there cannot be true success without the right connection; that is without Christ. Before God told Moses to ask the children of Israel to go forward, they were already on their way to the Promised Land. Jesus says I am the way and not I am a way. The only people you can ask to go forward are those who are in Christ – ‘the Way’ and making progress towards heaven. One of the first things that usually happen to sick people is loss of appetite, in the same way, if you discover that you no longer hunger after righteousness and the things of God, it is a sign of spiritual sickness. If you don’t celebrate your relationship with God, it will take a walk. This is because what you celebrate is what gets magnified in your life.

Exo. 14:15 “And the Lord said to Moses, wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward”. There is a time to cry, there is a time to speak and there is a time for action. You can never find what you have not defined; you cannot overcome an enemy you have not discerned. Discernment goes before disarmament. Any time you want to take a step, you must learn to depend on God. If He asks you to drop something, it is because He has something better for you. Follow Him according to His terms. Fall in love over and over again with God and make up your mind to be fruitful. Believe that where you are going is better than where you are.

The enemies of progress are: –

1. Fear – If you want to go forward, you need to confront fear. Fear is the opposite of faith. There is a saying that fortune favours the daring! What brings fear is disconnection from God; when you fail to magnify His presence in your life. Safety is not the absence of danger but the presence of God in the midst of danger. Psa. 23:4 says “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and they staff they comfort me”.
2. Doubt – whenever you want to go forward, doubt will manifest. Learn to confront doubt if you want to go forward. Any element of doubt is a faith neutralizer; no one can truly overcome the enemy with doubt. There is an anointing that dissolves doubt, receive it in Jesus name.
3. Procrastination – this is a very wicked enemy and a big liar. It lures people into a sense of false security only to abandon them when the chips are down. A lot of people will miss the rapture because of procrastination; this is because it keeps telling them that there is time. Whatever you need to do, start doing it now. Every passing moment takes you closer to eternity. You did not create time so don’t think you possess it. Time waits for no man. Whenever you have plenty of time, then know that you are not doing what you ought to do. ‘We must pass through this place but once, if there be anything we ought to do, let us do it now for we shall not pass through this place again but once’. Stop procrastinating. God has put something in you that He wants to use to shake the world and He is asking you to for forward!
4. Discouragement – it is a killer, it does not want you to even try. Don’t let anyone or any situation or your status discourage you. Once you are connected to God, heavenly resources will be at your disposal to generate your success and that success will be comprehensive.
5. Evil pursuers – any time you want to go forward, it is like hell is let lose. This happened to the children of Israel when they wanted to move forward, Pharaoh and his host pursued them.
6. Past unfavourable experiences – do not allow your past sad experiences define your tomorrow. You must be able to say like the song writer, ‘I will go on, my past left behind me…’. In order to avoid bad experiences, you must be discerning; it is your responsibility to test all spirits.
7. Evil inheritance – this is very serious. A lot of people are carrying things that they don’t know about. Until you are observant, you will not be able to discern; observation goes before discernment. You must look in order to see. Take your time to study your family pattern. A lot of families are sick because of evil inheritance and you don’t fight it with muscle; you must break it with the anointing. One of the secrets for destroying evil inheritance is to mean business with God; lay your life on the altar of Jehovah. Become a living sacrifice. This is because the altar sanctifies the gift. If you do this, God Himself will take over your battles. When it comes to the issue of spiritual warfare a lot of Christians are empty. Be careful; make sure you don’t celebrate nonsense. Many Christians glamorize and tolerate what they should renounce. Anything tainted with idolatry is evil and retrogressive. It is better to be a friend of God and let the world hate you than to become an enemy of God in order to please the world. Idolatry neutralizes the God factor.

Go forward in your relationship with God; go forward in seeking His face, go forward in your pursuit of purity and in your horizontal relationships. Don’t park. Resist the temptation to park. It is ignorance that makes people believe that they have arrived when they have not started. At the age of 120, Caleb said ‘give me this mountain’.

Prophetic Declarations

You will go beyond the limitations placed against you in the name of Jesus, the place of your birth will not determine your inheritance, circumstances of your birth will not determine you height in life in Jesus name. You will set new records in your family. Your evangelism shall be sweet, every evil cord is shattered, you will rise, you will not only see, you will enter and take possession of your possession in Jesus name. Your life will get progressively better in the mighty name of Jesus.

PRAYERS

• Confront all your fears with faith
• Pray – Lord I have confidence in you, I know that you will not let me down, I thank you because You love me so much that you have made ample provision for me here and hereafter. I know that you are too faithful to fail. I know that you will see me through, that is why You are asking me to go forward. Lord I receive the grace to go forward; I receive the grace to walk hand in hand with you so that your purpose will be fulfilled in my life in the name of Jesus. Henceforth, where others fail, I will not only succeed, I will excel and Your name shall be glorified in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.