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Bounce Back
Have you ever been at a place in your life where everything seemed to be going great just to see it all come crashing down? Have you ever been to the mountaintop only to find yourself the next day back at square one in your life again? Have you ever done something great for God only to find yourself messing up again a couple days later?
With any great thing that God does in your life, the devil’s going to try to come around and follow it up with something destructive. He’s going to try and steal that joy. I should know this by now. I’ve been serving God for most of my life and I’ve gone through many battles, some ending in victory and some ending in defeat. I’ve messed up many times and placed myself in bad situations at times, but I’ve also seen God do great and mighty things in my life over and over again. I’ve seen God’s hand move and lives be changed, but I’ve also seen some of those same people God touched fall back in sin again.
I think one thing I’ve learned in my Christian walk is that you have to “Bounce Back” from your failures. You can’t live in self pity and let the enemy lie to you and keep you down. I look at the Apostle Paul in the Bible and how no matter how many times he was beaten, sent to prison, ridiculed, he always bounced back. Nothing was going to stop him from preaching the gospel and finishing the race strong. I look at the life of Peter and how time after time he messed up. Jesus even called him the devil at one point, but he didn’t give up. Even after he denied Christ, he eventually picked himself up, got his life back together and did what God called him to do. I look at the life of David and his many struggles and failures. Even after committing adultery and murder, he knew how to run back to God for forgiveness. He always knew how to get back to that place of worship, being close to God’s heart.
As Christians sometimes we dwell too long on our mistakes, on our inadequacies, on our mess-ups. We do not condone sin, and sin does have consequences, but we all fall short and miss the mark at certain points in our lives. We serve a God that forgives. We serve a God that erases our pasts. We serve a God that loves us and His grace and mercy is able to cover a multitude of sins. We spend too much time walking in defeat when we should be living victorious lives. Christ defeated darkness on the cross yet we walk around moping and complaining about all of life’s little problems.
I just got back from the Victory Outreach World Conference last week and God spoke to me in so many ways over there. It was a mountaintop experience. I received so much and was really excited about what God was going to do through me when I returned home. After the conference was over, and when I got back to Houston though, everything seemed to just hit me at once. The enemy was mad because he knew God spoke to me over there and he threw all kinds of trials and things in my way to get me distracted. I found myself caving into some of those things and really getting away from what I was supposed to be doing. That’s when I heard God tell me I needed to take some time to refocus.
I had to let go of some of the things I was holding onto. I had to “Bounce Back” from that time away from God. I had to pick up my guitar and worship Him again. I had to get on my knees and seek Him again. I had to get in the Word and search for Him again. I could have easily just given up and thrown in the towel, but I know that God has called me. I know that God has chosen me. I know that my God loves me and has great plans for my life. It’s not how many times you fall that counts as long as you get back up one more time than you do.
God wants you to know that He is always there for you. You can’t do anything to ever make Him stop loving you. Whatever mistake you’ve made, whatever trouble you’re facing, whatever situation you’re in right now, He’s telling you to get up, shake it off and “Bounce Back” strong. You are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus and His grace is more than sufficient for you.
w/muchluv,
geno
JESUS LOVES YOU AND PHF DOES TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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