JB Victor
Shake it off and step up
Once upon a time there was a farmer who had an old mule. The mule fell into a deep dry well and began to cry loudly. Hearing his mule cry, the farmer came over and assessed the situation. The well was deep and the mule was heavy. He knew it would be difficult, if not impossible, to lift the animal out. The situation was desperate. Because the mule was old and the well was dry, the farmer decided to bury the animal in the well.
He called upon his neighbors to help him and they agreed to help. To work they went. Shovel full of dirt after shovel full of dirt began to fall on the mule’s back. He became hysterical. Then all of a sudden an idea came to the mule. Each time they would throw a shovel full of dirt on his back he could shake it off and step up. Shovel full after shovel full, the mule would shake it off and step up. Now exhausted and dirty, but quite alive, before they realized it, the mule stepped over the top of the well and walked through the crowd. Wow! That's interesting, isn't it?! (by Joseph Sica)
Well, we live in a time of constant change; a time of wars, rumors of wars, famine abortion, crimes here and there. We live in times of pestilences, sicknesses and diseases of all sorts. We live in perilous times. The Bible says that the enemy of our soul gives his eyes no sleep and sets himself out to torment and destroy the us believers.
For thirty three years of my life I've lived in a country torn and devastated by political crisis, economic recessions, environmental degradation, spiritual drought, chaos and upheaval. Poverty, coup d'états, civil war, riots, kidnapping, mass exodus, trade embargo, gasoline embargo, electric blackouts, droughts; loss of loved ones due to injustice. Haiti was a system designed for my failure. The UN labeled Haiti as THE most dangerous place in the world, as gun point robbery and kidnapping wreak havoc on our streets. And growing up in such a traumatic condition, I was this little boy that was trapped in an endless maze who was too scared to even cry lest the echo of my voice would defy the enemy of my soul; my heart was bruised and devastated in despair, my soul was weary and my spirit man shrink to the point of paralysis.
My life intoned the sad expressions of Andre Crouch: "I had many tears and sorrows….I had been in a lot of places and seen millions of faces, but those were times when I felt so all alone."
All the conditions for me to cave in and give up met, yet I have not given up and I will not give up, because I know who holds tomorrow. I’ve been in the wilderness and back; I've been in the Valley of Baca and back, I went through hell and high water and made it to the other side, because the Bible says that whoever trust in the Lord will never be confused or put to shame. The Lord GOD reached into my future and wiped out the tears the world meant for me to cry; He straightened my path, numbered my steps, set a lamp unto my feet, lit a light of guidance unto my path, and scattered flowers of joy and happiness all along so I would never be the same again. That's why the Bible says In Galatians 6:9 (KJV), "And let us not be WEARY in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."
When you’re on the chopping block of God sometimes you can grow WEARY. It’s one thing for God to prune you, but when God’s trimming you back, it hurts, it doesn’t make sense and you can grow WEARY -for those of us who are being tested, refined, who are in the fiery furnace, or on threshing floor, or in the winepress, and on the potter’s wheel where his hands are re-making us, reforming us, re-shaping you, know it’s in that season you can grow WEARY.
See, any time God’s called you and promised you something, the devil will fight it endlessly, and he’s going to try to convince you to get sidetracked. Right before your brightest moment, right before your breakthrough will be the darkest moment; and you will deal with WEARINESS and discouragement.
What is WEARINESS? WEARINESS is a failing endurance, a washout of vigor; it just feels like you don’t have the strength to go on, and not only do you feel you don’t have the strength to go on but you don’t even have the desire to go on. *** It’s when you are exhausted in your strength, you are physically and mentally drained, you just want to hide in a closet somewhere and not deal with the reality of what’s going on in your life.
I’d like you to search your heart and identify what it is that is causing you to become WEARY in your life? Is it a frustrated marriage? Difficult finances? A repossessed car? A dead end job? A missed promotion? Loss of a loved one? A wayward child? A ministry? Responsibility? A system? The economic recession of your country?
When you have zeroed in on the cause, I want you to spiritually grab it by faith and drag it to the cross and just cast it there, cast it at JESUS’ feet. Pray….and just release it!
Whose report will you believe today. In fact, whose report have you been believing?
The spirit of weariness will :
Make you believe the enemy’s report. After every great victory in your life, there will be a season of a great low. After the victory will come the greatest battle; after your breakthrough, after your three seconds in the limelight, you will go through the toughest battle you’ve ever fought, but don't you give up.
The spirit of weariness will :
Come when you are exhausted and tired. In the middle of a crisis
The spirit of weariness will :
Cause isolation in your life; you just want to be left alone,
The spirit of weariness will :
Attack your self image
The spirit of weariness will :
Cause you to blame others for your mistakes; it’s every body else’ fault
The spirit of weariness will :
Give you a defeated mindset. Elijah underestimated himself even after he killed the prophets of Baal in a great God-given victory and began to run away from the witch after causing fire to fall from heaven.
Today Elijah would’ve started his own ministry called "Fire From Heaven Ministries." (Laugh!)
Well, the confidence is not in ourselves but in God.
The spirit of weariness will :
Make your future look bleak, hazy and hopeless. "How am I gonna get out of this?
The spirit of weariness will :
Make you blow things out of proportion ; everybody’s against me. No body loves me.
Now you've got to understand that you are not the first person who’s ever dealt with the spirit of WEARINESS, you’re not the first person who’s ever gone through what you’re going through, you’re not the first person who’s ever gone under attacks in your marriage, finances, responsibility, future, dreams.
The wilderness is not there to kill you, but it is laid before you to strengthen you and fashion your spiritual stamina. Yolanda Adams said, "My problems only come to make me stronger." There's a well known adage that says, "A man's true mettle is known through adversity, just as gold is assayed by the fire." Job said, "Though He slays me yet I will trust Him." David said, "Due to the constant stress in my life, my heart grows weary..." And I am sure you must be saying at this moment, "My soul is downcast because the economic recession has hit me hard, me and my family."
Moses grew WEARY serving God. In Ex 17:11-13, Moses grew WEARY while holding his arms up so that the Israelites could defeat the Amalekites; he grew WEARY, so much so that Aaron and Hur had to hold his arms up till total victory.
Tonight, like Moses, you may be a little battle worn and torn, you’ve just been enduring while doing good; now you need DUE SEASON to slap you upside the head and bring forth your harvest so long awaited.
The spirit of WEARINESS is a wicked tool in the hands of the enemy that constantly set to torment and bombard the minds and the thoughts the believer.
You know, when WEARINESS comes, it brings with it the spirit of heaviness. When you are WEARY the enemy will thrust heaviness upon you, to complete the load. The faint hearted quickly gives us, but the God doesn't crown losers.
WEARINESS + the spirit of heaviness = FAINTING. What does the Bible say? "FAINT NOT!." And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
I'd like you to repeat this after me: "I AM NOT FAINTING! I AM NOT FAINTING! I AM NOT FAINTING, in Jesus' name!”
The Hebrew word in Daniel for WEARINESS means "To mentally tire; to make the mind WEARY". The Bible says that the mind is the battlefield; it's the enemy's target of torment. That’s why we must renew our mind according to Romans 12:2. Life is to be lived with God’s help, let's stop making it on our own. Psalms 33: says, It's not a great strength that saves the hero nor the power of horses that saves the king, but it is the fear of GOD and trust in Him.
When WEARINESS comes, it brings its siblings which are discouragement, depression, and confusion, right up in the camp of FAINTING. And you become one big emotional mess.
And your world is no longer right….your relationships are not right. Daniel 7:25, says, "In the last days Satan will try to wear out the saints of the Most High."
But just when your physical eyes are looking into the landscape of the unknown, gazing through the dark halls of the future, you need to draw strength in GOD's word and in worship by waiting on Him to strengthen your heart. For the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 2:14, Now thanks be to God who ALWAYS LEADS US TO TRIUMPH IN CHRIST and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
And in Isaiah 40, the Bible says:
"Have you not known, have you not heard the everlasting God, the Lord the creator of the end of the earth He neither FAINTS nor is He WEARY, His understanding is unsearchable; for He will give power to the WEAK and to those that have no might He will increase their strength;
For the youth shall FAINT and be WEARY, young men shall utterly fall, but those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not grow WEARY, they shall walk and not grow FAINT."
"Well, Shake it off and step up is a great attitude, a great way to approach life in this present crisis. Too often we hold on to what has happened to us. We hold on to it for a week, a month, even years. We cannot shake it loose from our memory. It eats away at us and steals our joy, happiness and peace of mind. And the past hurt can create feelings of bitterness, resentment, anger etc.
We keep allowing these emotions to be thrown on our backs and if we do nothing, we will be buried deep in the well. Walls will be built in our relationships. We will all avoid one another and the cold war begins. But, we have a choice: to either keep it inside and embrace the hurt or shake it off and step up. Too often we nurse hurts, we keep them alive inside and go over them time and time again; not only stewing from them, but now chewing them over and over until it gets us sick. Whether it is a lie, an accusation, etc.,
The cure is to accept what has happened, try to make sense out of it, learn from it, then shake it off and step up. When you let it go you feel free and you are no longer buried in the disappointment. Once you are on your feet again you can take some action.
You decide where you want to grow in life, the direction you want your life to take. You decide whether you will allow the hurt to make you a bitter or a better person. Learn from it. Emerge stronger.
THAT'S LIFE! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity...THE ADVERSITIES THAT COME ALONG TO BURY US USUALLY HAVE WITHIN THEM THE POTENTIAL TO BENEFIT US AND BLESS US!
Remember that FORGIVENESS --FAITH--PRAYER-- PRAISE and HOPE...all are excellent ways to "SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP" out of the wells in which we may find ourselves or the shovels of dirt that may be dumping down on us!"