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Breaking Free In 2018
Victoria Boyson
www.victoriaboyson.com
2018 will bring us wide open doors of opportunity! God is about to throw you the ball! What will you do with it? Are you ready to run your race? Our Almighty Father is tearing down long-held strongholds of the enemy in preparation for a spiritual advancement the world has never seen before or could be imagined in our wildest dreams. The hour has come! This season is too important to align yourself with Christians who do not really believe in God and refuse to believe in you!
In 2018, we will see an even greater divide between those who follow Jesus Christ and those who are Christian in name only. You will need to choose who you will serve... (Joshua 24:15).
No matter how much you may want them to, for whatever reason some people just cannot believe in you. But those who can't believe in the calling God has given you are, in essence, against you. If they mock your dreams, treat you with contempt or slander you, you are, unfortunately, linked to someone controlled by the accuser of the brethren.
Not only are they hindering you from your calling, they are endangering their own needed breakthrough by their poor treatment of you. In the end, distancing yourself from them is not only wise, but will keep them from reaping the consequences of their contemptuous accusations against you. If they're not for you, they are against you. Moreover, going into battle with people who don't believe in you is dangerous.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:30,
"He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters." The Lord knew he would need people around him who were like-minded and would be a help and a support when it
was needed. We, too, need to look for those people who can encourage our mission even when it looks impossible.
I understand the difficulty in distancing yourself from people you cherish, but we have to realize the
importance of the hour we are entering. We are undertaking the destruction of the long-held strongholds of the enemy. Only by the Spirit can we truly understand the weight of the commission the Lord has given us, the cost
of what we're being asked to do and the importance of our victory to a world at war with itself.
We cannot go forward into battle for the souls of mankind if those who are suppose to have our back are stabbing
us unthinkingly and have no real conscionable thought of what they doing. So, for the sake of the lost they must choose to engage or get out of the way. If a brother or sister does not value what you are attempting to do
for the Lord, they will not treat it sacredly and will hinder your attaining your desired end.
Selfishness does not belong on the battlefield. We must surrender the tedious concerns of self in order to execute the
greater concerns of life and death in the eternal realm.
Readiness for Battle
When a soldier goes to war, he first gathers with others who have the same purpose. He leaves behind his old life to become a
part of something greater - an army prepared for victory! If he enters battle with those who do not have the same passion and goal, he will find himself abandoned on the battlefield and in danger of great harm.
We
cannot imagine that those we love will have our back just because we wish they would. No, when you enter the army of the Lord, you give up the right to choose your battle-mates. You learn to fight with those the Lord brings
to you, because He understands much more than you what you truly need.
Indeed, a part of preparation for victory is in letting go of those who do not understand the war we are waging and the prize we are seeking to
gain.
There is a world out there who is lost and facing very real problems. We are their only hope. We are the light to the world and plunging into the darkness to save those who are lost is no small thing. It will
take all our concentration. We cannot be side-tracked by those who do not understand the importance of what we are doing.
A while ago, I met with some people who needed all the help I could give them. They were in
terrible trouble and, with all my heart, I wanted to help them. Yet, the whole time I was with them I was being hounded by people cursing me because they were offended by something trivial. When I mentioned the importance
of what I was doing, it did not phase them. I realized they could not have my back and it was wrong to expect it of them. It was my fault for allowing them into my inner-circle of ministry just because I loved them, knowing
they did not share my heart or value what I was doing.
The Enemy of Familiarity
In John 7:1-5, we see the dynamics of the Lord's family on earth and how His brothers mocked Him in their unbelief of
Him. "Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, and Jesus' brothers said to him,
'Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! You can't become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!' For even his brothers
didn't believe in him." (NLT)
The very ones the Lord grew up with and cared so much for held contemptuous thoughts about His ministry. Indeed, it was because of their relationship with Jesus that they had
such a difficult time believing in Him. Their familiarity with Jesus produced contempt.
At another time in Scripture, we see how Jesus reacted to His family's false assumptions. One day, Jesus had entered a
house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon, He and his disciples could not even find time to eat, because the powerful manifestation of the Spirit they were experiencing was so great. When His family heard what was
happening, they tried to take Him away. "He's out of his mind," they said. (Mark 3:20-21)
Even Jesus - or, perhaps, especially Jesus - did not find acceptance from His family. And as you can imagine, it
is difficult to have a relationship with people who think you're insane. I think it's safe to say, the Lord's family did NOT understand Him. Their mistaken view actually led them to become contrary to His
life's mission on earth. In the midst of all the miracles and joy He brought to humanity, it was His family who actually tried to stop Him from doing the Father's will.
Jesus had a choice to make. Would He
deny the ministry of His heavenly Father to submit to His earthly family, or deny His earthly family and continue preforming the will of His Father in heaven?
He viewed the situation through an eternal perspective.
He saw that, although His family had an intimate connection to Him and, although He must have felt a duty to them, He saw that all mankind was His family and He had an even greater duty to them.
When Jesus'
family came to see Him and sent word for Him to stop what He was doing and come outside to speak to them, He replied. "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" Then he looked at those around him and said,
"Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." (Mark 3:31-35 NLT)
In Colossians 3:1-3, we are encouraged to believe and consider the reality of
our eternal home. "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not
the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory."
We can either
choose to surrender to the reality of those who think they know us and submit to their carnal thinking or we can give ourselves to the dreams the Father has for us and live in His reality of who we are. Are you the little pip-squeak your brother thinks you are or are you a world-changer and hell-destroyer? Will you live in the confines of those who are familiar with you or will you break free from those chains in 2018 and advance for your eternal kingdom?
Victory is Ahead for Us!
At an unequaled pace, we will see the hand of the Lord move with us to uncover and restore those who were lost and stolen from us. We will see the Lord do something He has never done
before! What He is about to do will astound us. Our heavenly Father will do whatever it takes to get us to where we need to be and who we need to be with. Truly, He's not just preparing for war. No! He's preparing
us for VICTORY! It's time to let go of anything that will slow us down or trip us up, because God is building a monumental army. When He says, "GO," you just say, "YES!"
Truly, 2018
will bring us wide open doors of opportunity! Our Almighty Father is tearing down long-held strongholds of the enemy in preparation for a spiritual advancement the world has never before seen and our wildest dreams cannot
conceive of. The hour has come! This season is too important to align ourselves with people who simply DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD! And do not believe in us!
If God is removing people from your life, let them go. Place
them in the Lord's hands and trust that He will care for them in His way. Forgive them, love them, but let them go.
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NEW Book by Victoria Boyson