WORD: ‘Today I Am Moving Forward’
Acts 12 vs 12-13 Day 15
If this message resonates in your heart, Jesus is here to set you free. In John 4:7, there is a well-known story known as, ‘The Woman At The Well’. Here we are introduced to a lady who had been married five times, and the sixth man she was now living with wasn’t even her husband. Nonetheless, she was still left feeling incomplete, valueless, insignificant, irrelevant and useless. Such spirits do not travel alone, they come with an entourage of other spirits, and they are heavily armoured. Their job is to stop us from advancing in all areas of our lives, stop us from stepping out of the boat, halt our purpose, block our vision, and kill our dream. These spirits will also affect our ability to make friends: making us feel as if everybody else is better than us, thus more qualified. With these thoughts firmly embedded in the mind, this then leads to a lack of trust in relationships; friendship groups can become unstable; work life becomes stagnant; even Church life can become inactive or dormant. Eventually, because we see no ‘figs on the vine’, no fruits on the bough, no wine in the vats, and no wheat in the stalls, we stop trying to move forward.
So, here we are standing in front of the door. We can hear the knock. We recognise Peter’s voice. However, we are so overwhelmed by our own inadequacies and shortfall that we convince ourselves into believing it would be better if somebody ‘more qualified’ open the door.
This is where the Lord steps in. This passage of Scripture is focussing on those who may see themselves as ‘unqualified’. Today, Your Father wants you to know that you were never an ‘afterthought’ in His mind. God’s Word to you was never a ‘by-the-way’ kind of promise. God’s Word to you was deliberately and strategically documented. Ladies, the Lord knows what the struggle is like. The Lord sees how you have learnt to ‘grin-and-bare-it’. He alone knows how you have learnt to ‘talk-the-talk’ even when ‘walking-the-walk’ is full of pain.
Today, a shifting is taking place. You have been standing at this door long enough. Enough of going backwards and forwards. Enough of feeling ‘less-than’. Enough of feeling ashamed. Enough of feeling reproached. Enough of the embarrassment. Today you are moving forward into your ‘New Beginning’: It is a ‘New Season’, it is a ‘New Day’. Let the Church say: In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
