The takeover

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

What do you do when it feels like the blessings are beyond you and the calling on your life is too much for you to handle? You feel the assignment is just too overwhelming to even start and you seem constantly in over your head? God says “Yes, that is exactly my plan for you”. TD Jakes once said, “If the vision you have for yourself is enough for you to handle by yourself, then you should be worried because it is too small”. When God gives you a vision, it has to be too big for you to manage on your own. The path to the fulfilment of the vision or prophetic word God gives you is a complicated one. This is because God usually gives us snippets of the story of our life; He doesn’t give us the whole picture as it will be too big for us to comprehend.

When God gives you an assignment, it often comes as a complex puzzle that has to be unravelled with the help and support of the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t appear as a simple task that can be easily completed with no support from God. It may start off simple but when it’s a heavenly assignment, it usually unfolds into a complicated task that will require a lot of effort for it to be completed. Abraham and Sarah had their fair share of receiving a promise and waiting for the manifestation. They eventually learnt the lesson of trusting in God and waiting for the Lord to unfold His promises.

God may have laid a huge responsibility on you, and you may be feeling out of your depth and you may know within you that there’s no way you can make it through without His help. You may feel like Peter, being called out into the deeper waters, where there is no sense of security or assurance. But it is in this place that God requires you to run to Him so He can lead you through; and this will require you to shift and change to a higher gear where God the Father takes over.

The Bible is filled with evidence of people who were tasked by God but required a GOD-TAKEOVER to make it through their assignment. Moses had to rely on God fully to get the Israelites out of Egypt. It was a long big challenge but God was with Him through it all.

9-10 “The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 “I’ll be with you,” God said. “And this will be the proof that I am the one who sent you: When you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will worship God right here at this very mountain.”
Exodus 3:9-12 (MSG)

We know of David, a man after God’s own heart and his colourful background. After being ordained king, he had to go through his life maze packed with various obstacles on his journey to the throne. Joshua took over from Moses based on a promise from God that He will be with him as He was with Moses. Well, ask him about the wall of Jericho. My final witness is Gideon, the man of tangible signs and wonders. When God tasked him to lead His people, Gideon experienced a God of enough. God stripped away all the security he had and left him with bare minimum.

2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. 3 Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain[a] and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight. 4 But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.” 5 When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.” 6 Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream. 7 The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.” 8 So Gideon collected the provisions and rams’ horns of the other warriors and sent them home. But he kept the 300 men with him.
Judges 7:2-8 (NLT) 

I hope by now you are getting the drift. Our God will have to take over whatever He has given you so you can see His hand at work. Whatever He entrust you with will require Him to bring it to fruition.

About three years ago, my husband, Eben had a prophetic word about a qualification that he should pursue and that when it is completed it will change the trajectory of his life. For two years he studied and took the exams three times but failed. It was a very disappointing experience but we believed that God’s timings are perfect. A few weeks ago, I had a prophetic word for him that he should prepare to take the exam and that “This time will be different”. God connected him with a mentor from work who was helping him with the exams preparations. A week before the exams, I had a sense that Eben was not confident in himself and he even told me he wanted to reschedule the exams. To make matters worse, his mentor was so busy in the week of the exams that he wasn’t able to support him. God being good, He connected Eben with good friends from church who prophesied, prayed and encouraged him that he can do it and God was for him. Ebenezer persevered, continued his studies and took the exams on Friday 22, November and passed with flying colours. God is so faithful. All the Glory to Abba!

The next time you are faced with a situation that is beyond you and you feel overwhelmed, just drop everything and run to God, He has the MASTER key that can unravel the puzzle for you. Don’t try to figure it out on your own, He made it that way to fine tune your level of trust in Him.

God is saying we have enough to work with. When we feel inadequate and insufficient that is when God is at His utmost. He needs our ‘not enough’ to work for His Glory. I have encountered a God who strips stuff away from us until the only thing left is what we really need. He takes all the excesses away and leave us with the quality resources to encounter our next battle. So no matter how the year has been, and what lies ahead of you in the next few weeks, just see your God at work in your life. It may be challenging or seem impossible, but that’s where God is. That is where His power is most demonstrated.

Do you want to be a conduit of God’s glory, give him your mountain and see Him lift you all the way to the top.

May you be filled with the Fullness of God and the Power of His Love!