Naija Motivation

Even though we are Christians there are times we face extremities in our lives with health, employment, finances, family and other things but we must not be discouraged, depressed, frustrated, and angry with God, ourselves and others; because when we face extremities we will find that it is God’s opportunity to step in if we will continue to believe He is at work in our situations.

I want to help you right from the start with this important statement: If you are ever angry with God or frustrated with Him, you are only doing yourself harm because God is never your problem when you face problems, difficulties or extremities in your life. If you think God is the problem then you will never find the answer to your problems because He is the answer to all things.

God does not want you to live in fear, worry and anxiety because when you live in fear, worry or anxiety you are trusting in your own abilities and not in God’s ability. He wants you to have good courage and put your total trust in Him so that He can show Himself strong in your life.

Always remember this, when you run out of yourself, your abilities then is when you will always run into God and His ability!

Facing extremities you need to settle in your heart this is God’s opportunity to step in and it is your time to continue to believe He is at work. Realizing this truth will help you to be more enticed to trust Him.

You need to continue to remind yourself there is no failure in God, there is no defeat in God and there is no deficiency in God. You must remember this to have courage in discouraging times.

My definition of courage is the ability to see victory or the ability to see good things happen when things look bad, look their worst and look like they will never change. Courage is the ability to conquer fear or despair, to be brave or have a quality of mind or temperament that enables you to stand fast in the face of opposition, hardship or danger.

We can see godly courage in operation in the life of Joshua in the Old Testament. God told him, Joshua 1:6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I swear unto their fathers to give them.

Those words, “Be strong and of good courage,” came to Joshua when God gave him the assignment of leading the children of Israel into their promised land after Moses had died.

All of us have dealt with discouragement which can lead us into depression. We try to make things work, make something happen, try to do what is right; but yet it seems nothing is changing, nothing is ever going to turn out right and so the enemy uses discouragement so we will let go of our faith in God. But being developed in godly courage there is a power available to you enabling you to have good courage in discouraging times.

With godly courage you could be facing health problems, family problems, financial hardships, or other kinds of difficulties but you still won’t give up, still won’t lose heart, still won’t quit, but will stand still right in the middle of it all trusting God is at work for you.

God has promised you a lot in His New Covenant He has with you and you need godly courage in order to possess what God has promised you and in order to do what God wants you to do.

You need to realize when God promises to give you something it is not going to come to you automatically. You have an enemy that opposes you. Your faith life or walk in faith is a faith fight.

Paul said, “I fought a good fight. I kept the faith. I finished my course.”

This fight of faith has to be finished. In the process of starting the fight and finishing the fight there are going to be times, even though it is yours and God already said it is yours, you will have to have courage to trust God and stay in there and finish the fight in order to obtain the promise.

Even though you see it in the Word and you know it is yours; sometimes it will look like you can’t have the promise. That’s the time you are going to have to have good courage. That’s why God repeatedly told Joshua to be of good courage. He knew there were going to be situations that were going to oppose them in going in and taking the inheritance that was rightfully theirs.

Hebrews 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. KJV

God is telling you that you are going to have to have courage which will activate the godly fruit of patience with expectancy. The Bible tells us, James 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. So with godly courage and godly patience, powerful spiritual forces, empowering you they will bring the promises to you.

Along with the godly courage God emphasized this; He said, “My Presence will be with you.” So knowing He is with you every step of the way should bring encouragement and expectancy.

Courage causes you to walk in God’s Word and what it says about you in spite of what is going on around you that continually, constantly speaks the opposite of the truths of God’s Word about you.

A lack of courage will bring fear and that is why God told Joshua, Joshua 1:9 ….be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed:… Dismay means to cause to lose courage, to be shaken or shook. So the Lord is saying to you, “Don’t be shaken if it doesn’t look like it is going to work out. Don’t be shaken if it doesn’t happen tomorrow. Be strong and be of good courage and stay in there for it has to happen sooner or later.”

Remember when you have prayed the first prayer about something, God is at work. So stay in faith, stay encouraged, waiting expectantly while God works it all out and then the enemy won’t trick you into thinking that nothing is happening.

Studying God’s Word will get you acquainted with God and His promises to you and then you will find the courage to help stabilize your mind, will and emotions. Also the Holy Spirit will then be able to bring to your remembrance encouraging scriptures for each opportunity to be discouraged.

Here are two really good scriptures that can help you in your opportunities to be discouraged. Allow the Lord to add more to your specific needs and situations. All these scriptures have to do with courage.

John 16:33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] AMP

1 John 5:4-5 For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that is victorious over [that conquers] the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on that fact]? AMP

Today you may be discouraged. It may seem like a monkey has gotten on your back with unshakable arms and is riding, riding, riding and you are just plain tired of it. So I ask the Holy Spirit right now to take that monkey off of your back so you can now ride the monkey.

When the things God has promised you don’t seem like they will ever get to you, you must not be a coward and always cop out, but rather continue to operate in God’s courage.

Sometimes you are facing extremities, things extremely wrong. When you do face God, continue to focus on Him and His Word and you are going to see your victory He has planned for you. This is the time you have to operate in courage.

God wants you to get to the place you see where you are supposed to be, where He has planned all along for you to be. There are going to be things strung out along the way to tell you, “You can’t get there or that will never change or this person will always be the same, they won’t change.”

Here is a scripture you can live in every day for in this scripture you will find God’s purpose and plans for your life were planned for you even before the foundation of the world:

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]. AMP

You can and will find that extremities are God’s opportunities. Just face the fact that you can’t do any more about the situation and make the decision that you are just going to keep your face turned toward God and His Word and the truths it reveals about you. This creates God an opportunity to do something for you that He was not able to do because you try to do so much for yourself. As long as you are just dependent on yourself then God can’t step in. But when you realize, “This is extremely too hard for me so I’m going to turn to God in faith and trust Him and have courage,” and then and then only does it become God’s opportunity. I told you earlier, there is no failure in God; so just rest in Him, rest in Him, rest in Him and rest some more in Him.

If you look extremity in the face and you have courage, you will behold the face of God, you will see God. Then is when you cannot become discouraged because when you see God you know it is going to be all right.

How can you look at something that is holding you back and see God? By developing courage in God which in turns develops bravery. If you look at it with courage, you’ll behold the face of God. And then God will say, “All right, I know the situation says you can’t go any further; but don’t pay any attention to it. When you do this you will go to another level you cannot go to by your intellect. That’s why it looks like its tough. But training yourself to trust God to that magnitude and something is pressing you, you will understand and say, “God is doing something,” and you won’t break down and cry and wonder what you are going to do. You will just say, “I have done all I can and need to do.” That is when you have trained yourself to come to the end of yourself and that’s the only way you are going to see God move in any of your situations.

Humanly thinking, we don’t want to run out; but God has it set up that you’ve got to run out of self. You have a God who can and will pull you out of any and every situation. Until you come to end of yourself and what you can do, you are not going to know what God can and wants to do for you. You have got to have courage or you’re not going to know what God can do. You can get to the point where you know that when opposition is real strong that God is about to stretch you.

You’ve been discouraged before but the Lord wants you to be of godly courage, be brave even when it looks like your prayers are not working and when it looks like the scriptures are not working because they are!

Joshua 1:3-5 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. KJV

You need to take that scripture as your own. You can be strong and of good courage because God says, “I am going to be with you.”

There are rewards for those who face extremities with courage beholding the face of God.

Your biggest triumphs will come out of moments that seem like you was paralyzed and you can’t do anything more. Just keep looking at it with courage and you will see God working in situation after situation.

David knew that he faced the lion and the bar with courage and he knew he didn’t kill them on his own. So it gave him courage to whip Goliath, the giant, even though he didn’t whip the giant.

All you need to know in each of your situations is that you didn’t get yourself out of all the situations you have been in before and know that you are going to get out of this extremity you are facing but you know that you didn’t do.

When you have come to the end of all your answers to the situation or situations, exhausted all human strength, skill and answers, come to the end of your prayers, come to the end of your confession of God’s Word and have arrived t your wits end and you realize it; you must not panic because at the end of your human strength God’s supernatural strength and power will show up.

Naturally, you can come to the end of your body’s ability like when a runner is running. It seems they have come to the end of their strength and all of a sudden they feel this new spurt of energy to keep on running.

God wants you to run out of wind so He can give you extra wind when you have run out of all you can do and the enemy is right on your heels. You may have done all you could do and the enemy of sickness and disease or death or payment due or foreclosure or rebellious children and other things are on your heels ready to overtake you; but God will give you a second wind to finish with glorious victory.

The Bible says in Mark 11:22 Have faith in God. The Bible doesn’t say, have faith in yourself. No. Have faith in God. You must make sure you have your faith in God and His faith and not in yourself and your faith. Galatians 2:20 tells us as Christians that we have the faith of Jesus and so with His faith we can have faith in God that He will do what He has promised.

You must understand and believe God never comes to a wit’s end. Shout hallelujah with me! So you can have courage in Somebody like that; Somebody who can’t fail, Somebody who never lost a battle, and Somebody who never was and never will be a coward! God never has nor ever will back up from anything or from anybody!

We can be encouraged by David who with godly courage faced Goliath, the giant, because he knew he couldn’t do it. And the giant you are facing today, just face it with boldness because Jesus who took on your enemy and defeated him is on His way so just give up trying to make it happen yourself!

As a Christian living in this world today you must have courage in God now because this world is not going to get any better. Like Joshua you must have an image in your heart of what God has told you that you are and have through Christ even when you are facing the worst moments and worst challenges of your life.

When you are going through these times it is best not to tell someone who doesn’t believe God and stand on the Word of God for their own promises and would probably think you are crazy to believe for a good outcome and feel sorry for you. You certainly don’t need that.

I remind you again, when you arrive at the end of your wits or your ability or what appears to be an extremity; you will find you’re at the beginning of God’s power. You may have to copy that sentence and others and tape them on your bathroom mirror, your refrigerator, your car mirror or dashboard, your computer or wherever you can look at it a lot and speak it to yourself in times of extremities.

So always remember God is never at the end of His wit, God knows no extremities and no finalities because nothing is final with God. And really nothing is final with you unless you believe it; accept it and you say so! So speak that the promises of God to you are the final result in each of your situations! As a child of God you are promised to win so don’t believe anything else.

God’s help begins where human help ends. That’s why I encourage you not to depend on people too much or even get tight with a prayer partner because they can become your God. You don’t need their prayer or a word from them all the time. Get a word from God yourself and stand on it yourself. You’ll never become mature in the things of God if you don’t. Build your own courage with the Word of God and trust God for yourself. Don’t always try to find another person.

You really will find God’s help when you seem to be most helpless and that means when you come to the end of yourself.

You must know for sure in spite of everything that you have the faith God, know for sure God loves you, and know for sure you have the Word of God which becomes an anchor for your soul in discouraging times. And yet by the same token, you need to know that you have to and can depend on Him when you become helpless to yourself. That is true Biblical humility and meekness.

The major problem in the lives of Christians is they can’t come to the end of themselves; and the world gives them lots of assistance, making them believe they can do it for them but they can’t. That’s why the Bible tells us, “Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God.”

There is power in godly courage for you at this time in your life. Have courage in this time. Don’t be fearful but rather be brave in God. When major challenges come to you, be brave in God. Just say out loud, “God I trust you. I have my courage in you.”

There have been times in my own life where I have faced some things that it seemed like God had set it up so I would have to look to Him for He was my only way out. I could not take my eyes off of God’s because I knew I couldn’t do anymore; and by looking to God then God’s opportunities started coming to me. I prayed and kept trusting Him, kept praising Him and thanking Him for the answer. I knew I couldn’t possibly go any further and had done everything humanly possible.

I am telling you right now that these times are going to be some of the best moments of your life if you will trust your God.

Don’t let anybody feel sorry for you. Keep speaking aloud what God has promised you and nothing else.

There is a due season awaiting you. The Bible tells you that your weeping will only endure for a season but joy cometh in the morning. That joy can arrive any moment of any day so just be strong and very courageous. The joy of the Lord will come and you know that you have won another victory. All your triumphs will come the same way; when you trust God, have courage and be strong in Him.

When you are going through something that looks like you are not getting out of it; it’s only an opportunity for you to grow spiritually. Just stay in there with God. You will come to the place where you will no longer think of yourself as unable to overcome some adverse condition because you realize that the Spirit of God is at hand and is ready and willing to assist you. You no longer think of yourself as unable, just like Joshua, but have courage because you understand that whatever you face God is going to bring you through it. That’s why I am going to tell you again, “There is no failure in God. There is no defeat in God. There are no deficiencies in God.”

Jesus said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Saying this, Jesus has given us a revelation of Himself for us. There’s a rest, but it’s a revelation of rest. Not only do you have rest, but you have rest for your soul. Very few Christians are living this because they don’t have any courage.

He didn’t say, “Everything is going to be easy and everything is going to be light.” He said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

To continually be strong and be courageous is a revelation. You have to have a revelation of Christ, a revelation of Jesus, a revelation of the Holy Spirit, a revelation of the Word in order to walk in or talk about “My yoke is easy and my burdens are light.”

From a human perspective you will say, “There is no yoke that is easy.” That’s because this rest of our Lord has to become a revelation to you. You can’t just read, “My yoke is easy and my burdens are light.” You believe God and with courage you act like you don’t have a problem; because you have the revelation that you can rest now because God is in control of this situation that is beyond you and your ability to handle it.

I have many scriptures and confessions on my website you can meditate and speak when you are in an extreme situation that will help you maintain your godly courage.

In those extreme times, here are some confessions from what I have shared with you that will help you to enter into the revelation of God’s rest and let Him take control and work it out for you:

I am developed in godly courage and this power is available to me in discouraging times. Because I have courage I have the ability to see victory, to see good things happen to me when things look bad or things look like they will never change. Through godly courage I have the ability to conquer fear or despair, be brave and have a mindset that enables me to stand fast in the face of every opposition, hardship or danger.

I trust God because I have settled in my heart; when I face extremities I know it is God’s opportunity to step in as I continue to believe He is at work. I live by faith in God and His Word and expect things to turn out just like God promised me. I realize if God has promised me something it is not going to be automatic for I have an enemy and this is a faith fight. These things belong to me therefore I have courage to stay in faith to possess my inheritance. I will not be a coward and cop out but rather operate in God’s courage. I will trust God till I see the victory. I will finish this fight of faith even though through the process I might not understand everything; for God has assured me it is mine. With faith, patience and expectation I walk this out to receive my promise.

I know for sure there is no failure in God, there is no defeat in God, there is no deficiency in God and so I have courage in discouraging times.

I enter into the rest He promised me by revelation of Him, revelation of His burden removing, yoke destroying power, revelation of the Holy Spirit, revelation of the Word and also the revelation of His yoke being easy and His burdens light. I now have the courage to act like I don’t have a problem because I have the revelation that I can now rest since God is in control of every situation I give to him that is beyond me.

I know for sure that God is never at the end of His wits end and knows no extremities and no finalities because nothing is final with my God. And really nothing is final with me! As a child of God I am promised to win and I believe I am a winner right now.

Along with godly courage God’s presence will be with me all the way through. So I am strong and of good courage and will not fear, be dismayed, shaken nor lose courage. I am not shaken if things look like they are not working or if something doesn’t happen tomorrow for I know it has to happen. That’s why I study God’s Word to find out what He has promised me; for then I find courage for each situation and my mind, will and emotions stay in courage and the Holy Spirit is able to remind me of scriptures for each opportunity to be discouraged.

Jesus has told me that in the world there are opportunities for tribulation, trials, distress and frustration but I am of good courage, confident, certain of what I believe and undaunted by it all; for Jesus has overcome the world I face every day and has deprived it of its power to harm me and has conquered it for me. I am born of God so I am victorious over this world and this is guaranteed by my faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work for me.

I no longer think I am unable to get out of a situation, because I have courage and I understand the Spirit of God is at hand ready to assist me in whatever I need to do and
He is going to bring me through to victory.

There is a due season made for me and awaiting me. The bible promises me that weeping will only endure for a season for joy cometh in the morning because I have courage and trust my Lord.

Janie Baer has produced a CD called God’s Spoken Word and her website http://www.godswordalive.com offers products to help Christians use Bible scriptures in every day living finding the secret power of god’s word and to help find the unconditional love of Father God. Janie also has a blog, http://www.godswordalive.com/blog Also on her site is Kingdom of God Prosperity Bookstore which offers bibles, audio bibles, music cds, music dvds, Children books & dvds, Christian books, Christian games and other products to help incorporate the Word into your life. She has also recently added Bible scriptures and confessions for healing and health, prosperity, Father God’s Unconditional love and continues to add more all the time. She has applied these healing scriptures with her family for over 30 years and as a result they have not had a doctor, hospital or medical bill in all those years. They have just taken the healing Bible scriptures as their medicine as was written in Proverbs 4:22.