I know the plans I have for you
Acts 16:25
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.
About midnight, pray and sing hymns to God, the other prisoners can hear you.
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Genesis 48, 50
Jeremiah 29:11
Matthew 1: 1–17, 16:23
Mark 15:5
1 Corinthians 9:19–23
Matthew 16:22–23
Exodus 3:14–16
Hebrews 12:1
Matthew 16:13
He knows the plans He has for you. Not the prophets, not your parents, not your pastor or a prophetic Youtube short. GOD.
When Jacob was dying, he gave all his sons their inheritance, as was the custom. He blessed Joseph with an extra portion of land, the ridge, and placed him as the head of the family above his brothers, though Joseph was the youngest. After a lifetime of faithfulness and obedience, after all the trials and tests this was his reward, as well as being second highest in Egypt.
During any, of Joseph’s many trials he could have let himself become consumed in other peoples comforting words. Words offered innocently by other people that unknowingly gave the enemy an opportunity, an open door. Let’s be honest, Joseph had more than enough reason to be upset, almost murdered by his brothers but instead sold into slavery! I have a younger brother, who annoyed me for years, but it never occurred to me to kill him, or sell him. I’m sure when Jacob was dreaming about what his son’s would each achieve in this lifetime, slavery was not one of the options. Then again, neither would being second highest in command of Egypt!
Open doors are the spiritual space, footholds which are carved to become strongholds that we leave open for evil and unclean spirits of fear, depression, desperation, anger, anxiety to come into our lives. We often don’t know they are there, they wait for an opportune time to strike.
I am not denying the impact of unbalanced brain chemicals on clinical depression and anxiety, both debilitating mental illnesses which require medical attention. I am saying that therapy or medical treatment are only part of the solution. If you are suffering from any form of mental illness please seek professional help, God will be with you in the process and help you on your journey to total freedom. For some people depression and anxiety are not chemical imbalances but brought on by life’s circumstances and are an opportunity for the enemy to gain access.
Fear takes on any and every voice imaginable. It can be your voice, the voice of someone you know/ have heard but don’t know personally, or a new unknown voice. Maybe this voice says to Joseph ‘nobody loves you, you are alone, your own brothers clearly knew your worth- slave!’ Then one day, whilst in prison, because he wouldn’t sleep with his bosses wife, an opportunity comes for him to interpret a dream. He has always had dreams, and could always interprets them- with accuracy! Joseph says nothing. Too scared. The voices are too loud. So he stays in prison. Surely God makes a way, every imprisonment story ends with a form of release- but God will honour Joseph’s decisions and choices. God’s plan was for Joseph to be second highest in Egypt, but God manoeuvres a comfortable life for Joseph, because he gave into fear.
Imagine our choices like a door, God hands you the key to the door, but He says ‘I have carried you to the door, loving you, now you must put the key in the lock, once it is in the lock, I will open it with you.’ God will stand at that door with you for as long as you need Him too, forever if that is how long it takes. No judgement, no constant, crippling reminder . Just love and mercy.
There are places and realms, doors God has opened that He wants to take you too, these spiritual planes are not group rooms they do not have room for the whole gang- you, God and fear.
We don’t know if God had another lined up should Jacob not make it, but we do know the promise to never let the line of David die out. This was fulfilled in 14 generations to David from Adam, 14 from David to the exile at Babylon and 14 from the exile to the Christ.
Please, as you read this remember one thing, you are not alone. Everyone has voices of doubt and discouragement! We also to have power and dominion over them to say NO MORE!
The writer of Hebrews, reminds us we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.
Let’s take a look at how Jesus dealt with the voices. Check out The Call.
The Call outlines the temptation of Jesus, face to face with the enemy himself. This time, we will think about voices of those closest to you. Closest to you can mean in your mind, or an external voice from another person- sadly, family and close relationships/ friendships are not excluded from this…
Not long after Peter had been gifted the full revelation of who Jesus really was, he was given another gift. This one wasn’t from God, but from the enemy. Peter was gifted doubt. Peter’s was a voice Jesus knew well, if you are with anyone for long enough you know will know what they sound like.
As Jesus was letting his disciples in on the plan, the point, His entire reason for coming to Earth, the Bible says, in Matthew 22 ‘Peter took him aside and began to rebuke Him, ‘Never, Lord’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’ 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’
Jesus knew Peter’s natural voice so well that He was also able to discern this spiritual voice. But again, we said, you have to know someone's voice to recognise it- He knew the voice of the enemy! Although Peter meant well, and he didn’t realise, it was the enemy speaking through him.
- Imagine rebuking God! It’s laughable to some (me), unimaginable to others, but it was this courage and boldness that Jesus loved about Peter. He knew that once Peter yielded to His will, he would become the rock he was destined meant to be.
- This is a great example of what relationship with Jesus is like, someone that you call Lord, must also be a very close friend for you to be able to openly, or even privately rebuke him. God is not so high and holy that He does not care for you, He cares so much that He came to give His life for you, so that you could be friends and lovers (not as weird as it sounds, He is the lover of your soul). He is the greatest friend, brother, husband (yes, for men too) you will ever know. Paul understood this, he became a living example and said it best, ‘I have become all things to all people.’
The first question most people ask is, what is God’s name? God’s name is ‘I AM’ because whatever you need, that is what HE IS. You need finances, He is your supply; you need healing, He is your doctor and your medicine (please seek medical advice when it is required); you need comfort, He is your comfort.
3. Jesus knew who He was, and why He was here on this earth. When the enemy came again with doubt, but Jesus had no open doors for the enemy to plant the seed of doubt directly in His mind, so the enemy went with plan b- Peter. Jesus IMMEDIATLY knew what was happening. Jesus was not rebuking Peter, He was rebuking the spirit speaking through Peter! That is why He addresses the enemy with no fear.
Peter was the only one with the confession of Christ, yet he was the same one to try and temp Jesus. Not him, but the enemy using his voice.
There are far and few times when we can directly address the spirit behind the words with people. Most people will think you’re calling them satan and whatever fight/ argument or disagreement you were in has just Olympic gymnastics jumped from the frying pan into the fire! So take a step back, try to diffuse the conversation and leave. When you’re talking to a spirit not of God through someone, the only way is DOWN!
People may mean well, in what they say, not understanding it is not them speaking, but their feelings which are, as yours are, fickle. They don’t know. Only God knows. Sometimes you have to go into the pit to get to the palace. It will hurt. Growing hurts, learning hurts, maturing hurts, humility hurts.
The Joseph that bragged to his brothers about his dream is not a boy anyone would elect to be second in charge of anything that remotely matters- on any spiritual realm!
It is all part of your process, but like Jesus sometimes we need to learn to hold our tongues and in fact let God vindicate us.
His promise might not come when you want it, but He knows when you are ready.
I don’t usually reveal where the sources of inspiration come for these posts, or the backstory but, this year (2021) I spent Christmas alone. I didn’t know until Christmas Day that i would be alone, but there i was. After the last few months of being accused by the enemy through family, trust me it was better to be alone than being in a house with people who don’t want me there. The main accusations were manipulation, coming between a marriage, and secret recordings.
I had a feelings a few weeks before Christmas that i would be alone, mainly because i kept asking what the plans were and being answered ‘i don’t know what i am doing yet’.
I didn’t tell anyone. First. because I was afraid to tell anyone, then I was okay with that, then it was because I didn’t want to bother people since I found out on Christmas Day, then I was okay with that too and finally because I decided that if I had free reign of the house I would enjoy myself!
It would be another free Saturday, but now with great telly, I prepared and bought food, enough cake that it’s still being eaten in January and wine, more than enough wine. I could eat as much as I wanted, drink as much as I wanted and, most importantly i was in charge of the Christmas TV schedule!
⁃ I didn’t actually drink much, but it was nice to have freedom of choice.
If I had taken up the people’s offers to spend Christmas with them, I would have cheated myself out of a last Christmas in my family home (it’s up for sale) and been upset all day about not being at home. Then the next time the enemy wanted to use that fear, who knows how he could have twisted it. Fear that he could incubate into abandonment issues that would rear it’s ugly, nasty words at any and every interval.
Now it’s 27th and I’ve been asked to move out of the family home. I am okay with this. It’s simply the next step in Gods plan- He knows the plans that He has for me, plans to proper me and to give me a future- well today is the future. So we shall see where He has for me next!
As someone who believes that nothing happens outside of God’s will and knowledge, it was time to put my faith, where my heart and mouth are. As Christians, we can’t be praying and singing, my life is yours, do what you will, and then fall apart when He actually does something. After what I’ve been through this year, I trust Him too much and He is too faithful to fail!
Faith is now.
https://youtu.be/UBCYOy7UoEA
https://youtu.be/p-8qtPhsoto
https://youtu.be/lh3LhNV9k1M
https://youtu.be/UFsx7EB7ODE
https://youtu.be/QDjMvxH3UAc
https://youtu.be/DW77qEBOKOk
https://youtu.be/mqpxEQ1w7hg
https://youtu.be/t_0n51unQW8
https://youtu.be/XX8iX0LWJTk
https://youtu.be/y-j7CFfDvHc
