Stop It!

1 Kings 22:⁴⁸ “Now Jehoshaphat built a fleet of trading ships to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set sail–they were wrecked at Ezion- Geber.” (NIV)

By the grace of God, as a Pastor, I am committed to seeing the people God has called me to, fulfil their destiny. It is my life’s commitment. Our lives must glorify God. God must look at us and say, ‘these are My children’. We cannot be like Jehoshaphat; he had a fleet of trading ship, he had a vision, and he knew where he wanted to go. But guess what? Jehoshaphat’s ship never set sail. A productive soul is a grateful soul. The opposite of wealth in Hebrew is not poverty, it is actually evil. It is a big deal to God that people are productive. That is why Jesus saw a fig tree and cursed it. Some people may think Jesus’ reaction was extreme, why curse a fig tree? Was Jesus ego driven or was He just showing off His power? Not at all, that event was recorded in the scriptures to show us how God views productivity and fruitfulness.

Beginning today, we are going to learn five things we have to do to make sure that our ships set sail, to ensure that our ships do not get wrecked at the harbour. The very first thing is, we need to Stop Accusing And Excusing. Accusers always find someone to blame. It is always somebody’s fault. Excusers on the other hand always find a reason  not to do what needs to be done. They are masters of finding excuses. Someone said, ‘You can either make excuses or you make progress, but you cannot make the two.’ You cannot make progress while making excuses and you cannot make excuses while making progress. What is it going to be?

People who know me know that I hate excuses. We need to move from point A to point B; some people’s job is to try to convince me why we should not move from point A to point B. I say, ‘Don’t you get it by now? I am not interested in why we should not move from point A to point B. God wants us to go from point A to point B, that is what is going to happen regardless!’ ‘But Pastor, there is a lion on the street.’ ‘Well, we are going to face the lion because greater is He that is in me than he that is in the lion. The Lion of Judah is in me!’ ‘Oh Pastor, it is going to cost a lot of money.’ ‘The Owner of the silver and the gold is my Father.’ Then they get angry, ‘Why are you doing this? Don’t you know that it is going to cost fifty-five hours of prayer?’ My response is, ‘What is the purpose of my knees if not for prayers?’

What I am saying is very simple – stop making excuses! Stop it! Stop looking for someone to blame. Your dad is long gone, and it is not your father’s fault. ‘But Pastor, you do not understand; you were not there. My daddy did this and did that.’ Yes, he did all that and I am not saying he is right. I am saying, you are the general of your life now. Are you going to sit down and blame the system, blame the country, blame the community, blame the government and blame the political party? As a child of God, wherever you are on the face of the earth, you are designed to prosper.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, please help me to consistently keep my eyes on God alone and help me to stop making excuses or blaming, in Jesus Name. Amen!