Letting go of the inevitable

   

As painful as it is sometimes, it is never easy when it comes to letting go of someone that has become such an integral part of your life, regardless of the time spent together. Truth be told, for the most part, the letting go was never premeditated from either end, but through unexplained circumstances, these were the cards that life dealt you.

Funny thing is you knew that this day would come, and the emotions, disappointments and the feelings of lost, were just that the inevitable. Be it knowingly or unknowingly this person has become so woven into the fabric of your life that this letting go process begins to highlight their real value and some of the beautiful experiences they’ve afforded you.

It isn’t that you didn’t notice their value before, but the extent of their value during this letting go process begins to unveil roots that you could not have possibly imagine were there. Those origins became challenging to observe, because as we all do,  through no coercion of others decides to enter this unrealistic world believing that what we have with them will always be forever……..

It is almost similar to death, in that the memory of that person becomes amplified to you, due to the finality of them not existing in your life anymore. Such as their smile, their voice, their touch their laughter and the very thought of the precious times shared with them. Unfortunately, it is these events and moments that have been transformed from an actual experience to archives now tucked away in the memory banks of our minds that repetitiously without warning invade our thoughts, making the letting go process that much difficult.

Sometimes I sit and wonder clandestinely, why it is that life will finally allow you to have something that you’ve waited on for so long. Something so precious, promising and conjuring up so much joy, knowing sufficiently well that there was an expiration date attached to it from its beginning. One must ask, what is the purpose of this? What was the purpose of the wait, and fantasies when the time of having it is so brief?

Letting go of the inevitable speaks to such situations and events, it speaks in a loud voice saying, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IS FOREVER NO MATTER HOW WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL, MAGNIFICENT OR COMFORTING YOU MAY FIND IT TO BE, THE FACTS ARE IT IS LITERALLY BEING LEASED TO YOU!

In spite of this seemingly grim view, I have simultaneously discovered that the love that was once shared between two people by far outweigh the letting go process. How you may ask? Well, the love factor was the primary ingredient that altered the course of both parties. It was this love that took these individuals from two entirely different paths of life, which may have not been what they wanted it to be. However, this same desire amazingly brought them together and provided something so special, unique and unimaginable that even the thought of letting go of the inevitable was at best a distant fantasy.

Just try to imagine for a moment you’re on a beach or a quiet golf course walking with that significant other, expressing your dreams, aspirations, what you think of each other. A magnificent sunset, a gentle breeze with a complementing cloudless sky. To sum it all up, an unveiling of a utopia type experience. You smile, you hug, you kiss and just begin to envelop into each other's love while gradually coming to a complete stop in your walk. Looking at each other face to face and just absorbing the beauty of this person that you care so much about, knowing the reality that no matter how beautiful this moment is. Eventually, the letting go process will always be the inevitable via by death or by other means.

I am sure we all wish we had a magic wand to somehow zap the unwelcome things out of our lives. Nevertheless, reality stands as a guard peeking at his watch making sure no one and I mean absolutely no one goes into overtime as it relates to their assigned times in their being together.

Letting go of the inevitable, also means that you can not have the pleasure of the one that changed the course of your world anymore, it requires you to pretend as if what you created together was fictitious and at best an extended dream. For those that will experience the letting go process by means other than death. Have to painfully watch from a distance while others fulfill and enjoy what they thought would have been forever for them.

In my view, I see this as torture, and as an undeserved punishment that has zero justification! Letting go of the inevitable clearly says to us, this is a reality that is in living color, and we are apart of a cycle in which we have little say. Why? Because life is just that a cycle that everyone who enters this world automatically becomes apart of this cycle and have no other positive options other than the instructions provided to us by God concerning these delicate matters. King Solomon said that all things happen to all alike. Suggesting no one is exempted, but for some odd reason everyone when falling in love believes that they can challenge this process and that they would successfully achieve the forever syndrome.

King Solomon in his proverbs said, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” Ecclesiastes 1:9 suggesting everything including relationships has its assigned time to exist, from being tangible to becoming intangible. Solomon compounds his point by saying, “To everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1. Again he’s placing emphasis on time and purpose rather than the fantasy of forever. Job who was stripped of everything that he valued, cherished and adored also knew that one day the reality of losing it all would manifest itself when he said “For the thing, I greatly feared has come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me” Job 3:25. Clearly, Solomon and Job had an insight or should we say accepted the reality of life and that is nothing is forever, and all things are changing even as we are presently intertwined with it.

I believe the agony and torment of letting go intensify the thought that you now have to return to your former life without that person who became responsible for pulling you away from it all, facing the uncertainty of being alone, when you were well adjusted before their entrance into your life. Everyone’s question in this scenario is “What do I do now? Not to mention the thought of, “Should I risk doing this all over again?” Solomon again speaks to this reality when he said, “A wise man sees the evil (The reality of things) beyond where he’s at presently and prepares himself, however the foolish walk into it (his unrealistic world of forever) and is punished Proverbs 22:3,  or issued with the notice that reads, “The inevitable of letting go”

Guess what? After intense pondering, I believe I finally got it, yes! That’s right I got it. No one ever promised us that love was forever or the one we share or shared our love with was forever. This was our making, and understanding we were the ones that told each other “I will love you forever, I will be with you forever, and nothing will ever separate us. Everyday building on a fantasy that both parties knew would crumble eventually.

Truth is letting go of the inevitable was always a reality from the beginning, we just did what we still do, and that is creating our own realities to sugar coat the inevitable of letting go.

Heavenly father thank you once again for your word and wisdom, also for the clarity that your word has brought to these perplexing areas of our lives. It is my prayer for all readers of this article that they would realize and understand that the only thing that has forever attached to it in this world is the things that we do for you. I also pray that you give us the wisdom to focus more on the time and purpose than the thing or person so that your divine plan can run its course in our lives. I ask these things in Jesus name. Amen!

Written by: Kevin L A Ewing

kevinewing@coralwave.com

God’s Favor, How Does It Work?

God’s favor always precedes his blessings. This is by far one of God's most mysterious acts that unfortunately go unnoticed by the average believer or person, for that matter.

Our teaching today is, by far, not only an interesting one but an informative one, and that will cause you to look at the favor of God from an entirely different perspective. I can certainly promise you that you’ll discover that the favor of God is indeed a requirement for any blessing that you’ll ever receive from him in this teaching.

What exactly is favor? Well, favor is defined as excessive kindness or unfair partiality; preferential treatment: to treat some people with favor and others with neglect. Simply put, to do something for someone, with or without any cause on their end, that you would not do for others in the same position.

Bishop T. D Jakes has coined the phrase, “Favor ain't fair.” Other believers speak of themselves as being highly favored by God. Some even pray for the favor of God during certain troubles and trials in their lives.

The reality is, God’s favor is automatic when we do exactly what he requires of us. Secondly, it is the favor of God that sustains and maintains us during our times of afflictions before our blessings. It is a must that I inculcate this into your understanding, And that is, favor always precedes the blessings! Now, as most of us would know, to be blessed is to literally be empowered, authorized, or sanctioned. The Bible tells us that when God blessed them (Adam and Eve), they became authorized or empowered to do five things they could not do before the blessings. They were: To be fruitful, multiply, replenish, subdue, and finally dominate Genesis 1:28. As an added fact, the Bible further states that the Lord's blessings make one rich or increase him/her, and he adds no sorrow to it Proverbs 10:22.

Isaac, the promised son of Abraham, I found to be the perfect example of God’s favor preceding the blessing. His life gives a clear-cut view of how God’s favor works, not just for him but for all of us who decide to obey God’s unadulterated proven word that cannot return unto him without accomplishing what it was sent out to do.

Scripture revealed a famine in the land during Isaac's days, besides that of the famine of the days of Abraham. Isaac’s immediate thought was to go into Egypt like his father did during his time of famine. However, God appeared to him and insist that he stay in Gerar of Philistine, a place where the famine was intense. God promised Isaac that he will be with him and bless him, and also bless his seed, and make him great beyond his wildest imagination.

Let’s just pause here for a second. Isn't it just like God to make these extraordinary promises when there is absolutely no single thread of evidence to support what he is saying? Picture for a second, you’re at a church service, broke busted, and definitely disgusted.

Then a man or woman of God decides to pull you out of the crown and begin saying to you thus sad the lord, “I see finances being repaired, I see you being wealthy beyond your greatest expectation, and I see you assisting others in their finances” It is only normal that you ask yourself the question, “is he talking about me”?. So, you can only imagine what Isaac must have contemplated when God said to him to remain in this desolate, barren place, for it is there I will bless you.

Nevertheless, Isaac obeyed God and stayed despite what was seemingly obvious. Interestingly enough, Isaac sowed in the land just like every other occupant of that country. According to the Bible, Isaac was the only one that received a hundredfold in that same year Genesis 26:12.

Now, let’s break this scripture down to get clarity on how the favor of God is at work here. Firstly, the scripture did not say Isaac reaped a hundredfold. Instead, it said he received a hundredfold; there is a difference. To receive is to take into one's possession (something offered or delivered): as in receiving a gift, it also means having something delivered or brought to you. On the other hand, the word to reap is defined as getting a return, recompense, or result of something at an appointed time because of what was sown. If I planted a mango seed, then according to nature's laws, it must produce mangos during that season only. Nevertheless, because Isaac obeyed God, his obedience caused him to receive and not reap, suggesting God gave or delivered the hundredfold to him before the time appointed for it to come forth,  which is the favor of God in action. Wow! What a stunning revelation.

Now, I made it abundantly clear that God’s favor always proceeds the blessings at the beginning of this article. At present most of you reading this article right now believe I have it all wrong, In that when God gave Isaac the hundredfold that, that was the blessing, right?

Well, the truth according to scripture is, the receiving of the hundredfold was, in fact, the favor of God, because in that same passage of scripture, it reads God blessed Isaac after the receiving of the hundredfold….. Wow, what a revelation!

My dear readers, if this hasn’t enlightened your understanding, then I don’t know what will. Just for a moment, consider the promises/blessings God has made to you or what has been prophesied over your life. Chances are, most of those blessings or prophecies have yet to come to pass. Now take another look at your life while you were waiting on the blessings. Can’t you see the favor of God extended throughout all areas of your life?

For the most part, we become so caught up with the blessings set for an appointed time that we take for granted the many favors bestowed upon us, advancing us to those appointed blessings. I clearly understand how one can overlook these favors because these favors come in two categories, and they are: 1) just enough and 2) not enough. As an example, your car gas gauge in on empty, and you’re fully aware that you can not make it to your next destination. Then out of the clear blue, someone gives you five dollars. It’s not much but just enough to get you to your destination; this is favor. Your light bill is due, and it’s $120.00; the Lord laid it on someone’s heart to give you $40.00; it’s not enough, but you owe $40.00 less than you originally owed; this is also favor. We don't see it as favor in both cases because it doesn't cover our bills' entirety. In all honesty, how many of you did not make the following statement, “Why God just don’t send the full amount”?

The truth is favor’s purpose in your life is not so much to provide some resources but to assist you mainly with the trust issues that you have with God. As a reference point, have you ever noticed that just enough and not enough shows up in the nick of time? Secondly, favor’s job is to also eliminate worry; after proving God by his favor in your many circumstances, you should by now have developed trust and reduce anxiety with a certainty that he will provide. 

So, my dear readers, it is these seemingly insignificant acts that all of us take for granted when the favor of God is running its full course. Please let us pause here and begin to ask God to forgive us for our ungratefulness and selfish attitudes towards his divine favor. Now, let’s start to thank him for all his marvelous favors seen and unseen that have brought us thus far despite our murmuring and constant complaining.

As a final point, my beloved readers, all favors from God are the prerequisites to the blessings of God. So, now that you've scrutinized your life based on this teaching and have discovered the numerous favors God has bestowed upon you, then make no mistake, your blessings are guaranteed, signed, sealed, and shall be delivered to you in God's appointed time.

Heavenly Father, I thank you that you are God and God alone. It is because of your sovereignty that no one is qualified to question the favor you've bestowed upon us. I thank you for your favor; that is the evidence of the pending blessings that you've promised us. My prayer Lord is that the spirit of ungratefulness and the lack of unthankfulness be destroyed and instantly be replaced with a spirit of thanksgiving and appreciation towards your many blessings. I ask these things in the matchless and marvelous name of your son and our savior Jesus Christ. Amen!

Written by: Kevin L A Ewing

ewinglakevin@icloud.com
kevinlaewing.blogspot.com

Spiritual Captivity

Captivity is the state of being captured, imprisoned, detained, or held against one's will. In all cases, the one held captive is being held or arrested by some physical means such as prison cells, handcuffs, shackles, chains, fetters, or even another person.

I needed to expand on the definition of captivity because of our teaching today on spiritual captivity. I promise you that this teaching would cause you to re-evaluate the cause of your present state and make the necessary adjustments to appreciate where you are and why you are not where you would want to be.

Even though captivity is defined as the state of being captured, there exist two types of captivity: the captivity that we see and the one that we don't see. The unseen captivity can be quite challenging and frustrating due to our inability to see what keeps us from progressing and succeeding. There is nothing visible or presented as evidence of this imprisonment or detention, which we know we're in because of our lack of progress.

I am sure by now you must have figured out that spiritual captivity is the state of being captured without any tangible, physical, or material evidence of that captivity. However, your life displays all and more of the signs and evidence of one that has been detained or imprisoned due to your inability to succeed or make progress.

Firstly, being imprisoned, detained, or captured restricts or limits one of their freedoms. Better yet, they can see success, freedom, joy, peace, and all things good they desire but do not possess the ability to achieve because of the obvious; they are being restrained or held against their will.

In the book of Job 42:10, my attention was without delay arrested when I read the following statement, "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job." This raised eyebrows because nowhere in the book of Job have I read or seen any evidence or anything remotely close to even suggesting that Job was being physically held against his will. After all, in essence, the meaning of captivity is to physically restrain one against their will.

So if Job was not being held against his will by any physical means, what prevented him from achieving or succeeding like any normal human being? To understand this incredible revelation clearly, let's look at one of the Apostle Paul's statements to the church of Corinth. "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" 2 Corinthians 4:18.

The Apostle made it crystal clear that being physically attacked, restrained, or challenged is far better than being spiritually attacked, restrained, or challenged. At least physically, you can see what is attacking you, and now you have an opportunity to set up some sort of defensive mechanism. On the other hand, spiritual attacks and challenges completely blindside you, leaving you confused and frustrated because you are at a loss as to the origin of this attack.

So, let's go back to the beginning of Job's dilemma to ascertain the clarity of his captivity that was by non-physical means. The bible states that one day the sons of God presented themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord began to inquire of Satan if he had noticed his servant Job and how perfect he was on the earth? Satan revealed something so interesting in his response to God, which speaks to spiritual things or things that we can't see but very much do exist.

Satan said, "Have not thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and all that he has on every side? Job 1:10. Hedge? What hedge is Satan talking about? Now, as a reminder, God and Satan are both spiritual beings able to see in the spiritual and physical world. So Satan revealed what he saw around Job and all that concerned him. He saw in the spirit realm an invisible barrier that served mainly two purposes 1) to prevent all weapons that or will ever be formed against Job from prospering and 2) to protect, sustain and maintain all that is on the inside of the hedge such as Job's blessings, talents, gifts, children, properties, etc. As an insert here, every human has been outfitted with this hedge, and this hedge can only be removed under two conditions. 1) In Job's case, God removed his hedge, and 2) Man's disobedience to God's word breaks the hedge, allowing the enemy to get in Ecclesiastes 10:8.

I hope you are taking note, Christians, because this is where most of us are. Job's life is now about to take a dramatic turn in events when God had decided to remove this invisible hedge and gave Satan power over everything that Job had. Satan being given power over Job suggests he had authority and dominion over him, meaning Job is no longer the head, nor is he no longer above but beneath.

Question! Could it be that where you are in your life right now, no money, bills are overdue, kids are sick, pains and diseases have invaded your body, marriage is a disaster, your job is the pits, being unemployed, and the list goes on. You have prayed consistently, fasted over and over again, sent in monetary seeds to different ministries for that miracle or breakthrough, and ABSOLUTELY nothing has happened. As a matter of fact, things are getting worse, and you feel God is ignoring you. Could it possibly be God has removed your hedge and allowed Satan to have power over all that you have so that you can be introduced to the real you? Or could it be your opposition to God's rules has placed you in your current position?

Whatever the case, maybe you have indeed met the qualifications for these events in your life. The word of God clearly states that God will not put more on you than you can bear. When he removed your hedge and allowed you to be spiritually caged by Satan, he knew you were and can handle what you are experiencing and, in the case of others, about to experience. At this point, there is no prayer or fasting that can help you. No human being can assist you. Just like Job's friends, they could not help him because God has designed it In such a way that no one or nothing can assist you. YOU HAVE TO WALK THIS ONE OUT ALONE! It is a part of your destiny with a tremendous reward for your patience and faithfulness, as you will read later.

Yes! Just like you, I am tired of the God will bless you; God has something better for you; God only chastises those whom he loves, and the all too famous one, your breakthrough is right around the corner. The truth is these folks telling us these things are very much correct! However, we have no choice but to comprehend that this God we said is always good. All the time he is good is the same one who has given permission to our adversary to spiritually cage us, which has resulted in us not being able to increase and succeed physically due to us being imprisoned spiritually.

Again, like Job's friends, some are convinced that there is sin in your life, or your wicked ways are catching up with you, or there must be something you have done wrong! I am here to say to you today you have done nothing wrong or at least deserve the pain and suffering that you are going through

Again, Job, just like so many of us, has been placed in spiritual captivity. This captivity is the worst of its kind because our hedges have been removed, allowing those weapons that were and are being formed against us to now prosper. Also, what the hedge once protected, sustained, and maintained, has now become disabled. As a result, you lose the home, car, family, Job, opportunities, basically everything, but hold on, this is not the end. As a matter of fact, this is the beginning of something new. Something if patiently endured will supersede your greatest expectation. Scripture tells us that Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the hearts of men, what God has PREPARE FOR THOSE THAT LOVE HIM. This scripture is speaking to a select group, and that group is those that love God. Question! Do you still love God despite your losses, disappointments, broken marriage, frustration, and the reoccurring bad things that have been happening in your life that seemingly have no end?

Scripture reveals that after Job was informed of his losses, including that of his ten children, he arose, tore his clothes, shaved his head, dropped to the ground, and worshiped. How does one do that in the face of such difficulty? Only those God has chosen to walk a particular road, and simultaneously these same people value and appreciate their God above anything else in this world. As proof of this, Job said, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and it is he that has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord" wow!

Every time I read Job's statement after his losses, especially concerning the death of his children, I am almost moved to tears to see this man's commitment and resilience amid so much grief and agony. After discovering this truth of spiritual captivity, I realized that there is absolutely nothing one can do about this state other than praying for patience and endurance. My mind began to gravitate to the scripture that admonishes us to do precisely what Job did, and that is, "In everything give thanks, for this is the WILL of GOD in Christ Jesus concerning us 1Thessalonians 5:18. It is a must that I make unequivocally clear that the word "everything" means the good and evil and not just the good as most Christian has been led to believe.

Finally, as we've read earlier, the same God that caused him to be in spiritual captivity was the God that turned or released Job from his spiritual captivity and gave him double what he originally had. The bottom line is that you do not have the privilege of suggesting what road God should assign you. All lanes have been determined before the foundation of the world. You just have to patiently wait until God decides to turn your captivity. However, he's promised you that if you delight yourself in him, he'll give you the desires of your heart Psalms 37: 4.

Heavenly Father, your works, ways, and thoughts are far beyond our understanding. You've said in your word that as far as the heavens are from the earth, so are your ways and thoughts different from ours. This is the case, Father, because I know there is no compromise regarding your word. I pray that you furnish the readers of this article with a supernatural ability to be patient in enduring the assigned time of their spiritual captivity in the matchless and marvelous name of Jesus Christ. Amen!

Written by: Kevin L. A Ewing

kevinewing@coralwave.com