Don't Be Bothered! Be Blessed!

Millions of Christians can't sleep at night, troubled by all kinds of worries and negative thoughts. Because they have made so many mistakes, they feel defeated, demoralized, paralyzed, and fearful.

Everywhere you look, people seem to feed on bad news; they thrive on tragedies. Many of them are fakers—they pretend to be happy, but they are in constant turmoil, fighting inward battles with no relief and no real victory.

These people are living under their circumstances. Problems with finances, trouble with a spouse or a child, worries about the job, and concerns for the future overshadow everything else in life, even the blessings of God. While most Christians want to live above their struggles, many are simply unable to find the root to the problems that plague them.

What's bothering you today? Identify your joy-stealer—worry, fear, or stress. Bind these spirits and speak to them. Jesus said He came that you might have life. Don't meditate on the lies of the enemy!

Did you know Jesus has the legal right to tell the devil to go to hell? But then, so do you!

"I Am Strong"

I received a phone call one time from John Osteen, a dear pastor friend of mine. He said, "A lady who was dying of cancer came to your crusade meeting many years ago in Houston. You told the people there was a lady in the audience who was being healed right then of cancer—and she was healed. Now she's being attacked by the devil with a different disease. Will you call her and pray for her?"

I told him I would be glad to. So I did, and she was thrilled. She said, "Brother Mike, I was a dead woman over ten years ago when you prayed the prayer of faith, and God totally healed me. Now the devil has come back with a different disease."

I said, "Will you believe the Word of God?"

She answered, "Yes."

So I said, "Then let he weak say, 'I am strong.'"

She wanted to tell me all about her disease, how it was affecting her and how afraid she was, but I told her to stop and speak the Word. I told her to repeat after me: "Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'"

As she said that, she got excited and the power of the Holy Spirit fell. She began screaming, "I am strong! I am healed!"

What happened? She got into God's glory. God said He would supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory. She got into the spirit realm, seated with Jesus.

Expose the Root

Do you know what is bothering you? Identify the root and move into a dynamic where God can supply your needs. Then you can go forward into the destiny that God has planned for you.

How to identify what's bothering you:

Make a God-connection. The Apostle Paul said God's people are bound together by a hand of constraining love. When you realize this bond with God and with fellow Christians, peace and harmony result.

Jesus began a good work on Calvary, and He will complete what He has started, as Philippians 1:6 tells us: "Be confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Identify your joy-stealers. These can be worry, fear, stress, rejection, anger, or confusion. Choose life. Don't lie in bed meditating on the lies of the enemy.

When the devil assaults your mind, resist him! Talk back to him. Identify the spirits of worry and rejection, and don't entertain them.

You must understand that you are in a war. This is not a game. The devil is accusing you before Jesus. If he shows up at your door to accuse you, and you entertain him, it is an insult to the integrity of the cross. Don't listen to the lies of the devil when God Almighty paid such a great price for you to be redeemed and to walk with dignity.

Nothing can rob you of your hold on grace, your claim to peace, and your confidence in God—without your permission. The grace of God is too great. The love and mercy of God are too strong.

The compassion and peace of God are too powerful; they cannot, and will not, leave you—unless you give the devil a legal right to steal it. You must believe God's Word.

Never release your grip on the covenant Christ made for you. The Bible says you walk by faith and not by sight.

The Key to Africa

Many years ago, God told me He was going to open up the world to the gospel and that we would see breakthroughs in different nations. God showed me He was opening up Africa, Asia, and the Soviet Union. At that time, He told me to go to Mexico to a specific hotel and pray.

One morning, the Lord told me to get up and stand on the sidewalk in a certain spot. He said someone would come up to me who would have the key to Africa. Little did I know it would be Maureen Reagan, the daughter of the President of the United States, and her husband.

They had just come back from Africa on a fact-finding mission and had met with every president on the continent. They were in Mexico to rest for a couple of days before going on to the White House. I knew none of this at the time, but the Holy Spirit did.

As they walked down the sidewalk, God said, "They are the ones. Tell them you need to talk to them about Africa." I had never even met them! I walked up and asked how they were and told them I needed to talk to them about Africa. We sat down over a meal, and I described to them a person I had seen in the Spirit. They identified him as the President of Uganda. I told them to tell him to bring his cabinet to Washington D.C. Within six weeks, the Ugandan president's cabinet was sitting in my suite, along with my wife and several other evangelical leaders.

God not only worked that situation out, but He opened up the Republic of Uganda to me. We had the greatest crusade ever in the history of Uganda!

Protect Your Joy

When the devil shows up at your house, you can be sure he isn't coming because he likes you. He has come to kill, steal, and destroy. You may think it is natural to be depressed at times.

Jesus was not defeated. No one in the Word was permanently defeated. They suffered every kind of difficult circumstance, but they remained more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.

The devil is under your feet. Do you understand what I am saying? Choose life! Don't let the devil steal your joy.

Let me tell you something about this concept of destiny: you have to hear God to know your destiny. Destiny and hearing god have taken me all over the world. We have seen over one million people genuinely born again. Praise the Lord!

If you want to understand how to overcome what's bothering you, start guarding your words. The words that come out of your mouth created heavenly deposits in God's kingdom account.

When the devil assaults your mind and gives you negative thoughts, speak the Word aloud. Line up with the Word of God, for that Word supplies your needs according to His riches in glory. You can activate it to release deposits on your interest-bearing account by your obedience through Christ.

Acknowledge Jesus as Lord

How can you overcome what is bothering you?

Acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Realize that God is on the throne. Philippians 1:12-14 talks about how Paul's circumstances turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.

"But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear."

People looked at Paul and said, "Oh, you poor thing. You are in prison. You have been stoned. You have gone through all kinds of hell."

Paul told them not to feel sorry for him. He said, "I am rejoicing. My circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel."

The word "progress" in the Greek describes pioneer woodcutters who would precede an advancing army, clearing the way of trees and brush. When the armies went through, they wanted to win a big battle. But before they could do that, there had to be the pioneer woodcutters or "progress."

What does Paul say about circumstances? They have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. No matter how the devil assaulted him—because his faith was rooted in the Word of God and grounded in the Holy Ghost—he was a Holy Ghost Woodcutter.

Empty Yourself

To get over what's bothering you, you must empty yourself. The Bible says you are to be light in a corrupt and perverse world.

Isaiah 60:1-2 says, "Arise, shine; for they light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee."

The "light" in this passage describes us and is a Greek word, which means "luminaries," or stars. In other words, you are not merely a little light, but a star!

Let me tell you about stars. I was in the former Soviet Union to conduct the first pastor's school of evangelism. I saw Russian commanders there who had binoculars, which they call star bursts.

These binoculars can pull the light off the stars and moon. They work even better than infrared lenses. You can have a totally dark night, where neither stars nor moon can be seen, yet when you look through these binoculars, it looks like you are seeing everything in daylight. There is light you can't see with the natural eye.

An unbeliever looks around and sees that everything is bad. He sees total darkness. But to the believer whose faith is grounded in Jesus Christ, it looks like daytime!

Emptying yourself means taking the form of a servant and being humble, contrary to everything the world may tell you:

The wisdom of the Greeks tells you to—know yourself.

The wisdom of the Romans says—discipline yourself.

Religion tells you to—conform yourself.

Epicureanism says to—satisfy yourself.

Education tells you to—expand yourself.

Psychology says—assert yourself.

Materialism suggests that you—please yourself.

Humanism encourages you to—believe in yourself.

Pride says—promote yourself.

But Jesus Christ tells us to—humble yourself.

Forget the Past

To get over what's bothering you, stop living in the past. Close the door on what has gone before. As Paul said, forget the things that are behind you and focus on your high calling in Jesus today.

To put the past truly behind you, you must forgive anyone who has offended you. Then, learn to rejoice!

The Bible says a cheerful heart has a continual feast. God is alive! If you understand the power of the Holy Spirit and what it can do in a human life, there is no limit to what you can be and do.

You can choose to have either a vision for the future or a continual nightmare. Choose God's vision, and get over what's bothering you!

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Dr. Michael D. Evans is the #1 New York Times bestselling author, and author of Jimmy Carter: The Liberal Left and World Chaos and Atomic Iran.