Scripture

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Isaiah 40:10 (NASB)

 

Message and Prayer

There will always be people who do not understand you, who are critical of you, who will make negative comments about you, or simply do not like you, this can be the case even if they do not know you; this could even be family members. Your natural human response is to want to defend yourself and set that person straight. However, you may already have experienced that once you have straightened that person out there are others who are doing the same or similar thing. Here is what I have learned, you can not waste your God-given energy and time addressing and confronting people who are more likely not ever going to like or accept you no matter what you do! People who come against you are mere distractions of the enemy working to keep you from focusing on achieving God’s divine plan and purpose for your life. If Jesus could ignore his critics so can you! His own siblings and the people in his hometown refused to recognize the anointing on his life. Instead of trying to get them to accept him, he went on to other villages healing and performing miracles. We all have to learn to ignore the noise and distractions and focus on being the person God designed us to be and wants us to be.

 

Listen, your God said “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous.” God is fighting your battles; He is dealing with the detractors! So why are you allowing other people and what they are thinking or saying about you to steal your Joy! While you are focused on trying to prove yourself or addressing people who are talking about you negatively, you are not focused on developing your relationship with God nor are you focused on doing what you need to do to fulfill the destiny that He has designed for you! This is the intention of the enemy, so do not allow yourself to fall into this trap!

 

Father, thank you for fighting my battles for me so that I can focus on honoring you, being my best, and doing my part to achieve my dreams and destiny. Thank you for being my refuge and my shield, my ever-present help in times of trouble. Thank you, God, for the amazing things you have in store for me and for when you prepare the table for me in the presence of my enemies!