Don't Let the Haters Get to You

Why You’ll Have to Fight With Prayer?

Face-to-Face with Thirty-Thousand-Foot Oppositions, Barriers, and Setbacks – Part 3

It’s okay to be discouraged; it’s not okay to stay there. Normal people remain discouraged. The uncommon find a way to get out of discouragement and into encouragement. In order to make such a shift, you need some inspiration.

You ever wonder why someone like Joel Osteen has haters? Joel Osteen has haters because some don’t understand his style of teaching and preaching because it’s not normal. What he does is get you to move from discouragement to encouragement. He understands that your thirty-thousand-foot-prayers will lead you into the face of opposition and haters. A person who is encouraged is an enemy to those who are discouraged. Discouragement and encouragement can’t coexist. The default emotion is discouragement. You might feel as if you’re walking through a proverbial “valley of the shadow of death” and he understands that and he understands that you will be under attack. So, what does one do so that one doesn’t allow their haters to get the best of him or her?

Let’s take a look at and discuss what Nehemiah did in the face of his adversaries.

“Then I prayed, “Hear us, our God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land!

Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders.””
‭‭- bible.com/116/neh.4.4-5.nlt

There are two thoughts that are revealed here: 1) Nehemiah did the uncommon, he prayed and 2) he remembers he’s not doing this on his own accord but with a higher calling.

You know how to make God restless.
“Never stop praying.”
– bible.com/bible/116/1TH.5.17.NLT

Nehemiah did what was not normal, he prayed. You see a normal person would have done one of two things in the face of opposition: 1) retaliate or 2) leave.

When you find something worth fighting for, you can fight for it with prayer. Never stop praying until you see the results you need and desire to see. Prayer isn’t over until you see results. No results means you haven’t prayed.

“Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.
O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the lord.
Give the lord no rest until he completes his work, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.” – Isaiah (bible.com/bible/116/ISA.62.1,6-7.NLT)

“I will not stop praying for her until…”
Even if you have to get some help praying, don’t stop until… Sometimes we are too relaxed when situations need our full attention and it might require 24 hour, around the clock prayers. Isn’t your loved-one worth you organizing a 24 hour wall of prayer? What about your marriage? Your children? Your finances? Your city? Your education? Your job? Your health? Your community? Your life?!

Your friends should be willing to volunteer for a position on your 24-hour wall of prayer. The point is, sometimes you must get aggressive and be like Isaiah, “I will not keep still” and “I cannot remain silent.”

We’re instructed to give God no rest, that’s zero rest for God when we need His movement in our lives. When was the last time you interrupted God’s rest? Never? Sounds pretty common. That might be why you didn’t get the results you needed when you prayed. Your thirty-thousand-foot prayer will require some restless nights, not because you’re restless, but because you’re giving God no rest. Could it be that your answered prayer isn’t answered because you aren’t persistent enough, you don’t want it bad enough? If you want to save your son or daughter badly enough, you’d stop at nothing. In fact you’d give your life. In the same way that’s what it takes when we’re in the middle of a thirty-thousand-foot prayer.

You act like you’ve been set up for success.
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”
– bible.com/111/rom.5.9.niv

If God is willing to save you, through His own blood, while undeserving of any of His benefits, how much more is He willing to do for you, when you do deserve His support? What do I mean by this? An ordinary person does little of nothing for or in the name of God. Let’s just be serious about that. While you might like to think normal people make God their priority, they don’t. The last thing a normal person wants to do is something God-inspired.

Think about it, normal people don’t want to love their neighbors, forgive their relatives, do good to their enemies, go out of their way for a stranger, visit someone in prison, feed the less fortunate, pray without ceasing, speak to mountains, give to their local church, be a model employee, etc.

But let’s just flip this script. What would happen if a person followed God’s lead? What if they decided to rebuild the wall like Nehemiah? What if they did accept the mission to restore their city? What if they accepted the call to aid in abolishing racism or human trafficking? Or feeding the hungry? Or mentoring someone less fortunate? Or starting the business they’ve had in their thoughts? Or convince others to abandon their bad habits? How much more would God do on their behalf to see to it, they accomplished the mission they set out on?

I think I know what would happen, your actions would set you up for success in the face of your opposition.

It gives me great joy to expose uncommon truth. In this case it’s true that not everyone will accomplish what they set out to do. The reason being is most will never pray to God about it. The second reason is that they give up when they face opposition as if that’s a sign that the prayer is going unanswered. Opposition, setback, and adversity is simply a sign to open up your mouth to pray some more. Think of it as God’s reminder for you to pray.

This is a thirty-thousand-foot prayer; who said it would be easy or over quickly? That’s not how it works. To be big requires you to go big. It’s you fighting in a realm that normal people don’t and it takes the actions normal people won’t.

Thanks for visiting NoLongerCommon.com. Share this message with someone on the verge of giving up on their dreams due to opportion, setback or adversity.

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