When I first left brother Copeland’s organization in the ‘70s, and Carolyn and I launched out into our own ministry, we hit the ground running! I had been in my own ministry for about two years when we experienced a mountain of financial problems.
The devil knocked the props right out from under us. Up to that point, we hadn’t struggled financially. Our ministry was young, but it was flourishing. But things started looking pretty bad. Suddenly, it seemed like our whole ministry was going to come crashing down.
As I was in my bedroom praying about this, fear kept trying to rise up on the inside of me. The devil told me, “You failed in your business, and you’re going to fail in your ministry. You always get up to this point and then you hit rock bottom. You did it in business and you’re going to do it in ministry.”
I am telling you that fear tried to grip me through these negative thoughts, but I knew enough about the Word to cast down those imaginations. But just as soon as I would cast them down, they would come back again. So I kept on rebuking them, and I kept praying in the Holy Spirit, but I kept hearing the devil calling me a failure. “You’re a failure! This is as far as you’re going to go. I’m going to take everything you’ve got.” He kept going on and on and on.
But, at some point, he called me a failure one too many times.
Suddenly coming out of me was this righteous indignation, and I knew it wasn’t just my voice but the voice of the Holy Spirit. I heard the Holy Spirit say, “You want to talk about failure, let’s talk about you, Satan!” The Holy Spirit, through me, started telling the devil how he got kicked out of heaven; how he was defeated at the Cross; and how he was stripped of the keys of death, hell and the grave. And then I’ll never forget this, I said, “Now, Satan, we’ve talked about your failure, now let’s talk about your future! That ain’t too bright either! You’re headed for the Lake of Fire. And guess where I’m headed?” I’m headed for victory!
I came out of that room with a shout in my heart and confidence in My God’s ability to see me through. And let me tell you what, God met my financial need during that season, and He’s been doing it ever since. And He wants to do the same for YOU!
Why did I tell you that story today? Because I want you to get tired of the devil calling you a failure. I want you to get tired of the lies that he is trying to get you to believe. It’s time for you to get mad at the devil and tell the devil about all his failures. Quit listening to him talk about yours. You are not a failure! You are a child of the Most High God. You have God Almighty on your side! And if God be for you, who can be against you?
Confession: “If God is for me, nobody can be against me. I am a child of the Most High God!”