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IF IT DIDN’T KILL YOU, IT MADE A MISTAKE!!

‘Out of the eater came forth food, Out of the strong came forth sweetness’ Judg. 14:14 WEB

I once heard the story of a man who was about jumping into a river to drown himself. An onlooker rushed to save him.

‘Why on earth would you want to kill yourself?’ he shouted as he restrained him from jumping. The attempting suicider began narrating his story.

Have you been through some of those pressures, disappointments and low times? Have you ever felt really depressed or unfulfilled about life? Have you lived in the thickness of frustration or regret over poor choices you’ve sometimes made?

But just in case it hasn’t really dawned on you, the news is hell’s best shots didn’t kill you! The enemy didn’t intend that story to be a testimony you’ll share. He intended it to be a report of a loss. Maybe not necessarily a loss of your physical life, but a loss of anything and everything that is life about you- the life in your future, in your marriage, in your career, in your dreams and much more.

Wouldn’t you take a moment to be grateful to God- more than ever before- realizing that many others would have killed themselves if they went through half of the pressures you’ve been through? True, maybe life hasn’t been all you could possibly hope for, but aren’t you glad and grateful to yet have it all together in the land of the living?

Think about it: the hells you’ve been through could very possibly have consumed others; the things that broke just a bone in you could have totally paralyzed others; the thing that spoilt your evening could have ended some other person’s life. Where all you lost was a relationship, some person could have lost their sanity. Where all you lost was your virginity, some person could have lost their wombs. And where you lost your womb, some person could have lost their lives.

‘But I wish my life were better!’ you’d say… Sure, we all do- but I’m telling you to still be grateful because it could have been worse!

I wonder what hell has taken off you or whether it has scored a victory in your life…

I think about the story of the man in the scriptures (Mark 5) from whom Jesus sent out a ‘legion’ of demons into a nearby ‘large’ herd of swine. The account has it that the herd of two thousand swine immediately ‘ran violently down’ the steep place and drowned in the sea.

Isn’t it amazing that the things we’ve made it through over the years- and somehow held together by God’s involvement- could violently kill two thousand others who just don’t have the quality you have within!

‘Is there not a King within you?’ Micah 4.9 (ruminate on this)

Here’s what I think many Christians forget: If it could have killed you, it would have! You don’t have all you have together or the life you have right now because of the leniency of the enemy- you have it because of the sustaining grace of God.

It’s just like Jezebel, who sent a ‘messenger’ to Elijah to tell him she’d kill him by the next day. (1 Kings 19:2). If she really could kill him, she would have sent assassins, not a messenger or a message.

That’s the point— if the devil could kill you, he wouldn’t give you a bad dream or a threat. If he really had it in him to make a wreck of your hopes, career, ministry or marriage, he wouldn’t discuss it with you, or scare you about it. All of that is just to make you live a life of fear and create previously ‘non-existent’ doors for him to operate.

So remain persistently thankful for all you’ve made it through. Remain uncompromisingly thankful in all you’re going through, and remain doggedly aware of the Grace that pulls you through.

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(REMINDER)

I’m grateful for the strength to survive,

for the Grace that keeps hopes alive,

for the peace that assures regardless of the strife,

and the joy that never leaves my life.

In case you’ve forgotten, the war has swung in your favor

You might have lost battles, but in Christ Jesus, you’ve already won the war.

For all you’ve come through, the war has swung in your favor!

‘Out of the eater came forth food, out of the strong came forth sweetness’ (Judg 14:14 WEB)

The eater was meant to eat you up, but God kept you from that and it ended up feeding you. With this joyous experience, life can never be the same again; you’re wiser, stronger and better. The fighter in you has been awoken. Your passions have been stirred.

So hear me again, If it didn’t kill you, it made a mistake.

The accident or the sickness should have taken your life, but since it didn’t, you now live valuing and making every breath count. Literally it fed you. It energized your mind and propelled you towards your future. It made you alive!

And the strong brings forth sweetness for you. The strong challenges, the failures and the pressures should have knocked you out and made you lose it all but no! They aided you.

Now you’re fed. Now, sweetness has come to you. Can you smell the freshness in the atmosphere after the storm?

Be strong. Live. You’ve never been this strong or graced!