Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week (21 page)

The Scripture says in Luke 1:41, “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb” (
AMP
).

At that moment Elizabeth knew the child was alive. She knew the promise would come to pass!

God has designated people to come into your life to make your baby, your dream or promise, leap. These are positive, faith-filled people who will help bring your dreams to life and your promises to pass.

Mary, of course, was a divine connection. She was ordained by the Creator of the universe to bring hope, faith, and vision into Elizabeth’s life. She didn’t even have to say anything profound. She just said hello, and the promise within Elizabeth came to life.

God has already lined up your Mary. When you meet the right people, they can simply say “Good morning,” and your dreams will leap. That’s a supernatural connection.

But here’s a key: If you keep answering the door and your dreams never leap, you’re answering the door for the wrong people. Don’t answer the door for a gossiper, a complainer, or a user. Answer the door only for those who inspire you, encourage you, and challenge you to fulfill your God-given destiny.

Mary was pregnant with Jesus, the Son of God. Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist. When the promise in Mary connected with the promise in Elizabeth, there was an explosion of faith. When you meet and mix with the right people, when you connect with big dreamers and big doers, then the promise in you will connect with the promises in them. You will see God show up and do something supernatural in your lives.

Like Elizabeth, you are carrying a promise. You know God has spoken to you, but maybe it’s been a long time. Maybe you haven’t felt any movement on the inside. Now you’re thinking,
Did I hear God right? Is the promise still in me? Am I still giving birth to this promise?

I believe God sent me today to be one of your Marys. Concerning that dream or hope of yours you’re about to give up on, God is saying, “It will come to pass.” The promise is in you. It’s alive and well. You may not see anything happening. You may feel that you didn’t hear God correctly. But God is still on the throne.

Right now He is arranging things in your favor. What He promised you, He will bring to pass. If you will receive those words by faith, you’ll feel something down in your spirit; a kick, a push, a shove. What is that? That’s your promise coming alive.

You are a child of the Most High God. You have seeds of greatness on the inside. There is no mistake you’ve made that is too large for the mercy of God. There is no obstacle too high, no sickness too great, and no dream too big. You and God are a majority.

When you hear words like that, let them take root and you will feel faith springing up. That’s your baby, your promise, starting to leap. Before long you’ll be convinced that you can achieve all that you desire through
God’s plan. But if you are to become all He created you to be, you must fill your inner circle with people of vision, faith, and encouragement.

It’s not too late. You’re not too old. You haven’t made too many mistakes. The promise is still alive. Now it’s up to you to eliminate those who are holding you back and replace them with those who lift you up. God has already sent them to your door! Let them in, then as iron sharpens iron, you will cut through your challenges and rise higher. I believe and declare that just like with Elizabeth, you will give birth to every promise God put in your heart, and you will become everything God created you to be!

W
e all have unfair things happen to us. We can choose to cling to that hurt and let it destroy our day-to-day happiness and poison our futures, or we can choose to release the hurt and trust God to make it up to us. You may think you can’t forgive those who’ve hurt you, whether friends, a spouse, or co-workers. But you don’t have to forgive them for their sakes; you forgive for your own sake.

When we forgive others, we take away their power to hurt us. The mistake we make so often is to hold on to hurt. We go around bitter and angry, but all we’re doing is allowing those who hurt us to control our lives. The abuser, bully, or critic isn’t hurt by our anger and bitterness. We’re just poisoning our own lives with it.

I know people who are still mad at others who are long dead and gone. They’re still bitter at their parents or a former boss or an ex-spouse who is no longer living. It’s bad enough that someone hurt you once; don’t let them continue to hurt you by staying angry. When you forgive someone, you set a prisoner free. That prisoner isn’t the person who hurt you; the prisoner is you.

Someone may have lied about you, betrayed you, or mistreated you, but what they did was not enough to keep you from your destiny. You cannot let one divorce, one betrayal, or one bad childhood experience keep you from the awesome future God has in store for you.

Joseph’s brothers betrayed him. They sold him into slavery. He could
have been angry and let that one bad break, that one injustice, steal his destiny, but he let it go and moved forward to claim his rewards. There is no telling how many people in Joseph’s time were kept from God’s best because they went for revenge instead.

Don’t let that be you. Your destiny is too great to let what someone did to you keep you from moving forward. Forgiveness is not about being nice and kind; it’s about letting go so you can claim the amazing future that awaits you.

I know there are valid reasons to be angry. Maybe you were mistreated at a young age. It wasn’t your fault. You had no control over it, and what was done to you was wrong. Forgiving doesn’t mean you’re excusing anything or anyone. It doesn’t mean you’re lessening the offense. I’m not saying you have to go be friends with someone who hurt you. I’m simply saying to let it go for your own sake. Quit dwelling on the offense. Quit replaying it in your memory. Quit giving it time and energy.

You have a destiny to fulfill. You have a joyful life to claim. Every time you let past hurts consume your thoughts, you are just reopening an old wound.

When you hold on to a hurt, you never let it heal. It’s like a bruise that won’t go away. If you’ve ever hit your arm and bruised it and then had someone bump it, you know how it hurts. You pull back because the bruised area is very sensitive. You become overly protective and you make sure no one gets close. In the same way, when you’ve been bruised emotionally, you tend to be overly sensitive. If your hurt isn’t allowed to heal, the smallest bump will cause you to be defensive. You can’t develop healthy relationships while your emotional bruises remain unhealed.

I know women who don’t trust any men because one man hurt them. One messed-up male did them wrong, and they’ve never let it go. What’s the problem? They’re still bruised. They’re defensive and distrustful and they think every man is out to hurt them, so they can’t have healthy relationships.

It’s not just women, of course. I had a man tell me a few months ago that he liked listening to me speak, but he didn’t really trust me. I asked him why and he said twenty years earlier he was on the committee for his church and the pastor wronged him. He was hurt and he left the church. He’s been holding on to that hurt year after year. Now he thinks all ministers are bad.

He is still bruised. The Scripture says that Jesus was sent “to announce release to the captives… to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity]” (Luke 4:18
AMP
). This indicates that when we’re bruised, we’re not free. Unfair things happen to all of us. If you want to see that bruise go away and walk into the freedom God has in store for you, you have to forgive the wrongs. You have to let go of what somebody did and move forward with your life.

There’s nothing the enemy would love any more than for you to let one bad thing that happened—one messed-up person who did you wrong, or one injustice—ruin the rest of your life. Put your foot down and say, “My destiny is too great, my future is too bright, and my God is too big to let an old hurt cause me to be sour and bitter and stuck where I am. No, I’ll shake it off and press forward into the bright future God has in store for me.”

A woman recently told me that when she was a child, she was abused by her father. It was very unfair. She grew up confused and ashamed. She thought it was her fault. She didn’t trust men. But she would do anything to try to win their approval. That’s all she had known. On the inside she was bitter and angry. She had a chip on her shoulder.

For twenty-six years, she did not speak to her father. She hated him. Every time she thought about him, she became angry and bitter. But one day she heard me talking about forgiveness. She took it to heart when I said no hurt or offense should keep us from our destinies because when we forgive, it frees us to move forward.

At thirty-six years of age, she traveled to another city and found her father. When he answered the door and saw her, he didn’t know what to do. She said, “Dad, I’ve hated you every day of my life, but I can’t live with that poison in me anymore. I’m not allowing you to mess up my life. I’m forgiving you for everything you’ve done.”

She told me that when she walked away from her father that day, it was like she’d been released from prison. Up to that point she had floundered in life, jumped in and out of relationships, and failed at several jobs. But today, ten years later, she is happily married with three beautiful children. She owns her own business and she is very successful. She says life could not be any better. Her recovery began when she let her hurt go.

Forgive so you can be free. Don’t let the person who hurt you keep you in prison. If you let the wrong go, then God will do for you what He did for the woman mentioned above and what He did for Joseph. He’ll take what was meant for your harm and He will use it for your advantage. What happened to you may have been painful, but don’t waste your pain. God will use that pain to promote you.

Hebrews 10:30 says God will settle the cases of His people.

You may need some of your accounts settled. Maybe somebody stole your childhood, or somebody walked out and left you with a bunch of children to raise, or somebody cheated you in a business deal and you lost a lot of money. You could easily live angry and upset with a chip on your shoulder. Instead, be encouraged. God is a God of justice. He knows every person who hurt you and left you lonely and afraid. Nobody else may have seen it, but He saw it and He knew it wasn’t right and He’s saying today, “I’m settling your accounts. I’m making your wrongs right. I’m paying you back not just what you deserve but double.”

God said in Isaiah, “Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs” (61:7
NKJV
). If someone lied about you and tried to make you look bad, let it go and double will come your way. Those who hurt you? Forgive them and double is on its way. The business partner who cheated you out of money? Get over the resentment and double is coming. The spouse who was unfaithful? Forgive and you will see double the joy, double the peace, and double the fulfillment.

You may feel guilty about something that wasn’t your fault. Maybe someone mistreated you and you blamed yourself. But if someone abused or took advantage of you, there is no reason to feel ashamed. Don’t feel guilty. Hold your head up high. You’re a child of the Most High God.

Your value doesn’t go down because someone mistreated you. You are still the apple of God’s eye. You are still His most prized possession. That situation may have been unfair, but if you shake off the shame and the blame and do not let bitterness take root, God will make the rest of your life better than it would have been if the bad things had not happened. He will pay you back with more.