Enough Is Enough

Jesus prayed to the Heavenly Father in John 17:4 what should be the heart cry of every born-again believer, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” This should be our utmost desire as well and the key to our success is commitment. Like Jesus, there is a price we’ll have to pay to fulfill the call of God on our lives and the down payment is commitment. Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.” Likewise, we are told in Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established.”

Commitment starts out as an act of our will. It is an act of giving and it means to give priority to that which you are committed to. Commitment demands that you apply yourself by giving the very best you have. We must diligently apply ourselves to the dream God gives us and be willing to exert ourselves beyond the norm. Commitment will turn you into the kind of person who goes the extra mile, one who believes that whatever you set out to do will succeed and prosper.

It is your level of commitment that will be the deciding factor as to whether or not you hear Jesus say when you stand before Him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:21).

Romans 12:1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” The Amplified Bible calls the act of doing this “spiritual worship.” To be a living sacrifice one must submit their will to God and become a yielded instrument for His service. One’s whole being - spirit, soul, body - must be presented by a decisive act of the will to God to be used by Him. Yielding must not be thought of simply as a willingness to do some specific task. Rather, it consists of commitment and dedication by a person to love God and do whatever He commands.

When you are committed to something or someone there is always a transfer of authority. It is an act of putting in charge or trust, an inward decision based on loyalty and dedication. It is the state of being obligated and it means “to surrender” or “to yield.” When a person enters their work place they automatically surrender their will to that of the authority of the supervisor. More so should we be committed to God and the call He placed on our life. And if we get committed and stay committed, if we don’t shrink back and pull away on the evil day of adversity, then we’ll have the determination and power to rise up and keep going forward when the storms of life blow our way.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Each of us has been created to perform “good works” and God has anointed us to do so. Samson, for example, did what was considered impossible because he was anointed to do so. Contrary to popular belief, Samson did not have bulging muscles like Hercules. No, he was strong because of the anointing and not physical muscles. When he responded to the ability God put inside him he became strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

The Message Bible says in Philippians 4:13, “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One Who makes me who I am.” The enemy will launch an assault against everything God is doing and this is why we can’t be passive where the devil is concerned. We are a mighty generation chosen by God and we must never run from the enemy. Instead, we must rise up and prepare for war.

Much is at stake here. We are the answer to the troubles of our society and generation and God is waiting for us to step forward and do that which we’ve been anointed to do. We are not here to survive the assaults of the enemy; we are here to start them. God is with us and He will not leave us or forsake us. The anointing is a force that cannot be overcome by the enemy. It can only be responded to. The first step in having breakthrough and defeating the enemy is to once and for all get fed up with his efforts to bring you down.

In Genesis 27, Esau found out that his brother Jacob had deceived his father into giving him the blessing of the firstborn. Esau lifted up his voice and wept when he found out the blessing could not be reversed so he pleaded with his father to give him a blessing as well. Here is what Isaac told him, “Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and the dew of heaven from above. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; And it shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck” (Genesis 27:39,40).

To be restless means to be fed up! You don’t get anywhere and you don’t accomplish anything until you get fed up with your present condition. You can wish, hope, and cry all day long but nothing will happen until you get fed up. Things happen when a holy fervor rises up on the inside of you. Your countenance will change, you’ll speak with authority and you’ll walk in dominion. Jesus said in Matthew 11:12b, “…the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” Get fed up! Get violent! Draw a line in the sand and tell the enemy, “Enough is enough!” Get aggressive and stirred up once again for what rightfully belongs to you. Get fed up for going without and then rise up and exercise your God-given authority over the devil. Live by the sword and never back off. The victory is yours if you get fed up and never give up!

After the exodus out of Egypt, God led the children of Israel the long way through the wilderness because the people weren’t ready for war. If they were willing to fight the enemy in order to possess what the Lord had given them then God would have led them by the short route. War has been declared and to possess your mountain you can’t have a lukewarm attitude when it comes to fighting the enemy.

Don’t be a weak kneed nobody but rise up and go to war for the glory of God. If you ignore the devil he will destroy you. Don’t be afraid of the enemy. He’s a defeated foe. Instead, make the devil be afraid of you. You are a warrior in the army of God by choice and by command. Your armor is not polished and nice but is tattered and worn. You don’t go over the mountain the enemy placed in your path, you go “through” it. This is why your victory is called a “breakthrough.” You don’t go around, under, or over your trial. You break “through” that obstacle and take back what the enemy has stolen.

Don’t let the devil steal your focus and your purpose. He really doesn’t want to kill you. He wants to control you and if he can’t do that then he’ll try to kill you. But those who know their purpose never give up. Instead, they get fed up and fight! Your purpose stays with you when you give your full undivided attention to it. There is no vacation in the kingdom of God and you can’t be a mediocre weekend warrior. Purpose takes you out of the arena of the soul and puts you in the arena of faith where you rise up and take the kingdom by storm.

God is proclaiming a special message to the body of Christ here in the last days. Christians today are not living up to the potential that their faith would allow and God is saying simply, “Use your faith!” Clearly, it is His desire for all believers to be “perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4b). Therefore, if the truth be told, sickness should have no part in the life of a child of God because Jesus made provision for it when He bore our sins on the tree and “by Whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Poverty and lack should not be mentioned in the same breath as a Christian because as Paul says in Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Christians everywhere should rejoice because depression and bondage of every kind has been done away with by the life and death of Jesus. The Word instructs us to “stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). Jesus Himself said in John 8:36, “Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” It is time for believers to get so fed up with the devil that they rise up and walk in the freedom that has been provided for them. For sure, it was bought with a great price.

Christians everywhere should be living on the high clouds of victory, success, and spiritual fulfillment. All this has been made available to the body of believers and 2 Peter 1:2-4 boldly proclaims, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him Who called us to glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Although God in His abundant mercy has given us all things to enjoy there is still a demonic enemy in the world “seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). In order to live in the manifestation of Christ’s victory at the cross and the provision thereof it has become the responsibility of all believers “to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). This is why Paul tells us to stand up and “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12).

A “good fight” is a fight you win! 1 Corinthians 15:57 says, “But thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” There is no failure or defeat in the good fight of faith. Those who suffer defeat at the hands of the enemy have not had a faith failure but, more times than not, have simply given up the effort necessary for the manifested victory to be obtained. They lay back and expect God to do all the fighting for them. Too often people are waiting for God to do something while at the same time He is waiting for them to do something.

People need to understand that they have as much to do with the answer to their prayers as they expect God to be. There is a sign on the Colorado River which instructs white water rafters: “If you fall overboard you must be an active participant in your own rescue!” For those who have the misfortune of falling into the swirling waters of the raging Colorado River, they must take charge of the situation even though thousands of gallons of water are flooding over them. They must actively participate in their own rescue and cannot lay back and let the rescuers do all the work. There is a part they have to play and the same is true in the good fight of faith.

Before entering the Promised Land God told Joshua, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you as I said to Moses” (Joshua 1:3). God gave the people of Israel the land of Canaan but wars would have to be fought before they could possess it. Likewise, God gives us blessings to enjoy but we still have to go get them. To fight the good fight of faith we must press in to the things of God with persistence and determination that will not rest satisfied until it receives what is promised.

Hebrews 10:35,36 (AMP) says, “Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God and thus receive and carry away (and enjoy to the full) what is promised.” Genesis 32:24-30 tells the story of when Jacob wrestled with God all night until the breaking of day. Verse 26 records the tenacity of Jacob, “And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go until You bless me!’” When Jacob grabbed onto God, he got grabbed by God and received his blessing.

Perhaps the most fundamental verses describing faith is found in Matthew 11:22-24 which speaks about talking to mountains and telling them to be cast into the sea. Verse 24 says, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them.” The word “receive” in this verse means to ‘take by force.’ In Ephesians 6:10, we are instructed to be “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” The word “strong” means ‘to seize upon, to not let go.’ This is precisely what Jacob did. He grabbed onto God and wouldn’t let go. He wanted a blessing and he took it by force.

Isaiah 53 foretells the redemptive work of Christ on the cross and the things He suffered on our behalf. Afterward, when the work on Calvary was completed, verse 12 tells us, “Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong…” The Amplified Bible says that “He shall divide the spoil with the mighty…” This verse makes it abundantly clear that we must become strong and mighty in order to partake of the vast riches of the spoil that is available to those who believe.

There is strength to be had in being a Christian and it is faith and our faith in God that makes us strong. Matthew 11:12 (AMP) says, “And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time the kingdom of heaven had endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force (as a precious prize) - a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought for with most ardent zeal and intense exertion.” Another translation puts it this way, “The kingdom of heaven is being taken by storm and the strong and forceful ones claim it for themselves eagerly.”

It is the responsibility of every Christian who seeks to live a victorious life to storm into the kingdom and take it by force. Know with certainty that there is no place on the victory platform for laid-back, easy-going Christians. The only place where “success” comes before “work” is in the dictionary. Philippians 2:12b tells believers to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” In order to live up to the potential that our faith would allow, we must get fed up, pick up our sword and fight “the good fight of faith.” There is no other way.

** Written by Randall Brewer **

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