As believers we have an adversary, but the Lord Jesus Christ defeated our adversary. That does not mean he is not still an adversary or your enemy. He is without question out to steal, kill and destroy if possible. However, he can only do those things through lies, deceit and subtlety. You and I know if you have lived anytime on this earth that a lie can hold you in captivity, it can keep you from your future. Actually, it can paralyze you so you sit on the sidelines of life.

Let me say this, if you are a believer, and that means you have accepted Jesus Christ into your life and accept His Lordship, that you are no longer just a human being. You are still a human being, but now you are inChristed. You are now in Christ and Christ is in you. You are what 2 Corinthians 5:17 describes as a new creation that never existed before. That is a spiritual reality, but that does not mean you can not fall prey to the lies, deceit and subtleness of the adversary. 

It is not by him forcing that situation, but by you allowing that to happen. Even as believers we can make the wrong decision, things can happen in life that cause us to believe that we have disqualified ourselves from God’s calling, plan and purpose for our lives. It does not matter what those things are, it could be a divorce or some other potentially devastating event.

Speaking from personal experience at one time I believed a lie of the enemy that sidelined me. I knew that God had called me to full-time ministry and put within me a teaching gift along with other gifts. Things happened and I believed that was no longer possible, and I lived under that for several years. 

One day sitting in my home office thinking about the ministry and wanting to be active, but feeling in my heart that I had disqualified myself from that ever happening again, the Lord spoke to me. Yes, the Lord still speaks to His children. What He said to me altered my life, it immediately freed me. He said to me “Scott did you qualify yourself”? I answered Him and said no sir I did not, He then said to me “then you cannot disqualify yourself”. Immediately the power of that lie was broken off of my life.

I want to say to you today, maybe you feel you have disqualified yourself from experiencing what God has planned for you by something you have done or something that was done to you. You might think, but you don’t know what I have done or what they did to me, and you would be right, but God does. He is saying to you today, right now that you did not qualify yourself and therefore you cannot disqualify yourself. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.