God Has Got Your Back! By Babatunde Olugboji 

As you are reading this, you may be facing all kinds of discouraging situations: in your finances, relationships, etc., while for some others, your issues may be court cases, unemployment, or underemployment. 

This week, I encourage you to seek encouragement in the Word of God. The Bible says in Hebrew 12: We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, that previous champions of faith are cheering us on as we press on to overcome the present state of discouragement. 

Interestingly, many of these heroes of faith at some point faced considerable challenges, but they pulled through, because of God’s plan for them:

• When Joseph revealed his dreams to his brothers, he must have been regarded as impetuous and untactful, even unwise, but his dream came to pass because God has a plan.
• Abraham was so discouraged that he became confused. He waited and waited for the child of promise. The more he waited, the more it appeared as if he had lost his moment. His wife Sarah was old and shriveled, her hips and knees were almost gone, her reproductive system had literally expired, it looked like her season of blessing was over, but God has a plan.
• The man with infirmity was lying around the pool of Bethesda completely discouraged, with no helper to dip him into the water when the angels stirred the pool, but Jesus showed up because God has a plan.
• The people of Israel were in captivity for many generations, enslaved and oppressed, forced into hard labor by their oppressors. It was as if they would never be delivered from bondage, but God has a plan.
• Moses was about 80, gaunt and smitten by the harsh elements in the wilderness, worn out by the vicissitudes of life, tired, retired, tending sheep, probably waiting to die, but God has a plan. 
• The woman with the issue of blood was discouraged and exhausted, moving from one physician to the other but one day, Jesus showed up for her because God has a plan.
• Hannah was goaded, taunted and mocked by her adversary, prematurely written off by the society as barren and unproductive, for many years she lived with the shame of childlessness, but God has a plan.
• There was the woman who was bent double, she couldn’t look up unto the mountains to the creator of heaven and earth. But one day Jesus spotted her in the synagogue, because God has a plan.
• Job lost his family, his wealth and his health, his 3 friends wrote him off as a sinner reaping the painful rewards of sin, his wife thought he was deranged for sticking with God, but God has a plan.

Remember what Jesus said in John 16:24: Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. 

Will you key into God’s word this week, and ask him in fervent prayers to remember you, praying thus: God, I know You have a good plan, a great plan, an excellent plan for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. I stand on your word today, I may be discouraged, but the testimony of Abraham gives me courage to know that this week, like Joseph, I can dream big dreams and those dreams shall surely come to pass.  

Have a great week.

Kingdom Dynamics, a weekly column  written by Dr. Babatunde Olugboji, the President, Kingdom House, a non-profit organization in New Jersey, USA.