Unfinished Business

What lens are you looking through? We all have filters or lenses that we filter life through. Our natural tendency is to filter things and our lives through what other's think, what the enemy thinks, or what we think. These three perspectives will not get you to your God given destiny. Other's perspectives will not get you to your destiny. The enemies perspectives will not get you to your destiny. Your own perspectives will not get you to your destiny. The only perspective that will lead to the divine purposes for our lives is through yielding our lens to the word of God.

As I was praying the past few months I felt a huge sense of many people living with unfinished business. I taught this class last night in women's bible study and right before going up to teach I had to leave the room because all of a sudden I got nauseous, weak, clammy and sick. There was such a battle to get this word out of me and I am so grateful for God giving me the stamina to walk back in the room and share these truths.

There are so many people who are not living in the fullness of everything God has for them. They are living on yesterday's anointing, yesterday's revelations, yesterday's dreams. Many are coasting through life and no longer dreaming. How many dreams are buried in cemeteries because people had unfinished business? Yesterday, February 21, 2018, marked the homecoming of the greatest evangelist who ever lived - Billy Graham. He is a true example of having no unfinished business this side of heaven!

There are many reasons why people fail to yield to God's perspective, four of which I will give you that I believe are commonplace. My prayer in looking at these commonplace lies is we can get to the root, yield to God's plan, and move forward into all God's blessings.

1. You have unfinished business because you are believing the lie that your "heydey" is in the past.

You may be sitting where you are with unfinished business because you believe that your best days are behind you. Maybe God gave you a dream and you saw it manifest and you believe that's it. That's all God had for you and so you're constantly looking back at what you feel were your best days. Let me challenge you today that your best days are not in your past! In fact this perspective is completely against Scripture: Haggai 2:9 "Your latter glory in this house will be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts..." Job 8:7 "Though your beginning was insignificant, yet your end will increase greatly." Avoid the pitfall of thinking you've "arrived." In God's kingdom there is always more. Expect greater things. We go from "glory to glory." If you have lost your awe and wonder because you think the best days have passed, pause and listen to this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F7lxt5fTeo

2. You have unfinished business because you're crippled with fear, doubt, anxiety due to the dream being so overwhelming.

If your dream doesn't scare you then it's not God sized. You'll never see greater miracles if you don't practice greater faith. When I left my six figure job where I worked a combined total of 18 years, I was petrified. Three and a half years later when our family of five left my home town to live in a foreign land where we knew no one, I was even more fearful. After relocating and things didn't turn out the way I planned, my immediate reactions were doubts and anxieties. It's during these times that I had to hold on tight to the promises God gave to me. Man may change their minds, but God doesn't. His promises are irrevocable and He is a covenant God. If you haven't written down those God promises, I encourage you to take time this week to put Habakkuk 2:2 into practice and write the vision down. During your moments of fear, doubt and anxiety you will need to remind yourself of what God promised. It has been my anchor of God's truth specific for me. Yielding to God's dreams for you will invariably require you doing something radical, scary and illogical. You won't have the resources (money, contacts, etc.), you won't have the skills needed, you won't have the education, you won't have all the answers, you won't, you won't, you won't....but you WILL have a mustard seed! That's faith! On the point of fear, doubt and anxiety, I have also learned to discern who I share my God given dreams. Not everyone can handle them and you may overwhelm people. Exercise limited access to what God has shared with you. There are dream killers and assassins who will play on fear, doubt, and anxiety. Two other ways to combat these three insecurities is to bind them and loose the truth over you with the word of God. Speak the word of God louder than the fears, doubts, and anxieties. Here are some Scriptures that are filled with purpose: Psalm 139:13-14; Jeremiah 1:5; Ephesians 1:11; Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 1:4-5; 1 Peter 2:9; John 15:16; Deuteronomy 7:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:13

3. You have unfinished business because you think "it's too late. I'm too old. I'll leave that for the younger generation."

You may be over 70 years old and reading this blog. I have great news for you. It doesn't matter if you have 7 days left to live. It's never too late for God to accomplish His unfinished business. God has still purposed you with breath. My best friend in law school was in her 60's. She was a labor and delivery nurse for over 30 years and decided to pursue her dreams and become a medical malpractice lawyer to defend doctors who delivered babies and were wrongfully sued. When I worked for the courts, there was a culture (that may exist where you work) of: "I will live in my full calling when I retire." It was like people were just "doing their time" and waiting to retire so they could live the dream God called them to do. Then people retired and the danger became feeling too old to live the dream God planted and it was too late. Listen, the younger generation needs you! It's biblical for you to pass your wisdom to the younger generation (Titus 2:3-5). You are not too old. You may have let time slip through your hands. How God manifests the dream He gave you years ago may look different than you originally thought, but yield to His prompting and move forward into all that God has for you!

4. You have unfinished business because you have been hurt or disappointed which has caused you to isolate and do the bare minimum.

My brother my sister. Don't let assassins steal your dream. What if getting to your destiny means getting persecuted, slandered, misunderstood all the way there. It happened to Jesus. What makes you think it won't happen to you. A phenomenon happens physically when you get older. Your skin gets thinner and therefore when you're older you tend to get cold easily. As we get older, our skin may get thinner physically, but spiritually let our skin get thicker. Don't let everything bother you. Have thick skin. Let it slide off you and move past the hurts you've experienced. Stop looking back to those past hurts and wounds that have you stuck. Look at what happened to Lot's wife. She looked back when she was told not to and turned into a pillar of salt. Why salt? One day when praying I started thinking what salt is used for, one of which is to preserve things (e.g., meats). Lot's wife was trying to preserve where she was leaving and so God instantly granted what she wanted. He turned her into a pillar of salt. She was permanently preserved in that spot to look back at where she was and could no longer move forward. What hurts or disappointments are you preserving today that are hindering you from yielding to the unfinished business God has for you to complete?

In closing, take some time to read Ezekiel 37 and prophesy to any dry bones in your body to get up and complete any unfinished business. Other people's destiny is tied to your obedience. As you yield to all God has for you, speak these words with bold tenacity over yourself right now:

"This year will be one filled with: