Tuesday November 06, 2018

 

In order to say yes to healthy lifestyle, you will have to say no to an unhealthy lifestyle. For you to say yes to a healthy relationship, there will come times when you will have to say no to a dysfunctional relationship. Saying yes to a good life means saying no to a bad or mediocre life. More importantly, to say yes to God’s plan for your life means you will have to say no to your own plan for your life.

 

I can only imagine what Mary must have felt when the angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her that God had a different plan for her life. I suppose that just like most young girls, Mary had dreams about what her life would be. I would dare to say that God’s plan turned Mary’s plans completely upside down. The Holy Spirit was about to impregnate Mary with a child and she had never been with any man. Imagine Mary trying to explain to Joseph, her parents, and the entire community how she became pregnant. Imagine how this affected her wedding plans and her dreams for the future. To a much lesser degree, I can relate to this.

 

I was in my early thirties when I owned my own Production Company and recording studio. Then, God sent not an angel but a prophet to tell me that God’s purpose for my life was for me to become a pastor. There was a problem, being a pastor was nowhere in my plans, in fact, it was the farthest thing from my mind. Just like Mary I had to make a choice, understanding that saying yes to God meant saying no to me.

 

As Mary pondered the message from the angel of the Lord, the Bible tells us that she was perplexed, confused, and afraid; she even went as far as to question the veracity of the message. However, Mary must have been a woman of great faith. She may not have understood, agreed, or even believed what the angel was telling her was possible, nonetheless her answer to God was “yes”. This however meant that she had to say “no” to her own personal plans.

 

Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. – Luke 1:38 NLT

 

You too must make the hard choice of deciding whether God can be trusted. The beauty when dealing with God is that He never starts with the negative “no”, He always begins things on a positive, with a “yes”. It is never about what you have to stop doing and always about what you are about to start doing.

 

In order for you to say yes to God’s purpose for your life, you are going to have to say no to your plans. Saying yes to God’s blessings for your family means you will have to say no to the way you want to lead your family. To say yes to God’s financial blessings, you are going to have to say no to the way you manage your money. Sometimes saying yes to God will require that you say no to yourself.

 

To walk in Mary’s shoes means saying yes to God and by default, no to oneself.