Payback. It was the word of the Lord in April—and it’s not over. Prophetic words don’t expire unless the Lord dates them. In other words, we’re in a season of payback, and we need to keep pressing into it. Part of pressing in is positioning your heart for the payback.
Let’s dive right in to three keys to readying yourself to receive God’s restoration in your finances, relationships, health—or any other area the enemy has manifested. Keep in mind as you read these words that God is a God of payback. He tells us, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay (Rom. 12:19b). He gave Job double for his trouble (Job 42:10). He assures us the thief who is caught must repay seven times (Prov. 6:31).
- Take responsibility and repent for your part.
“I am responsible.” Those are the first three words you need to say when adversity hits your life. No, I’m not saying you are responsible for all adversity that comes your way. But you are responsible for how you respond to it.
On the other hand, we do sometimes make poor decisions and open the door for the enemy to meddle in our minds. When adversity strikes, the first thing I do is examine my heart. Am I out of God’s will? Did I open a door to the enemy somehow? Before we start chasing devils, we need to chase God for a revelation of where the trouble lies.
Many are tempted to blame shift when things go wrong—pointing fingers at others for their own mistakes, failures and warfare. This is not a helpful perspective if you want to see things shift because blame is the guard for change. When you refuse to take responsibility for your part, you hinder your spiritual growth and your natural breakthrough.
Consider the words of the preacher in Proverbs 28:13: “He who covers his sins will not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”
We see blame shifting at its best in Genesis 3:12-13 when God confronted Adam and Eve about disobeying His command and eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
“The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?” And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'”
The blame game got them nowhere—they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. We need to be willing to repent—to change the way we think—if we want to see maximum payback in our lives.
- Reject guilt and condemnation; forgive yourself.
Some years ago, I lost nearly $100,000 cash in a bad real estate investment deal. I didn’t have a word of the Lord to do it—but it seemed like God. Our pastor was pressuring everyone in the church to invest in real estate—to flip houses. He had a wrong motive, and I missed God.
I beat myself up about that for years. The devil told me I was a poor steward. He plagued me with thoughts of how I could have used that money to pay for my daughter’s college or sow into missions. He bombarded me with guilt and condemnation.
Thank God there is no condemnation in Christ (see Rom. 8:1). After I repented for missing God’s warnings about the real estate investment, I received His forgiveness and shunned guilt and condemnation for good. I learned from the mistake. In the end, I got triple for my trial as I received an inheritance worth three times what I lost from a couple in the ministry whom God led to sow valuable property into my life.
- Let God off the hook.
Many times we blame God—but God is not the robber—God is the vindicator. John 10:10 makes this absolutely clear: “The thief does not come, except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
God isn’t destroying our dreams, stealing our money, sending our kids into sin or putting sickness on our bodies. Why do bad things happen to good people? Because the devil is a bad devil. But God is a good God.
When Job was going through his trial, he lost everything. He lost his family, his livestock, his barns, his health—he lost it all. His wife said, “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9b). He refused to blame God. He didn’t put God on the hook, and everything he lost at the enemy’s hand was restored twofold.
The word of the Lord for May is “mega.” Mega faith plus mega grace equals mega movement. On my morning Periscope prophetic prayer broadcast, many have been claiming mega payback, mega healing, mega, mega, mega. I agree with the mega—so let’s position our hearts to receive what God has in store for us this month and beyond. {eoa}
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