"Will without provision will result in frustration." These words were spoken by my spiritual father Apostle Alexander Sanford just over 24 hours ago and I have to admit they are still making the circuit from my brain to my heart to my spirit and now have made their way to this blog.
I believe the reason that these words resonated with me so vividly is because at this point in my journey my learning has morphed from simple ideas to concepts. In other words, I am seeking the code..or the keys, if you will, to manifesting this life I believe is possible. Now let me be clear..I am not on a "self-help" mission without guidance or purpose. I am not wandering about in the "help me please" section of the bookstore aimlessly looking for any title that promises to help me change my life in 4 easy steps. I have made a conscious, deliberate decision to change my mindset and the quest has demanded that I learn to hear through ears tuned for relevancy. I have a specific criteria for implementing change: (1) the concept has to be grounded in the Word of Yahweh; (2) the concept has to have been proven to manifest change in others and (3) the concept has to be inline with the purpose of my life.
This journey of discovery has been at times a difficult one and yes frustrating, so when my Apostle spoke these words it was like a 200 watt light bulb going off in my spirit. I was frustrated because although I had the will to manifest my purpose I lacked provision so my purpose was stifled. So I decided to look more closely at what I was facing to find the tools to move through this phase of my journey.
To frustrate something is to prevent it from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; it is to twart; to cause feelings of discouragement and to make ineffectual or invalid; to nullify. Left unchecked frustration will either lead you to birth prematurely or to give up on your purpose all together. Simply put frustration is a seed planted whose only intention is to abort your purpose.
I found examples of frustrated purpose scattered throughout the Word, most notably Job who proclaimed: "My days are past, my purposes and plans are frustrated; even the thoughts desires and possessions of my heart are broken off" (Job 15:12 AMP). The devestating nature of frustration is so prevalant that there are warnings against it in the Word as well. In Isaiah 57, Yahweh assures us, "For I will not contend forever, neither will I be angry always, for if I did stay angry the spirit of man would faint and be consumed before Me, and My purpose in creating the souls of men would be frustrated."
The point of this is that frustration is in direct opposition to the divine purpose of Yahweh. It is illegal and can not operate in our lives-unless we embrace it and allow it to. It is our responsibility to find the areas of frustration in our lives and to do the work to reverse them. The Apostle's words provided the key to this solution. I had to find provision for the will of Yahweh for my life.
Now like many I have heard well intentioned believers say: "God will provide provision for the vision", and I am not disputing that; however, many times when we hear the word "provision" our carnal mind tricks us to into hearing "money". So when the money does not begin to flow in like manna from heaven to support the vision that we have been given we begin to doubt. Doubt turns to frustration and we are back at square one. The truth of the matter is Yahweh never said that "provision" was money and He certainly never promised to bless a lack of faith so what does it really mean to have provision?
The Word of Yahweh gives us clear guidance to finding our provision. Proverbs 15:22 gives us our first key saying, "Where there is no counsel, purposes are frustrated, but with many counselors they are accomplished." In other words, we were not designed to birth our vision alone. This singular mentality that has become so prevelant in the Kingdom has effectively caused division and death. Think of any leader who feels as though because they have been elevated to a certain level that they no longer require the counsel of godly men. Eventually, this person will become overwhelmed, burnt out and yes frustrated. We must get about the business of bringing unity back to the Kingdom and to strive toward building a support system within the Kingdom that allows us as family to support and counsel each other without the fear of exposure and judgement.
The second and for me the most profound key to provision is found in Galations 2:21 which reads:
"Therefore I do not treat God's gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose; I do not set and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace, the unmerited favor, of God. For if justification, rightousness and aquittal from guilt comes through the observing the ritual of the Law, then Christ, the Messiah, died groundlessly and to no purpose, and in vain. His death was wholly superfluous."
The truth is when we stop preventing the grace of Yahweh from accomplishing its purpose; when we allow grace to fulfill our desires; when we learn to accept and stop quenching Yahweh's unmerited favor at work in our lives by invalidating our identity with doubt, provision will replace the emotions of frustration and discouragement we are feeling. Our provision happened on Calvary. It is up to us to accept it, to embrace it and to work towards manifesting the benefits of our relationship.
The reality is frustration is a part of everyone's life. I am not suggesting that we will or should never feel this emotion; however, what I do believe is that we should not live a life of frustration marked by moments of happiness. We have to learn how to move in the midst of our frustration, knowing fully that it is simply another device of the enemy to trick our minds into killing our purpose. We must learn to bind the effects of frustration as soon as it appears by speaking what God said directly to the situation. Most importantly we must begin to believe that frustration is simply a warning sign that on some level our faith is not on the same level as our vision and instead of aborting or minimizing our vision we need to take the necessary steps to grow our faith.
At the end of the day, like any parent, Yahweh understands our emotions. Do not allow your frustrations to make you disqualify yourself from your purpose, instead recognize them as a gentle reminder from a loving Father to increase your dependancy on Him and His Words to lead you to the provision which will in turn lead you out of frustration and into full manifestation of your purpose.
This is the journey that I am embarking on now and I pray you embrace these words and take the first steps toward your own journey toward manifestation.
Peace & Love....
~The Voice
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