I'm tired of hearing people make excuses on why they can't do what God told them to do. It's time for us to make some decisions. Either we're going to go with God all the way, or we ought to get out, because if you're just straggling along and hanging on, nothing is going to work for you anyway.

We want the promises of God, right? He's not holding them back. You know who's holding them back? For most of us, it's not the devil. We're holding them back ourselves, because we want to dibble and dabble in what the world is saying, and then do what God is saying as a last resort. You know, when we're in trouble and we've just got to have an answer. We can't do that anymore. We have to let the excuses go.

You have to start talking to yourself. When you catch yourself making an excuse, you have to stop yourself and say, "No more excuses." And then don't just say it, take the excuse and replace it with what God says about that situation.

Yet now has [Christ, the Messiah] reconciled [you to God] in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His [the Father's] presence. [And this He will do]provided that you continue to stay with and in the faith [in Christ], well-grounded and settled and steadfast, not shifting or moving away from the hope [which rests on and is inspired by] the glad tidings (the Gospel), which you heard and which has been preached [as being designed for and offered without restrictions] to every person under heaven, and of which [Gospel] I, Paul, became a minister.
(Col. 1:22,23 AMP)

I want you to read verse 23 again. There's a lot in that verse. And this will He do, provided that you continue to stay with, not your next door neighbor, not your husband, not your children, not your pastor, not those that preach to you and speak in your life. You have to continue to stay with and in the faith. You can't be wavering.

So many times, we will let just anybody speak into our lives. And then we wonder why we're confused. You can't just let anyone speak into your life. You have to go to God for direction on who you need to let talk to you, because everybody, they mean well, but most of the time, they are sincerely wrong. They're not getting you the Word.

That's the next test. If you believe that God has given you someone to speak into your life, and they haven't opened the Word, then you've missed it. So tell them, "I love you, but I need to go." The Word of God is the only thing that should be speaking into your life.

If you are to continue in the faith, you have to make a decision that you're not going to let anybody move you around or toss you aside, but you're going to stay solid on the Rock. "And this he will do, provided that you continue to stay with and in the faith in Christ."

A lot of people are with the faith. They're not in the faith, they're just with the faith. You go to church, but are you in the faith? In the faith of God? That's why a lot of us got messed up in other churches, because we were with the church, and when the church went away from God, we went with the church.

So we have a personal responsibility, to stay with and in faith, no matter what anybody else does. It's our responsibility to become well grounded, to be settled. That means nobody can move you around, nobody can push you around. The wind can't blow you around. You are settled, that this is what God says, and I don't care if I'm the last person standing here, this is the Word, I see it in the Word, I understand it in the Word, and this is where I'm going to stand. Amen. That is the decision that you have to make, and you have to stick to it.

Now, whether you can stick to a decision depends on what kind of character you have. Do you have God's character? I know that with my children, if I say, "I don't want you to do this," and later on say, "Well, it will be all right if they do it," then I'm showing a lack of character to my child and they'll begin to change their mind about things. So I have to stick with my word.

But there are times when I want to go back and take something I said back. And I can imagine that there are times when God wants to take the free choice that he gave us back. But he won't do it, because he's a God of character. He's given us free choice, so we have a choice. We can go to heaven and be with God, or we can go to hell. That's our choice.

That's your choice, personally. Nobody is going to make you go to hell but you. Nobody is sending you but you. Now, the devil helps a lot. And he'll show you the way to get there, but it's your decision and your choice whether you listen to him or whether you listen to what God has to say. That's our God-given right.

Colossians chapter 3 says, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (vv. 1,2)

In the Amplified Bible verse 2 says, "And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things which are on the earth."

Verse 25 reads, "But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he has done: and there is no respect of persons."

Now, it's interesting to see that Colossians chapter 3 is talking about the true aspect of Christian life. But then in verse 25, Paul talks about what you're going to receive for the wrong you do. What happens with us so many times is we look like we're walking the walk, we look like we're talking the talk, but when something happens where we reap what we've sown, we want to blame God.

When you sin, you are activating the law of sowing and reaping, and it's going to catch up with you. God didn't make it catch up with you, it's the law that you activated. Verse 25 says it doesn't matter who you are. It's no respecter of persons. That law doesn't have any respect of person. If you sow, you're going to reap.

So you can't be affected by what's happening in someone else's life, even if you think they're walking in faith. You don't know what they've done. You have to keep your eyes on yourself. And make sure that you are steadfast, that no one can move you.

Do you read in the Bible where Jesus made any excuses? The Bible says he was tested and tried in like fashion as us, as a man. And we are to have the same attitude that Jesus had. No more excuses. And when Jesus appeared to have a question, he phrased that question in such a way as, "I have a concern, this is my concern, but not my will but yours be done, Father." And he went into prayer.

Frankly, I don't want to hear excuses. They don't mean anything; whatever your situation is, God has a way out. Instead of spending time talking about our excuse, we need to get in the Word and find out what God has to say about the situation, the problem, and conquer it. Take dominion over it - subdue it.

The problem is in the earth, right? How you going to subdue the earth without subduing the problem? How you going to have dominion? When you have dominion, you have dominion over every aspect of your life. That includes any problems and circumstances that come up.

We have to do what's necessary to obtain the mind of Christ, to get to where Jesus wants us to be. And sometimes that's hard. But hard doesn't mean impossible. It's just something that you have to get over.

God is not asking us to do this in our own strength. He's going to give us the strength to do the things that are necessary, that you may show yourself to be blameless.

No more excuses. We have to let the excuses go. The excuses are robbing us of our God-given right to dominate. And I've decided to not let excuses dominate me. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'm not going to tell a lie. "Oh, yeah, I did it. I didn't mean to do it. I did it, it was stupid, I'm sorry." Instead of, "Who did that?" when you know that you did it.

No more excuses. What you're shown from the Word of God, there is no excuse for you not to do it. Just accept it. Receive it. "I see it in your Word, God. Amen. That's all. That's the way it's going to be."

No more excuses, ladies. No more excuses, gentlemen.

No more excuses.

It's God or nothing.

Copyright © 2003 Keith Butler Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.