The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands. – Psalm 138:8
The Lord has been using different tools (people, scripture, circumstances) to get His message across to me. The message never changes, “Don’t give up, He will fulfill His purpose for me, He loves me” (Psalm 138:8). Now in my head, I may answer back with the usual responses, “I’m tired, I tried that already, What will people think, Someone’s had that idea already”. You get my point. Excuses, one after another.
I heard a poignant message today where a speaker asked “Have you ever looked at someone doing their craft and thought, that should be me, I would have said that differently, or they should have done this or that”? My answer, “yes, often”. However, the difference between me and that individual is that they have moved and executed in whatever fashion they felt that God has led them in and I on the other hand have been very cautious, anxious and the horrible “f” word, fearful. When we continue to engage in habits such as this one, it causes a stagnation in our efforts and we simply sit while others move instead of being obedient to God’s word.
God wants us to move. I was reminded today of the scripture in Proverbs 18:16, “Your gift will make room for you”. God has given you and I a boatload of gifts, some we know of and some we possibly have yet to discover. Yet, due to the craziness of our our everyday lives, we find it to be a struggle to move past what we see. Why is that? Could it be I have built my life upon complacency? Complacency upon believing what I’ve done so far is enough? Have you ever felt that way? Have you thought, just because things didn’t turn out the way you envisioned in your head, you’d just give up and tell God that you tried, finding an excuse to quit?
Picture a woman crying because she hadn’t heard that she matters ever in her life and she has a bottle of pills in her hand, ready to end her life. Picture a young girl from a broken home preparing to give her body away yet to another guy because she yearns for affection and attention. These are sad images that no one obviously wants to think about, but lets picture ourselves in those situations. Gloomy, yes, but also necessary. There are millions of women and young girls who need to be reminded of who they are and to whom they belong to, that they have a purpose, they’re not forgotten; and that one person who has been assigned to speak these words might just be you or I.
I’ve often wondered why in the world do we have so many pastors, motivational speakers, or authors who talk about the same things, How to be more confident, How to get over your fears, How to find your purpose. I mean there are tons of books out there on these topics alone, you’d think we all would have gotten the message by now. BUT, one problem is that just because we see these things doesn’t mean they are of God. We are in a world that is money driven and lets admit it, we have a lot of false teachers opening their mouths when they should be shut, writing books when they shouldn’t and so on. As human beings we are very emotional and those emotions are attracted to these people, no wonder why we have so many, yet nothing has changed. It’s important to be vigilant and very careful about who we listen to and what we read. ( Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Matthew 7:15)
This just goes to show you, that the Lord has a purpose for us all. The enemy is running around like crazy waiting to destroy any and everything (1 Peter 5:8). And there are so many people in desperate need to know the Truth about who God is. They have gifts that could be used to pay it forward and to help someone else. It’s just that simple.
And what else is simple, as I’ve determined is how limited my mindset has become. No amount of advanced degrees that I own can compare to any revelation the Lord has given to me. I haven’t began to do, read or learn enough. So today, I ask you, what is God telling you to do? What has been planted on your heart for years that you haven’t done yet? And if you really want to get deeper, What do you think people will say about you when your no longer here on this earth? What will you have left behind that people will find useful, that will serve to help others for years after your gone?
These are questions that have been presented to me this week during a study, and I wanted to share them with you because I know I’m not alone on this. If you haven’t thought of this, look at the questions above, think about them. Share your thoughts with God and pray to Him for strength and perseverance (Romans 5:3-4), that despite whatever is going on in your world, you will press through because He has a mission that He wants you to complete.
I’m right there with you, prayer room, journal, God, mission, LETS GO.
Blessings and Love,
Missy Anne
