Number Our Days

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HeadShot Janet 100x100

Scripture tells us (Psalm 90:12) to number our days because our days are short here on earth. That sounds like a depressing thought, but I would like that thought to move us to action, not be a downer.

My mother-in-law passed away recently, and her passing came suddenly and unexpectedly. We had hoped for more time. My sadness for the lost time is short lived when I think of the wonderful life she lived. She exemplified the point of the message I hope to make.

This woman used the gifts and talents God gave her into her 80s. She never sat back and said, “I’m old. God doesn’t have anything more for me.” She was talented musically, as well as working with young children. Even in her 80s she ran a puppet ministry for children. Shirley had many talents and she used them into old age. She was also a very happy, fulfilled, contented person. I believe it’s because she was in sync with some very fundamental ways that God created her, and also you and me.

We are all created with gifts and talents. So many of us believe wrongly that we have nothing to offer, especially when we compare ourselves to the next person who appears to be so gifted. The truth is we ALL are gifted and designed with purpose. We are wired by God for work (sounds like a bad word, but it’s not); good works that he created in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

Good clues to let us know what those gifts are… What things do I particularly enjoy? What makes my heart sing? Yes, what thing or things make me feel like I was created just for this? For me personally, I love to pray. Not like in a monastery pray, but intercession – where you get God’s heart for the situation. I love to pray and see God do wonderful, outrageous, cool things in people’s lives. I love to see God outdo himself and do the impossible. ‘Cause that’s when he gets the credit.

A couple things can trip us up, though. We can look at our friend and see the wonderful things about him/her and feel inferior. It’s easy to do. We can think we are flawed and that something is wrong with us when we compare to others. Would you believe, that other person is probably looking at you and thinking the same thing! The reality (based on God’s truth, see Psalm 139) is that YOU are special and that uniqueness is all good!

Another problem can be if there is wounding in our hearts. Our gifting and personality may be hidden. My passion is to see you and me walking in wholeness so we can be a gift to others around us.

Can I pray for you? Can I joyfully believe for and pray down the glorious things that God has for you? Please send me your thoughts (if they are personal, send me an email). I would love to encourage you today.

Created to Be

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HeadShot Dave 100x100

Can we decide who we are? Can we decide who we want to be? Can we, like Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner, decide our gender? Can we, like Rachel Dolezal, decide our race? Did God make a mistake when he made us the gender or race we were born as? Did God make a mistake when he hard-wired us with the personality we have? Or with the unique giftings we have, different from everyone else? Should we spend our lives wishing we were, and trying to be, someone else?

Is it ours to decide who we are? Or did God create us to be who we are? Let’s ask God’s opinion:

Psalm 139:13-14: You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (NIV)

Jeremiah 1:5a: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. (NIV)

God’s of the opinion that he’s our Creator, and that he got it right. We are not a mistake. We do not have the right to decide who we are, including our gender or our race. That’s rebellion against who he made us, and hence against God himself. Our life does not belong to us; it belongs to God. He made us, we did not make ourselves.

Some of us have been wounded by sin against us so deeply that we don’t know who we are. Sometimes it even confuses our gender identity or our racial identity. We wrongly think the sin against us was our fault, and we hate ourselves for it. Our shame has taught us that we are the evil done to us. If we could only remake ourselves into something different, then we’d be okay. Then we’d stop hurting.

But that’s a lie from the pit, and nothing could be further from the truth. Trying to remake ourselves, trying to be God in our own lives, only leaves us a hollow shell of a person. And the pain just gets worse.

Isaiah 45: 9-10: What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, “Stop, you’re doing it wrong!” Does the pot exclaim, “How clumsy can you be?” How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father, “Why was I born?” or if it said to its mother, “Why did you make me this way?” (NLT)

Arguing with God about who he made us to be is a recipe for disaster. We can’t be God in our own lives because we’re not God. The truth is, we will only live a satisfied and fulfilled life if we live who God created us to be.

1 Corinthians 12:7: Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

And the truth is, the people around us desperately need us to be who God created us to be. By confusing our identity, the enemy has robbed them too.

This life is not a hollow, selfish journey of “who do I want to be today.” That horrible deception robs us of the richness of life. Instead, life is a wonderful, awe-filled journey of discovering who God made us to be.

Who did God make you to be? Is there pain in the way? God has healing for you. What part of your being do you not like? What part of yourself are you at war with? I’m not talking about bad habits or character flaws here. I’m talking about what part of you – your gender, your race, your height, your hard-wired personality traits, etc – don’t you like and why? Tell us in the comments or send us a private message from the “Contact Us” page. Let’s get some healing started.

Shame vs Guilt

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HeadShot Dave 100x100

Guilt, or conviction, is what the Holy Spirit gives us, because he loves us, when we do something wrong. He’s correcting our sinful behavior because it (1) is self-destructive, and (2) interferes with our relationship with him. The message of godly guilt is, “I did something wrong.”

Shame, on the other hand, is not from God, but rather is Satan’s perversion of godly guilt. Shame is the belief that I am uniquely and fatally flawed. The message of shame is, “I am something wrong.” That’s the “flawed” part. In addition are the “uniquely” and “fatally” adjectives of shame:

  • “I am uniquely flawed.” No one is as bad as me. I am the only one with this problem.
  • “I am fatally flawed.” I can’t be fixed. My flawed-ness is permanent. The best I can do is hide it.

Shame holds so many Christians in prison, keeping them from living out their true identity, or often even knowing what it is. But each of shame’s three lies described above get smashed to pieces by the Word of God:

  • I’m not something wrong. I was made in God’s own image (Genesis 1:27). I have been made a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and God loves me apart from what I do (Ephesians 1:3-14).
  • I’m not uniquely flawed; I’m not the only one like this. No temptation has seized me but that which is common to mankind (1 Corinthians 10:13).
  • I am not fatally flawed. Jesus’ blood is bigger and stronger than any and all of my sin, and by his stripes I am healed (Isaiah 53:5, Romans 6:10, Hebrews 9:28, 1 Peter 3:18).

So who are you going to believe?

Have you been down this road? Does this strike a chord with you? Tell us in the comments.

You Are Not What You Do

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HeadShot Dave 100x100

For so many of us our identity is in what we do or what we’ve done. But that’s not who we are. God loves us based on our position not our accomplishments – our position as His son or daughter. Nothing we ever accomplish (good or bad) can ever change that. Nothing we do can make Him love us more or less than He does in this moment. In every moment. He’s that consistent.

We all say we believe that, but many of us secretly don’t. I say “secretly” because often it’s secret even from ourselves. We can test ourselves to see if we inwardly believe we are what we do, though. When we get mad at someone for disagreeing with us, when we take someone’s disagreement with what we said or did as a personal affront, it’s often because we believe that we are what we do. “If you attack what I do or say, you’re attacking me!” Do you see it?

You are special to God because you are you. You are valuable because you bear the image of God (see Genesis 1:26-27) whether you realize it or not. The trick is to understand who you really are, the unique person He made you to be.

Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” So before you were even born and had done anything good or bad, you were God’s wonderful work. And nothing we do can ever undo His work.

So let’s stop trying to be what we do. Let’s discover and walk in who we really are. Ask Him to take you on a journey of discovery.

Have you started this journey? What are you discovering? Do you identify with this? Tell us your story in the comments. What do you think?

What’s True Vs The Truth

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So many of us are paralyzed by what’s true about us, but God’s Truth is really the thing that matters. There’s a difference.

When God called Ananias to go pray and restore Saul’s sight (see Acts 9:10), Ananias had a better idea. “Lord,” he answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name!” (Acts 9:13-14 NIV)

Everything Ananias said was absolutely true! And God completely ignored it. He didn’t respond, “Oops, gee you’re right, Ananias. What was I thinking? Being God, running the universe and all, got a lot on my plate, you know? We try to keep it quiet but sometimes one slips through the cracks. Hey, don’t tell anybody, ok? Anything I can bless for you while I’m here? Ok then, I’m out.”

God didn’t respond that way because Ananias was just speaking what was true about Saul (soon to be called Paul) – earth’s truth. No, God completely ignored earth’s truth responded with Heaven’s Truth. Because Heaven’s Truth is The Truth about us, not just the truth about what we’ve done. Heaven’s Truth trumps earth’s truth every time. You are not what you do.

What is true about you never disqualifies you from God’s Truth about you – who you really are in Him and His calling on your life and your mission for His kingdom. God responds in verses 15-16, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to _____” and God gives Saul’s mission.

Fill in the blank for you. What is God’s Truth about you? He has a mission for you; do you know what it is? You are his chosen instrument for…, what? That’s the Journey of Discovery you get to go on with Him. If you don’t know, start praying for that answer, start asking Him. Start the exciting Adventure!

Will you, like Bilbo the Hobbit, go on this Journey? Tell us in the comments.