Having called Jesus to partake of flesh and blood in order to reconcile mankind to Him, God did not simply leave Jesus to his own devices. He did not say “Alright Jesus, I called you and you have answered My call. Now, go do what I have asked you to do in your own strength”. No! God ensured He granted Jesus with the ability to carry out the purpose for which He was born; He empowered Jesus and equipped Him with the secret weapon of the Holy Spirit.
Just as there is no point in your boss telling you to cut a tree down without furnishing you with an axe or saw, there is no point knowing the purpose for which you were created without being furnished with the ability to complete your task. The same God who has called you will without fail equip you with the ability to carry out the task He has given you.
Therefore, we do not have to worry about how we can ever accomplish what at times may seem like the mountainous task before us. God knows we cannot do it on our own power; that is why He deposited the Holy Spirit inside of us to strengthen and empower us.
Even so, many of us ignore the very key to victory (the Holy Spirit) on our journey but instead ramble about the place trying to accomplish the purpose to which we have been called in our own power. Alas, this is akin to trying to trying to fight an enemy without putting on our armor; it is foolishness at best. Our failure to utilize the Holy Spirit or yield to the Holy Spirit’s direction is the primary reason we stumble and fall. Should we stumble and fall, unfortunately, too many of us start to question the call of God on our lives and we simply give up. In essence, we give up on God and spend our time chasing all those things that keeps us busy and may even bring us great material wealth but at the end of the day still leaves us empty!
Light-bulb moment: To be great, we must utilize the tool of the Holy Spirit.
See, since God wants us to accomplish His purpose His way, and the only way we can do this is by listening to the voice of the Lord spoken through the Holy Spirit within us (see John 16:13), we must always leave room for the Holy Spirit to operate in our lives. We must learn to obey that voice that tells us to act in a way that will NOT violate the principles, statutes, and character of God.
Light-bulb moment: The equipping is God’s responsibility, but the use of the equipment is our responsibility.
Anything other than abiding in the Holy Spirit is folly! When Moses decided he knew better than God when he struck the rock instead of speaking to the rock, it ended up costing him the joy of entering into the promise land. When Solomon decided he was no longer going to heed the voice of the Lord not to engage in wedlock with non-believers, it ended up costing him the kingdom and his peace of mind. When the Man of God decided to take a detour from the path God had laid out in front of him, it cost him his life (see 1 Kings 13:11-30)!
Thus it is clear. We must refuse the urge to answer the call of God on our life in our own strength for doing this is dangerous business! Rather, we must allow for the equipping (empowerment) of the Spirit and then walk in step with Him as He leads!
“But the Lord said to me: ‘Do not say I am a youth’, for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. – Jeremiah 1:7
Power Thought: My God who calls me will also give me the ability to fulfill my calling and lead me aright; He is with me and will not allow me to falter.
What would a yo-yo say to us if it had a mind and could speak to us? I reckon five things it would say are as follows: (1) I spend all my time being a busy-body (doing one thing or the other) but I never get anywhere for I am bound by my string. (2) I am controlled by other people – mostly a young one who gratifies himself/herself with me and then dumps me as he/she grow up. (3) I am not a subject of interest for older and more mature folks. (4) I never build any long-lasting relationships. (5) I can’t make up my mind – one second I want to be up and the next I want to be down.
It is not good to be a yo-yo
Like a yo-yo, we can operate in indecision – continuing to dilly-dally in our thinking and so have no constancy of purpose in our lives. If we find that “God” continues to flood us with multiple, differing, and seemingly changing ideas that we do not have the time to bring to fruition, BE WARNED! This is not God (for our God is not flaky) but a god (an idol). This god has a name; it is called unbelief!
The scripture tells us that unbelief causes our days to be consumed by the futility of our minds (being bugged by everything, jumping from one idea to another, and relying on our own wisdom) and causes our years to be lived in fear (see Psalm 78:32 – 33). So what does this tell us? It says the following:
Unbelief is the root of our problems. It causes us to live in fear and to lose focus; it causes us to not excel in life
It tells us that instead of saying ‘I just can’t seem to focus’; we really ought to say ‘I just can’t seem to believe’. See, no one truly has a problem of focus. The problem we have is the span (length) of our focus and the number of things on which we tend to focus. Rather than focus on a myriad of things, the only thing God wants us to focus on is Him, for when we focus on Him, He focuses on us.
But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you – Matthew 6:33
When we focus on God, He focuses our mind on the good works to which He has called us; He simplifies our life; He shows us that our problems are miniscule to Him and gives us spiritual eyes to glimpse the future and hope He has for us through His Word. He rubs away our fear and futility
“…Lord, I believe, Help my unbelief…” – Luke 9:24
When we focus on God, He is able to help our unbelief and grow us up so that that we become mature in Him.
Challenge: Take a minute to focus on God today, and He will use that minute to change your day. Take a day to focus on God, and He will use that day to change your week. Take a few days to focus on God, and He will use those days to change the course of your life!
Oh I think this; Oh I feel that! Just because we think it does not make it the truth, and just because we feel it does not make it real. And just because a friend agrees with it does not confirm it. Since what we feel stems from how we think, it stands to reason that we can change how we feel by changing how we think. The scripture gives credence to this by letting us now that ‘as a man thinks in his heart, so is he’ (Proverbs 3:27). So what kind of men or women are we? Does what we think line up with the Word? If whatever we are thinking does not line up with truth (the Word), then it is a lie! This lie in turn creates fantasy (untrue) emotions that lead us to speak lie-based words and take lie-based actions. We start living a lie-based life that keeps us in bondage – for only the truth brings freedom.
Since words create worlds and words come from thoughts, it is best to create a world of life and truth by inclining our ears to God’s word instead of creating a world of lies and death by acting on our own thoughts and feelings, even if they are supported by the world – which they most likely will be.
Yes, we all have our own thoughts and feeling and we will always have opinions. Yet, we must scrutinize them against the perfect law of liberty (the Word) when they come. If they do not jive with the Word, we must surrender them to God in humility for they are fear-based lies from the father of lies (Satan) who is most likely plaguing on our past experiences, fears, and insecurities.
Should we find that our thoughts never jive with the Word, it’s a sure sign to us to surrender our hearts, spend more time with Him in Word and prayer, and give up our control for His control. When we do this, our thoughts will begin to reflect more of his thoughts.
Remember, His thoughts towards us are good; always to prosper us and to give us a future and a hope (see Jeremiah 29:11).
While our thoughts tend to be motivated by a mixture of good (love, hope) and evil (fear, pride, selfishness) and leads to foolishness at best, God’s thoughts are motivated by agape love and always lead to life.
Our minds can be so focused on achieving the task God has assigned to us that we miss out on the blessings of God on our journey. If we find ourselves having no joy while doing God’s work, it is most likely because we have reverted to doing things in our own power and in our own way rather than relying on God’s power and God’s way. But are we not meant to be partners with God? Do we not have a part to play? Is faith without works not dead? It certainly is! Yet, God wants us to do what he wants us to do, how he wants us to do it – His way. A sure way of critiquing whether we have begun doing things in our own power is to examine the principles we are following. See, the truth is that God will never violate His own principles; therefore God’s way will not violate His principles.
The scripture highlights this in the book of Samuel where David answered God’s voice to take out the Amalekites who had attacked Ziklag and captured his family. Although on a god-sent mission that had deep personal implications, David did not fail to follow the principle of ‘loving your neighbor’. Instead of understandably rushing off to accomplish his mission, he paused to give aid to a distressed man on his journey (see 1 Samuel 30:11-13). As it turned out, this man had valuable information about the Amalekites that helped David achieve his mission faster. Note that David did not know who this man was or the information he had prior to loving him by giving him aid, yet, without this man, David might have spent days in search of his family. Thus we see that, God honored David by fast-forwarding his mission and reuniting him with his family when David honored God by putting God’s principles first in his life.
In Christ, the seeming drawbacks to our mission are simply the pullback of the sling-shot that God uses to propel us towards our destiny.
To be successful, we must resist our tendency to get off the sling-shot in its pullback motion but learn to wait for the acceleration that is surely to follow. We must allow God to complete what He has started for He who has promised is faithful!
Just as the duty of every servant is to attend to the duty of his master, the duty of every believer is to attend to the purpose for which we were born, and do the will of God to which we are called. Being the just God that He is, He has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit who equips us with the ability and wherewithal to accomplish His purpose. Yes, we have all been granted a measure of gifts and talents to accomplish the purpose to which we are called. To those of us that decide to use those gifts and talents to do His will, He grants more grace (in the form on power, capability and ability) and magnifies what He has purposed for us.
“Therefore, take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents” – Matthew 25:28
In contrast, God does not too much fancy those of us that choose not to channel and use our given gifts and talents. He does not take too kindly to us using fear as an excuse for not carrying out His will nor is He impressed with us when we do absolutely nothing of value with our lives. He does not want us to simply bury our talents in the ground but to use them. Why? It is for the purpose of good works that He created us in His image in the first place (see Ephesians 2:10). It is for the aim of accomplishing His purpose and will that He grant us the Holy Spirit who empowers us to be courageous and so to overcome the fear that comes from the enemy.
When the servant told his master he hid his talent out of fear, the master responded with ‘you wicked and lazy servant’ (see Matthew 25:26)! While this may seem harsh, it is exactly how God feels when we squander our gifts and talents out of fear or whatever reason.
Light-bulb moment: When we do not use our gifts and talents, God says to us: You know my will and yet you choose not to take any action and use what I have given you. You are wicked and lazy!
God calls us lazy because the only reason we fall into inaction out of fear is due to our choice not to spend time in His Word. For surely when we spend time with Him, we are transformed into His image – the image or courage, love, boldness, strength, and power. We no longer allow fear to stop us from doing the good He wants of us but we overcome the evil of fear with the love of good. But when we choose to be lazy and fail to build ourselves up, we become like the man who refuses to go out into the street from his house for he says there is a lion out there to devour him (see Proverbs 22:13). Poverty is the end of such a man for he will lose what he has – just as the talent was taken away from the servant.
Light-bulb moment: When we spend time with love, it casts our all the fear that causes inaction.
God calls us wicked because we have chosen not to advance the kingdom of God by choosing not to use our gifts and talents. See, the desire of God is that we sow the talents He has given us so that is yields up to a 100-fold. He wants us to bless the work of our hands so that we can be a blessing to other people. Here is how the Word puts it:
“…It is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His Covenant…” – Deuteronomy 8:18
Thus, being wealthy is all things helps God establish the Covenant He made with Abraham and that is now made available to all nations or all people of the world through the sacrifice of Jesus. But if we do not use the power (gifts, talents, favor, courage, etc.) that comes from the Holy Spirit to become wealthy in all things, then how are people attracted to us? If people do not see us exhibiting the gift of hope and encouragement in a dire situation, then why would they come to us to inquire of how we can be so joyful? What I am saying is this: God wants to be wealthy is all things so that we can be light to this world; so that people are attracted to the light; so that we can be more effective has His ministers in this world. By burying our gifts and talents, we have hidden our light and we have not loved our lost family members in essence. We hinder the work of God in having those who do not know Him from entering into His Covenant.
Light-bulb moment: We do not allow our lives to minister to other people when we fail to use the gifts and talents He has given us.
Food For Thought: We miss the mark (sin) when we fail to use our gifts and talents – it shows a love deficiency
Faith does not allow our present circumstance to change our outlook (the vision of the sure future that God has spoken over us), but instead allows His outlook to change our attitude about our present circumstance. Unfortunately, when there is no vision of the sure thing that God has spoken to us through His Word, we tend to allow our present circumstance if bad to turn us over to bitterness. In doing so, we tend to perish in our thoughts – thinking that He has neglected us and questioning His love for us – and so fall away from the path of blessing that God wants to shower on us by taking matters into our own hands. If we do not understand that we will all face testing circumstances, we may end up in a mixed funk of melancholy and legalism; sure that bad things are only happening to us because God is mad at us. In the depths of despair, it is at times easy to forget that our situation is temporary if we do not give up on God, for He does not give up on us.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world – John 16:33
Without a godly vision, even the good times bring anxiety in that we can be dissatisfied with the status quo and hunger after more wealth and pleasure. The earliest example of a person who had this problem was Adam. He had the good life but he became dissatisfied with it after drinking the poisonous speech of Satan who gave him a false vision of a better life – the promise of a step-up life of being like God. Adam fell because he had no vision or outlook of the fantastic life that God has already prepared for him. All he had was a vision of lack. Since faith can be defined as the sighting/vision/evidence of the sure thing that God has promised (see Hebrews 11:1), we see that Adam ultimately perished for his lack of faith – for he disobeyed out of the fear that he was not living the best possible life.
We are not to be like Adam, but are to be like Jesus who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross (see Hebrews 12:2). What was the joy set before Him? It was the joy of being reunited with the Father, the joy of reconciling us to Himself, the joy of sitting at the right hand of the Father and being the overseer of all the Kingdoms that had been given into His hands. It was the vision of the sure things that He was to inherit that made his trials and tribulations bearable!
Light-bulb moment: If we know we are to inherit a great collection of jewels upon completing a marathon, the hardship and pain we endure during the training and subsequent run to not much matter. Our focus will simply be on the joy that is to come.
God has a vision for each of our lives, and the vision is to prosper us and to give us a good future. The problem is that many of us do not see it. The truth is we do not have to walk this life without vision. We can set ourselves apart and go up to our quiet place away from the busyness of the world below – seeking the Lord in fasting and prayer. When we do this, the scripture tells us that we will get a vision of what God wants for us.
I will stand upon my watch, and set myself upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved – Habakkuk 2:1
Once we are given our vision, we are then told to write it down so that we do not forget and so that we may continually chase after it.
And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, so he may run that reads it – Habakkuk 2:2
See, vision is what makes us run! The vision of the sure thing God has promised; that which will surely come to pass for God cannot lie is what produces diligence and energizes us for our work; it is what produces patience and perseverance. Let’s put it this way: If we know we will gain our dream vacation simply by cutting down a tree, we will find a way to do it and do it quickly! The problem is not the lack of patience, diligence, and energy (these are the symptoms). The real problem is the lack of vision.
Light-bulb moment: While vision produces faith, diligence, and patience, lack of it produces laziness, lethargy, and defeat
If you do not have a vision today, I urge you to set yourself apart and go up to your watchtower and then see what He will say to you. Say yes when you are corrected and acknowledge your wrong-doing. Clean the muck out of your house and start running after the target God has given you knowing that His power is following His purpose for you; knowing that all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them. Then watch and see again what happens to your attitude about your circumstance; watch and see what changes occur in your life.
Food for Thought: No man who has ever had godly (love based) vision has ever been defeated in life
What are you doing with God’s favor? (listen here)
God’s grace is multifaceted! His grace saves us from eternal separation (through the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ), covers us in a myriad of situations and covers our sins when we confess, and empowers us (through the Holy Spirit) to live righteously and to attain all the covenant blessings or promises (favor, healing, prosperity, wisdom, might, and much more) that has been won for us.
Since we receive grace through faith (see Ephesians 2:8), as we grow our faith (belief and trust) in the Lord through the study of His Word (see Romans 10:17), we ensure we experience more grace (power, gifting) in our lives. Thus, a life of faith is an empowered life that leads to the manifestation of the fullness of His covenant blessings in our life.
Yet, many of us receive the grace of God in vain when we fail to realize that God lavishes His grace on us not just to proper us but for us to be His hands and feet and to fulfill the requirements of love through His gifts – to walk in His purpose for us, to reveal Christ to others, and to be a blessing to others. Paul puts it this way:
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me – 1 Corinthians 5:10
Light-bulb moment: We receive grace in vain when we stop laboring to fulfill the requirements of love by walk in His purpose for us, revealing Christ to others, and being a blessing to others. When we think it is just for us and we become lazy
Favor Gone Berserk
Favor goes berserk when we receive favor in vain. I started thinking of how favor goes berserk when I was asked this question: What would you rather have – favor or blessing? I found the question puzzling, not because it is difficult to answer, but because it makes a fundamentally flawed assumption. The question assumes that favor and blessing are mutually exclusive.
The will of God is to pour out his blessing on us and doth on us as a loving Father. He longs to bless us so that we can be a blessing to others – not to hog all our blessings in selfishness. By blessing others, we show God’s heart and walk in obedience. We open the door to God’s blessing when we obediently follow the path the He has for us. Favor is something that God grants us as we continue on the path of obedience. It is God’s favor that propels and catapults us towards the blessings that He has in store for us. So the relationship between favor and blessing is simply this:
Light-bulb moment: Favors are simply doors that God opens to accomplish His purpose through us
The mindset that favor and blessing are exclusive keeps us from reaching our destiny! People who chase after favor rather than blessings can be compared to those that base their performance on effort rather than results. They congratulate themselves on effort without ever achieving much. Hence, favor minded people often find themselves stuck in the same situation in life.
Light-bulb moment: Favor is the means to an end, and not the end in itself.
The story of Mark lays out the peril of being solely favor minded
Mark Receives Grace in Vain (listen here)
Mark is a favor-monger! He loves favor. Mark does not have much but he does very well on favor. He is favored everywhere he goes – he gets free parking in places others need to pay; he gets the closest parking at sporting events, and a friend usually picks up his tab at dinner. Mark enjoys so much favor that he has come to expect it. It has come to the point where he can just about budget favor into his monthly financial plan. For this, He is very thankful to God and prays to God for even more favor. From the outside looking in, it would be nice to be Mark right? Wrong!
Here are some things that being solely favor minded has done to Mark
He Cannot Bless Others: Mark is never able to pick up the tab for any of his friends. He is never able to help or bless anyone as he is the one that is always in need of a blessing. He needs others to continue favoring him and so is unable to be God’s hands and feet.
He has Become Lazy: By being solely favor minded he has imbibed a poverty mentality where he is satisfied with barely scraping by. He has the ability to achieve more, but laziness has crept into him. He has become the servant that the master admonished in the parable of the talents for being lazy (see Matthew 14:26). Mark has buried his potential under the seductive soil of favor!
He is Dissatisfied: Mark is never fully satisfied with any particular blessing his friends bestow upon him as he is always looking for more! His friends have noticed that while he always smiles and thanks them for blessing him, Mark becomes very sad, withdrawn, and even cold when he does not obtain their favor. They secretly wonder if Mark is only friends with them because of what they do for him. They wonder if their friendship with Mark is built on being his cash cow, and they wonder why he does not do more with the talent he possesses. On the other hand, Mark wonders why his friends have not picked up the tab especially when they are able and he is unable! He rationalizes it as his friends being cheap and not really loving him. He judges them for not following the biblical injunction of caring for the “needy” – as he is one who is in need! He conveniently forgets about all the other times they pick up his tab……. Mark has truly become a burden. And since he is never truly satisfied, he is never truly content. As such, he always nags. He has become a person that bible calls quarrelsome and nagging (see Proverbs 21:19).
He Cannot Keep a Relationship: Mark cannot maintain relationships because he is always the “taker” in them. He never gives because he rationalizes that he has nothing to give – but a whole lot of condemnation which he considers advice. He sees nothing wrong with always being a taker. In fact, He thanks God for blessing him and for putting people in his life he can take from. They are such a blessing! But in time, his partner realizes that Mark loves favor more than her and leaves him. Mark is stunned! He cannot see his own selfishness. He prays that God sends him another partner – another partner to drain!
Mark has forgotten that the bible says we should give and it shall be given unto us. It does not say to take so that we can get more.
“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” – Luke 6:38
Mark’s Heart Condition(listen here)
The story of Mark illuminates what can happen when favor goes berserk – when we make favor the goal and not a means. It may lead to laziness, ingratitude, inability to fulfill our potential and broken relationships. As heirs to the throne, Jesus has unlocked for us covenant blessings; not just covenant favor for our selfish gain. We must not allow the enemy to twist favor in such a way as to keep us from God’s best. If this is happening, we have to examine our hearts. If we truly have a heart for God (a heart of love), then we will have a heart to be a blessing to others. We will have a heart to be givers.
So to answers the originally levied question of whether I would rather have favor or blessing, I say give me bless me so that I can be a blessing to others.
Food for Thought: The path to God’s blessing is paved with favor
If we are not impressed by our gifts, abilities, and talents (because we know everything we have is from God and by the grace of God), then we should not be depressed by our weaknesses (because our weaknesses keep us humble and reliant on the saving power of Christ).
God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). If any of us think that we have conquered all our weaknesses and have arrived at our destination in life, then we have become puffed up and are on our way to a downfall. Paul puts it this way:
“For though I desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth…” – 2 Corinthians 12:6
When we truly realize how much we need God and how nothing we accomplish is by our own strength, we become maximally useful to carry out His will. See, God foreknew all of us before we were born and called each one of us to achieve a particular purpose (good work).
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10
Shying away from God’s purpose is disobedience so we should not do it since it displeases Him. Furthermore, its a fool’s game! But why?
Here is why. As children of God, the Spirit yearns jealously for us (see James 4:5). We can run around in the wilderness for years trying to dodge the purpose to which He has called us –using every excuse in the book – but He will use people, situations, and circumstances to break us down and get our attention. No matter how hard we try, we find that His purpose cannot be withheld from Him and that what He has ordained will get done, for no word that He has spoken can ever return back to Him void (see Isaiah 55:11).
“I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.” – Job 42:2
A good example of someone that tried not to do what God called him to do was Jonah. When he was given his orders, the first thing He did was head in the opposite direction. Being self-righteous and disobedient, he almost caused a boat to sink and had to spend time in the belly of a whale before he finally headed to Nineveh to deliver God’s message. As hard-headed as he was, God’s purpose was accomplished through him – not because of Him, but despite of Him. Jonah endured unnecessary hardship because of his disobedience. In the end, it was all for naught.
Light-bulb moment: Running away from God’s purpose in our life is pointless and is life’s biggest time waster. If He has chosen us, His desires will be fulfilled through us no matter how much of a Jonah we become.
And just like Jonah, we become miserable if we do not align our hearts with the purpose of God, for even after Jonah delivered the message to the people of Nineveh and they repented, he wanted God to take him out. Seriously Jonah!
For those of us that answer God’s call, we can be assured that If He has chosen us, He will strengthen us. Just as He strengthened Moses and gave him the words to speak to the Pharaoh and made him a great leader, He will do the same for us as long as we walk in obedience – so we need not fear. His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
The story of Gideon highlights the strength of God working in human weakness. Gideon was a man who started out with little faith. In fact, he did not really believe in what God promised and thus became the first “fleece-thrower” (see Judges 6:36 – 40). Yet, God called him a mighty man of valor and persevered with Him – showing Gideon that He is a mighty God. It was this same Gideon that did not question God when He trimmed his army from 34,000 to 300 before granting him victory over the Midianites. Now that took some faith!
Light-bulb moment: If stubborness and lack of faith could not stop God from achieving his purpose through Jonah and Gideon, respectively, it will not stop Him from using you.
Food for Thought: You signed up to be used by God for His purpose when you signed up with Jesus, so stop fighting it! He will have His way anyway.
Light-bulb moment: To be great, we must utilize the tool of the Holy Spirit.
SuperChamp 