Month: November 2015

God Esteem & Confidence (Manifesting Sonship Series Part IV-b)

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Sometimes WordPress behaves wacky. In the middle of my post on Moses it posted what was not finished. Hence getting more than one post today…😃

I left off talking about Moses letting God know about His weaknesses. God already knew. He knows everything. We are deeply loved by God, yet the story isn’t primarily about us…it’s about God. It’s about who God is. 

God has always existed. It’s His story for His glory, and we get to join His story. 

God had a plan to free His people, and He chose Moses to be His spokesperson. He knew when He chose Moses that he had a fear issue, fear of rejection, insecurities, and that Moses was not eloquent of speech. He didn’t walk up on Moses and say to Himself, “Hey I wonder what this guy is like? Can I use him?” 

God knows our flaws, fears, weaknesses, insecurities, wounds, shortcomings, and still calls us all to join His story. 

If you read the Bible cover to cover you will find only one who is perfect and He is Jesus. He perfectly represented the Father. 

What does that mean for us? 

1. It means we are who God says we are. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. He’s right in His assessment always. 

2. Our confidence is to come from our identity in Christ, nothing else. Jesus plainly said, “I am the Vine. You are the branches. If you abide in Me, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing,“~from John 15:5.

3. If God calls, He equips, and provides provision. It’s about Him being seen through us for His glory. We can’t take credit for what He has done when He works through our areas of weakness. We can’t take credit for our strengths either…

4. It’s not about our weakness, it’s about His strength! 

5. Even if we mess up, God has a redemptive plan. 

6. Low self esteem and insecurity are not the will of God, nor is it humility. 

a. Some today might applaud Moses for telling God he wasn’t qualified or worthy. God on the other hand rebuked him. He said to Moses, “Who made the mouth?” 

You may be thinking, “Easier said than done. This God esteem seems hard to walk out.” 

Ummmm…yeah! It’s something I’m learning to walk out. Confidence hasn’t always been applauded in my life. Some Christians labeled me arrogant for thinking I could hear from God and I didn’t have great experiences walking confidence out. If I stated I was a filthy sinner or worm, there was applause for my humility. Yet the more I searched the scriptures, the more evidence I found that God wanted us to accept His assessment of who we are. We were (past tense) dead in trespasses and sin. We were (past tense) sinners on the way to hell. 

Even in my occupation other women and some men made it their mission to sabatoge efforts for success. 

I am still walking it all out with you because God calls me way, way, way out of my comfort zone. I had zero desire to lead, be known, teach, preach, be on platforms, etc…leave me in a room with God alone and I’m as happy as can be. I had zero, zero desire to be a spokesperson for God. None. And God has called me repeadily to do what I never thought I could and many things I had no desire to do. 

Life examples:

After years of being somewhat beat down in ministry and enduring some intense persecution at work and with Christians. I am not talking about people just being rude either. I’m talking about being stalked, falsely accused, publicly humiliated and lied on, people trying to get me fired, cussed out in public places, vandalized property, people I didn’t know contacting me about gossip they heard, being removed from “friend” circles without warning, destroying my work samples….on and on…God calls me after this 7 year period of testing-(lets call it that), to minister to a stranger I met one time at a conference. 

My first response was, “Are you serious? Um no thanks.” God didn’t rebuke me like He did Moses. He kept nudging. “Will you go for me?” I was still hurting, still tired, over ministry, seeking rest and restoration. I had zero desire to go minister to someone I didn’t know. And I would hold things God gave me until I had courage to send them. It was hard. I had to overcome plenty of fear. Or at least move past it long enough to bless someone else. He would state the timing was on point. God had figured in my lag time.

That one act of (delayed) obedience led to years of being obedient, faithful, facing fears, and just being a vessel God could use, even while broken. It was super challenging as I felt a truck had backed over my life, yet it brought about good things for that person and their family. It also helped me grow in God confidence.  

The purpose of me telling you is this…Sometimes, you’re going to be afraid. Sometimes you may feel really small or inadequate. Sometimes you may not be well received. Yet if you give it to God, He will do something beautiful. You may not be the benefactor. It may be someone else. It’s for His glory. I told God He could have all of my life. Since then I’ve had chances to walk it out. 

We are His workmanship created for His glory. Your reward for being faithful to God (He does like to give rewards by the way), may be in heaven where moths and rust do not decay. Some may be on earth, I can’t say. I do know it’s worth it to believe what God says about us and to step out of the boat! 

No one wins games by sitting on the bench. 

No one walks on the water by sitting in the boat! 

Papa God I thank You that Your strength is made perfect in our weakness. I thank You that all You say about us is true. I thank You that You are so powerful to heal us where we are afraid, weak, broken, and insecure. Our true confidence is in You! I bless everyone reading this with Godly esteem and God Confidence. In Jesus name. Amen. 

Love, 

Erin 

God Esteem & Confidence (Manifesting Sonship Series Part IV)

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I love the story of Moses. He’s one of my Bible favorites. He was given a very challenging task by God and when God instructed Moses to be His spokesperson, Moses responded with his inadequancies. Has God ever asked you to do something and you responded with fear or all the reasons you couldn’t do it? I have. Let’s first look at some scripture. 

God at this point in Exodus 4 has already shown Moses His power. Go back and read Exodus 3 and 4. We are picking up at Exodus 4:10-17.

Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I am not a man of words (eloquent, fluent), neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, or the seeing or the blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and will teach you what you shall say.” But he said, “Please my Lord, send the message [of rescue to Israel] by [someone else,] whomever else You will [choose].”

Then the anger of the Lord was kindled and burned against Moses; He said, “Is there not your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. Also, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be overjoyed. You must speak to him and put the words in his mouth; I, even I, will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; he will act as a mouthpiece for you, and you will be as God to him [telling him what I say to you]. You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs [the miracles which prove I sent you].”

Moses was human just like us. Rejection doesn’t feel great. Being teased or ridiculed for a weakness doesn’t feel great either. In his shoes I may have thought the same thing, “Who am I to go speak for God?” I actually have had some interesting experiences with this. 
God tells us to find our identity in Him not our gifts, talents, eloquence, knowledge, or performance. Even if we are the best at what we do, we pale in comparison to God. Not even close…to matching His perfection. It’s not about us, it’s about Him. 

Identity Crisis (Manifesting Sonship Series Part III)

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“Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations that’s what I had in mind for you,“~Jeremiah 1:5. 

Those are beautiful words spoken by God about the prophet Jeremiah. God affirms it is He who shaped Jeremiah in the womb. He is also the One who had a plan for Jeremiah’s life before he was born. You and I are no different from Jeremiah. God knew us before we were ever conceived and has a great plan for our lives. 

We matter to God. Every life has a purpose. You were not a mistake. If you were born male, God intended you to be male. If you were born female, God intended you to be that way. Your skin color, nationality, ethnic origin, place in history were all seen and known by God. He doesn’t make mistakes. Humans make poor choices or mistakes. Because of Adam and Eve we are born with a sin nature, yet God even took care of the sin issue through His Son. We may be born with issues, that doesn’t mean God intended for us to keep them. Nor does He wish for us to sin or have a perpetual identity crisis. He longs to restore humanity to the first estate. 

The first estate of Adam and Eve was God’s plan. Man and woman made in His image, without sin, linked together in the first human covenant, to be representatives of Him in the earth. He made mankind in His image (Genesis 1:27). They (man and woman) together represent what He is like. They were given a purpose; be with God, love God, love one another, have dominion on the earth, rule, subdue, be fruitful and multiply (procreate). 

“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb.

I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation!

You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you. The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day,“~Psalm 139:13-16 (The Message). 

Our society has redefined identity. Even in the church. Everyone gets to be who they want to be. Our culture says if you feel like a duck, then you can become a duck and everyone around you must approve and applaud. If you dress like a duck, I’d still love you. God still loves you. That doesn’t mean you are a duck. Your DNA will still say human. No matter the pills we take, clothes we wear, or what we place on our drivers license/birth certificate, or what we call ourselves, our identity was selected by God and written on our DNA. 

On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?~Romans 9:20. 

You may be saying you’ve never argued with God about your identity. Have you ever wished you were someone else? Wanted their gifts, talents, skills? Wished you could look like someone else or have what they have? Tried to change who you are to fit in, so people like and approve of you? Defined yourself by success, family, marriage, or associations instead of as a beloved child of God? Defined yourself by your sin instead of what God says? Allowed others to tell you who you are? Felt discontent because you couldn’t compete with others? Allowed the opinions of others or lack of approval/acknowledgement to steal your joy?

Our media is set up to bring confusion and discontentment. There’s no message that I can find of, “Be content with who you are and what you have.” Nor are there many messages stating God is the standard, the tuning fork we are to adjust our lives and thoughts to. 

Examples from life:

My personality is rare, the rarest among women according to Myers Briggs. People have told me, “You’re like a man.” I’m not a man. I’m 100% female and don’t wish to be a man. Yet it’s challenging when people try to define who you are by their standards instead of God’s. God gave me a mostly logical brain, and I am a thinker. I’m not into the same things many women are. Yet I am who God created me to be; created to display His creativity in the earth. 
Wait a minute! Don’t change my design…

There’s a comic artist I love online. Her comics bring such joy! One day she posted how people were taking her creations and chopping them off or changing them by only showing part of the image. She as the creator was livid that her original designs were being changed. She knew the message she wanted to send to the world. When her creation was changed, the meaning was lost and it no longer brought glory to her. She was no longer honored nor her true intentions seen. It wasn’t hers anymore. It was altered, changed, and the message confused. 

God handcrafted you! You were and are His design. 

I posted somewhere I had a vision a year or so ago with all these priceless hand cut gems from heaven. The Father was pouring them out into the world via a conveyor belt. They filled the earth perfectly. Each one different and unique, and perfectly cut so they fit together. He then lit up the world; it was the most brilliant scene. What if the diamonds decided to be rubies or the emeralds to be opals? They decide to make their own design and well, that’s where we get perversion. Which is something twisted, altered, and the wrong version. 

The evil one says, “Do what feels good to you. God made you different than what you appear. You can be who ever you want to be! It’s your world, your body, your ideas, your feelings, and passions that matter most.” Then he sits back and laughs at humanity like I believe he did with Adam and Eve. They forfeited God’s amazing plan for something that brought sickness, torment, disease, sin, pain, confusion, abuse, heartache…all the horrors we see in the world today go back to Adam and Eve choosing their way over God’s. The devil never told them the negative consequences of believing him over God. The devil never tells anyone that stepping outside God’s will cause eventual destruction. 

What’s the Good News?! The good news is God always has a redemptive plan. No matter how we feel or think about who or what we are, God can and will give us His lenses and perspective. He sent His Son Jesus to redeem humanity and reestablish broken, fractured, and lost identity. He takes what was broken in the Garden and makes it whole. 

God’s vision for humanity was represented in the Garden of Eden before Adam sinned. If Eve had truly believed she was made in the image of God, when the serpent tempted her with something she already had she may have resounded, “I am created in His image already. No thank you!” If she had fully grasped the goodness of God, maybe she would responded, “God withholds nothing good from me. He is good. I will not eat from this tree.” 

Sweet friends, God knew what He was doing when He created you. He has an amazing plan for your life. You are defined by heavenly standards and God sees someone He loves. He defines you by His book, His creative idea, by Himself. You were carved out of the imagination of God. God doesn’t define anyone by sin or the world’s standards. He looks at His children and calls forth their true identities as sons and daughters of God. It’s not about what we feel or what others say. It’s about what He says. Only the Creator can tell you the purpose and identity of His creation. You are a walking poem and billboard for God’s creative genuis. 

Papa God, please forgive us for trying to tell You who we are, for defining ourselves by the world’s standards or by our feelings/thoughts/passions/insecurities. Please cleanse us of pride, insecurity, deception, rebellion, perversion, and unbelief. Please forgive us for redefining who we are in ways that dishonor and disrespect You. Help us to seek You for identity because the greatest title we can carry is child of God. Help us to see ourselves through Your eyes. Show us what we were born for. In Jesus mighty name amen.

You are so deeply loved! 

Erin