Acceptance – 9

Text: Romans 12:1-21, Job 12:9-16

Look at her. She’s got life all figured out, and everything is going right. She’s got a family, a thriving business and a large ministry and it’s all perfect. Why can’t that be me?

Have you thought those things before? I certainly have. Sometimes it’s a daily struggle. I would guess that’s a pretty normal thought process for most of us. But I’d like to ask you, along with me, to shift your focus.

That’s her. That’s not you.

We saw last session how God has a specific plan for you. You. And He’s guiding you through your story. Yours, not hers. Not anyone else’s.

If you haven’t yet today, please read our text from Romans, especially Romans 12:3-7, our text from Job – all eight verses.

We’ll talk about the Job passage first.

Q: According to verses 9-10, whose hands are we in?

Very capable hands, I would say. Those same hands who planned the universe, orchestrated the perfect balance of the planets, the chemistry in our air, our water and even in our bodies. The wisdom and knowledge beyond anything we could ever comprehend (Romans 11:33), even planning and preserving the generations of mankind and the birth of Jesus Christ for centuries before it happened. That Birth, I might add, that would never have been necessary if we hadn’t screwed things up by trying to do things our own way, I might add. Those same hands and mind who planned all of that… that’s who’s got us. That’s Who’s in control of our lives.

I don’t know about you, but that’s definitely a comforting thought to me.

Read over the Job passage again, looking especially at verses 13-16.

Q: Is God wise? Write your answer in a full sentence. (verse 13)

That may seem like a silly question, but isn’t that the very truth we question when we question His will? When we question the way our lives are playing out, and when we question the situation we find ourselves in?
So I ask again, is God wise? Do you truly believe that? As we’ve mentioned before, trusting can be very difficult, especially when we can’t see the bigger picture.

But He is no less in control when we’re at the bottom of the hill looking up than when we’ve reached the top and can see the beautiful vista. He was wise, understanding, and in control of it all every step of the way.

Even the difficult ones.

But do you see in verse 13 the second quality that was named?

Q: What characteristic of God was named along with wisdom?

Did you say strength? Might? Power? Depending on your translation, you might have any of those answers. But isn’t it the truth? Along with wisdom, He is strong and powerful. Such a perfect combination. Because without the power to do anything, His wisdom would prove worthless.

In case you take the word lightly, I’d like you to look with me at its Hebrew root, gĕbuwrah: strength, might, valor, bravery, mighty deeds of God; which is from gibbowr, a stronger form of gabar: to be strong and mighty; to prevail. source

So, in my estimation, pretty much the strongest this word could get. And we have that power to help us along the way. So, no, you don't have to always be strong in and of yourself - you've got God on your side!

As children of God, when we question His plan I believe that’s Satan trying to mislead us. Wouldn’t that make sense?

But take heart, and read Job 12:16.

Job 12:16 “With Him are strength and prudence.The deceived and the deceiver are His.” NKJV emphasis mine

So even the Deceiver belongs to God, and must answer to Him. (Like we read a few sessions back)

Now that we know where the doubt is coming from, let’s analyze our own heart, thoughts and motives.

Please re-read the Romans passage.

Switching mental gears back to where we started this session today, answer the following question.

Q: Do you or have you in the past compared yourself to others and the proverbial greener grass on the other side of the fence?

Q: Or do you have tendency in the other direction – almost getting uppity about God’s plan for you, and how your calling is so much better than someone else’s?

In this passage, we see just a little taste of the bigger picture God sees. He knows we each only can see from our own eyes, from our own perspective. But He gives us this glimpse at the whole puzzle. We, the puzzle pieces, get to look at the front of the box for a moment. God says we each have our own roles. Our own gifts, talents and purpose that He has designed especially for us. And just like pieces of a puzzle, we wouldn’t really fit in any other spot. Not without damaging the bigger picture, and likely damaging ourselves and the surrounding pieces in the long run.

Read verse 10.

Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.” NASB

We are to show preference to the other person – not ourselves – and not vie for position. Let them have their place in the puzzle, and accept our own; where God has placed us. It goes back to trust again.

I’d like to conclude with this thought from verses 6-8. Please re-read those verses again. Repeat is good, don’t you think? I know you’ve just read the same passage multiple times, but for me, it never gets old.

DO: If you write in your Bible, circle or underline the action commands.

Romans 12:6-8 “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” NLT emphasis mine

What do you see? I see a body of Christ doing what they should be doing. Living out that plan God has for them. And what more beautiful plan could there be? What more beautiful will of God for your life could you imagine?

Q: Which gift do you best see yourself in?

Q: Do you feel that’s the one God has given you, or is it the one you wish you had?

Q: Do you strive to live out the gift that God has given you? Why or why not?

In your prayer time, spend some time thanking God for your gift(s) – the one(s) he planned and designed especially for you. Pray also for His help to live out the gift(s) the way He intended.

You’re beautiful, sweet sister. And so is your gift.

Set Free 12 – Not Good Enough

There are so many times we struggle with not feeling good enough. This is a struggle we can keep returning to without meaning to. Satan preys on our feelings. His main goal is to get us away from focusing on Christ, and it doesn’t matter who gets hurt along the way. Even if it’s you. Even if it’s me.

He’s gonna try his hardest to make us feel not good enough.

Here’s the thing. We aren’t good enough.

We never will be.

Not by ourselves anyway.

This realization can get us down, and while we’re down we’re useless.

Useless.

I knew it.

Do you see the cycle?

Let’s get a fresh perspective, shall we?

Come with me – read our text, Psalm 34.

I’d love to draw out some key verses, but I want your thoughts first.

DO: Grab your journal and highlight verses in this chapter of Psalms that shine and soothe.

DO: Please share your answers in our community (comment below) keeping in mind that your answer may be different than mine, or than someone else’s. That’s the beauty of God’s Word; it’s alive and can be used for the varying needs of God’s children.

The verses that touched my aching heart in this chapter were especially verses 5, 7, 10, and 18.

7 and 18: being surrounded by God’s angels, and by the LORD Himself; my broken heart is of great value to Him.

10: I shall not be lacking any good thing. My heart is pure, valuable, precious and complete to Him. Any ‘not-good-enough’ is filled in with Christ.

And last but not least, verse 5:

Psalm 34:5 “Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed.” HCSB

Looking to Him, Creator, wise, holy… GOD, and not being ashamed? How can this be? I look in the mirror and feel ashamed, and I’m me. How can I look to God and not feel ashamed?

Because, Sweet Thing, He chose you, made you, knows you and loves you.

And not only that, but He fills in where we fall short.

Keep a finger in Psalm 34, but go take a look at these verses: Colossians 2:10, and then 2 Peter 1:3.

When He looks at you, He sees Christ’s completion.

Colossians 2:10 “And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” NKJV emphasis mine
(or notice in HCSB, “And you have been filled by Him…” emphasis mine)

Because He is the One who completes us. That’s why He doesn’t see the not-good-enough us that we see! Because He sees perfection. Because He sees Christ.

2 Peter 1:3-4 “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” NIV

We get to participate in His nature.

With this mindset, of course we wouldn’t feel ashamed.

(Before we get too heady about this though, please read how Christ handles this lofty position in Philippians 2:6-8.)

Q: In Philippians 2:7, how did Christ respond to being equal with God?

Turn back to Psalm 34. Here’s the thing I’d like you to see.

When we’re feeling down, and feeling not good enough, we are not seeing ourselves the way God does. We are seeing ourselves as pre-Christ creations, not as the Christ-filled, Christ-transformed (2 Cor 5:17) creation that we are.

More importantly than that, we are not seeing Christ at all.

Yep. You read that right. Re-read Psalm 34 and answer the following questions – personally in your journal, or also in our community in the comments below.

Q: In verse 1, what does David say?

Q: In verse 2, who does David boast in?

Q: In verse 3, who are we to join in magnifying?

Do you get the idea? Keep going if you like, through the whole chapter, making a list of all the times, or circling in your Bible like I did, that you see the following exchange:
I praise – He protects

I look to Him – He is near.

Focus on Him – Lose all shame.

I’d like to close with a concept the Lord impressed upon my heart in a Bible study I attended 5 years ago that totally upended my view of God, and transformed my view of relationship with Him from Master-Creator/Slave-servant to Father/Child and all the love, understanding and acceptance that comes with it.

We were looking at 1 Peter 2:3-10.

(I’d like you to glance at it too, so you can have an idea where we were at. Notice the repeat from Psalm 34:8 and 1 Peter 2:3? Don’t you love how God ties things together?)

We looked at the concept of a stone, and how Christ is our cornerstone, holding it all together. God impressed upon me that night how precious we are (vs 9) to Him, and He gave my heart this picture (He often uses pictures with me because He knows it works and stays with me longer. You?):

Picture a diamond, pressured, cut, chiseled, carved. Now picture the prongs where it is set are actually the hands of God. We are that diamond or precious stone.

Repeat these words aloud until you believe them: “I am a stone, set like a jewel in the heart and hands of God.”

Know that. Know, too, that for that stone to be beautiful, it does require pressure, change (2 Cor 5:17 again!) and cutting and carving.

No stone starts out perfect. That’s why I said at the beginning today that we aren’t enough.

Because we’re not enough.

But with Jesus, we are beautiful, and with Jesus, we shine.

Shine, sister. That’s how He sees you, and that’s how He wants you to see yourself.

You are so precious to Him.

I hope you’ve been blessed by this segment on being Set Free. I know I have. We will be starting up another series Lord willing near the beginning of September, but should have a few devotionals in between.

How did your verse-memorizing go?

I’d love for you to share a short video on Twitter or Instagram of you reciting them (use tag #faithspokenof). It doesn’t have to be perfect. Remember what we learned about perfectionism, and today about not being good enough. That’s not the point. The point is you’re hiding His precious Words in your heart.

If you haven’t started yet, that’s fine too- you can start today. 

Download free printable verse cards here.

God bless you this week and we’ll see you soon! 

You can connect in the meantime on Facebook and Twitter.

The Painful Lesson 7 – Difficult People

Text: Jeremiah 22:7-9; Jer 25; Jer 51:1-5, 7; Romans 1:18-32, 1 Peter 3:4

We have no excuse.

Romans 1:20b-22 “We have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.” NLT

We took our Groom for granted.

And we are about to see what it is like without Him. Or maybe that’s where we are right now?

God has crumbled the clay.

Last session we talked about how He crumbles the clay by pulling out the velvet rug we’ve been sitting on.

Today, we are going to look at an alternate approach He sometimes takes, and maybe this fits your life a little better. Rather than punishment/teaching (the two really can be interchangeable at times, can they not?) by removal of something, sometimes God actually institutes “wreckers” in our lives.

Yep. I had to do a double-take too, but it’s plainly what God said. Look again at Jeremiah 22:7-9 and then turn over to chapter 25.

Jeremiah 22:7 “I will call for wreckers,    who will bring out their tools to dismantle you.They will tear out all your fine cedar beams    and throw them on the fire.”

Jeremiah 25:3-7 reminds me of what I’m memorizing in Romans. Romans 1:18-32 specifically.

Jeremiah 25:9 kind-of stunned me. King Nebuchadnezzar – God’s deputy? 

God appointed him? 

God appointed him?

This same Nebuchadnezzar who ordered the statue built of himself for everyone to worship (Daniel 3)? This same Nebuchadnezzar who ordered the death of those who did not? But there it is in verse 9.

Jeremiah 25:9 “I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy, I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever.”

And God brought him against Israel.

No, sisters, God hasn’t handed over the wheel this time. He’s still got it. He’s directing all these turn of events, even when it has meant the demise of His Beloved for a time.

While this passage was directly spoken to Israel, about a time that has now already happened (just exactly the way God said it would, by the way – but then we shouldn’t be surprised, because He was the One who orchestrated it in the first place), we can definitely see application in our own lives.

It angers God when we stray. He must, as a Holy God, punish to bring forth a better, more faithful, beautiful Bride.

1 Peter 3:4 “You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.” NLT

Has God brought a difficult person into your life? I know you can think of at least one difficult person you know. Maybe that person’s very presence in your life is an act of love.

Did you ever think of it that way?

God, up there in Heaven, sketching out plans for your life, and He artfully pencils in the presence of someone He knows will try you. Someone He knows will hurt you. Someone to bring you to your knees.

Because that is what He wants – is you on your knees. Even if it takes a bit of pain to get you there.

There are so many more treasures here, but we will stop here for today.

Until next time, do spend some time in thankful prayer for those people most difficult in your life. They are a gift from your Groom, a jewel on your bridal tiara.