HE Knows your Worth: Even when you don't

 

For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? - 1Cor.5:12

Please understand that Christianity does not equal perfection.  Don't become so religious that you are no worldly good!  If it is not your life, it is not your business to pass judgement.  Pray for one another and talk to God.  Don't gossip and then ask God to help that person.  Flick the plank out of your own eye first!  That word came on my heart the other day and I wrote it down.  In re-writing it, it has ministered and convicted my spirit.  The first time I heard it and was obedient in sharing it with some folks...this time I heard it and I'm being obedient in adhearing to it myself.  I thanks the Lord daily for continual revelation and understanding.  He knows I am no where near perfect.  He also knows my heart like no one else. I have to learn that just because He has put something on my heart and given me a gift to use to further the kingdom, doesn't mean that the path will not be bumpy nor the journey weary. 
There has to be a lot of patience put into being obedient so that you are making moves at the right time.  There has to be a lot of silence in obedience so that you can hear when the Holy Spirit is giving you further instruction.  There needs to be trust in obedience because God will require you to step out on faith in areas.  Don't worry He knows your worth even when you do not. 
So many times we (myself included) want to wait for the "right" opportunity to be used.  "When I get that million dollars, I'll sow into the kingdom."  "Once I'm where I want to be in life, I'll help in the ministry." I'm not where I want to be spiritually..." that's like getting in shape to go to the gym!  Don't harp on where you feel you may be spiritually.  98% of the time where you feel you are spiritually is based on your observations of others in the ministry and/or around you.  They may be able to flip to a bible verse faster, speak longer, articulate better, or do something that you cannot do BUT, when God wants you to do something it's because He knows your worth.  He knows that you can speak out boldly, He knows that you can manage a department, He knows that you can committ to being there.  He doesn't call people by mistake.  In all of our imperfection, God's will in us is perfection.  God does not call the qualified because we are ALL qualified and called to be kings and priests.  We are all called to further the kingdom in any way that we can. 
 Corinthinans 12:12-31 talks about unity and diversity within the body of Christ and how we all have different functions, gifts and assignments just as your physical body does.  If we all did the same thing and has the same function and purpose how would we be productive in many areas?  It's the desire for immediate recognition and praise of the flesh that becomes the demise of kingdom business.  If you entertain a vain thought for just a second it opens the door to strife, lust and carnal intentions.  People think of being concerned with looks and fashion when they hear vanity and that's why it is such a dangerous spirit.  Vanity is let in when you get a little irritated because someone didn't mention your name to the congregation.  "Pastor said thank you in private but didn't tell everyone what I did."  "Why is her name ahead of mine..." "I talk to Pastor all the time why did he help them..." Those are vain thoughts.  Romans 12:3-8 talks about not thinking too highly of yourself. 
Let God reward your works...you have to know that they are not going unseen.  Instant gratification is just that and it is gone just as quickly as it came...in an instant! You will be rewarded for every good work...your heart needs to be in the right place.  Do it because God loves you and has done so many things for you in the midst of your disobedience and beliees in the good in you...2Corinthians 9:8. 
I intended for this blog to go a completely different direction.  I have been struggling with feeling blocked and I was planning to write more or less out of frustration.  In the first few words I typed out the Holy Spirit began to minister to me and a calm came over my spirit and I thank God for it.  Continue to be obedient in what God has called you to do and keep pressing through.  He didn't promise smooth sailing, but He did say that we can walk on water!

Nesting

I read a post of my best friend's the other day and she said that she was starting to nest to prepare for her little one that is on the way.  So I looked up the definition of "nesting" the other day and it was described as an action that pregnant women perform in their third trimester...preparing the house for their new baby; likened to mocking the ritual of birds preparing a nest before hatching eggs.  The same way that pregnant women and birds, in their right, "nest" to prepare for a new life; we, as believers, should  continuously nest and prepare for what God has in store for us. 
God revealed to me that, although I have never been pregnant in the natural; I have been pregnant in the spirit realm plenty of times and miscarried because I wasn't ready.  My spirit was willing but not ready because my flesh was not obedient.  I have been impregnated with a vision and it's about to birth, I am and will be obedient to the word of God and speak life to all things in my presence.  Calling those things that are not as though they are, God will begin too allow my spirit to dilate and eventually go into labor and birth in the natural what He has already done and showed me in the supernatural.  Right now, I will nest and/or prepare for me to be used as a vessel for what God has in store.
We have to understand the God can't bless us with better until we can take care of what we have right now.  This rings true for houses, money, cars, our bodies in health and weight and everything else.  He desires the best for us, but, if we can't take care of - what we consider - mediocre things, then how can He trust us with luxurious things.  Family listen, in the same way that Jesus went to prepare a place for us in His father's house (John 14:2) because He loved us; we need to prepare a place for Him in our hearts and in our lives period.  Prepare and keep up with what He has blessed us with so that we can pull what is already manifested for us out of the supernatural and eat of the good of the land in the natural.  Take time to nest and you'll be blessed!

G.P.S.

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.  James 1:12

I was on the freeway yesterday evening, headed to the mall to meet my mom and brother.  I was going a different way than normal so I put the mall address into my GPS on my phone and updated directions from my present location.  I tend to get nervous when I’m driving, especially when it’s late, so I kept updating the directions from my current location.  At some point I was sure I had missed my turn so at the next light, I made a U-turn and was in the process of updating the directions again.  When they finally updated, it told me to make a U-turn (again) and head back north to get to the freeway I was looking for.  After I passed the light where I’d originally turned around, the very next block was the entry to the freeway…I was SOOOO close and turned around and delayed myself by 10 minutes.  Had I trusted my GPS the first time I would’ve been okay!  
So often, we do that with God’s plans for us.  We’ll say lead me Lord and we’ll go and things get a little rough, but we trust the Lord through it.  They get a little rougher, and we still trust and thank God but we start to develop a back up plan in the back of our minds.  Then when it gets shaky and we’re all sorts of uncomfortable, we turn the other way and go to whatever back-up plan we had.  What I’ve found, personally, is that I was so close to a breakthrough but I gave in to fear and missed out on my blessing!

You see satan tries to turn us around and make us lose our ground, he wants us to give up and lose faith and miss out every time. he (yes I did not capitalize on purpose because I feel satan deserves no respect!) is always ready to tempt us with an easy way out a “solution” to what we are going through.  Sure it may have shiny bells and whistles and seemingly look like a blessing, but there’s always something not quite right about the solution and you become torn or confused about which way to go.  My God is not a God of confusion (1Cor. 4:13)!  He said that he will be a light unto our feet and a lamp unto our paths (Ps. 119:105)!  That means he will make things CLEAR for us.  There is no confusion in God’s works…there is clarity, peace, joy and a presence of assurance!  
So next time you’re ready to turn around, and there’s a voice telling you just go a little further, don’t bicker with God, trust and see what just ahead at the next block.