Month: June 2018

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires and petitions of your heart.” Ps. 37:4

There is a song I love by United Pursuit call, Let It Happen.  It says, “You are full of life, full of passion, that’s how he made you. Just let it happen.”

I don’t think “just let it happen” has ever been in my vocabulary. I’ve struggled for most of my life, who am I kidding, ALL of my life, with timing. My mom said even at 18 months I was potty trained. Not much has changed. I am always pushing the envelope and trying to be ahead of the pace.

I have a  deep drive to accomplish great exploits for the Lord. The problem is when I get ahead of God, I tend to lose sight of who I am. I’ve lost myself more than a time or two trying to be something or someone I wasn’t ready for. Trying to be like some other speaker or writer, who seemed like they had it altogether left me feeling anxious, overwhelmed, and rushed to make something happen. I recall my thoughts going a little something like this…”Do you know I ‘m almost 40, Lord? Let’s get this show on the road!”

Anytime we are trying to do a God-thing in our own strength we will always feel frazzled, empty, and like something is lacking. Normally, what is lacking is PEACE! Rushing and pushing ahead of God steals our peace.

I don’t know about you but the fear of not becoming all God has called me to be, and not measuring up has pulled me down and chained me up more times than I’d like to admit. So one morning as I was pondering the verse above, I began to ask myself “Do I know who am I?” I was reading where it says to “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires and petitions of your heart.” What if we don’t know the petitions of our hearts or how to truly delight in who God made us to be? Do we know ourselves well enough to ask for the desires and petitions of our hearts?

Do you really know who you are? What are the petitions of your heart – your deepest longings? Do you know them clearly enough to ask God for them?

Delight means to experience “glee, joy, great pleasure”.  My google search actually revealed the perfect example of delight. Right there on my computer screen, it said, “the little girls squealed with delight”. Something happens to little girls when they become women. They stop squealing with delight. They grow insecure, self-conscious, and unsure of themselves. They start to question if they are really good enough for the world to accept them just as they are and most of them, sadly, determine that they aren’t.  What is the result of such a decision? They lose themselves and begin to hide who they truly are.

When is the last time you squealed with delight over who God perfectly designed you to be? Have you allowed yourself lately to experience glee and great pleasure at the thought of who God is in you?

When we find joy in the Lord and who he made us to be we are free to express our desires and the petitions of our hearts to him. Petition means “a formal request appealing to authority with respect to a particular cause…soliciting favor, right, mercy, or other benefit.”

When we delight ourselves in the Lord who loves us and created us exactly the way we are on purpose, we know confidently that we can stand on his authority to support our cause. He loves who you are and the desires beating in your heart. He placed them there and he just wants you to see it too.

You know I love Graham Cooke. I’ve quoted him often, but this statement I really want you to let soak in for a moment. He said, ” God gave you a word because he was serious about you becoming it.”

Maybe if we are honest we don’t really want to know the desires God has placed within us. At some point along the timeline of our life, we experienced something that made us afraid to be who we really are! An experience, a negative label spoken over us, a time we felt we didn’t measure up all culminating at this moment making us doubt that a future world changer is within is!

Failure is scary.

Fear is always clawing its way into our hearts. Stopping us, making us question…Did God really say? God wants us to know who we are in him and the desires of our hearts because he wants us to own our requests. He wants us to develop the confidence in who he is in us and to fight for who he knows we can become. He already knows it is possible, but he wants us to ask because he wants us to believe that it is.

The Lord said to me one morning, “Stop trying to be something you’re not. You are wasting time in comparison. I want you to find You! I need you to start coming into alignment with my character and my power within you. Please, wake up to who I am in you!”

We have to wake up friends! It is time to delight in the Lord and who he has designed us to be. It is time throw off everything that hinders us and SHINE that beautiful light within for all to see. It is time to know just who we are and what we were made for!

You are beautiful and what you have on the inside of you is powerful. Seek his heart, let him show you who you are and then boldly ask for the desires of your heart. He is so faithful and promises to never stop until you become everything he knows you can be!

Pray this prayer with me today…

Lord, set me free to be me! I delight in you and who you have created me to be. Lord, open my eyes to see who I am in you and to know the desires you have placed within me. I ask for the favor to accomplish the cause you have put on my heart. May I fully embrace all of who I am. You are so wise to make me the way you did. You make no mistakes. Silence fear, and infuse me with the courage to run my race for you! Amen!!!!

Be Bold ~ Be a Light

 

You didn’t choose me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit. John 15: 16 TPT

Sometimes we need to be reminded that God chose us, not the other way around. What passion, what still small voice knocks at your heart and you shove away believing, “No, I could never!”? The truth is you can’t, but he can! Lucky for us, we were never meant to fulfill the dreams God fashions in our hearts alone. Jesus said his, “nourishment comes from doing the will of God who sent [him], and from finishing his work” (John 4:34, NLT). We all have been given a task to spread more of Jesus—to be light. I’m convinced, the greatest source of discontentment spills out of a heart that doesn’t know its purpose.

Start today!

Discover your passion and take a step in that direction. You don’t need to understand it all or have the blueprint completed. Just start. You have been promised a guide that will be faithful to lead and direct you. When Jesus was leaving his disciples, he told them wonderful news. He said that it was time for him to go, but that he would leave them the Holy Spirit. What he said next blows me away. He said that this helper, guide, comforter, encourager, strengthener, and advocate within them would allow them to “do the same works [he did], and even greater works” and that it was the Holy Spirit’s role to reveal God’s heart to them and lead them “in all truth” (John 14:12–17 and John 16:12–13, NLT).

Because Jesus lives in us we are equipped to do the works he did—even greater than him. The Holy Spirit is our inner guide and is always there ready and willing to reveal God’s very heart to us and lead us in all truth! Jesus tells us in John 15, “You didn’t choose me, I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit.” He chose you. He believes in you and he will be faithful to prepare you for the road ahead and provide for your every need. God wants to talk to your heart and reveal to you his “deep secrets” so that he can take you places you can’t even begin to fathom on your own. (1 Corinthians 2:10–12, NLT).

I want to encourage you today with Good News. You Made the Team! Nothing can disqualify you from being hand-selected by God to play on his team! Let me take you on a journey through your imagination for a moment. My hope is as you visualize a new possibility, your heart will open to all God has planned for you. Take a moment to find a quiet space, and pause as you reflect on the words that follow:

Imagine yourself walking down a long corridor and in the distance, you notice a light. You keep walking until you reach a locker room with a door labeled “God’s Team” in bold letters. As you reach your hand towards the large doors you notice a glow peeking through the crack. Something is compelling you from deep within to enter, a drawing you cannot explain. You crack open the door and squeeze in between as if you have just discovered a top-secret room not meant for you. Then all of the sudden a light shines bright in the midst of a sea of lockers. You move toward it. It is begging you to come closer. You pause in front of the locker to find the light is in the shape of your hand. You place your hand within the outline and you hear a click as the door unlocks and begins to swing open. Much to your surprise, you find a jersey neatly hung inscribed with your name. You reach out and trace the letters of your name with the tip of your finger, feeling the stitching perfectly planned no mistake made. In this moment, you feel a sense of acceptance and belonging like you have never known before. Your disbelief turns into joy as you realize all this time God’s been waiting on you to see it, believe it, and accept it – not the other way around. You unhook the jersey from the hanger, raise it above your head, and put it on. In this moment, you feel the jersey embracing all of who you are, not asking you to be a different version of yourself. It is just asking you to accept the size and shape you are right now and be open to allowing the experience and practice of being on God’s team to mold you further into his image day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Suddenly, there is a stirring inside you to share what you’ve just experienced. There is a courage that cannot be denied as you walk out of the locker room, head held high, changed and ready to assume a new role, one in which you now realize is only yours to play.

How would your view of the game change if you started to believe you are part of God’s team? Have you been fighting for a position, trying to prove your worth through works, not realizing you already have a jersey with your name on it tucked away in a locker you’ve never opened? Open the locker. Put on your jersey, accept the position meant only for you and let your life become a letter that forever changes the direction of someone else’s life for the better!

Be Bold ~ Be a Light

**This is an excerpt from my book Shining Freely! Buy it here.