I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as a beautiful new day begins to dawn on the Texas Gulf Coast.
This morning I want to share two things, one a reminder and the other I believe is something we are talking about for the first time. I was inspired to share both of these by things I heard on the radio this week.
J.J. Moses is a former NFL football player who now serves as an Ambassador for the Houston Texans through their Community Programs. He was telling his story. At 5'6" he was not highly regarded as an NFL prospect coming out of Iowa State University. Just the same he continued to work hard in preparation for Iowa State's Pro Day, the day NFL scouts would come to evaluate all of the draft eligible players on Iowa State's team. J.J. performed very well that day. At the end of the day an NFL coach came up to him and said, "Congratulations J.J., today you made it in the NFL." J.J. talked about how after hearing many, many times that he would never make it there was this great moment of clarity that it is not people that decide who we are or what we will be but rather it is God, who created each one of us, who has given us different talents, gifts & abilities who will ultimately decide how, where & when those talents, gifts & abilities will be used.
I want to share a couple of scriptures with you this morning and briefly elaborate on each.
"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
You & I Friends are the very workmanship of God. Let that sink in for a moment... You & I are not some random chance occurrence. God created you & I on purpose for a purpose. We lack nothing for the good works He has prepared for us. What if we walked in that truth today?
"God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever. Amen." - 1 Peter 4: 10 - 11
I think this is where many of us struggle. There are two key points:
1. God created each one of us on purpose for a purpose as noted above... to bring glory to Him. He didn't do these things so we could be rich, famous, etc. He did these things so we can bring glory to Him. When we are more focused on ourselves than on bringing glory to God, we can become discontent with our talents, gifts & abilities, with the lives we live.
2. The gifts are given to us to serve one another. It is in serving others that we bring glory to God. We weren't given our talents, gifts & abilities so we could be comfortable, be famous or make a whole lot of money.
My prayer for each of us is that we will fully embrace who we are, who we were created to become and that we will be fully alive in our purpose. I can't guarantee that you will play in the NFL, that you will be a famous writer or anything else. I can simply guarantee that that if you will purse God with all of your heart, mind & spirit, that if you will strive every day to become all that He created you to become, He will use your life in powerful ways to serve others and that you will have a deep abiding peace in your spirit that goes beyond all understanding.
I also want to share another scripture that moved me greatly when I heard it again this week. It comes from the story of David & Goliath.
"David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that that Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands.
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him." 1 Samuel 17: 45 - 48
I want to specifically highlight two things:
1. As we battle our giants, we all have them, let us remember that the battle is not ours, it is the Lord's. In reality, you & I cannot win these battles in our own strength, just as in his own strength, David could not defeat Goliath. The Lord however can and will, if and when, we seek Him, acknowledge Him and give the battle to Him. This does not mean we sit passively and wait for the Lord to defeat our enemies. Just as David had to pick up the stones and throw the stone, we will have to pick up and hurl our own stones. We must never forget however that the battle is the Lords, not ours.
2. If you are like most of us, you do not run toward your giants, you run from them. More than likely this is because we are trying to fight the giants in our own strength, knowledge, wisdom & courage. When however we remember that the battle is the Lord's, we will have the confidence that David had and we will charge towards our giants. Yes, let that be who we are...Giant chargers!
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.
Kev
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