“If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides…” 1 Peter 4:11
Just over a year ago, I made the decision to have a website built, but the vision for that website was not fully revealed to me until I started into the process. I chose a trusted colleague to suggest someone to help and the two of us began emailing back and forth trying to establish design, goal, and purpose for the page. The man helping me lived across the world in a different time zone with possibly a different primary language. Time and again he would send a draft version of the webpage and it just wasn’t right. Edits may be made and some pieces right and others not. I am sure his frustration may have built as his strength was in the building and he just needed to be told what I wanted. Yet this area was quite a weakness for me, I had never built a website and I hadn’t fully embraced God’s purpose for it yet so as I got tossed around making decisions. One day the man asked for more pictures of me to put on the website to which I said, “It isn’t about me, it is about the message.” However, God began to remind me that His message was much more powerful when someone could see my eyes when I share it. So, I took a huge leap and had pictures taken to use. The website developer also asked me if I had a blog (I did not) and that is actually what started me typing these very devotions. As the developer used his strength in knowing how to build a website, he enabled me to learn my own strength and begin using it better.
Since my surrender to the Lord, I have gotten pretty good at being able to boast about my weakness. God reminds us that His grace is sufficient for us and His power is made perfect in our weakness…
“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me….For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
However, sometimes I find that it can be easier to speak boldly about what my weaknesses are and be bashful with the strengths God has given me; sometimes to the point of surrendering to my weakness and avoiding shining my strength. I’m not sure about you, but there are times I step into a situation or setting and I know what I may do or do different; however, I assume someone else will take care of things or do that. It isn’t my place. What I may fail to see immediately is that God may have brought me to that particular place with those particular people or that particular situation so that I could share my strengths. So why would I hold them back afraid to do so?
Fear and Doubt
See the enemy, wants us paralyzed in our fears and filled with doubt so that we don’t take action and obey the Lord. He wants us silenced and ineffective so that we stop the flow of God’s blessing to those around us. He is good at deceiving us and unfortunately all too often we are good at believing his lies. Which fill us with doubt and more aware of our weakness than our strength.
But God… “has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7 ESV
Remember Genesis when our enemy showed us how he works?
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” Genesis 3:1
He planted a seed of doubt. He made Eve question if she heard God right. If she was obeying Him. He tempted her with things she may want and Eve made a decision that led to the fall of mankind. She stopped trusting; she embraced doubt, and let self-control fly away. In one moment, God’s creation was set on a path of destruction.
The good news is we have this history to learn from. We are warned to
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8
But our God is the actual lion. His power resides within us. We must
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” 1 Corinthians 16:13
So the next time you feel that nudge, that whisper, that calling—take the step. Use your gift, your talent, and your voice to make God’s strength known to others. He needs us humble, but He also needs us to believe in ourselves so that we can step into all He has planned for us. Let Him use the strength within you to change the world around you and usher in the kingdom of Heaven here on earth!
Today’s picture is one of the images taken the day I committed to attaching my face more directly to this message and building a website to share it. If you look closely, that bracelet on my hand, I wore it for a reason. It says “Believe in yourself.” I needed the reminder and I hope today you get that same reminder for yourself! Thank you for reading this and being on this journey with me.
Father, Today I Surrender:
My Strength
Show me the next step I should take.