I hear these 'pep' talks all the time. Oprah and the many motivational speakers/writers out there all testify to that 'champion' in all of us. Blogs flourish with formulas and nicely laid out plans to fulfilling dreams.
Yeah, yeah.
All empty rhetoric for me for it speaks to the sufficiency of man.
Yes, there is a Champion in me, but it has nothing to do with my efforts or achievements or attitudes.
However, it has everything to do with my submission to the Master Sculptor, chiselling away at my life.
Honestly, at times I feel, is there going to be anything left? I feel so bare.
I believe that all these years of leanness for me, emotionally, financially, spiritually, mentally, have been to show me that "My God is my Sufficiency". Yet, I do not live as if I believed that. I lack that radiance that Psalm 34:5 speaks about. (Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.)
I look in the mirror and see a face covered in shame and at the same time I struggle each day to 'look' to Him.
In fact, in recent times, I had begun to feel that this was all that God had planned for me, that this was all I deserved. The Enemy is real. He subtly and overtly tries to kill you.
But my God is even more real to me and I never give up on going to Him. And I did, I do. That last song, "My Heart Is Fragile" is a prayer to Him from me.
Today, He sent a 'word' from Bishop Kenneth Ulmer speaking on his book "The Champion In You".
....excerpt...
There was a very famous sculptor who one day instructed his servant to bring into his workroom this huge mass of unfinished marble covered with dust - a rugged looking piece of marble. He pulled it in and pulled it in and finally the servant said, "Master, what will you make of this unattractive mud- and dust-covered mass of marble?"
The sculptor backed up and looked at it this way and looked at it that way and looked at it this way again and looked at it that way again, and then he said, "I see a magnificent stallion. I see a stallion with glaring eyes and flared nostrils and flowing mane. I see encased in this mass of unattractive marble, a magnificent stallion.
The servant said, "Well master, how will you get such a masterpiece out of this unattractive dust- and mud-covered mass of marble?"
The sculptor said, "Well, I'm going to take my hammer and I'm going to take my chisel and I'm going to begin to chip away and chip and away and chip away and chip away and I'll chip away everything that does not look like a horse. There's a horse in there and when I get rid of everything that does not look like a horse, I'll have a masterpiece."
God says he wants to conform you into the image of his Son to release the champion in you. And those times when it seems as though life is battering you, and your experiencing pain and sorrow and confusion and disappointment and discouragement and even failure,. God says, "I'm going to chip away everything in your life that does not look like a champion so that when I finish, the champion in you will come forth. There is a champion in you." ...
This is so chock-full of God's truth, I want you to read it in its entirety or listen, so I invite you to goHERE right now if you need to hear God's voice, if life's circumstances have you bowed down, in that foetal position crying out for help.
It is NOT over. Satan has not had the checkmate.
The King has the final move. The King is ready to reposition you to His glory.
God also reaffirmed His Word as I popped by my friend and mentor, Lidj, as she wrote on a "Divine Repositioning".
At the same time, God brought a song from my youth back to my lips: And I Thank You Lord
And I Thank You Lord
For the trials that come my way
In that way I can grow each day
As I let You lead
And I thank You Lord
For the patience those trials bring
In the process of growing
I can learn to care
But it goes against the way I am
To put my human nature down
And let the Spirit take control of all I do
'Cause when those trials come
my human nature shouts the things to do
And God's soft prompting can be easily ignored
But I thank You Lord
With each trial I feel inside
That You're there to help, lead and guide
me away from wrong
'Cause You promised Lord
That with every testing
That Your way of escaping is easier to bear
Yes, I thank You Lord
For the victory that growing brings In surrender of everything
Life is so worthwhile And I thank You Lord
That when everything's put in place
Out in front I can see Your face
And it's there You belong
I only just saw this song posted on FB by my friend Joy, and it immediately caught my eye as it seemed to describe me, but as 2Corinthians 4 (below) points out, what seems like 'death' to us is producing a new life that is indestructible, eternal, the life of Jesus.
Be encouraged. Read how God turned a child brothel hotel in Svay Pak, Cambodia into a church, a sanctuary. "...It is just like God to take a brothel - a place being used to repeatedly destroy lives - and transform it into a place where little children, teens, all the way through to the elderly, now sing praises to Him! In this place, those who love Him are the hands and feet of Jesus, ministering to the sick by giving them care and medicine, teaching their children the love of Jesus, and encouraging them how to live in Christ on Sunday at church. And, it is only God who can take the ashes and ruin of these lives and form beauty, strength and dignity. This we saw in the young people who help at the church, the little ones who we played with in the school yard at Hagar, and the young ladies who served us at Bloom (cupcake/coffee shop), at Daughters and Hagar Restaurant.
It is God's brilliant irony. God having the last say. God showing He hears the cries. God's Son - the Savior - saving. The Redeemer redeeming...one heart and life at a time. And we, having been in this place, see with eyes of faith and wait in expectation, for greater things than we can think to ask for or imagine!..."
Death to life. Ashes to beauty.
6For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as [to beam forth] the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God [as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed] in the face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
7However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.
8We are hedged in (pressed) on every side [troubled and oppressed in every way], but not cramped or crushed; we suffer embarrassments and are perplexed and unable to find a way out, but not driven to despair;
9We are pursued (persecuted and hard driven), but not deserted [to stand alone]; we are struck down to the ground, but never struck out and destroyed;
My Heart is Fragile (Jamie Slocum)
The storms of life are surrounding me
They’re closing in on every side
And I’m so scared I don’t know where to run
I’m crawling to Your Door, Jesus, I need a lifeline
I admit it.
I ask Google about everything and this search engine rarely fails me in delivering a helpful solution.
I never thought the day would come when, yes, I would google God with a tiny expectation that he would answer.
It was one day last week when I asked a couple of people to pray. I was in deep agony of spirit and I had just finished praying. I came to the computer still feeling lost and that idea 'popped' into my mind.
As I typed "Lord, what would You have me do?", I smiled..."What if..?"
You see, I believe that God can speak through any medium.
Remember that famous donkey in the Bible? (Numbers 22)
So, I did. I googled God.
And, no, I did not get a link to www.heaven.God, but I did find this article that spoke to me.
Perhaps you may also find it helpful.
[The site (Hidden With Christ Ministries) gives permission to reproduce the entire article with credit:]
Trembling and astonished he asked, “Lord, what do You desire me to do?” The Lord said to him, “But arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:6 Amplified Bible)
Saul was a very religious man who sincerely desired to serve and please God. As a result, he spent years studying at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the leading teachers of the Hebrew law at that time. He became so zealous for his faith that he began to persecute anyone who did not follow the Jewish religious traditions as he had learned them.
But though he was sincere, he was sincerely deceived in his understanding of the truth and of what was pleasing to God. But God saw his heart’s desire for the truth and revealed Himself to Saul. On the road to Damascus, Saul had an encounter with God that changed his life forever. A blinding light shown from heaven and Saul heard the voice of God speak to him. The Lord told him that he was kicking against the ways of God by persecuting Jesus Christ (the one that Saul thought was a false prophet) and not pleasing God as Saul thought. Once Saul understood this, Saul immediately asked God the most important question of his life: “Lord, what would You have me to do?”
Saul (who later became known as Paul the apostle) began his Christian life with the singular desire to know and to do the will of God. When Saul arrived in Damascus, the Lord sent a man named Ananias to speak to him, and Ananias told him: “The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will….” (Acts 22:14)
God’s plan for Saul and for every one of us is that we know the will of God and do it.
Andrew Murray, the famed Scottish preacher and writer from the late 1800’s said: “Christian conversion is nothing less than the complete abandonment of one’s will to do the will of God and of Christ. True conversion is such a complete yielding of my will that never again under any circumstances will I seek it, but I will always, with all the strength I have, seek only to know and to do God’s will.”
Many people are like Saul before his Damascus road experience. They assume that they already know and are doing God’s will in their lives. They proceed along in life under a false assumption and feel very content in it. But like Saul, they are deceived. The key that changed Saul’s life was that he had a desire to know the truth and to do God’s will and God responded to that. Hebrews 11:6 tells us: But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He (God) is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. (KJV)
God rewards and responds to the person who diligently seeks after Him and His will. If you truly want to know God’s will for your life and you seek Him for it, He will reveal it to you. If the preceding statement is true, then why do so many people (even in Christian churches) claim that they do not know God’s will for their lives?
One reason that many people do not discover God’s will for their lives is rooted in fear and selfishness. I have met Christians that are afraid to seek God for a revelation of His perfect will for their lives because they fear that God will ask them to do something that they do not want to do. So they prefer to plead ignorance (“I don’t know what God wants me to do so I am just doing the best I can…”) rather than to search out God’s plan for their lives. This is a sinful attitude and it will rob you of God’s best for your life.
The devil would tell you that if you discover and pursue God’s will for your life, you will be miserable. The truth is that in the center of God’s will is “fulness of joy.” (Psalm 16:11)
I have found this to be true in a most marvelous way. Years ago, I never would have dreamed of going to Africa to minister on a regular basis. I had no desire for it nor could I imagine myself enjoying a place that is known for intense heat, a multitude of insects and endless dirt. I didn’t like camping because of those three natural things that went with the territory. But my reasoning was purely selfish and had to do with my own carnal desire to be “comfortable.” Yet once I recognized that going to Africa was God’s will for my life and I yielded myself to it wholeheartedly, I found a joy in it that I could never have imagined. Ministering in Africa has truly given me a “fulness of joy” that I had never experienced before. Now, rather than resisting the very idea, I find myself weeping when I must leave Africa to return to the U.S. Yielding to God’s perfect will for your life will bring you a “fulness of joy” that will amaze you.
A second and somewhat similar reason that people fail to discover God’s will is that they are willing to follow God’s plan for their lives only under certain conditions. They want to be the one who sets the specifications for their obedience to God’s will. They will say, “I will serve God if He allows me do this or that OR as long as He does not ask me to go here or go there.” But God is looking for people who are dedicated to HIS WAYS and are willing to surrender their own ways.
Andrew Murray put it this way: “Jesus cannot reveal Himself fully to us until we are entirely given up to Him. Would you spend thousands of dollars on building a house on a piece of land without knowing for certain that the land belonged to you?”
Kathryn Kuhlman once stated, “It is the easiest thing in the world to find the will of God once you have no will of your own.”
One hundred percent surrender of your own desires and your own will is the key to receiving a revelation of God’s will for your life.
A third reason that people have a hard time discerning God’s will for their lives, is that they failed to obey God the last time He gave them a directive. (And God is still waiting for them to obey Him!)
If years ago you felt God prompting you to do a certain thing or go to a certain place and you did not obey, why would God give you a new directive when you have not obeyed the last one He gave you? If this is the case with you, the first thing you need to do is to repent and ask God’s forgiveness for your disobedience. Then ask the Lord the same question Saul asked, “What would You have me to do?”
Genuine repentance places you in a position to return to the center of God’s will for your life, and He is fully able to redeem the years that were wasted in disobedience.
The Bible gives us a very vivid example of someone who obeyed God’s will but did so with a wrong heart attitude. Jonah was given an assignment from God to go to a certain city called Ninevah, and preach a message of repentance. Initially, Jonah ran in the opposite direction because he did not want to obey God. Then after three nights in the belly of the whale, Jonah reluctantly agreed to obey God’s will. But the last chapter in the book of Jonah clearly reveals that even though Jonah obeyed, his heart was not in it, and God rebuked him for his attitude. Isaiah 1:19 says: If you are willing and obedient you will eat the good of the land. God is looking for people who are not only obedient to God’s will but have a willing heart as well.
You can ask God to change your heart if you are obeying His will but you don’t have a desire for it. God is happy to answer that prayer. I found this out when I recently was preparing to go to minister in a certain country in West Africa. I had been there only once before and had spent more time in East Africa and loved the people there so much. The Lord spoke to me before the trip and said, “You don’t have My heart for the people in West Africa, in fact you favor the East Africans.”
I protested and said, “What do you mean...Lord I am obeying you by going to minister there.”
(But I knew deep down that I did not have the same enthusiasm for traveling there that I did for East Africa.)
The Lord reiterated, “You don’t have My heart for them. You are obedient to Me in this matter but reluctantly so.”
So I repented and asked God to give me His heart for the people. That trip turned out to be one of the most outstanding times of ministry I had ever had on the African continent. I found a sudden overwhelming love for the people that I had not possessed before. And I knew that God had answered that prayer to change my heart attitude.
When you do God’s will with God’s heart, there is tremendous blessing released. You will literally “eat the good of the land.”
God wants us to be like King David with regard to the will of God.
David wrote in Psalm 40:8: I delight to do thy will, O my God.
It was written about David in First Samuel 13:14: I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which will fulfill all my will…
David both delighted to do God’s will and fulfilled God’s will.
He was both willing and obedient.
If you want to be like David, pray this way:
Lord, I want to be a man (woman) after Your own heart. Give me Your heart for whatever it is that You will for my life. Give me grace to obey and to have joy in Your will. Show me what You would have me to do. Amen.
One of my very favorite songs of prayer to God was recently brought to mind by a special young lady. (Thanks Melissa!) Please sing prayerfully with me:
The Potters Hand
Beautiful Lord, wonderful Saviour
I know for sure all of my days are
Held in Your hand,
Crafted into Your perfect plan.
You gently call me into Your presence
Guiding me by Your Holy Spirit
Teach me dear Lord
To live all of my life through Your eyes.
I'm captured by Your Holy calling
Set me apart, I know You're drawing
Me to Yourself, lead me Lord I pray.
Take me, mold me, use me, fill me
I give my life to the Potter's hand
Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me
I give my life to the Potter's hand
I recently 'met' a new blogging friend, a St. Franciscan sister named Sr. Ann Marie. A Roman Catholic and a Christian & Missionary Alliance divine appointment! (: There is just something so warm and beautiful that draws me to her and she encourages me. She is a poet whose heart beats with God's. In recent times when I urgently needed prayer, she was one of the few God brought to my mind and now I know why. She just bestowed upon me an award that I think of when I think of her..the Sunshine Award..for when I think of her and see her photo, I can't help but think of the Son shining in and through her and her words.
This award has the following guidelines: 1. Post the logo on your blog and/or within the post. 2. Pass it on to 12 other bloggers. 3. Add links to these 12 bloggers within your blog. 4. Let them know they are receiving the award. 5. Share the link of the person from whom you received the award.
Well, I'm not very good at following rules that I don't have to (;, so I'll just award this to people who come to mind who shine on me with His love. Thank you.
In no particular order, the Sunshine Award goes to:
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
Wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
Wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
Our God You reign forever
Our Hope our strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
The everlasting God
The everlasting
This is so chock-full of God's truth, I want you to read it in its entirety or listen, so I invite you to go HERE right now if you need to hear God's voice, if life's circumstances have you bowed down, in that foetal position crying out for help.
