My competency is in Him

Abram was 100 & Sarah was 90. God promised them a son...people around them probably thought they were crazy and would most likely tell them "God doesn't work like that...that's not realistic"

But God told Abram that He was ALMIGHTY and powerful, that He is God and can do anything... Abram BELIEVED Him and when God came through, it gave Abram the experience to TRUST God and to KNOW God IS almighty and powerful.

God reveals His character to you through scriptures so that you may SEE & BELIEVE who He is so that you can trust Him and step out in faith when He asks YOU to do something. It is then that you will get to EXPERIENCE who He is for yourself and that He will do what He says He will do.

MARK 10:27 “Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking it is impossible; but not with God. Everything is possible with God.”

He reveals his purposes and his plans to you so that you will know what to do. But he doesn't reveal them all at once; or the way you think he would reveal them. If he did, you would no longer need Him.

He wants you to lean on Him to find the way through His plan. It’s HIS plan.

When God asked me to starts SOUL 139 He did not ask "What do you want to do for me!?" He revealed what He was going to do and invited me to be a part.

God will come and speak to you with a purpose in mind...he's not asking you to create some plan...He will tell you what He wants to accomplish and it's your choice to respond to that.

Maybe you have already heard from God, He has told you what He wants to do through you but you are feeling incapable. That is a lie my friend. God would never share with you such an intimate secret of what He wants to accomplish, if He didn’t see the potential in you. He created you. He designed you for this. Protect yourself with scripture when such thoughts occur in your mind.

Satan's Lie: I'm not capable to do this job. I don't have the right gifts. 


God's Truth: Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant. (2 Corinthians 3:5)

Trust that He has you right where He wants you.

He has already equipped you for this job. He will teach you along the way all there is to know for what He is calling you to do. You don’t need to plan it all out ahead of time so that you feel comfortable with where you are going.

In the book “Experiencing God” I read that planning is a good tool, but only when it is motivated by Gods guidance. Our plans often reflect our own priorities and we trust more in our plans than in God.

That blew my mind…because I am a big planner! I plan EVERYTHING! From what time I get up to what I’m going to eat, to what I am doing next week, next month and sometimes 3 years from now. But what about when God wants to interrupt my plans? I reject it because it does not fit in with MY plans, I don’t have room, I’m too busy, it won’t work or it was not what I had intended, it was never meant to go this way, right? Wrong… when you have your long-term plans set in stone and know exactly where you’re heading, you no longer have a need for God.

I read a quote: “Be careful not to plan more than God intends for you to do”

Meaning, leave some wiggle room in your schedule for God to rightly interrupt your life with a surprise mission for you.

He will use you HIS WAY to accomplish HIS PURPOSE, not YOUR WAY for YOUR PURPOSE.

When you hit that wall of doubt (Which you will) & wonder, “did God really want me to do this?” Go back to HIM to clarify what He has told you. Do not depend on other people’s opinions. If you feel God has told you something, proceed & watch to see How He confirms. He will confirm Himself through His word. Remember, His ways are not our ways.

Isaiah 55:8 “Your thoughts are not my thoughts, neither your ways my ways”

I wonder what people’s opinions were about Abram & Sarah when they told everyone God told them they would have a baby. All things are possible with God. 
STAND. TRUST. WATCH & SEE

Seasonal struggles

Sometimes I don’t understand what God is doing in my life… it doesn’t make sense & I think “It’s not meant to go down this way…what are you doing!?” but who am I to tell God how it’s supposed to go down? That’s not my job!

Life isn’t always smooth and easy; it has some bumps in the road and is somewhat of a fight & struggle. I think those are the times that God wants to see if you will put to use what He has taught you in the last season of your life.

These are the times that push me closer to God, because I can’t walk through it on my own. I end up feeling an emptiness that only HE can fill. I feel weak, tired & somewhat worthless… I feel as though I have a few big holes in my soul that are hollow & I’m looking to anything & everything to fill them, but that’s only something Jesus can do for me.

Some days I get that fulfillment, other days I don’t & I think “Is God even listening!? Doesn’t He care that I’m hurting, that I’m stressed out or tired?” The answer is yes, He cares… but until you stop and sit at His feet, He can’t talk to you.

God wants to tell you how He sees you, that you are beautiful & perfect in His image, a prince or princess, His precious son or daughter, that is what you are, no matter what YOU feel about yourself. But in order to hear these things you need to STOP and listen. Look at what He is doing in your life already, look at the people He has placed around you who encourage you & who love you. Even better, what are some things you are grateful for?

Change your perspective & start appreciating what He HAS given you…when you start to look at things in a more positive light, your soul starts to feel more thankful and little by little God fills those empty voids with each glimpse of His creation…of His plan.

As much as you don’t feel like you are where you are meant to be right now…God has you here for a reason, what does He want you to learn from this situation? What perspective does He want you to gain from this circumstance? What steps does He want you to take in faith? Does He just want you to learn to walk WITH Him in a situation? Or to realize that no matter who you are, what you’ve done, the fact that you DON’T (And never will) have it all together, you can still come to Him & He will walk WITH you.

Some of you think you can’t be a Christian because you’re not good enough, don’t have it all together, not worthy or just plain selfish… WE ALL ARE… That’s what Jesus died for, We will never get away from our nature, but loving Jesus means experiencing His never failing faithfulness, the one true love that no one can give like He does & responding to that love by being grateful for all He has done & IS doing in your life… trust Him & allow HIM to fill those gaps.
Remember that you already are and you already have it...now walk in it

You don't have an obedience issue, you have a love issue.

 “When you know Him, you will love Him. When you love Him, you will believe Him & you’ll trust Him, when you trust Him, you will obey Him.”

“You don’t have an obedience problem, you have a love problem”

I stole these two lines from the book ‘Experiencing God’

Sometimes in life we get so caught up in the living in the future (For what’s to come, what we want to achieve, or what we want to get eventually) that we don’t fully embrace where we are now…when we don’t do that, we don’t see God working. Our eyes are too far off in the distance.

How to you expect God to PROVIDE when you won’t give sacrificially?

How to you expect God to PROTECT when you won’t step out of your comfort zone and do something that you don’t feel comfortable doing? Like putting your heart out there to get hurt again…

How can you expect God to show you that he LOVE’S you when you’re not willing to be vulnerable & work through your shortcoming like He’s asking you to?

How do you expect God to MOVE if you won’t let go of control?

  “When you know Him, you will love Him. When you love Him, you will believe Him & you’ll trust Him, when you trust Him, you will obey Him.”

What is He asking you to work through that seems daunting to even bring up again? You’ve been down this road a million times, why does the same thing keep coming up?

Because you’re not allowing God walk it out with you.

He wants to surface it, so you acknowledge it…then He will place you in a situation to give you an opportunity to walk it out, He will be right there with you the whole time, don’t be scared.

Stand and face what you do not want to face.

Someone said to me the other day “Run towards what you fear the most”

God is saying:

“I want to show you something you have never seen before...but you have to be willing to do what you've never done before. 

I will keep bringing situations in your life until you fully embrace one... I want you to walk it out with me... trust me... lean on me, place your heart in my hands.”

Are you willing?

What makes you weak, is also what makes you powerful

“What makes me weak is also what makes me powerful…”

I’m not sure if I got that line from one of Pastor Stevens sermons or not, but it’s been running around in my head for the past few days.

In life, I tend to strive for perfection and nothing is ever good enough. I get mad at myself for failing or not living up to what I think should have happened. I look too far ahead, over think and scare myself out of situations…

I plan & prepare so much that I leave no room to be available when God wants to use me with something unexpected…& I over think EVERYTHING… to the point that I drive myself insane going around in the same circles.

BUT…

What makes me weak can also make me powerful!

My passion & my need for perfection, my ability to see far ahead, to plan, to over think in detail… all are great things for starting my non-profit (SOUL 139)

To have that passionate drive keeps me going to strive for perfection in how I deliver things. To see the final goal that I want to reach for helps me persevere. To plan ahead and be prepared is what keeps things in order and moving. To think about the small details that most forget about is what makes SOUL 139 what it is…these all can be weaknesses when used in the wrong way, but God instilled them as strengths in me when used the way He intended.

What kind of things do you look at as weaknesses in you?  God wants you to see them as treasured strengths that He placed in you

A little oil left in my lamp

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out(complained) to Elisha "Your servant my husband is dead and you know he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have (of value) in your house?" " Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil" Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't just ask for a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each one is filled, put it to one side." She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." The the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left." 2 Kings 4:1-7

I’m going to come at this verse from a different angle than most today.

Often, when this verse is broken down people refer to the oil as finances, love, faith, or some physical need.

I read something this morning about the Holy Spirit being referred to as “oil” and 2 Kings 4 came to mind, as well as an old school oil lamp!

When we are tired, weak, worn out & we don’t have the energy to do what God is asking us to do, that’s when we have but “a little oil left in our lamp” & it’s on the verge of burning out.

I know from experience that when I get to that point, I can just about drag myself out of bed in the morning, let alone have the brain power to sit and read Gods word…and to be quite honest, I just want to lay in bed for a little longer, rather than spending time with God. But He showed me this past weekend when I hit a breaking point that I need to stop, look inside myself and give Him what I do have.

In 2 Kings 4 Elisha asks the lady what she has… “a little oil” she replies… He tells her to go & collect jars (To GET UP & DO something) & then take what she has (A small amount of “oil” = The Holy Spirit) and pour what she has into what she went out to get.

When you take a small step to show God you are willing, He will increase what you do have to where it is overflowing.

The light of my spirit was just about snuffed out, but when I stopped my complaining & whining about being tired, got up & pushed myself beyond what I felt like doing & took that first step to show God that I am willing, He gave me immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine (Eph 3:20)

If you are feeling burned out today & haven’t spent time with God in a while… force yourself to carve out a small amount of time in your day that you can give to Him…so that He can increase your strength & you can press on to what God has call you to do! & as Paul says in Philippians

Phil 3:14  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.