Disqualified to Qualified...I Can! I Am!

It's about 4:00 in the morning and I'm awake again. Not sure what woke me up this time, I'm too warm, the sound of my husband moving around in the kitchen, the birds singing, or maybe, just maybe the Lord. I choose to believe that it was the Lord! :) If I hadn't woken up early this morning then I wouldn't have had time to ponder a conversation I had yesterday that the Lord brought back to me.

Yesterday afternoon a new client came to our home for a consultation. As she was waiting for my husband to get home we had a chance to chat. She started telling me how they really felt that my husband really knew what he was doing when it came to bookkeeping and how she was not equipped to do that kind of work and that's why they were coming to us. I agreed totally with what she was saying about my husband, as I affirmed that he is very gifted in financial matters and in this kind of work in particular. It was on the tip of my tongue to say to her, "I'm not like that at all" but I stopped myself.

So that is what I was thinking about this morning as the Lord reminded me of this conversation. He was saying to me, "How many times do you say 'I can't', 'I'm not', 'I don't have'"?

I pondered this for a bit and ran it around in my head. And what I thought about is how many times do we disqualify what the Lord can do in and through us, will do in and through us, and is in us? Maybe it's just me but I'm thinking maybe there are others like me that do this sometimes too? :)

The Lord was saying to me that I need to change the way I speak and think. It really is very simple. Every time we begin to disqualify ourselves by saying, "I'm not like her/him", "I can't do that", "I don't have what it takes", we need to declare, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, I am more than a conqueror, I am fearfully and wonderfully made", I have been given all things.

The Lord wants us to realize that in Him we have everything we need to do what He asks of us, to be who He has called us to be, and do the works He has called us to do. He has given each of us gifts and talents and He has equipped us to carry them out. I may not be gifted in an area my husband is, or my best friend is, or the pastor is, or anyone else but that's okay because I am gifted in other areas, He has made me unique and not like anyone else and the same goes for you.

I guess my point is, let's turn our negatives into positives.

When you catch yourself saying or even thinking what you can't do, are not, the negatives, then before it can even come out of your mouth or completely form a thought in your mind start confessing what you can do, who you are, what God does through and can do through you. Confess that the Lord has given us the Holy Spirit as our helper. Begin to look into the Word and discover all the things God has said you are and I believe you and me will begin to walk in confidence knowing that God qualifies us and He will cause you and me to be a light, hope, and encouragement to those around us.

A thought to ponder and pray about....

Here are some verses to consider:

Psalm 139:1-18

1 Corinthians Chapter 12

2 Corinthians 9:8 - "And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others."

Romans 12:2 - "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

Romans 12:6 - "In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well."

Philippians 4:13 - "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength."

2 Peter 1:3 - "By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence."

Familiar Friends

Sometimes the Lord drops a nugget into my heart about something, sometimes it's about me, sometimes not. When this happens I think on it, run it around in my mind a few times, and usually will try to find a scripture verse, if the Lord hasn't already given it to me, to back it up. A lot of times, probably most, that's as far as it goes. I think, "I should write this down so I remember it" and then forget to do it. A lot of times it's because I get these nuggets in a dream or as I'm lying in bed in the morning before I get up and I'm just too comfortable to get up, get a piece of paper and pen and write it down, and think I'll remember when I get up and do it then. Guess what? Usually I forget because there's a million other things (well, maybe not a million) that I need to do and then I forget what the Lord showed me. So I've decided now is the time to start writing these thoughts down and who knows, maybe it'll encourage someone else the way it encouraged me!

So, Familiar Friends.

This weekend I was feeling sorry for myself. Yup, I've been struggling with my weight, up and down, up and down, and comparing myself with all the other girls thinking how great they look and how I'm fat! Lie!!!

We're also making some significant changes in our family to bring us to a place of more freedom so that we can be more open and available to the Lord and what He wants us to do with our lives. However, I was feeling sorry for myself because I was thinking that this would affect more my husband than me and what about me?

This past weekend was a holiday weekend and we spent the day with my husband's parents. It was a beautiful day and we went for a wonderful drive and spent a great day together. However, because I was in this mode of feeling sorry for myself I didn't enjoy the day the way I should have and I allowed it to go completely by in this frame of mind and spirit.

As we were driving home that night and I was thinking about it, the Lord popped this thought into my mind. Familiar friend. It made me sit up and take notice, at least in my mind, and I started to ponder this phrase, "familiar friend". I knew it had something to do with David and was in Psalms and he was talking about the betrayal of a close friend. I thought what does that have to do with me and with what I'm going through?

I got out my bible the next morning and looked up Psalm 41:9 which says, "Even my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted (relied on and was confident), who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me."

What does that mean, Lord, I asked? His reply was, the things that you allow in your life, such as self-pity, has become like a familiar friend to you. But that familiar friend is your enemy and wants to destroy your life. Wow!! What a revelation to me!! I thought, you're right, Lord! I have allowed familiar friends in my life! They have been friends for a long time. I have allowed them to be around me, sit with me, eat with me, and become very familiar with me and they in turn have betrayed me because all they wanted from me was my destruction!

I repented right there and then and asked the Lord to forgive me for allowing this familiar friend of self-pity to live with me so long. That I have allowed this familiar friend to spend time with me, get to know me intimately, and I haven't had the wisdom and discernment or even the gumption to say enough is enough, no more. You are not my friend and I want you out of my life!! I tell you it was such an eye-opener for me!! And guess what? As soon as I recognized it for what it was, my enemy and not my friend, and renounced it, it was like a weight off my spirit. Freedom!

What are our familiar friends? Self-pity was one of them for me. I got so used to that "friend" being around me for most of my life that when he came along I just let him in, sat down with him, talked with him, ate with him, and let him have the run of my life. Don't we do that with familiar friends? They are like family, almost. They come into our homes, make themselves comfortable, and as long as we don't mind them being there they'll stay as long as we let them. But these kinds of familiar friends are not our friends at all, they are really our enemies and want nothing but to destroy us! They want us to keep our eyes on ourselves, our circumstances, our insecurities, our inferiorities and whatever else it is that keeps us from seeing ourselves through the eyes of the friend that sticks closer than a brother, Jesus.

Jesus wants us to succeed. He has the best in store for your life. He has a good plan for your life. So now it's up to me and to you to make a choice today and every day, because that's exactly what it is, a choice, to get rid of those familiar friends and exchange them for Jesus, the Friend who is closer to us than a brother and who loves us and reveals all truth to us.

The verse I've decided to ponder and meditate on is Philippians 4:8-9 which says, "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you".

When we focus on the truth of the Word and what God says, then the lies that the enemy tells us will have no control over us because the Lord will expose those "familiar friends" that we all have so that we can make the choice to counter those lies with the truth of what God says in his Word.

A thought to ponder and pray about....