Recently I came across this quote on Facebook: "Becoming the woman God designed you to be will cost you friends, relationships, plans, and material things. Become her anyway.". This quote doesn't apply only to women but to men as well. Become the man of God or woman of God that He designed you to be. You are an original. You are not a copy of anybody except you are an image-bearer, bearing the image of God himself. How sad that we put so much emphasis on others when it comes to our value and worth.
Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, for you created all things, and because of Your will, they exist and were created and brought into being. - Revelation 4:11. God is worthy to receive glory and honor and power because He created all things and that "all things" includes you. "Because of your will, they exist", that includes you! No matter what the circumstances were that brought you here on this earth, It is God who has willed you into existence! Notice it says that God is worthy to receive glory...You were created for His glory: Isaiah 43:7 Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made. Wow, if we could really get a revelation of this, it would completely transform how we see ourselves and also how we see and regard one another. Even those that give you headaches and fits: because of God's will they exist!! For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, [things] visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [that is, by His activity] and for Him. Colossians 1:16. Again, all things include you! You were created by Him, for Him. If you keep reading you will see how it pleased the Father to reconcile you to Himself through the Son, Jesus Christ. God the Father is actually pleased to have you reconciled to Him!! Not only that, keep on reading in Colossians chapter 1 and you will see how not only are you reconciled to the Father through Jesus Christ the Son, and how that pleases the Father, but you are also presented to the Father "holy, blameless, and beyond reproach". God doesn't do anything halfway! How amazing, wonderful, kind and gracious our Father is!!
How we neglect so great a salvation when we put our emphasis on people and on what they think, say, and do, rather than on God the one who wills us into being, reconciles us to himself, is pleased with us, and see us as blameless and holy. These last several months, I have been asking the wrong question. The cry of my heart has been, "Where is my tribe?". "Who is my (spiritual) family?" "Where do I belong?". The emphasis of these questions is both self-centered and others-centered but we are in a season where we must become God-centered as though our life depends on it because, in the season that we are in today, it does!
I was reading something today and all of a sudden it came to me. It's not about who my tribe or family is. I have already been adopted into God's family and been made a joint heir with Christ. (See Romans 8:15). I know whom I belong to! I also am connected to others in the body of Christ. I have people who can speak into my life and even lovingly bring correction if necessary. The real question is, "What is my assignment?"
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were appointed for me, when as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape]" - Psalm 139:16. All of my days were written before one of them came to be. When we ask God what our assignment is, that question puts the emphasis on Him because He is the one who willed us into being, and formed and fashioned us for that assignment. The definition of an assignment is a position, post, or office to which one is assigned. It is a specific task or amount of work assigned or undertaken as if assigned by authority. Remember, all things are created by God for God. There is a purpose for everything under heaven. That includes you! Every one of us is here this earth, on assignment. There is a divine purpose for your life. You are not here by accident or happenstance.
I was reminded of a word given of knowledge that came about a year and a half ago, "You're assignment is over." I had been secretly wrestling with some things deep within my heart and saw no way out of what I was wrestling with. What I didn't realize back then is that the reason I was wrestling was that that particular "assignment" wasn't from God in the first place. How can you know if something is truly God's leading? One way to know is that you won't have to be convinced but you will know. it will bear witness with your spirit. Hope deferred makes the heart sick but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life. - Proverbs 13:12. Even though there will be challenges along the way, you will know that thing is from God because it becomes life to you. There may be some external battles to get there but there won't be an internal struggle because you will know it is a blessing from God. The blessing of the Lord brings [true] riches, and He adds no sorrow to it [for it comes as a blessing from God]. - Proverbs 10:22. A prophetic word from the Lord should bear witness to what God has already deposited within you. It will not war against what is in your spirit man. God is not the author of confusion. He has already put the desires, the call, and the "assignment" within your spirit-man (that part of you that is born again and alive to God) before the foundations of the earth. God is the giver of the assignment. The Holy Spirit is your teacher so if you missed it, you get to have a redo! You have another chance! Praise God, He will never give up on you!
I spent years privately repenting before the Lord for having certain thoughts or doubts in my mind, for struggling when really, what I had stepped into did not align with my spirit. It wasn't an assignment from God and so I was not graced for it and did not have that peace of God that passes all understanding; I was just being "obedient", so I thought.
Ever since my deliverance from that false assignment, I had been asking the Lord the wrong question. The question to ask the one who seeded destiny in me wasn't "who is my family?" but "what is my assignment?" "What did you put me on this earth to do, Lord?" Once you know what your assignment is and begin to take those first steps to walk in it, then the Lord brings the right people and the right resources for you to fulfill it. I had it backward, as though my purpose was dependent on who I was in relationship with or who I was connected to. Yes, covenant relationship, especially spiritually is important but your purpose has already been placed in you before time began! It is not dependent on where you live, what your status is, your finances, or who you are in a relationship with. It has already been seeded deep inside you by God Himself! Nobody and nothing can take it from you!
When you have that revelation that there is something planted in you by God, you begin to put your focus on God and not on people. You want to please Him, not them. I must become a God-pleaser, not a people pleaser. People will come and they will go. They will bless and they will disappoint but God remains the same. He changes not! He never changes His mind about you. He never will say "Well, I made a mistake with that one!" He never disappoints because your appointment or appointed time is found in Him! So now I ask, Lord, what is my assignment?" "What is your purpose for my life?" "What is your plan?" "What destiny seed have you placed within me?"
Of course, it begins by being faithful right where you are. We are not all in the same place and that's okay. Don't compare where you are to where someone else is. Maybe you haven't yet discovered your assignment. It's never too late to find out. Maybe you are already doing that thing God destined you to do! Maybe like me you are in transition. I may not know exactly what lies ahead but I know it's good because God is good. I trust His character. Right now, day to day my children are my assignment. That I know and for the rest, I patiently wait on Him knowing there is something greater that is already inside me (and them as well). I wait with expectation, allowing Him to mature me and to develop in me in the secret place, like a negative being developed in a dark room. The end result will look so much better than what I can see right now! Praise God! When you ask the right question and when you seek first His Kingdom, He will align you to where you need to be. He will bring the right people around you or bring you around the right people so that you can all together fulfill your God-given assignment, that which you were called and purposed to do before the foundations of the earth!
It will cost you but it will be so worth it! No matter what the obstacles or challenges are, no matter what others say, no matter what you may have to shake off or who you have to shake off, become her (or him) anyway! Remember, you were created for His glory!
For we are his workmanship [His own masterwork, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above -spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set] so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us]. Ephesians 2: 10.
- Learning to live authentically!!
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