Have you ever spent your life running from what you truly knew you were supposed to be doing? Have you ever ran from your calling, tried to ignore the voice of God, “Jonah-ed” your way out of God’s will for your life? I have. In fact, if I’m being completely transparent with you, I’ve been doing that for awhile now. I have believed the enemy’s lies. Because of that, I spoke death over my life and became stagnant in my walk for a long period of time.
God has revealed countless times He has ordained me to write. There is something He has placed in me to share: a story unique to me that no one else can tell. The enemy fears the fruits that will come from it. So he pours poison on my roots and tells me how withered and ugly my leaves are. “Who are you going to help? You’ll never reach anyone. No one is like you. Once people know who you really are, your writing will be nothing but a joke.”
Without Jesus, these things may be true. Without Jesus, I am nothing. Without Jesus and His forgiveness, my story ends in loss, defeat, shame, darkness. But with Jesus, I carry the banner of victory and my name becomes Redeemed. With Jesus, I can stand tall, wrists unchained, and speak of the freedom I have taste and seen. With Jesus, I can use the gifts He’s given me to show others what He’s done in me and what He can do in them too. And praise the Father, because He loved me so much, even though I was so dirty and broken, He can still use me and He can still love and use you too.
Brothers and sisters, we have accepted defeat too soon. We’ve allowed ourselves to believe the lies the enemy has clouded our minds with. We have believed that we are unqualified, unworthy, and unprepared. And because of that, we push away the gifts He’s given us. We stamp “mediocre” on the front of the spiritual gifts He’s handed to us in grace. We stop doing what we know we should be doing because we believe that we are no one. Who told you that you are nobody? Who told you that you are unusable? Who told you He omitted your spiritual gift when He formed you in the womb? Why would the enemy attack you with those lies? To stop you from bearing fruit for The Kingdom. We are a threat to Satan when we realize the potential and beauty God has brought up from our ashes. I am a threat when I realize that God is not done with me.
I was done with me. I was done with writing. I was done with my calling, my blogging, and my journaling. I was done with my dreams. I was done with trying. And you know what God said to me? “I’m not done with you.” The words rang in my ears and the tears streamed down my face as I was driving home late one night. Yet again here God was, reaching down to me in the depths of my mess and saying, “Get up. You’re not done. I am still on My throne. I have still ordained you. I have made you worthy. I have called you by name and you will see My Goodness in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13-14)
I was done but He was not. Hallelujah, He was not done with me! And He’s not done with you either, sons and daughters of The King. No matter how far you’ve ran from His calling, He still offers His loving hand and says, “I’m not done with you.” Each one of us was given a spiritual gift and calling specific to us. God has ordained something special and unique to you, a story like no other to tell, just as He’s done for me.
What if there’s one person out there dying to know they aren’t alone, and your story is the one God orchestrated for them to hear? We must be content with the knowledge that even if only one soul benefits from the trials our hearts have been burdened with, it was worth it. Though the struggle was hard, though the battle was tough, though we had been bloodied and bruised, Jesus took the ashes and made them new. What hope that is. That same Hope comes later in the form of the Holy Spirit we’re baptized in. “For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body- whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free- we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” (1 Corinthians 12:13) And the beauty of that is, you carry the Hope that someone thirsts so desperately for today. Jesus has filled you up with His living water. He has given you a vessel which is your gift, whatever that may be. How can we, as believers with an abundance of Hope and life-giving water, withhold the sustenance this parched world so desperately seeks?
Some verses that encourage me are found in Acts 2:38-39. “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off- for all whom the Lord our God will call.’” The moment that we met Jesus and our salvation took place, we were given two gifts: the forgiveness of our sins and the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What’s more is God can use anyone whom He pours His Spirit onto. What an amazing promise. We aren’t alone in this fight, in this calling. The Holy Spirit is there to use our gifts to their fullest abilities, to fill in the gaps we are unable to ourselves. Isaiah tells us that His Word, His message, His gospel, His gifts will not return void. They accomplish what He desires and achieve the purposes for which He sent them in the first place (Isaiah 55:11).
I say all of this because the gifts we are given help us to take our stories and our testimonies out to a broken world. They give us a platform to shout from. They are the tools we can utilize for the Kingdom. We are given the beautiful story of the gospel to tell and also given a spiritual gift to be the vessel that helps us tell that message. The Holy Spirit then helps us to properly utilize the vessel with which we’ve been given to get the message of the gospel out to starving souls. Whether it’s serving others, singing, writing, drawing, dancing, speaking, or any of the other abundant creative abilities God has inspired in us, He has put whatever it is specifically in you to be used with whatever your story may be. It is the most beautiful picture of brokenness to complete fulfillment in Christ. The scars we brandish are the testimonies we carry to the broken. Christians need not be shameful of their pasts. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2).
My past is now my testimony of God’s love and grace in my life. How can I be silent? How can I believe the enemy’s lies when I know his only goal is to thwart my potential and to render me fruitless? Brothers and sisters, our identity is that of co-heirs with Christ because He is our Father and we are His children (Romans 8:17). Whom shall I fear? We must continue to stand our ground and utilize the gifts He has given us. We must stop running from the call because we are so abundantly blessed to be called in the first place. He ordained you. What will you do with it?
The time is now.
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