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Thursday, May 14, 2015

Is Your Yes Sure (First Bible Study Lesson Notes)

I promise you, It’s just like your mind to mess with you when you're given an assignment. And the enemy just sits back and watches you destroy your own self. Enjoying that you’re doing all of his work for him.  Less work of him to do.

When the man of God gave me this assignment, I promise it felt like my insides were caving in on me. My heart hit my toes and tears formed in the corner of my eyes. And every thought was why I felt like I couldn't do this. I said to myself (and God) “In all the years that I’ve been around, this was the place that was only held by my leader and the ministerial staff, who am i to stand here in this position”. I looked at my life’s choices and where I feel like I am in my walk with God and said “surely, I’m not worthy. What in the world am I going to bring to EVERYBODY. I’m the least of them all”

Then He said to me “none of them has lived a perfect life either. None of them haven’t lived without mistakes or decisions that they weren't proud of. None of them are without fault, so why should you be any different."

We so often say that “Lord you can use me. Use all of me” but that one phrase is so loaded and misused.  We honestly don’t know just how much we’ll give and allow to be used until we get to a place where we have to give more than what we bargained for.  I was (and still am) perfectly content with being where I was. In an effort to "stay out of the way” and stay "under the radar”. I enjoyed staying in that corner behind that there camera.  It allowed me the comfort and peace of knowing that I wasn't being charged like those on the other end of my flash.  I was held to a standard, but not as high as those on the other side.

Isaiah 29:13
(KJV) Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

On Sunday we talked about the women in the lineage of Christ and how all of those women had a couple things in common. The biggest one was shame

Shame-a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.

Synonyms for Humiliation

embarrassment, mortification, shame, indignity, ignominy, 
disgrace, discomfiture, dishonor, degradation, discredit, 
belittlement, opprobrium; loss of face; 

informal blow to one's pride/ego, slap in the face, 
kick in the teeth, comedown

The man of God talked about shame and how with our own shame and our own secrets that we carry, it cripples us from stepping out.  I remember when I was pregnant (both times) and I used to literally pray and cry to the Lord “why me????” “Why do I have to be the one pregnant. I’m the youngest adult, we've only been here so many years, I moved here with my CHURCH, I’m not married, and yet, I’m the one with the baby”. I didn't get an answer the first go round.  And then the second time, my petition got worse. I literally cried saying “Lord, WHY ME?!” and then one day, just as clear as I’m standing here speaking, I heard Him say to me “why not you?”. So even now, as we’re entering this different phase of ministry, the Lord is still saying “why not you? You say that I can use you...Why are you limiting me through your own hands?”

Isaiah 29:13
(NET) The Sovereign master says “These people say that they are loyal to me; they say wonderful things about me, but they are not really loyal to me. Their worship consists of nothing but man-made ritual”

(MSG) (verses 13 and 14)
“These people make a big show of saying the right thing,
    but their hearts aren't in it.
Because they act like they’re worshiping me
    but don’t mean it,
I’m going to step in and shock them awake,
    astonish them, stand them on their ears.
The wise ones who had it all figured out
    will be exposed as fools.
The smart people who thought they knew everything
    will turn out to know nothing.”

We’re a people that likes to say that we know what God wants us to do with us and because of that, we’ll give our all. We’re so quick to say “Lord if you send me, I’ll go”. But is your yes sure? Is your yes truly from your heart, or is it just with your lips or your mind and understanding of what you think He has for you to do? 

When the Lord gives you a task that steps your out of your comfort zone, I firmly believe that it’s at that moment that He is seeing what’s really in your heart.  The way you respond and the way that you execute the task is what your heart truly believes. 

The one thing that we try to keep to ourselves and cover up and conceal, can God use that very thing to speak life to someone else? Their shame was their ministry. Can He really use your womb, can He use your voice, can He use your broken decisions, Can He use your shame? Or is it too much of an embarrassment to allow God to use? That struggle doesn't fit the life that I’m portraying now, so people are going to look at me differently…I don’t have that issue anymore, and I don’t want people took treat me like I’m still that way. God wants to know if He can use that too. Or is your pride too strong to let it be used? 

Psalm 4:2
O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.

I’m not saying to go and profess to the rooftops all of your dirty laundry and say “now that I've confessed my all, you can come to Jesus now!” I’m not saying to divulge it all. The Word says in Proverbs that “a fool uttereth all his mind…”. But God is saying “can I use it if I see fit for it. Will you allow it to be a part of your all too"

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