Let Out What’s Locked In. You Don’t Need their Approval. Did you know you have TREASURE WITHIN YOU? God put it there. It’s in your unique qualities, talents, skill set, anointing, gifts, abilities plus the fire in your soul. Now, life may have thrown cold water on that fire, BUT GOD CAN REKINDLE ANYTHING!
Whether you know it or not, you were made BY God and FOR God. And until you understand that your life won’t ever make sense. Because it’s “IN CHRIST” that we DISCOVER our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. In other words, “IN CHRIST” we DISCOVER what’s ‘IN US’! Which means, you will never discover what’s in you while comparing yourself with others, competing with others or imitating others. You discover what’s in you through your relationship with Jesus Christ. If you never have one or develop and strengthen one with Him, you will forever wander aimlessly, never reaching your goal or fulfilling your calling. For example, to know you’re called to ministry, but never entering ministry serves no purpose. Called to be an author and yet never publishing anything serves no purpose. Your potential must produce purpose. Which it will never do if you don’t develop your relationship with Jesus so you can discover what He’s put in you! Having potential that never produces anything is the same as having a to-do-list where nothing gets done…it’s pointless! You can’t hope forever, wish forever, daydream forever. You must discover what’s in you, so you can bring it out!
Ephesians 1:11 “It’s In Christ That We Find Out Who We Are And What We Are Living For. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, He had His eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose He is working out in everything and everyone.” (MSG)
Today, take charge and take courage and fan your gifts back into a flaming fire! Everything God placed in you has value, it all has treasure even in your little old jar of clay! So don’t depreciate its value by letting it rust, rot, and come to ruin. Note, this treasure within you “IS FROM GOD” And what He OWNS He PROTECTS, He NURTURES, and USES to HIS GLORY! But know that God is a wise businessman; when He invests, HE EXPECTS A RETURN! So, you’re not waiting for something great and grand to drop out of the sky and into your belly, it’s already there! Fan your gifts into flame and rekindle your fire for ministry so that you can turn your potential into purpose and fulfill your entrusted destiny and calling! God put it there, but it is your responsibility to get it out! Find your fire, find your passion, find your empowerment, find your encouragement, find your inspiration, and determine to become all that God has destined you to be and do all that the Lord has assigned your hands to do!
One day a boy climbing in the mountains found an eagle’s nest with an egg in it. When he got home, he put it under a hen along with her other eggs. When the eagle hatched, he thought he was a chicken. He learned chicken behavior and scratched in the chicken yard with his “siblings.” He didn’t know Any Better! Sometimes he felt strange stirrings Within Himself, but he didn’t know what to do with them, So He Ignored Or Suppressed Them. After all if he was a chicken he should BEHAVE like a chicken. Well, one day an eagle flew over the chicken yard and the eagle looked up and saw him. In that moment he realized he wanted to be like that eagle, to fly high, and to go to the mountain peaks he saw in the distance. As he spread his wings, he suddenly understood that he was in fact just like that eagle. Though he’d never flown before, He Possessed The Innate, Instinct And Capabilities to do so. At first, he flew unsteadily, then with greater power and control. Finally, as he soared, He Knew He’d Discovered His True Self—The Creature God Made Him To Be!
Phillip Brooks remarked, “When you discover you’ve been leading only half a life, the other half is going to haunt you until you develop it.”
The word ‘potential’ is defined as, ‘having the capacity to develop into something in the future; qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness.’ Its Latin origin ‘potentialis’, from ‘potentia’ literally means ‘power.’ A few definitions of the word ‘power’ are, ‘the ability to do something; the capacity to influence; a right or authority given or delegated to a person or body.’ Which means: your POTENTIAL (your capacity, qualities, and abilities to develop into something in the future and lead to success or usefulness) has POWER (the ability to do something; the capacity to influence, which is your right and authority delegated to you by your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ), proves you ARE WELL ABLE to discover what’s in you and bring it out!
Potential was never designed to remain potential! After all, you can’t have something that has power, and it does not perform and produce! That would be a waste of potential, power, productivity, and purpose! And there’s absolutely no way Jesus went through all He did for you, for you to live in such a way that reflects no potential, power, productivity, or purpose!
Keep in mind: “Haven’t you yet learned that your body is the home of the Holy Spirit God gave you, and that He lives within you? Your own body does not belong to you. For God has bought you with a great price. So use every part of your body to give glory back to God because He owns it.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 TLB). To discover what’s in you, all you must do is build a relationship with the One who lives in you? And it’s not like you must go through great lengths to talk to Him either. Remember: He Lives IN You! You may never talk to the President or the Queen, but the Sovereign God of ALL you can talk to anytime at all! So, what are you waiting for? He paid a great price to live in you!
Think about it, you have IN you…GOD! How much more inspiration do you need to birth what you’ve been pregnant with? God Himself is in you as a midwife trying to get you to push, so why are you pulling back instead?! He paid a great price for you and what He’s placed in you, do you really think He’s going to allow all that value and worth to turn to naught?! “…use every part of your body to give glory back to God because He owns it.”
The Bible further states: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV) Did you know you have Treasure Within You? God put it there. It’s in your unique qualities, talents, skill set, anointing, gifts, abilities plus the fire in your soul. Now, life may have thrown cold water on that fire, But God Can Rekindle Anything! The word ‘rekindle’ is defined as, ‘to relight (a fire); to revive (something lapsed or lost)’. This is your season to relight your fire and revive what you’ve allowed to lapse and be lost! Therefore, it’s time you do as Paul admonished: “This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.” (2 Timothy 1:6 NLT). I don’t care how long it’s been since your gift has been on fire, but now is the time to fan it into flames again! I know depression, discouragement, and the like may have doused your fire, but the Holy Ghost can rekindle it!
Think About This: It’s said that the Wealthiest spot on this planet is not the oilfields of Kuwait or the diamond mines of South Africa. No, The Richest Deposits Lie In Your Local Cemetery! Buried Beneath Those Sacred Grounds Are Rich Dreams That Never Came To Pass, Prosperous Songs That Were Never Sung, A Wealth Of Sermons That Were Never Preached, Valuable Lessons That Were Never Taught, A Multi-Million Dollar Business That Never Began, #1 Best Seller Books That Were Never Written, Break-Through Ideas That Were Never Shared, An Abundance Of Visions That Were Never Seen, Expensive Inventions That Were Never Designed, High-Priced Plans That Never Got Beyond The Drawing Board Of The Mind, And Priceless Purposes That Were Never Fulfilled!
Listen, life is far too short to leave it undone, incomplete and unfulfilled. So today is your wake-up call challenge to write the book, produce the play, preach the sermon, teach the lesson, start the business, open the church, purchase the house, go back to school, change careers, buy the car, take the vacation, board the cruise, face your fears and go for it! If you never LIVE what LEGACY will there be to leave behind? Stop delaying, stop procrastinating, stop hesitating, stop blaming others, stop pointing fingers, stop making excuses. Get to work on fulfilling all that’s within You! After all, you can’t keep saying “I’ll do it tomorrow”, eventually you will run out of tomorrows! So, discover what’s in you today and began birthing it out of you TODAY!
And if you haven’t found your life’s purpose yet, Talk To God! “Everything…Finds Its Purpose In Him” (Colossians 1:16 MSG). Literally Everything! Whatever the purpose, it’s found in Him, so it’s fulfilled through Him!
Listen: Before you spoke your first word or took your first step, God Had A Plan For Your Life! “Before I Formed You In The Womb, I Knew You [And Approved Of You As My Chosen Instrument], And Before You Were Born, I Consecrated You [To Myself As My Own]; I Have Appointed You As A Prophet To The Nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5 Amp); “For I Know The Plans And Thoughts That I Have For You’, Says The Lord, ‘Plans For Peace And Well-Being And Not For Disaster, To Give You A Future And A Hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11 Amp)
God Has Both a Plan and Purpose for Your Life, Talk to Him So You Can Find Out What They Are, So You Can Fulfill Them! You Do Not Get to Delegate Your Destiny! Only YOU Can Accomplish Your Assignment, So Get to Work!
You say, “But I have failed so badly.” Maybe that’s true, But You’d Be Amazed At What God Can Do With A Broken Life—When You Give Him All The Pieces! As poorly put together as you think you are, your Purpose is found in God, and He will not allow you to lose it! Your mistakes, missteps, errors, and even deliberate sins, transgressions and iniquities still cannot stop God from producing what He’s placed in you!
There’s so much more to you than you’ve settled for! In other words, you’ve scratched around in that hen house long enough! However, you are nobody’s chicken! So, realize who and what you are and all the possibilities and potential of what you WILL become and then simply determine to BECOME IT! In a nutshell: It’s time to flap your wings and fly!
The last thing we need is another Valuable Asset Turned Into A Cheap Loss-Laden Liability, Stuffed In The Coffin Of Unfilled Purpose And Potential!
So, Discover What’s In You, Then Determine To Bring It Out!
So, I ask you today, Whose Approval Do YOU Seek after? Be honest now! Because it’s important for you to know how far you’re willing to go to win the praise, applause, acceptance, and approval of others! Here's why, listen to what the Bible says: “Saul gave in and confessed, “I’ve sinned. I’ve trampled roughshod over God’s Word and your instructions. I Cared More About Pleasing the People. I Let Them Tell Me What To Do.” (1 Samuel 15:24 MSG). It’s vital for you to know how far you’d allow the opinions of others to influence you. Why? For one, so you’ll know just how far you need to go in God to get delivered! And two, you might want to avoid ending up like Saul! “…God has rejected you as king…God has…torn the kingdom from you…God was sorry he had ever made Saul king in the first place.” (1 Samuel 15:24-35 MSG). Which is why you must be so very careful about needing, requesting, and requiring the approval of people, because it will cost you all that God had for you! Are you really willing to pay such a high price?!
Let people think what they will and even say what they will, the only important words you need to pay attention to are what thus saith the Lord, concerning you! Don't put the crowd’s applause and opinions over Christ's approval!
Now if the whole truth be told, far too many have altered their hairstyles, clothes, sermons, speech, mannerisms, etc... just for the approval and applause of people! But let me tell you from experience, opinions aren’t as important as you think they are! The word “Opinion” Only Means ‘a View or Judgment Not Necessarily Based On Fact or Knowledge; A Matter of Opinion, Something Not Capable of Being Proven Either Way.’ And my personal favorite definition says it's merely, ‘an Estimation of Quality or Worth.’ In other words, There Is Nothing Valid or Concrete About an Opinion, It’s a View or Estimation At Best! So why do we lose our minds over the opinions of people?! Their opinions are not proven facts! It's nothing more than their personal estimation, and why would you allow someone's faulty calculations to devalue your self-esteem, self-worth, and value? You have already been approved by the God of Glory, why are you concerned with their Guessing?
Listen: Never Devalue yourself by being attached to people who Underestimate your Worth!
The Apostle Paul got straight to the point on this, he says: “…we speak as messengers Approved By God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to Please God, Not People. He Alone examines the motives of our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4 NLT). We give folks way too much credit, authority, and power to alter our destiny and disposition merely by their unsubstantiated opinions! You are supposed to use your gifts, talents, ministry, calling and skills for the Glory of God and the upbuilding of the Kingdom of God, not so you can be the person with the most ‘likes’, the biggest following, or consistent pats on the back! Servants don’t compete with other servants, they’re too focused on serving the Master!
“Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God’s approval.” (Thomas S. Monson).
God’s ways are opposite of the world’s ways so if you want to follow Jesus, it’s guaranteed you will have to draw a line in the sand and seek only God’s approval vs man's approval as you go. If you don’t draw that line in the sand, you will conflict with obeying God when the world is telling you to do something else. The only way around this is to choose clearly and completely for yourself that will seek God’s way over the world’s way and never look back.
Hold On To Your Testimony: “…I’m not trying to win the approval of people, But Of God….” (Galatians 1:10 NLT). Friends, You Don’t Need Their Approval!
Blessings
J.P. Olson
www.thewordwithjpolson.com
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