Did you know we can choose inspiration over defeat? Well, I want you to know: You’re going somewhere when you hear the devil asking you Who do you think you are?
You have to know that’s it’s the devil. It’s not you. It’s certainly not God, who is love…telling you that. No, God says: Instead of being embittered and resigned to remain in the circumstances that you so desperately want to escape… Instead of being stuck, become inspired.
Almost 7 years ago today, I wrote about my sister and the ways she had already inspired me. Her role as Guide and Encourager has not changed:
…my sister inspires me. She is a Christian and a wife and an aunt and a daughter of rare quality. She is a solid adviser. She is a consistent friend. And she is a spiritual rock.
People like her do what so many of us want to do. Unlike many of us, whose purpose remains frustrated, my sister changes the world.
Correction. She accepts the blessing of being a soldier for God, a vessel filled with his Will (sic) and guided by Him. Through her, God inspires.
His reach has touched more people through my sister’s interaction with them, than she can possibly know. God is glorified by her reaction to stress. God is glorified by her restraint from engaging evil. God is glorified by her worship and conviction. God is glorified by the steadfastness with which she keeps Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the forefront of her thinking as she moves through life.
[]Years of quiet support; years of action without words of pressure or judgment; and that run – the one where she stood by my side step for step when I didn’t know if I could do it – inspired me. Without words it taught me what I could do, showed me what I wanted to do….
She glorified God, and I knew (watching her) why I felt far from God.
I was.
Judgment repels. Inspiration plants seeds. You can never know when they’ll sprout. A patient gardener doesn’t really wait; she just places her faith in God and puts one foot right in front of the other.
(“INSPIRED” – a note from my Facebook timeline, stamped June 16, 2011 at 9:07pm.) When you see someone doing things you’d like to do… When you are in awe of what someone you know has achieved… When you see that people have what you want – good relationships, peace, laughter… If that makes you sad… If that makes you resentful, then you are listening to the devil tell you: All the things you want can never be yours. Everything you see in your dreams is all you will never be. You can’t. You won’t. You weren’t born to be that. Because you aren’t special enough.
But God says, I knew you. I knit you in the womb (Psalm 139.) I chose you. I called you (Ephesians 1:4; Romans 8:28-30.) And when you see those things you want, I’m showing you the blueprint. I’m giving you the map of the paths. And if you believe, I will walk that path with you at a pace you can manage – our pace, together.
Like the people who came to Jairus with tidings of death, the Lord Jesus Christ wants you to know that there is life in Him, even when every dream looks dead and every hope looks blocked – by your mistakes. By your lack – of skills or, training or, time… God can and will redeem time and fast track your journey. Like He said to Jairus, Do not be afraid; only have faith… (SEE, Luke 8:40-56.)