Tag Archives: Christ

August 9, 2012 · 3:14 PM

Trials, Tests and Scars

Each of us will have difficult times in our lives. Some of us experience short bursts of hard times while others, it seems, are destined to live a life of hardships. I’m not sure why it happens this way, but I do know that in either case, it doesn’t mean that one person is better than the other. Matthew 5:45 says that it rains on the just and the unjust alike.

Whether you’ve experienced minimal hardships in life or you have so many deep wounds that you are covered by scars, there is reason and purpose behind your pain. For years I hid my pain and scars. I closed that chapter in my life so that it became like a dream rather than the reality it was. I never wanted to revisit it again until Dave Roever came and spoke at our church. After he told his story, he said, “Don’t hide your scars for in them are life and healing for others.”

Here are a few examples of why you may be going through things that create scars.

1. To test us

Testing is way to show what we are made of. It also cements deep within us what we already know. God can use difficult times in our lives to solidify our faith. It’s not until we are tested and tried that we know how strong our faith is. Difficult times not only build our character, they also reveal it. Times of testing are necessary for us to know how deep our faith is. If it is shallow, we will cast it aside. If it is deep, hard times will strengthen our faith and trust in God.

Job experienced this in his life. He lost everything he had in one day. His kids, his animals, his possessions and his health all were taken from him. He was going through a huge test because God knew he could endure it. God knows how much you can take too and allows what you can handle to happen at times. Passing these times of testing prove, solidify and grow our faith.

2. To correct us

Every one of us has been corrected in this life because someone thought enough of us to put us back on the right track. When we wander from our faith or neglect to do what God asks of us, He cares enough about you that He will do what it takes to get us back on track. Even though it hurts, we should be thankful for our times of correction. They prove that God still deems you worthy to use even when you mess up.

When Jonah disobeyed, God sent a windy storm, a whale and a worm to get his attention. It takes some us longer to accept the correction and to get where God wants us. Hebrews 12:6 tells us that God corrects and disciplines everyone He loves. Your trial may be God showing you that He loves you enough to get you back to where you belong.

3. To prove His love

Romans 8:35 asks if suffering, affliction, tribulation or distress can separate us from God’s love. The answer given is no, but Paul said it in an interested way. He said, “For I am persuaded beyond doubt that… nothing can separate us from God’s love.”. How was he persuaded? God had to prove that to him to the point that it was beyond all doubt. The only way it was proven was that he endured all of those things.

When we go through storms in our lives we see that God is right there with us. He has not and will not forsake us. In our times of trouble, when it seems we are all alone, He is there with you. You are not in this storm alone. The storm you’re in may be what it takes to persuade you beyond all doubt that nothing you go through will separate you from His love.

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August 8, 2012 · 7:43 AM

Knocked Down, but Not Out

A few years ago, life knocked me down. It took the wind out of me when it did. It was hard to do things that were once normal. Everything took effort. An effort that I didn’t have the strength to give. Sometimes just breathing took every ounce of energy I had. It was a tough place to be. I was lying flat on my back wondering how to go on, if I should go on. The easiest thing to do was to give up and stay down.

Have you ever been there? Maybe you’re there now. Sometimes life throws some pretty hard hits. It doesn’t seem fair how, why or when things come our way to knock us down and off the path we were on. You didn’t ask for it or deserve it, but it happened anyway. You have to make some pretty tough choices when you’ve been knocked down. Life changing choices.

Here are some choices I made that helped me.

1. Don’t lose heart

The first thing you want to do is to give up. That’s because that’s the easiest choice, but it’s not the right choice. When the wind is knocked out of you, it gets hard to breathe. Life comes crashing down on you and you’re left wondering if you have anything left. You do. It’s in these times that you have to reach down inside you and find who you really are.

In John 14:1, Jesus told the disciples not to lose heart. He told them to believe in and to rely on Him. When we get knocked down, it is a chance for our faith to grow. When you can’t rely on anyone else, rely on God. He’s the one who is there with you even when you can’t see Him. He’s there to give you heart and strength to move on from where you think you will be forever.

2. Stand back up

One of the hardest things to do when you’ve been knocked down is to stand back up. You may not feel like you have the strength to do it, but you do. It’s inside you. You just have to dig deep to find it. Standing back up is an act of courage. It tells life that it may knock you down, but you will not be counted out. You are here to fight. You are here o win.

Proverbs 24:16 says even if you are knocked down 7 times, the godly get back up. No matter how many times you get knocked down, get up one more time. You are able to do it and each time you get up, you are stronger for it. I kept telling myself, ” What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. If I can survive this, I can survive anything.” You can survive this, but you gotta get back up!

3. Move forward

It’s not enough just to stand back up though. You have to take a step forward even if you don’t know what way “forward” is. Staying still can’t be an option. Where you were is where you were knocked down. You have to move past that area of your life o you can recover. There is hope, there is help and there is healing; but you must move forward to get it.

Philippians 3:14 and 4:13 are your new best friends. Read them, repeat them and cling to them. They say, “I press on toward the goal” and “I can do all things through Christ.” Your goal right now is to press on (forward). You can do it by the power and strength of Jesus. Your faith is what will carry you on. Find someone who can help along the way. You are not supposed to do this alone. They may not understand what you’ve been through, but that’s ok. They have the strength you need to move forward.

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August 7, 2012 · 7:56 AM

Great for God

I love Nike’s new “Greatness” commercials. For years they have had commercials featuring the best athletes in the world. Now, their commercials feature everyday looking people who overweight, short or not athletic. They are saying that greatness isn’t reserved for a chosen few. We all have the ability to be great, even if it’s just greater than we were.

You and I have the ability to be great for God’s Kingdom. Even if we never become as famous as Billy Graham, it doesn’t mean we can’t do great things for God. Jesus said to be greatest in His Kingdom, we had to be the least. It starts with humility because to be great recognizes that we can’t do it on our own. It is God who works through us. There is more to being great though. I’ve found that physical disciplines often translate to spiritual disciplines and greatness is one of those that translates.

Here are three things required to be great for God.

1. Time

No one ever became great at anything without putting in lots of time. Jesus asked the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Can’t you just spend one hour with me?” He knew that to do what He needed them to do, they needed to put in quality time. Today, for most of us, Jesus would love it if we just spent 10 minutes with Him.

D.L. Moody used to spend 8 hours a day in prayer. He recognized that to be a great minister, he had to spend time with God. When you spend time with someone, you get to know them. To know God’s heart and what His desire is, you will have to spend time with Him. If you want to be great for God, you will have to put in lots of time in prayer.

2. Pain

We’ve all heard the phrase “no pain, no gain” which is why most of us stay out of the gym. We don’t want to go through the pain to get our body in shape. We don’t want to break a sweat, but we want to get the results of it. If being fit were easy, we’d all do it. Greatness requires you to go through some pain and sweat.

Anyone who ever did anything great for God went through times of intense pain. Those times of pain and struggling temper you and prepare you. They allow you to connect with others and help you to endure in tougher times that may be coming. Great people often attribute their greatness to enduring times of hardship and pain. It’s in those times that we find out what we’re made of and who we are.

3. Faithfulness

Greatness starts with faithfulness. You have to be committed to continuing the course even when you don’t feel like it. You have to keep the end in mind and take things one step at a time. You don’t get to the Olympics by showing up there. You have to compete in small tournaments. When you’re successful, you move up to larger ones until you make it.

Jesus said that when we’ve been faithful over a few things, He will make us faithful over many. Most of us want to start with many and work our way up from there. That’s not God’s plan. Be faithful where you are right now to those that God has entrusted to you. When you spend time there, go through the growing pains and prove your faithfulness, He will take you to that next level of greatness.

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August 6, 2012 · 8:29 AM

Victory in your trials

One of the things I love about Jesus is that He didn’t pull any punches in His ministry. He told it like it was. Take for instance John 16:33 where He said, “In this world you will have tribulation and trials and distresses and frustration (AMP).” If He told us ahead of time we were going to experience these things, why are we shocked and upset when they happen? I’ve had my share of these and know there are more on the way as long as I live.

So often when we encounter these in our lives, we ask others to pray for us to be delivered of it. Our immediate response to tribulations, trials, distresses and trouble is to want to get out immediately. If that was God’s desire for them, we would never face them. He uses times like that to grow us, to make us more dependent on Him and to prepare us for something down the road.

Here are some things I’ve found that help me to get the most out of these times.

1. Admit I can’t do it alone

We were not made to go through these times alone. I’ve tried to make it through difficult times by myself and it has never worked. I try and I try, but always fall flat on my face after I get worn out by the stress of it all. It’s only when I come to the realization that I need God’s help that growth truly happens. In II Corinthians 12:9, Paul said that it is when we are weak that He is made strong. We don’t realize our need for dependence on God until those times.

When we think we can do it on our own, our pride grows as a result. I thought it was fitting that Michael Phelps final medal was in a team event. He didn’t get to be the best Olympian ever on his own. He had help along the way. He had a coach to push him beyond what he thought he could do. That’s what God does for us in our difficult times. He pushes us to grow more than we ever thought we could.

2. Trust God

I don’t know what my future holds and chances are, you don’t know yours either. We may have a plan of where we are going, but it doesn’t always end up that way. God has a perfect plan for your life. He knows what you need now to get you where He wants you in the future. Sometimes difficult times are a means to put us back on the right track. He uses road blocks, job losses and dead ends to get us to where we need to be. We have to trust His view of the complete picture of our lives.

Last season I watched a couple of episodes of “Gold Rush Alaska”. In one of the episodes, they took their gold to a refinery at the end of the season. They heated the gold until it melted, they then added borax to the gold and then they let it cool. Once cooled, the gold was covered in black stuff (dross). They hit it with a hammer and all the dross fell off leaving pure gold. When we are walking through the fires of life, God purifies us. It’s not an easy process and it often means that we lose people who are close to us. They, like the dross, may be keeping us from being pure. It may hurt, but it’s for our good.

3. Walk in faith

When hard times come, don’t crumble under the pressure. Keep walking and moving in the right direction. Giving up only prolongs the situation. I know what it’s like to give up when the tribulation seems to have no end. This is not the answer. God sees you where you are and is walking through it with you. He is there every step of the way. You may not be able to see the way out, but He does so you don’t have to.

Victory is found in taking up your cross daily and following Him. It’s in your daily walking out your faith even when you can’t see the next step that you overcome trials. I love how the verse in John 16:33 ends. It says, “Take courage; be confident… I (Jesus) have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.” Your victory has already been won! Keep walking in faith believing in your victory and learn what God has for you in this.

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August 3, 2012 · 10:21 AM

Chic-Fil-A, The Church and Jesus

I’ve read a lot this week about whether people going to Chic-Fil-A was right or wrong, whether the church failed or not and whether CFA was evil and hateful or good and right. Some people went to protest the protest, some went to speak out against homosexuality and others went to support a fellow believer under attack. Some spoke words of conviction while others spoke words of condemnation. It’s been an emotional roller coaster to watch and be a part of this week.

Jesus faced the same thing in his day. In Matthew 11:12 he talked about how the kingdom of heaven had suffered from violence and that violent people were attacking it. A few verses down (18 & 19), he mentions how John came and didn’t eat what others ate and he was demonized for it. Then, when Jesus ate and drank with sinners, He was called names too. Christians have been attacked whether they do or they don’t. Lately, those attacks have been coming from within though.

How are we supposed to respond when our faith is under attack and one of our own is being ridiculed? If we stand up for them, we are hate mongers. If we stay quiet, will we be attacked next? How do we show love to those in sin without compromising our message. If all we do is show love and don’t bring the truth of the cross have we really accomplished anything than approving of their sin? The message of the cross is just as hard on believers and nonbelievers alike.

Jesus preached in the temple and in the synagogues. His message was tough on the religious leaders. He didn’t pull any punches. They hated Him for it. He pointed out in Scripture what He came to do: preach Good News to the poor, set those in captivity free, open the blind eyes, to deliver the oppressed and to proclaim the day of salvation (Luke 4:18). He was clear in His mission.

He also preached on the hillside where those who couldn’t / wouldn’t go to a synagogue or the temple to hear His message. Even there, He was clear in His message. It was still about repentance. In Luke 5:32, He was being attacked for taking His message out of the synagogue. His response was that He did not “come to invite and call the righteous, but those erring ones (those not free from sin) to repentance [to change their minds for the better and heartily amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins] (AMP).”

Jesus was able to preach repentance while showing compassion. He didn’t hide behind the walls of the synagogue. He went out to the people, even those whom the religious leaders thought were the worst of sinners. He made Himself accessible to all who wanted to come near. When people wanted to debate Him or trap Him with questions, He didn’t crush them with His response. He asked them questions or made plain His view without destroying the person. They usually left without saying anything in response because His answers left no room for question.

How do we do that today? It seems our goal in debates (internally and externally) is to destroy the other person, not to bring them to your side. Christians proved they could be mobilized and unified (for the most part) this week. Whatever your reason for going or not going to CFA, the Church sent a message (good or bad depending on your perspective). That mobilization caught the attention of the country and part of the world. What if we showed that kind of unity and mobilization to do something for the least of these instead of for ourselves next time? What if next time we buy those chicken sandwiches and deliver them to homeless shelters and feed others instead? What message would that send? We have the opportunity now to stay mobilized and unified to do something with compassion. Keep this energy and momentum going and channel it into doing something positive that will bring repentance to others and souls into the Kingdom.

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August 2, 2012 · 7:58 AM

Withholding things from God

Last night as our church group sat around talking and eating, the debate of waffle fries or McDonald’s fries came up. During the debate, it came up that I love McDonald’s fries so much that I won’t even share one with my wife. If she wants just one, I’ll go buy her a bag of fries rather than give her one of mine. Someone told me that if I loved her like Christ loved the Church, I would give her one. I jokingly said back, “I don’t know if He loved the Church that much!”

The truth is that He loves the Church infinitely more than that and he has called us to love our wives that much. Is there something you hold back from your spouse? It could be something silly like a French fry or it could be a compliment, a thank you or the words I love you. Beyond that, what is it you withhold from God?

Here are something’s that I’ve found I withhold from Him sometimes.

1. My time

There are 1440 minutes in each day. If I were to tithe on my time, I should give Him 144 minutes each day. That’s 2 hours and 24 minutes each day to put it into perspective. When you think of all he has given to us, 10% is not much. Time is something that is very valuable to all of us. We only have so much of it and it seems everyone wants some of it.

I was reading yesterday in Genesis about the death of Abraham’s wife Sarah. He needed a place to bury her and someone offered a field with a cave in it for free. He wouldn’t take it because he wanted to give his wife something that was valuable and cost him something. If time is your most valuable asset, God will honor you for giving more of it to him.

2. My problems

I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes I don’t want to bother God with what is bothering me. He has enough on His plate with everything going on in the world without having to worry or spend time helping me with my problems. Sure, I go to him with the big things, but I try to handle the little things on my own. I heard someone say this week that they only take God their big problems and someone responded, “With God, there are no “big” problems.”

God never intended us to carry the load ourselves. He told us to cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us. We don’t have to shoulder the burden ourselves. He wants to help, but we keep Him from it and wear ourselves out. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus told all who were weary and had heavy burdens to come to Him and take his burdens because they were light.

3. My gratitude

When I look back at my life and think of all the things I have prayed for, I can see that more were answered than not. I also see that once it has been answered, I rarely go back to say “thank you”. It’s not that I’m ungrateful. It’s that a new problem has come up and I’ve started asking for it. I think it’s important to keep a prayer journal where you write down all your requests of God. When you go back in a month, year or decade and see what your problems were and how God answered them, you’ll be grateful and amazed.

I wrote recently about being thankful here. Being thankful and showing gratitude changes your perspective and builds your faith. When you see all the little things that God has done for you, it’s easy to trust Him with the big things. Everyone likes to be appreciated for things they do. We were made in God’s image. I think He likes to be thanked every now and then too.

Have you found that these are some areas that you withhold from God too? Maybe you haven’t withheld all of them or you’ve withheld other things that are important to you. God loves you so much that the Bible says he will not withhold any good thing from you. In fact, He has proven it by sending His son to die for our sins. Even when we are ungrateful for that at times, He still gives us good things. We can make that change today. We can choose to quit withholding things from Him now. What are you going to quit withholding?

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August 1, 2012 · 8:00 AM

Acting in Faith

Lately God has been pushing me to do more than I ever have. Sometimes the things He asks are small while other times it requires a great amount if faith to step out and do it. That first moment when you hear His voice or feel His prompting is critical. My mind starts to think different things. Do I step out and do that? Is that really God? Why would you want me to do that?

Have you experienced those thoughts when you’ve been promoted by God to act in faith? I think we all have. It’s not easy to take a step when you can’t see where you’re going. You don’t know what will happen or how you’ll look. We are all called by God to live a life of faith and surrender. What do you do when feel lead to act in faith?

Abraham was asked to take a huge leap of faith in sacrificing his only son. Here are somethings we can follow when we are asked to act in faith.

1. Act quickly

When God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 22:2 and asked him to sacrifice his son, Abraham didn’t argue with God. He knew that God had given him his son in his old age and that nothing was impossible for God. Verse 3 says that Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, chopped wood for the sacrifice and began the trip.

I wonder how I would respond in that situation. Would I have argued with God? Would I have delayed and procrastinated? When God asks us to do something, it is usually time bound and requires our immediate action. He may want you to say something to a stranger, pay for someone’s groceries or just pray for someone. When He asks, we need to act quickly in faith.

2. Trust God

Along the way to the mountain, Isaac realized something wasn’t right. He noticed the wood and the fire, but he didn’t see a lamb. Abraham replied that God would provide. He knew that God had made a promise to him and that God would fulfill His promise. He wasn’t sure how He would do it, but he knew that God had not let any promises go unfulfilled yet.

God is faithful to His Word. He cannot go back on it. When He promises something to you, believe it with al, your heart and trust Him to fulfill it. As abraham was binding up his son and placing him on the altar, I’m sure Abraham was thinking, “Uh God, where is the lamb for this sacrifice?” He continued to act in faith even when he couldn’t see how God would provide. Blind obedience always yields God’s reward.

3. Receive His blessing

As Abraham stood there with knife in hand, the angel called out to him to stop. His faith had been tested and he had shown God that he would not withhold anything from Him including his only son. God then provided a ram to be caught in some bushes by its horns. He received that blessing and sacrificed it instead.

This is a great illustration of what God has done for us. It was our lives who were on the altar. We are the ones who were supposed to die because of our sin. At the right moment in time, God provided a lamb to be sacrificed in our place. He provided His only son, Jesus to come and die in our place so we could receive the blessing of spending eternity with Him.

If God was not willing to withhold even His own son from us, how much of what we have should we be willing to give Him? What He asks of us pales in comparison to what He gave for us. When God asks us next time to step out in faith, remember that we need to act quickly and trust Him. We have received the blessing of salvation, now it’s time to give something back to Him.

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July 30, 2012 · 7:43 AM

Reignite, Renew and Rekindle

There have been times in my life where I’ve felt so close to God and other times when I felt so far away that I didn’t think he could hear my prayers. In my relationship with Him, as in relationships with others, I’ve had to maintain it. There are ups and downs, there have been times when I’ve been upset and angry, there have been times when I’ve been so excited that I wanted to shout from the rooftops.

How about you? Have you experienced that? Have you had to work on your relationship with Him? We all get complacent at times in our relationships whether it is with God or someone else. We have those times when we set it to cruise control and just go with the flow. It’s in those times that our relationship with Him wanes. We get out of touch with God and start to lose our way.

Here are three things I’ve found to reignite that passion in your relationship.

1. Reconnect through communication

The best relationships fail when communication ceases. We’ve all been there where we either don’t know what to say or have just gone so long without saying anything. The good news is that God doesn’t hold a grudge when life gets so busy that we forget to stop and talk with Him. He’s there waiting for you to starts talking.

Talking with God requires time and effort. I remember when I was a kid and would talk on the phone with someone. If I was too nervous about what to say, I’d write a list of topics we could talk about. Talking with God can be that way too. When it has been a while, it’s ok to make a list of what you want to talk about. There are no do’s and don’ts to prayer. It’s just talking to Him however you want.

2. Spend quality time

Quality time is more than just a few minutes a day. It’s about making time for Him and giving up other things you could have done to spend with Him. God wants to make sure your time with Him is well spent. He wants us to come and to spend time with Him daily. He not only wants to hear what you have to say, but He wants you to hear what he has to say.

Quality time is about giving God the ability to speak to you. Many times we go to spend time with Him in prayer or meditation and we don’t even let Him speak. God desires to spend time with you wherever you go. He wants to use situations and things throughout our day to speak to us. There are no relationships that last where you don’t spend time together.

3. Do things for Him

One of the easiest ways to build or reinvigorate a relationship is to do things for them. When you love God, you do things for Him. Look for ways to bless others. It could be paying for someone behind you in the drive through. It could be volunteering at church, a homeless shelter, a food bank or just helping out a neighbor in need. Jesus said when you do something for the least, you do it for Me.

We are not saved by our works, but our works show our faith to others. The Bible says that faith without works is dead. We can show our love for God by doing things for others. We shouldn’t do it to get anything out of it or to be seen by others. When we do it to be seen, we have our reward. When we do it for God, we will be blessed by God.

From my own experiences I can tell you that by doing these three things, you will reignite your passion for God, you will renew your commitment to the Kingdom and rekindle your relationship. If your relationship with God is stagnant right now, I challenge you to try these things and see if it doesn’t make a difference. No matter where we are in our relationship, we all have room for growth.

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July 25, 2012 · 4:45 PM

Living like Christ

When Michael Jordan was playing in the 90’s, I wanted to be like him…so did every other guy that played basketball! I started wearing baggy shorts, sticking my tongue out and trying crazy moves in the air as I dunked on adjustable height goals. There were even commercials about people wanting to be like Mike. The problem was that none of us could be.

When you become a Christian, it’s very similar. We want to be like Christ, but unfortunately we falls short of His perfection. From the point of conversion, we are to begin living and acting like Christ. We should live in such a way that when others see us, they see Christ in us and call us Christians. We should live a new life.

Paul said in Colossians 3 that there were three things we should do if we were serious about living this new life.

1. See things from above

One of the things I’ve learned in life is that when I change my perspective, it often changes my perception. For example, when I fly from one city to another, if I look out of the window and see things on the ground, what seemed so big before, now seems very small. How I look at things changes my perception of them.

Paul tells us to see things from Heaven’s perspective. In light of eternity, what really matters? Are the problems I’m facing today going to matter 5 years from now? Looking at problems that way often makes them seem smaller than they appear today. If you’re facing something huge today, look at it through Heaven’s eyes and see it for what it really is.

2. Kill off your old ways

Once you receive Christ, your old habits of sin don’t just go away. Many Christians struggle with things from their old life. In this passage, Paul says that we should kill off everything connected with our old life. We should be doing things that please Christ and show that we are set apart.

I looked up the word in this passage in the Greek language that it was written in and one of the meanings besides kill is to destroy the strength of or deprive the power of. We need to find the things that we do in our lives that feed the old nature and change how we live so that we deprive them of their power. Do things that feed your new nature and give them power.

3. Put on your new nature

Putting on a new nature means doing things that are different. The good news is that the Holy Spirit gives us the power to make those changes. Verse 10 tells us that we will be renewed as you learn to know our creator and become like him. The more we know God, the more we will want to be like Him.

Part of that nature of God that we need to embrace is forgiveness. Since we have been forgiven, we need to forgive those who have wronged us. I know how difficult it is to have to forgive others who have seriously wronged us. We don’t really have a choice in the matter though. Jesus said that if we don’t forgive others, God can’t forgive us. When you hold resentment against someone, you allow them to have power over you. Forgiveness releases that power you give them over your mind and actions.

Each of these things that Paul writes about are actions that we need to take. Being a Christian isn’t just saying a prayer. It’s a mindset and lifestyle change that we have to make. The Bible puts the onus on us to do these things. If you’re struggling with any of these, find a friend to be an accountability partner to help you along. Be honest with your shortcomings and work together to be who Christ called you to be.

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July 17, 2012 · 10:19 AM

What do you see in the mirror

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see someone who is worthless, ugly, boring, fat or a failure? Do you see yourself through the eyes of what other people or society has told you? How you see yourself matters. It reflects in who you are and in your relationships with other people.

If you do not see anything positive when you look in the mirror, you are not alone. I’ve looked in the mirror before and have seen many of the things listed above. I had to reevaluate how I saw myself to change who I am. Once I was able to do that, things in my life changed.

Here are a few things you can do to help change how you see yourself.

1. God created you

Not only did God create you, but He created you in His likeness. Genesis 1:27 says that God created mankind in His image and likeness. Just as a child has the same characteristic traits of his parents, God created you with His characteristic traits. Who you are is a reflection of Him.

Scripture also tells us in Ephesians 2:10 that we are God’s masterpiece and handiwork. You are a masterpiece that God created. He knew what He was doing when He made you. Psalm 139:14 acknowledges that you were wonderfully made. God doesn’t make failures or things that are worthless. You are His masterpiece!

2. God knows you

In a world of 7 billion people, it’s important to know that God knows who you are. You are not just a spec of sand on a beach. You are known by God intimately. In Jeremiah 1:5, God says, “Before I formed YOU in the womb, I knew and approved of you as my chosen instrument (AMP).” God not only knows you, but He has created you for a reason.

With that reason comes a plan. Jeremiah 29:11 says that God knows the plans He has for YOU. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give YOU a future and a hope. God has your life laid out for you. He knows your future and what you will accomplish. God knows who you are, where you are and why you are here. Only you can fulfill what He made you to do. You have a purpose!

3. God values you

Not only did God create you and make a purpose for you, He sacrificed His only son for you. Think about that. You are worth so much to God that He was willing to send His son to this world to be sacrificed for your wrong doing. His desire is to have a relationship with you and the only way He could do that was to pay the highest price possible for you.

Jesus said that if he had 100 sheep and one got lost, He would leave the 99 to find that one. That one is YOU! If you were the only one on the planet that was lost, God values you so much that He still would have sacrificed His son just for you. God places a high value on you. You are priceless!

However you see yourself now, begin to look in the mirror with different eyes and thoughts. Know that you are a one of a kind original masterpiece that was designed by God and for His purpose. You are valued above all else in creation. It doesn’t matter what other people think or say about you. What matters is how God sees you. Look at yourself in the mirror through His eyes and watch your life change.

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