Validate Me!

How many ways do we try to look for validation in our daily lives? I mean, isn't that really what gossip truly is? Even if what you are spreading about someone is a fact and technically truth, isn't there a part of you that feels BETTER about yourself when you tell a friend about another person's "failings"?  Why do we insist so much on getting validation from other people?  I just think about in my own life when there has been some sort of conflict with another person...what have I done? I've gone to ANOTHER friend who is an outside party to try to get them to see MY side of things and then VALIDATE my opinion and tell me that I was in the right.  This only further causes more division. ....Isn't that exactly what the enemy wants?  He wants there to be consistent division in the Bride of Christ and no unity because He KNOWS what comes when a community lives as ONE BODY!  So, why do we seek validation from anywhere other than the Creator who sees our flaws and still calls us CHOSEN, BELOVED, FRIEND, APPLE OF HIS EYE, and so many other wonderful and beautiful things?  I think the Garden of Eden is the first place we see someone doubting who they were truly created to be, therefore needing outside confirmation.  When the serpent approached Eve and planted the seed of doubt about God telling her and Adam the truth about the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, what we are truly witnessing is the first time mankind questions purpose and identity.  Doubt is just the outward action of a root of fear of not truly knowing WHO you are and WHOSE you are.  All throughout scripture we can see our true character and who we were created to be described in verses such as Psalm 139:13-15, Jeremiah 29:11, Luke 12:6-7, and so many more.  You see, if the enemy can get us to doubt who we are and whose we are then we begin to look for outward validation.  Eve, by biting into the fruit, sought outside validation that she really WAS all of the things that Papa had been telling her as they walked in the cool of the day every day.  We were given Papa's Word so that we can use it as a mirror and validate our TRUE IDENTITIES as sons and daughters on a daily basis.  The word says that we are to encourage ourselves daily and it doesn't have a footnote that says "Also seek out validation from those you are around every day".  No matter how encouraging people are that you have in your corner they are STILL human which means they are probably going to accidentally hurt you with their words at some point in your relationship so if you are leaning on THEM to ALWAYS validate who you are, you ARE going to be disappointed.  But you know what? I know Someone whose words NEVER change and the way He feels about you NEVER changes and it's all written down for you to read about yourself over and over and over again!!!  Thank you Papa for putting it right there in black and white for us!!  I just want to encourage you to really dig into what HE has to say about you and let HIM be the One to tell you that you are always VALID!

James 1:23-25 The Passion Translation (TPT)

23 If you listen to the Word and don’t live out the message you hear, you become like the person who looks in the mirror of the Word to discover the reflection of his face in the beginning. 24 You perceive how God sees you in the mirror of the Word,[a] but then you go out and forget your divine origin. 25 But those who set their gaze deeply into the perfecting law of liberty are fascinated by and respond to the truth they hear and are strengthened by it—they experience God’s blessing in all that they do!

1. James 1:24 For the believer, seeing the man “in the mirror” is seeing how God sees us from the beginning, even before the fall of Adam which resulted in sin’s devastation to human hearts. The man in the mirror is the new creation man.

Am I Wrong?

So...I've been thinking about this for a hot minute...what's the worst that can happen if you are wrong about something? How about...Are you okay with being wrong? Or....Are you willing to be vulnerable enough to be wrong? And lastly...Can you admit to being wrong without feeling like a total failure? These are just some of the questions I think about when I think on the topic of being right or wrong when making a decision about something.  Papa knows we're human and make mistakes, therefore His love and acceptance of us is not based on performance or us being right all of the time.  We have to come to terms with being wrong sometimes because being wrong about someTHING doesn't make US wrong. Yet, there is a fear there of feeling that way because we truly have something out of whack on the inside.  We have to learn to be okay with mistake-making or we'll never thrive to actually live and love. 

Just thinking about this topic of conversation causes me to look at the Great Commission.  Jesus charged us with taking the Gospel into all of the world (Matthew 28:16-20) but, if we allow fear to rule our decision-making, how many of us would just sit in our seat silently when Papa has given us a word of encouragement for our waitress?  How many of us would allow our fear of what our friends might say and feel about us to keep us from bringing a word of correction (in love) when gossip is happening?  How many of us would not engage in conversation about scripture for fear that what we "think" we're hearing as revelation is incorrect? 

Have we really created a culture in churches and the body of Christ where people feel like they can truly be vulnerable with one another or have they just become a breeding ground for judgment to rule and reign?  Have we cultivated a place where people can fellowship and truly be honest about how they are doing/feeling in their lives without being bombarded by scripture and opinions stating how they just "need to stop what they are doing and get right"?  Or do we, as "Christians", walk around like the Pharisees pointing out every fault we can find in others because we can't seem to take care of the log in our own eyes?

It's time to stop the pride.  It's time to really take a long look in our lives and realize there are places that we have put ourselves on a pedestal, because we think we're right, and from that place point a finger down on those we feel aren't measuring up.  See, pride has a root of fear at its core.  If we are truly honest with ourselves, we have to highlight the things we see wrong in others so we don't feel wrong ourselves.  We absolutely hate being wrong because wrong = inferior.  What if it wasn't about right or wrong any longer but rather about fear vs. love?  What if we chose to look at other people, and ourselves for that matter, with eyes of love (Papa's eyes) and see the places they (we) are walking in fear instead of seeing them (ourselves) as being wrong?  What if, instead of judging someone else, or ourselves, as wrong for the way they (we) appear or dress, we chose to ask the cause for their (our own) behavior? Who around you would you find out is feeling like they are less than or not enough or unworthy?

Are we willing to lay down our pride of being right to ask ourselves the question: Am I wrong?

Why?

Now I know it hasn't been a full week yet but I just woke up with this burning in my heart today and had to share it with y'all.  Have you ever just sat back and looked at your life? If not, I completely encourage and recommend you to do so. Whilst looking at everything in your life do you or have you ever asked the question, "Why?"  This is the question on my heart today.  Why am I doing the things I'm doing in my life? Why do I want the things I want in my life? Why do I feel the things I am engaged in should have the place they do in my life?  I think there are so many facets to the question "Why?" which should really make us take a seat and evaluate what we are truly doing with ourselves each and every day.  Now, of course, the obvious answer to some questions would be concrete things such as: "Why am I purchasing food from the grocery store?". Answer: Survival. Seems like a DUH answer BUT what if there was more to it than just that? Instead of looking at the why of the obvious question why aren't we looking beyond that?  Do we really allow Holy Spirit to infiltrate our day-to-day decisions or are we just moving along ho-hum without a care in the world? Instead of asking the question, "Why am I buying food at the store?" why aren't we asking the question, "Why am I buying food at THIS store? Why am I here, Papa?" I think alot of that is because we never even asked Him to lead us where we were supposed to go in the first place.  I know, I know your every Friday routine is to pack the kids in the car and go to Kroger for the one hour it takes you to shop for weekly groceries and needs....BUT what if Papa is needing you to be at Wal-Mart on this particular Friday because someone there needs to experience His love from YOU???  I think by getting so caught up in OUR day-to-day lives we truly forget that everything is unto HIM, not us!!!  We're not here just to clock in and out every day, go home and put on some Netflix, and eventually crash on the couch before waking up in the middle of the night to move to the bed.  WHY ARE YOU HERE??? What is your purpose??  These questions have certainly hit me hard today.  All throughout scripture we are reminded that GOD is the one who examines our heart and motives but yet we forget that (Proverbs 21:2, Galatians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 2:4, 1 Samuel 16:7). We get so tangled up in fear of man and how things appear that we lose our pure motives and the purpose that we were given FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS! Why are you doing the things you're doing? Is it to further HIS Kingdom or your own? I know I will be asking myself this way more than what I have been from now on so don't feel like you're the only one being convicted by these words. I'm in the same boat. It's time we start, as a body, asking ourselves one of the hardest questions to answer without a pure heart: WHY?

Am I Enough?

Ya know, we live in a society where more is better and less is lacking. Unfortunately, I think this whole mindset has fed into the lie that the more me acquire, the better we'll feel from the inside out, whether it be more possessions, more knowledge, more friends, etc. So then, what happens when all of that is stripped away? And all that's left is you? Are you enough? Is that question easy for you to answer or one of the most difficult questions you've had to think through? I think that truly depends on the worth you place on yourself. You see, back at the beginning of our timeline, before sickness or poverty or anything evil had entered our world, when Papa God created man He looked at Him and said, "This is good" (Genesis 1:26-31). Man (Adam) hadn't even existed for an entire day or done anything to prove his worth and yet God said he was good. As you know, later on, Eve was created and then her and Adam ate of the fruit and thus began the lineage of sin we now experience in a fallen world now daily, but in that time span between creation and the fall, Adam and Eve just dwelt with God in the garden and they were good without having to DO anything. I think sometimes we forget how easy it is to just get back to that place of being a Child of God and just BEing and not having to DO anything to prove our worth. Ya see, perfection was present on this planet for that short period of time between creation and the fall and what did it truly involve? Man (Adam) and woman (Eve) spent time with one another and God came to walk with them and hear about their days every day, but beyond that there was nothing they were required to DO! We were created to BE in community with each other and PAPA and that was our sole purpose before we got in our own way. If you translate that over into today's culture of what a "successful" and "fulfilling" life looks like....how much of what you're doing is overkill? How much is striving? Realize that there's no requirements or structured set of "rules" that you have to follow to be worthy. You are worthy of being chosen out of all of the human possibilities you could've been. You could've been a completely different person but Papa chose YOU out of all of those other possibilities. That means you don't have to DO anything to qualify for His love and His favor and His joy and all of the good things He has for you. So why are you trying to earn them? You can't. They are free for the taking because you are worth the death He paid. It's time for the sons and daughters of the King to rise up and take their rightful places as joint heirs with Jesus! You are worthy! You are special! And guess what else....??? YOU ARE ENOUGH!!!!