Redemption from Feeling Worthless

 

 

Babies are not born feeling worthless … okay, maybe feeling wet, hungry, sleepy, needing cuddling, etc. However, it is the treatment they receive from conception to adulthood, which contributes to their distress. As they age, this may turn into hopelessness that comes from a lack of self-worth. 

 

Belittlement, neglect, chronic physical illness, rejection, dejection, mental and physical and emotional abuse, etc. all give us the message loud and clear that we do not matter. Lies from satanic forces, and discouragement from our significant others also erode our positive feelings about our self.

 

Our inability in school, in basic household chores, during ministry opportunities, and failing to attain goals that we set or that are arranged for us, will all continue to destroy our self-esteem. We may also be ignored by significant others or treated as dispensable, ugly, forgotten or undesirable. 

 

These behaviors force us behind self-erected barriers in our soul. We bury, in our subconscious mind, our disappointment in our self and in our life. We hide behind fierce negative emotions in an attempt to control life ​and​ to protect our​ ​self from further ill-treatment and discouragement. 

 

We build our worth on our accomplishments and successes, or on our failures and insecurities. This method is anti​-​climactic and fleeting at best. It depends on our own strength and imagined value, rather than on our value to our Father God. 

 

Once we realize that the best that we can do is worse than a pile of old, filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), we turn to God’s Word to change our measuring stick for achievement. God loves us with a love that is four-dimensional. It has width, length, depth and height. His love surrounds us completely.

 

He also shares with us His divine presence (Ephesians 3:16-19). As an authentic, Born Again Believer, we are adopted into God’s family. Our heavenly Father rejoices over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). We are made in the image of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and we are precious in God’s sight (Isaiah 43:4). He loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3).

 

Prayer:

Father God, help us to discern between Your conviction of our thoughts and behavior, or the devil’s attempt to lie to us and to shame us in order to render us ineffective in furthering Your Kingdom on the earth (Romans 8:1). You planned for Jesus to die for each of us individually, and You never would have done that for someone who was not valuable in Your sight. You also have our healing ready to appropriate into our daily walk with You. 

 

We simply need to seek Your truth about the lies that are debilitating our thoughts and emotions, and to get in touch with the negative experiences that we buried deep within our subconscious mind. You required Paul to continue walking in His infirmity, but You gave Him your grace for each moment of his life (2 Corinthians 12:9). Thank You for loving us so much, for walking in us and through us, and for inspiring us with Your love, peace and joy. We sing praises to Your name, our Most High God.

 

Thought for the Day:

We are immensely loved by the One who caused our conception in our mother’s womb; He has mighty plans for us that fit into His overall scheme of things in our world; He helps us to thrive in the beauty of His holiness within us, and He will walk in us, with us and through us every step of the way.

-      Ephesians 2:10; Jeremiah 29:11; Psalm 29:2, 96:9

United in Spirit

 

 

United in Spirit with the Trinity of God is the greatest adventure that we could ever wish for during our lifetime. Actually experiencing the presence of God within us, comforted and led by His Spirit, and filled with the power and anointing of Christ Jesus, will change our lifestyle and thought processes forever.

 

Personal intimacy with God is an essential ingredient in our fulfilled life now and throughout eternity (Philippians 3:8-10). Humanism leads us down the wrong path for us, and almost guarantees for us an eternity separated from the presence of God (1 Corinthians 8:1-3). 

 

We can earn a multitude of degrees, yet never fully understand Biblical truth, nor will it guarantee that we enjoy the intimate fellowship with God that He reserves for all of His Saints. Nothing in this world is more fulfilling than having an intimate union with Christ in us (Colossians 1:27).

 

Ultimate truth is only found through a personal relationship with the person of Jesus Christ and in His Word. His truth sets us free from the lies of the world, our flesh, and the devil (John 8:32). Jesus is the only true way, truth and life, and when He sets us free from life’s chains and bondage, we are truly free (John 8:36, 14:6).

 

There is no truth on this earth that is more real than the fact that Jesus will one day govern this world in peace and prosperity (Revelation 17:14; 1 Timothy 6:15). Yet, worldly ideologies keep so many people from trusting in His wisdom, truth and reality (1 Corinthians 1:20, 2:21).

 

Trusting in worldly wisdom is as useless as chasing the wind (Ecclesiastes 1:17). Our thoughts rush on and keep us from entering God’s rest and enjoying His peace and joy (Ecclesiastes 2:23 1 Corinthians 3:18, 20). Jesus is the wisdom of God that comes to all authentic, Born Again Believers (1 Corinthians 2:24,30).

 

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that knowing Jesus in a profound union of spirit and soul gives us all of the spiritual wisdom, revelation and intimacy that is possible in this lifetime and the next. Thank You that He gives us Your purity, peace, gentleness, mercy and fruitfulness as He removes hypocrisy, unreasonableness, debauchery and the second death from our future (James 3:17).

 

Our worldview, perspective, goals and ideals change as we grow closer to You, and we understand Your plans for the earth and our world (Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel). We see Your hand in our life and in the world around us (Romans 1:19-20). Jesus took on the form of a man in order to accomplish Your plans for us all (Luke 10:22; Galatians 1:16). Help us to trust in His goodness and to adopt His attitude about life (Philippians 2:5, 3:15).

 

Thought for the Day:

Human reasoning is contrary to the wisdom of God, which teaches us the deeper aspects of God’s plan for our universe; therefore, rejecting human logic and clinging to Godly wisdom enables us to concentrate on the seen as well as the unseen aspects of a Godly life.

- 1 Corinthians 2:10; 2 Corinthians 4:18

 

Winning the Race

 

 

We are in a race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Isaiah 40:31), but God does not expect us to take first place, unless He needs our gifts and talents to minister to someone near that position in the race on one day or another. He may want to use us to touch a life at the end of the race instead, or in the middle of the race. We realize this once we stop our striving and let God be God in our life (Psalm 46:10). 

 

We cease from our labors (Proverbs 23:4), and we embrace His will for each moment of our day. We come to Him for salvation, and we rest from our hectic schedule and religious activity, so that we can live each day in the center of His will for our life (Hebrews 4:1-11; Hebrews 4:10-11; 2 Corinthians 6:2).

 

Resting in the Lord has nothing to do with having enough faith to trust the Lord, and everything to do with total surrender and submission to God’s Spirit’s direction, and His perfecting spiritual work in our life through sanctification (Matthew 11:28-29). Our spirit and soul rest in our union with the Trinity of God within us.

 

God’s peace and quiet in our soul is where we gain our confidence (1 Peter 3:3-4). We are not stuck on a daily routine that keeps us spinning our wheels, but on a straight and narrow path that protects us from a life of stress, worry, and fear, as it heals us from our self-doubt or self-sufficiency.

 

God’s promises to us are fulfilled when Jesus abides within us (2 Corinthians 1:20). This occurs at the moment of our salvation. We repent of our sins, ask Jesus to serve as our Savior, and we walk in His will for our life (Romans 3:23, 6:23, John 3:16-18).

 

When He gives us the examples of the birds of the air, and the lilies of the field, Jesus paints us the perfect picture of rest (Matthew 6:28-33). We bask in the knowledge that our great “I AM” will lead us, feed us, and protect us as we consult Him for His plans for our day (Proverbs 3:5-6).

 

Prayer:

Father God, thank You that we are complete in Jesus, lacking nothing and having the qualities and quantities of everything that we need to accomplish Your goals for our life (Colossians 2:10). We decrease, so that You may increase in us (John 3:30). You are our God of peace, and You are just and true (Romans 15:33, 16:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:15-23; Philippians 4:9; 2 Corinthians 13:11).

 

Entering Your rest allows us to lay aside every nagging doubt and anxiety as we embrace Your peace, which surpasses human understanding. Your peace guards our heart and mind through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:14; Philippians 4:6-7). Thank You for giving us Your peace to rule in our heart as we rest in You through every issue that we face on this earth (Colossians 3:15; John 14:27; 2 Thessalonians 3:16;). 

 

Thought for the Day:

Salvation frees us from the unrest of life on this earth, as well as the negative thoughts and emotions that cripple our ability to experience fulfillment, and it places us squarely in Christ’s loving arms; He sets us apart as a holy people for Himself, and He gives us rest in our spirit, soul and body.

-       Romans 5:10; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:23

 

A Good Marriage - Living God’s Word

 

 

A good marriage is training ground for producing a good citizen of God’s Kingdom. We learn to allow God’s Spirit to transform our ungodly characteristics like: selfishness, anger, pride, anxiety, impatience, insensitivity, lack of self-control, worry, ingratitude, etc. into the fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

 

We would all love to have a home full of love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control, patience and faith. We bless our mate with these constant gifts, rather than to seethe inwardly, to act in prideful condescension, to cut off the flow of love between us, to deprive one another, or to erupt in anger, etc. 

 

We make God’s will for each moment both our joint focus and our goal for each new day. We talk about decisions before making them, consider one another’s needs throughout the day, and we make the time for chatting together and gazing into each other’s eyes. We also take the time to learn about, and to love one another according to each other’s individual love languages. 

- https://www.5lovelanguages.com/quizzes/

 

Keeping our focus on God, praising Him, enjoying His creation, reading His Word to gain our strength and hope, etc. will all help us to live as an encouraging, nurturing, empathetic spouse as well. God is our power, provider, and sustainer, and He gives us His unparalleled and consistent presence within us (Nehemiah 1:4-5, 2:4 & 20, 4:14, 8:6, 9:5-6 & 17). 

 

Regardless of the state of our health, limitations, fears, insecurities, painful circumstances, or blessings, Christ in us provides us with everything that we need to accomplish God’s will for our life and to flourish in our world. We simply wait on His peace and timing.

 

Prayer:

Father God, we put our entire trust in You regardless of our circumstances (Proverbs 3:5-6). If there are issues that we can change, we do; but otherwise, we trust You to smooth out the highroads and give us a level path in life that side-steps our enemies and the quicksand all around us. We thank You for Your provision of all of our needs, and for knowing us so well that You even keep track of every hair on our head (Luke 12:27).

 

We want to spend our days in Your praise, for Your glory. Your wondrous creation, the perfect gifts with which You sustain us each and every day, the intimacy of our union with You, and Your care for us as our Advocate and Shepherd make us pause in gratitude and amazement throughout the day. As we continually draw near to You, then Satan and his demons must flee from us, and we walk in the Serenity of Your will each moment of every day.

 

Thought for the Day:

Our Awesome God never fails us, forsakes us, condemns us, lies to us, or discourages us; realizing the depth of the relationship we can enjoy with God in us, will improve our relationship with our spouse, family, workmates, neighbors, community and the whole world around us, because we walk together in His Spirit each moment of every day. 

Feeling Secure in an Insecure World

 

 

Part of the security we need as humans on this earth is to settle the question of eternity. Some believe that they will recycle as another life form, some sorrowfully have no hope of a secure eternity, others do not really care what happens after this life. However, Born Again Believers have Biblical assurance that we will spend eternity with our King Jesus.

 

This hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) is connected with the sacrifice that Jesus made for the whole world on Calvary’s cross. Those who reject Christ sadly condemn themselves to eternity in hell (John 3:18), but that is their choice. Satan blinds people of this truth until they cannot or will not be convinced otherwise.

 

We gain our hope, not from God’s daily blessings, but due to His constant manifestation in us. As we consult the Lord through each moment of our day, we draw from His divine presence within us (Colossians 1:27). He walks in us and with us through our hardships, and He strengthens us with His might. 

 

We give glory to God in everything we see, say, do, feel and think in every situation that confronts us during every day that we live (Psalm 111:1), because He directs our steps as we walk in His Spirit, trust in His goodness, and rest in Him (Proverbs 16:9; 2 Chronicles 16:9).  

 

We dedicate our thoughts, words and actions to His service. We do them in His name, with gratitude in our heart for who He is and for what He does for us throughout our lifetime (Colossians 3:17). We serve Him with gladness with our whole body, soul and spirit (1Thessalonians 5:23).

 

Living in the moment guarantees that we will walk in God’s ways rather than in our own. We seek His will for our thoughts, words and actions. If we do not feel peace about a certain decision or plan of action, we wait patiently for the Lord, enter His rest and find joy in all of our circumstances.

 

Prayer:

Father God, help us to make You the priority in our life. Call us out of the darkness of this world and help us to glorify You in all that we believe, express and accomplish. We want to turn from our secular worldview and adopt a spiritual mindset that will lead us deeper into Your Truth.

 

Thank you for ordering our steps, so that we can find peace and joy in following Your way for us (Psalm 37:23). Remind us not to plan our own agenda, but to trust totally in You (Proverbs 19:21, 20:24). We do not want to accumulate useless possessions on this earth, but to pursue holiness instead (Proverbs 16:8).

 

Thought for the Day:

We find ultimate fulfillment and security in this life when we pursue God’s purpose for us rather than our own goals and agenda; we live in the moment and thrive in His presence through each one of them.

 

Too Small in Our Eyes

 

 

Don Moen recorded a poignant song with lyrics that pierce our heart. The song is titled, “Be Magnified,” and it not only convicts us, but also instructs us on how to magnify the Lord in our life. There is nothing too hard for our God (Jeremiah 32:17), and we lift Him higher with each victory that we experience.

 

The devil spends his time belittling the power of Christ, and so many believe this deception that they condemn themselves by rejecting His salvation (John 3:18, 28). Many believe Satan’s lies that Jesus was a prophet and a good man in His time, but that He is rather irrelevant in our lives today. 

 

Nothing is further from the truth in the lives of authentic Born Again Believers. Daily we experience the power and majesty of our Lord and Savior, because of our personal union with Him. He continually heals our body and soul, and He gives us wisdom and strength to overcome every negative experience in our life. 

 

God provides us with His faith in order to completely trust Him with control over our circumstances. We no longer rely on worldly wisdom, humanistic philosophies, or lies that we believed in our past (Ephesians 2:2; James 4:4). We responded to His grace when He called us as adopted children in His family. 

 

God proves His faithfulness to us to the degree that we place our faith in Him – the more we trust in His goodness and rely on His provision, the deeper our intimacy with Him grows. We see His provision in ways that astound us, and by means that we never expected. 

 

Our Father even answers our prayers before we get them from our heart to our lips. We spend less time complaining and more time praising Him for who He is and for all that He continually does for us. God calls us to remain in peace and unspotted by the vile behavior of the world around us.

 

This helps us to stop making Him too small in our eyes, and grows our reliance on Him from everything to opening a lid on a jar, to providing us with the perfect pet, to enabling us to serve Him in ministries that He calls on us to perform for His glory. We bask in the light of His fellowship within us each moment of every day.

 

The traditional, moral, shame-based religion, and the antiquated forms of worship that we used to employ are no longer relevant to our modern era. The intimacy available to us through our benevolent Father is lost in the face of tyrannical, immoral or wimpy adult men who fill this role as fathers in society today.

 

True, pure, and undefiled religion is that which seeks the betterment of the world around us, meeting physical and spiritual needs in people willing to trust God with their life. God calls us to visit and to care for the widow and fatherless as we disciple them through our example in Biblical Truth (James 1:27; 2 Peter 3:14). 

 

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for forgiving us for making You too small in our eyes. You actually fill our soul to the fullest with gratitude for all of the goodness of Your love and provision for our life. Our vision of You evolves from a remote God on a throne in Heaven to a personal friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24), to the faithful Supplier of every single one of our needs (Philippians 4:29), and to our Creator, Savior and King.

 

We look forward to spending eternity in Your service, in constant fellowship with You, and in growing Your Kingdom on the earth.  

Remind us to wait on You; never to do anything without Your direction and peace filling our spirit – regardless of the human aspects of the circumstances; and to do everything that Your Spirit calls us to accomplish by Your power within us and in Your name.

 

Thought for the Day:

Although the magnitude of modern technological, and educational and mental aspects of knowledge has increased by leaps and bounds over these last few years, our concept of the majesty, truth, and power of God has decreased due to satanic lies, poor examples in church members, and the lack of teaching and focus in our churches, which have all contributed to this modern conundrum; sadly, this leaves us empty, when God actually wants to fill us with all of Himself.

- Ephesians 3:16-19, Amplified Bible  

 

Eternal God of Comfort

 

 

Eternity is a very long time. In fact, time ends once we enter eternity. We will no longer have the restrictions that we have now with a schedule that tells us when to go to sleep, when to wake up, and what to do in between.

 

There is no dictator named, The Clock, where God dwells. As a dating teenager, I hated The Clock. My curfew always interrupted the most interesting and heart-felt conversations with my date. At times, I wanted the date to go on endlessly, but The Clock dictated otherwise.

 

When we are tempted to faint from fear over the chaos in today’s world, we can remember that God always was, and always will be in charge (1 Timothy 6:16). God is not bound by time. He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). 

 

God loved us unconditionally since before there was time, and He will continue to bless us for all of eternity. He never gets tired of our antics or weary from our failings (Psalm 136:7). His grace is always sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 9:8). He is a strong Rock for us in the shifting shadows of life (James 1:17).

 

Even if the events in our life bring about changes that we did not ask for, look forward to, or plan for, God remains the same (Malachi 3:6; Psalm 102:27). We can trust Him with our cares, because He abundantly cares for us (Ephesians 3:20; 1 Peter 5:7). His love is everlasting (Jeremiah 31:3).

 

We have learned over a lifetime of sharing in His blessings that we can have faith in His faithfulness. He supplies all of our needs with His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). Meditating on His Word reminds us of His character, which is filled with benevolence, generosity and care. 

 

Prayer:

Father God, although our world is attacked on every side by pestilence, famine, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and wicked people who hurt us, You are always faithful to us. We find our peace in the shadow of Your wings (Psalm 91). You have plans for our life that You made before You even knit us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139). Help us to walk in them daily.

 

You are never surprised or unprepared for what is happening on the earth; and when we submit to Your control over our life, You keep us safe and continue to provide for our needs. Even if we pass from this life and join You in Heaven, we know that You rejoice in the death of Your Saints (Psalm 116:15), because You long to have us with You.

 

Thought for the Day:

We can go to God and hide under his wings from any storm or circumstance that causes us to fear; the Lord repays our righteous deeds by giving us a full reward, and He hides us under His wings as our refuge in times of trial; whenever we are afraid, we can put our trust in God, and the fear and worry vanish from our soul.

-      Ruth 2:12; Psalm 56:3-4

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