Tag: God’s plan for your life

Know Yourself!

On November 11, 2019

KNOW YOURSELF! BE YOURSELF! LOVE YOURSELF!

My personal motto or declaration is “Know yourself! Be yourself! Love yourself!” In other words, know who you are in God! Be who you are unapologetically! And love yourself wholeheartedly!

Why is it important to know who you are in God? He’s your Creator! And who knows you better than your creator? NO ONE! God created you in His image and in His likeness (Genesis 1:26-27) and breathed His breath of life into you (Genesis 2:7). Therefore, only God is able to wake you up every morning. Contrary to what you might have believed in the past, your alarm clock, spouse, child, parent, dog, or even the garbage truck does not have the capability of waking you up! Rather, God is the one who causes you to open your eyes every day.

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE IN GOD?

In order to know who you are in God, you have to know God Himself. How do you learn a person? You get to know someone by spending ample time with that individual. For instance, a husband and wife typically know each other better than anyone else because of the time that is spent with each other. They live together, make decisions together, raise a family together and do almost, if not, everything together!

Like human relationships, you must have a personal relationship with God. In the past, I have been asked about my religion. My reply is, “I don’t have a religion.” Understand that religion is “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.” Although Christianity can be classified as a religion, unlike other belief systems or religions, it involves relationship. In other words, Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship God has established with His children through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

HOW DO I KNOW GOD?

In order for me to know me, I must know God. In order to know God, I must form a relationship with God. In order to form a relationship with God, I must believe in the death, burial and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their disobedience severed the personal connection they once had with God, which affected the rest of the human race. So, when Jesus was crucified on the cross, He served as a mediator between God and anyone who believes in Him. Romans 10:9-10 (New Living Translation) say:

“⁹If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

And that’s exactly what I did! I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior which brought me into a right relationship with God. Notice I said a RIGHT relationship because Jesus has made me righteous before God. We have to come to God His way, not our way. Jesus said in John 14:6 (NLT):

“…..I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”

It has to be God’s way because He is God, the Creator, and He holds the world in the palms of His hands. Only God knows His purpose/plans for my life. God says in Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version):

“…..I know the plans I have for you…..plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

WHEN DOES GOD REVEAL HIS PLANS?

God reveals His plans to us little by little as we walk with Him. God never reveals all of His plans at once because we probably wouldn’t be able to handle it. Plus, it builds our faith. II Corinthians 5:7 says that we are to walk/live by faith and not by sight. We are not to live by what we see and understand. We are to live according to what we KNOW about God and the Word of God.

As I’ve come to know God more through my relationship with Him, I’ve come to know me more, as His daughter. What I now know about myself I didn’t always believe. For instance, I didn’t always believe I was beautiful, strong, courageous, talented, or worthy of love. Fortunately, I do now, and that’s because God has never given up on me. God continues to love me and encourage me.

God is doing the same for YOU which is why you are reading this article! So, I encourage you to get to know God and who you are in God, and your life will never be the same!

THE PRAYER OF SALVATION

If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you can do so right now. I then encourage you to find a good Bible-believing church that will help you grow in your relationship with the Lord.

Romans 10:9 (New International Version) says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Please pray the following prayer:

Dear Jesus, I come to You confessing I am a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe You shed Your blood on the cross and died for my sins, were buried and rose again so I could be free! Please forgive me for my sins and the life I have lived. I confess You Jesus as Lord and accept You as my own personal Savior. According to the Word of God, I am now saved! Hallelujah! I AM FREE!

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY OF GOD!!!!!

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It’s Not Always Easy…But It’s Necessary

By Kimberly Joy

On January 23, 2017

In Faith

(“The Kimberly Joy Show: Drawing Nigh to God is Not Always Easy”)

It’s not always easy to draw nigh to God, but it’s necessary. God loves you so much! He has numerous blessings in store for you. He has blessings for you that you probably can’t even fathom, that you may think you don’t deserve. God wants to use you in ways you can’t imagine. Jeremiah 29:11 says:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

However, in order to receive everything God has for you, and to fulfill the purpose for which you were born, you must draw nigh to God.

As I discussed in my previous blog post “I Choose to Draw Closer to God,” drawing nigh to God is a CHOICE. James 4:8a says:

“Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you…..”

In other words, you and I have to make the first move. God may use His servants to minister to you. God may use people to preach to you, teach you, pray for you, and encourage you. He may even speak to you one-on-one like He did the apostle Paul while he was traveling to the city of Damascus (Acts 9). However, He won’t force you to serve Him. God will extend the invitation, but you must have a WILLING heart to submit.

Once you WILLINGLY submit to God, He then takes you in His hands like a potter. A potter is an individual who creates various objects from clay, like bowls, pots and vases. Jeremiah 18:1-4 say:

“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you My message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”

Just like a potter, when you WHOLEHEARTEDLY draw close to God, He can then shape you into the person HE desires you to be.

Considering the work that goes into making pottery, it’s not always a smooth transition. I’ve never taken a pottery class, but I’ve seen it done. During the process, the clay experiences pressure. Since clay is an inanimate object, it feels no pain while it’s on the potter’s wheel.

However, we as human beings are NOT inanimate objects. So, while God is shaping you on His potter’s wheel, you will experience pain from time to time. When I speak of pain, I’m not necessarily talking about physical pain (although that can happen too), but emotional, mental, and financial pain.

Why does such a loving God allow us to go through pain? Well, think about it! What if your life were perfect? What if you had everything you want? What if everything were to always go your way? Would you pray like you should or even pray at all? Would you crack open your Bible and study the scriptures? Would you give God the praise He deserves? Personally speaking, I hope I would. Although I can’t truly say what I would do in such a scenario, GOD knows! Even if I am committed to praying, worshipping, and studying the scriptures, God knows if I need to go deeper. He knows if I need to give Him more of myself.

I have found that, as believers, we can become stagnant. For instance, you may be at a place in your life where you just follow a routine. You read your daily devotional every morning. You say your prayers afterwards. You make sure you attend church faithfully every Sunday. You do the same thing day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

Although your routine seems “good”, God is nowhere in it because you’re not allowing His Spirit to guide you. For instance, God may want you to pray throughout the day, instead of just in the morning. God may want you to study beyond the daily devotionals, and go deeper in His Word. There may be more He wants to show you. There may be more He wants to tell you. And even though He has spoken to you about this, you choose to stick with YOUR routine because it’s easy, and you figure that it’s better than not praying or reading at all. So, now God has to shake things up in your life to get your attention. God has to allow you to experience some sort of pain in order to get you to draw nigh to Him.

God knows me better than I know myself. God knows you better than you know yourself. Isaiah 55:8-9 say:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

God knows His purpose for your life. He created you with purpose. Moreover, He knows what it will take to get His purpose fulfilled. I share my personal motto, “Know Yourself…Be Yourself…Love Yourself,” as often as possible. In order to live out your God-given purpose, I believe you have to know whom you are, which can only be discovered through the eyes of The Creator. You have to then embrace and love your unique self. It’s sad when an individual spends more time trying to be someone else, instead of appreciating his or her distinctive qualities. I understand how miserable that can be! Once upon a time, I didn’t truly love myself. I thought I was ugly, and in many instances, I didn’t think I was good enough. I was very insecure, and, therefore, constantly compared myself to others.

Fortunately, I learned how to overcome my insecurities by drawing nigh to God. I realized that just being saved wasn’t enough. I had to get closer to God. So, I started pursuing God through my praise and worship. In fact, I would praise God like a crazy woman. Many didn’t understand my praise. However, the Holy Spirit was guiding me. I was praising my way through. I was, in a sense, fighting for my life. Through my praise I was fighting the fears and insecurities that were plaguing my mind. In addition, I drew closer to God by searching for scriptures that dealt with my particular issues, and I latched onto those scriptures. I memorized and recited them. I even taped them to my wall so I could see them every day. Those scriptures became the medicine I needed!

As I look back, I realize that if I hadn’t endured such pain, I wouldn’t have seen the need to draw nigh to God. If I hadn’t drawn closer to God, I wouldn’t be the woman of God I am now. I wouldn’t know how to encourage and pray for those who are going through what I went through.

I want to encourage you to draw nigh to God like never before. What is God telling you to do that you haven’t done yet? Is he telling you to let go of certain habits? Is He telling you to walk away from some people? What is God telling you to do that is causing you pain? Whatever it is, I encourage you to trust God and just do it. Ask Him to give you the strength you need, and He will! What you THINK you’re losing now, is worth what you’re about to gain. As Paul says in Philippians 3:8:

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.”

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