As I sit here in my secret place where the still small voice speaks to my spirit, I was reminded of something I prayed about to GOD yesterday and that was “comfort zone”. I’m prompted to move forward with a message on that subject. This meal will be another eye opener and thought provoker so get ready, get ready, and get ready!
Today’s Prayer
Glory be to You Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. I come before you this morning on behalf of my brothers and sisters in Christ this day to pray for closeness to You like we have never felt before. Lord, we seek Your face and desire Your will. Please increase our thirst for Your presence. While You will always be our heavenly Father, and we Your children through the blood atonement of Jesus Christ, I pray that You will help us to stay close and to flee from sin, that our fellowship will not be strained by sin. Lord, I ask You to bring to our minds any sin that we may repent and turn fully to You. Thank You. We love, respect, appreciate, and lift up our praise to You God, in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.
Let’s eat.
Out of Your Comfort Zone
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).
I’m going to start out this message by clearing up something that I have been asked by a lot of people that are church goers and not yet touched by the spirit of the true and Living God. The question is: why do you speak about your negative past in some of your messages? The answer to that question is that if you are going to walk in the spirit of the most high God, you have to tell it all in order to let people know where He brought you from. Now I can get on with the message at hand.
Have you ever been given an assignment at work or in your spiritual life that was beyond your perceived ability?
When I look back at my adult work and spiritual life and all the opportunities that I have been blessed with I came to the realization that to the natural eye and on paper, I was not qualified for any of them. But God dropped in on each and every one of those opportunities and gave me the qualifications. You see He had a plan that even I wasn’t aware of. He was training me how to deal with the world in a way that I couldn’t even comprehend.
I was given positions that I had absolutely no educational training in and He caused me to excel. From a small child He gave me dreams of what my adult life was going to be like. I used to share my dreams with family and friends and they would laugh and make fun of me because the dreams where of things that black people were discouraged from even thinking about, but God had a plan. You see those dreams put a burning desire for knowledge within me that still burns today.
God took me out of my comfort zone where things were familiar to me and the environment I was used to and sent me on a long journey ( which I’m still on by the way) and showed me things and put me in situations that were not comfortable but in the discomfort He taught me valuable lessons of what and what not to do.
Along the way he let me masquerade as a motivational speaker and touch peoples lives without really realizing that I was preaching and doing ministry, even when I was doing my dirty stuff, you know that stuff that you think your hiding and nobody knows about. He brought the masquerade to an end in the spring of 2001 and sent me into the secret place to deal with me in private. He united me with a family I didn’t know that I had and showed me that they were just like me, brought in from the darkness into his wonderful light.
He sent me into a real ministry that I didn’t want to be involved with because it wasn’t like anything I was used to. At first I tried to rebel but he reminded me that it wasn’t about my comfort but my obedience to His word and leading. He continues to teach me and bless me in the place that I didn’t want to be in because He has a plan.
Do you have a major challenge in your work and spiritual life? Ask God to help you be successful in your assignments. God delights in showing His children His power so you can abound in your good work.
Quote of the Day
I believe that we all have this dark underestimation of ourselves. Sometimes it is masked as arrogance, overestimation, superiority, but underneath the brashness the problem is insecurity and only unqualified, unmerited, unconditional love can assuage it.
~Madeleine L’Engle~