I recently received confirmation from God that my husband and I would be going to California for a conference. I heard him give His yes and His peace also filled my heart. I told God I would only go if I could also get a conference ticket for my husband to go. Minutes went by and we found out that my husband would be able to go as well.
I sat in my room in bewilderment.
Questions started running in my mind like, "Are you sure God? You're really letting us go to California?"
With all the signs and confirmation that God gave, I still found myself questioning God. I didn't feel like I deserved to go to California. This year God had blessed us where we were able to go to Chicago, Singapore, Japan, and now California. I told God, "I don't think I deserve this."
At that moment God said, "Why, you are my child."
Those few words that God spoke moved powerfully in my heart. I was reminded that children don't receive what they deserve, but they receive because they are loved. Our parents don't raise us up because we deserve to be loved, but because they love us.
God was reminding me that He blesses His children because He loves them. He calls us His children because He simply loves us - not because of our works or how good we are, but because He loves us.
We never have to think that we don't deserve an opportunity or that we don't have value. God calls us His children.
There is a condition in order to be His children and that is accepting Jesus into our lives and allowing Him to transform us. John 1:12 says, "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
We need to remember that God first loved us. Romans 5:8 reminds us, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." This means that we never have to strive for our own validation. We don't have to prove our worth to God or others. God calls us worthy to be loved which is why He sent Jesus to die and redeem us.
We see throughout the Bible that God chooses people before they could even prove themselves worthy for the work. God doesn't see us for what we can do because we can only do all things through Christ. God has chosen and called us because of who we are in Him.
Hebrews 13:21 says, "May God equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever." We are equipped to do the work God has called us to do because of who Christ is in us.
Don't entertain the lies of the enemy that say you're not good enough, that you need to look a certain way, or that you need to accomplish certain things to be counted as valuable. You are valuable and loved because you are God's child, His very creation.
God says in Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart for a special work." God made us with purpose before we were even born, so why do we have to prove ourselves when God already created us with purpose?
This is the season to step into our God-given purpose and move forward in our identity as a child of God.
What does it mean to be a child of God? It means that all our shame and mistakes are wiped away (Romans 8:1), all anxiety and fear no longer have room in our hearts (2 Timothy 1:7), we have access to the inheritance and riches of God (Galatians 4:7), and we get to spend eternal life with God (John 3:16).
Nothing can separate God's love for us. Romans 8:38-39 says, "And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love... nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Have you been seeking approval and worth by your works?
God calls us to work from a place of success and not for success. When we work from a place of love, our works will be fruitful where people can taste and see God's love. Jesus reminds us in John 15 that apart from Him we will bear no fruit. This means we must remain in His love and know our identity as a child of God.
God has mighty plans for you. He longs for you to run the race with love and to share His love with others. So remember, you are loved.
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