Sometimes we opens our mouths to explain all that we don’t have, our short-comings and the reasons why “we can’t.” Little do we know that God has given each of us everything that we need to proceed in the task(s) that He has allotted us. But knowing how to proceed requires faith and hearing from The Lord. Like putting a puzzle together; all the pieces lay before us, yet we need a system to fit them correctly. And it helps to have an image of the desired outcome - the finished product. The picture is a continual source of direction that helps us stay on track, like the visions or dreams that God has set upon our hearts.
Just as we can get stuck and confused when putting a puzzle together, life’s journey can seem full of missing pieces and confusing diagrams. Often, life’s questions leave us feeling incomplete and inadequate. But, just as the picture on the puzzle box instills hope of completion, God has a grand vision for the lives of each of us. We need but look to His word and hear His voice in Prayer to begin/continue putting the pieces together: Working with God to create the masterpieces which are our lives.
The pieces are here. The ugly lie is that we “Ain’t Got”, “Don’t Have” or “Can’t Get” what we need to get the job done. Satan is the father of lies and this one takes the cake because The Twenty Third Psalm says…
THE LORD IS MY SHEPARD AND I SHALL NOT WANT
If God cannot lie, and He has promised to supply ALL our NEEDS, then, it is not a matter of not having, but not using correctly what we do have. Here, in this land of plenty, we have too often believed this lie and fallen to the greatest depths of poverty and sickness. Confusion can lead us to use what we have unwisely. Anxiety can cause us to act hastily while fear can stifle us or prevent us from taking action at all.
Provisions and resources are too easily mismanaged or gobbled up by mishaps too numerous to name. Misguided emotions and misplaced affections only add to the mayhem. But the reality remains. We do have all we need to at least get started. And that’s what’s important - to get started. The challenge is vanquishing the lies that resound in our psyche, telling us all that we are lacking.
I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH…
Ability, Knowledge, Patience, Power, Energy, Friends, Money, Time, Connections
…aren’t original thoughts of the heart. They are the lies of the great pimp Satan who would have us believe that we are less than Children of The King, Lord God Jehovah. And if that lie doesn’t take hold and corrupt the soul the Devil simply lays down a more subtle version of the same brand of deceit. A lie telling us that what we do have available simply isn’t good enough. My house, looks, car, education, clout, voice or whatever, just won’t cut it. The truth is that we can start with what we have and build; improving as we learn more through experience and Faith.
Moses didn’t think he had “The Right Stuff” either, but that’s because he really didn’t want to do the job…who would? Come on - it seemed more like a suicide mission than A Great Calling. And God didn’t tell Moses anything about being a Historical Biblical Figure. But we are quick to react the same way, even though we know God has us covered, even if the situations get sticky and the puzzle pieces seem scattered to and fro. We know it from His Word, our own personal histories, the tales of those who have counseled us and we have but to look about and see how God is working wonders in the lives of believers every moment of every day. The believers God is using have challenges and issues of every imaginable kind. Yet they proceed because THEY MUST, THEY CAN, THEY LIVE FOR IT. They understand that if God be for them; who/what can stand against them? Diligent Believers fall, get back up, get knocked down, even trampled, knowing that each breath of life is another opportunity to continue the work of God…one more puzzle piece…because it’s there. And the lies are drowned out and subdued by Praises and shouts of Victory in Jesus.
