................................................................................
Miles
Away From Your God-Given Destiny
Do
You Feel a Million Miles Away From Your God-Given Destiny?
Joyce Meyer
Every
person on earth needs to know they matter — they need to know they're valuable
and they mean something to someone.
The
problem is when people don't get a good start in life, they often waste their
lives searching for self-worth in all the wrong places.
In
the world today, people so often base their value and importance on what they
do, how much education they have, who they know, what kind of clothes they
wear, how they look, their job title and the list goes on.
But
when worldly standards determine your sense of self-worth, you'll always be
striving to please people... and it will derail you from your
God-given destiny.
The
only way to find true security and have a healthy self-esteem is by knowing and
experiencing the love of God.
The apostle Paul talks about this in Galatians 1:10.
He says: "Am I now trying to win the
favor and approval of men, or of God? Or am I seeking to please someone? If I
were still trying to be popular with men, I would not be a bond-servant of
Christ" (AMP).
He's basically saying, "If I were trying to be popular with people, I wouldn't be serving
God and know that He loves me."
I
can say with certainty that if I was trying to be popular with people, I
wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today.
When
God spoke to my heart about His call on my life to teach the Word, I didn't
receive much support from those around me.
As
I began to step out and do what God placed in my heart, some of my friends and
family told me I shouldn't be doing it.
I
was even asked to leave the church I was attending at the time, and I ended up
losing friendships that I thought were important to me.
It
was a very difficult season, but I discovered that while it's not always easy
to do what God calls us to do, obedience to Him is always
worth it in the end.
Doing
things God's way is the only thing that works in the long run.
There
are people in your life — I'm talking about people other than your spouse and
children — who may come and go over time, but God will always be
with you because He loves you and He promises to never leave you nor forsake
you (see Hebrews 13:5).
The
bottom line is you are valuable because God loves you and He gave
His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you.
Your
worth is not based on how you look, who you know, your title at work or any of
the other superficial things the world considers impressive.
After
Paul met Christ and became a born-again believer, he came to realize that
everything else was meaningless compared to the priceless privilege of knowing
God.
I
absolutely love what he says in Philippians 3:8:
"I
count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme
advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and
thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled]. For His sake I have lost
everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ."
The
truth that God loves you is what makes you valuable. He created you
because He loves you and wants to have a personal relationship with you.
He
has wonderful plans and purposes for your life, and His love for you is
unconditional — He loves you just as much on your worst day as He does on your best
day!
No
matter what your past is like, where you're from, what you've done or where you
are today, God is there for you, and He loves you.
He
loves us all the same, and He wants to meet us right where we are to heal our
wounded souls and bring us out of the messes we're in — whether it's a mess
we've created or the result of what other people have done to us.
After
the years of being abused by my dad and abandoned by my mother (who knew what
he was doing but didn't have the courage to stand up to him), I was so messed
up!
I
felt worthless, guilty, damaged, used, condemned and terribly insecure. I tried
to find my worth and value in many things, especially in work. And living this
way just made me more miserable, angry and messed up.
It
was so wonderful to discover that God loves me and to find the healing and
restoration I desperately needed through my relationship with Him.
The
truth is God is so much more important to us than any person in the world could
ever be!
I
want to encourage you to spend time seeking God in prayer, studying what the
Bible says about who He is and how He loves you.
Meditate
on Scriptures like Ephesians 1:4-5, Romans 8, Psalm 27:10 and Isaiah 38:17.
Ask
God to help you learn to receive His love and find your true worth in Him. He
chose you on purpose...He wants you and He loves you...and
there's nothing more valuable than that.
Joyce Meyer is a New York Times best-selling
author and founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries, Inc. She has authored 100 books,
including Battlefield of the Mind and Get
Your Hopes Up!(Hachette). She hosts the Enjoying Everyday Liferadio
and TV programs, which air on hundreds of stations worldwide. For more
information, visit www.joycemeyer.org.
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