Have you ever considered how easy it is to trust God when you don’t have perceived risk? Or how easy it is to obey God in the things you like to do? Have you ever stopped to think that there is more to serving God and experiencing life than to find that a situation, circumstance or event revealed the truth? The funny thing is that we have perceptions and ideas about ourselves that affect our daily living.
God proves us to reveal what is really in us. To be proven is be tested by the application of stress. Many times in our lives we do not like stress but really stress doesn’t always have to be negative. I think this is an absolute grace and teaching from the premise of improving the functionality of the members of the body of Christ. Lifting our level of experience and expectation to new heights. The focus hasn’t been on what we want from God but really what God’s agenda is for our lives. Sometimes we get it twisted, thinking that we are the center of everything. For the past two weeks the topics have surrounded being proven. Though, I have a million thoughts on being proven I will share this one. You must be proven in order to be a mighty weapon in the hand of God.
Recognizing that God allows us to go to the place of testing that He may “prove” us. To be proven is to have that which is in you revealed by the exposure to stress. Deuteronomy 8:2says, “and thou shalt remember the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee, and to prove thee,to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments of no.”
Are you living your best life? Is it real, powerful, fun? Do you get up each day and embrace opportunities, ready and able to accomplish the tasks ahead? If you answered no, you may find that you need to not only live your best life but one of authenticity.
Your best life is one that God designed for you. It sometimes isn’t even congruent to the one that you think you should be living. An authentic life is one that is credible, reliable, genuine, and real. Living an authentic life produces spiritual strength, growth and stamina. Though its easy to say on the surface, although the desire for authenticity is one of our major aspirations, we seemed to live in a world that is molded by the thoughts, opinions and actions of others. We spend time trying to look the part, measure up, or even impress others yet we forget that the real audience is God alone. He measures the credibility of our lives not by what is on the outside but by what is on the inside. Today, where many people are searching for
Today I simply challenge you to live your life according to Gods design and His plan. God wants you to be healthy, and joyous. It is His hearts desire that we be all that He created us to be real, powerful, genuine, full of grace and mercy. His desire is that we glorify Him by experiencing and owning the truth that we were made in His image and likeness. Which lead me to the question, why then, if we desire it and God desires it why are so many not living authentic life?
The answer is that when we struggle with authenticity we really struggle with identity. It is impossible to be real, reliable , and credible when you don’t fully know and embrace who you are. If you have allowed an image or someone other than God define your identity you will never feel like your life is real and therefore you will always want realness. Moving a little deeper, understand the disconnect happens when you try to create live authentically based on a picture or understanding of our true self is based on standards other than Gods. Authenticity is not just about what makes you happy or what everyone else expects but it is that which makes you is real, credible, reliable, valuable, and powerful. To be authentic is to be exactly what God created you to be. Here is where you find peace, strength, joy, and purpose.
Today, I challenge you to begin to live an authentic life or if you are already doing it take .