“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20 NLT
(this morning it was 62 degrees and just simply gorgeous outside, and I needed to document how at peace I was… okay, back to the topic at hand…)
I don’t know about you but when I think about people who live without Jesus I get really sad. I struggle with negative self-talk, anxiety, being overwhelmed, guilt over whether I’m a good enough mom, wife and person in general, questioning if I’m doing and being enough, and I believe in Jesus. I cannot fathom feeling that way and also having no hope in something greater and better.
My prayer is that if you are someone who visits this blog and doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ that you will read these words and feel loved by your Creator and know without question that He wants you, loves you and has His arms open to you ready to embrace you. I want everyone who comes here to see that we are all sinners, all in need of rescuing, and all in need of a hope that there is a greater purpose than what we can physically see.
What I love so much about these sweet words from our Lord is that it gives us permission to let go of the idea that we have to have it all together and have everything figured out. As a mom who is running a household and raising two babies, who constantly feels like I should be doing more, this lets me breathe a sigh of relief. We do not have to wonder how to make it through this life on our own. We can rest and know that because of His power - the same power that raised Jesus to life again - our lives have purpose and that He will do His will in our lives when we give it over to Him. We can rest in the knowledge that where we are in our lives, whether we like it or not, is a place that the Lord can use for our good and for His glory.
Yesterday at church, our head Pastor preached on having freedom from our past. The emotion he highlighted? Shame. Remember how I was just talking about wondering and feeling like I’m not enough or not doing enough? That’s shame. And the enemy is relentless in making us feel that we are not enough and that we should feel ashamed and admit that we are a disgrace. But guess what?
God says, “no way.”
Our pastor said yesterday that Jesus didn’t just die for our sin, but that He also died for our shame - taking it all upon Himself so that we could have this confident hope in His power that regardless of our past (because we all have one) He can use our lives as a living testimony.
So how do we rest in and believe “His mighty power [is] at work within us?”
Paul gives us the answer in Hebrews 12:2. He says, “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the Champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”
When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, we know that this life has meaning, reason, and a purpose. When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, we know that shame has no place in our lives and in His presence. When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, we know that we are enough for Him - not because of who we are, but because of His love for us. We have nothing God needs but we are everything He wants.
That is powerful.
Love, Rachael.
If you’d like to listen to or watch the sermon our pastor preached yesterday you can click here to watch: https://resources.lifepointchurch.us/freedom-from-the-past/ and here to listen: https://lifepoint.buzzsprout.com
“We have nothing God needs but we are everything He wants.“
THIS❤️❤️❤️