Your Response, Your Responsibility

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

As Uncle Ben once said in the Spider-Man movie “With great power comes great responsibility” I believe we have the responsibility to lead people to Jesus, according to the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us! It is our responsibility to make others a priority, to love, inspire, encourage and equip them to go out and do the same.

It Is Our Responsibility To Establish:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28: 16 – 19

The last words of Jesus before He left earth was an instruction to make disciples of all the nations. This is the Great Commission, but it has to start with a great decision. We can be good at being good and want to change the world for the better but if salvations isn’t the reason behind why we do things then there isn’t a point to it. Being good with God is “O” (nothing) and I believe we are called to be soul-seeking and not self-seeking. We are not called to sit back and be a stagnant Christian, living just to get ourselves to Heaven. The Great Commission is to seek out as many people as we can to come to Heaven with us.

The moment we made a decision to become a Christ follower we automatically took on the responsibility to become a Christ ambassador. Can I encourage you to be bold, to step up and to take ownership by making use of the power that is at work within you.

It Is Our Responsibility To Impart:

“So Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” 1 Sam 16:11-12

My entire life has been one of exclusion, I have always been the one who’s invite was forgotten when all my friends went out, the one who was made to feel unimportant and insignificant, the one who didn’t really fit in no matter how hard I tried. Truth be told this still happens to me up until this very day but God reminded me of David.

David was chosen by God to be King but His own father, Jesse, excluded him when Samuel came around looking for one of Jesses Sons to be anointed as King. David just did what he did without expectation and when the time came where none of Jesse’s other Sons wanted to step up to take on Goliath, David did because he knew God would be with him.

I’ve realised that because I have been through many seasons of feeling excluded and lonely, God has used that as my ministry. I feel it is our responsibility to use what God teaches us, to teach others because our lesson is someone else’s blessing. I may not have many close friends but I do have many people to invest into, many people to love on and many people to welcome and show what it’s like to feel completely accepted no matter what! And just like David stepping into his anointing I believe that even though I may be left out of many things right now in this season, God has a role waiting for me that only I can play. I want you to remember that you are called even though you may feel ignored.

God gave me a word last year that only recently became a revelation.

“After staying there some time, he left and went from place to place in an orderly journey through the territory of Galatia and Phrygia, establishing the disciples and imparting new strength to them.” Acts 18:23

I may not know where I am going, what I am doing or who is going with me but one thing I do know is that I am called to establish disciples and impart strength and so are you! Let your response become your responsibility, the moment you said yes to Jesus is the moment you said yes to His Great Commission. Be sold out for Christ, be passionate and be purposeful. Be a light to those who can’t find the light-switch. The only way we are going to live an abundant life is if we live to see others experience it with us! You are the hands and feet of Jesus so take a stand and fight for those who feel they are not worth fighting for – this is the Core-ageous Movement!

The Perks Of Being A Wildflower

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” Matthew 6:30-33

Over the past two weeks I have come to realise what it means to be in your lowest low and highest high, what it means to call on Jesus for answers and direction, what it means to lose the things closet to you and not understand the reason for it. But through all this I now know that Jesus is my provider.

He Always Provides A Way:

Moses, set apart and called by God to free His people from slavery, oh the things I have learnt about Moses. Moses didn’t know God when he was called “What is his name, what should I tell them?”, Moses doubted himself “Who am I?”, he doubted his ability “I am not eloquent or a man of words”, He doubted his calling "Lord, please! Send anyone else."

I love that every time Moses states why he can’t do something God always provides an answer.

I was in a really tough season recently trying to figure out whether I wanted to volunteer full time at my church or go back to working permanently, it was a decision that scared me as I knew the calling that God placed on my life and where I wanted to be but at the same time I needed money to survive. Until a couple days ago God asked me “Do you want to pursue your calling or your career?” God sent Moses with a staff and Aaron, God will not send you empty handed or without support, God says “I know the plans I have for you” this includes provision because a plan covers ALL areas.

He becomes all that is necessary to complete our need. Knowing this I made my decision and told my boss I wanted to volunteer full time, but my boss asked me to stay on for two days a week which was exactly what I wanted, provision and volunteering at Church.

With this I realised that God is NOT an either/or God He is an exceedingly, abundantly, above, all I can think, ask or imagine God.

He Always Provides Freedom:

Rejection can be a stronghold in many people’s lives, whether it be rejection in relationships or even in friendships. I was struggling to understand why God kept placing people in my life only to take them away and make me feel unappreciated, insecure and unloved and then I read this:

“And I will make Pharaoh's heart stubborn and hard, and multiply My signs, My wonders, and miracles in the land of Egypt.” Exodus 7:3

God sent Moses to Pharaoh to ask him to free the Israelites knowing that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart. God is in control of people’s emotions, God is in control of everything, and He will keep hardening the hearts of those who don’t belong in your life to make you grow and surrender to Him just like Moses kept going back to God and calling upon God for direction. When God finally softened Pharaoh’s heart, Moses walked into his Destiny. When God softens the heart of the right person at the right time, you will experience true freedom, with God at the centre of your relationship, knowing that He was with you and fought on your behalf even if you did not get what you wanted first time round.

He Always Provides Healing:

God provided several plagues, from frogs and locusts to boils and hail, before Pharaoh finally softened his heart and let the Israelites go. Sometimes God will let the same thing happen to you over and over again, the same issues disguised as different situations, so that you will realise that God is more worried about your heart condition than your situations. He wants you to keep coming back to Him just like Moses did, until your heart conditions become your heart convictions. If God gives you what you want immediately you would harden your heart and God would not be able to work on it. Let God do His work in you to prevent the same pattern from occurring over and over again.

He Always Provides Strength:

Moses Said “For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people, neither have You delivered Your people at all.” Exodus 5:23

Sometimes we don’t understand why we go through difficult situations, why we lose opportunities or people yet we are still expected to keep on moving forward.

The path only gets tougher when you start walking on it, like climbing a mountain. It’s only when you deal with it, push through and the end is in sight that you have the will power to move forward. God is motivating us to never give up, so that when we go through the same things it will be easier to keep going. A God plan: Process + Pain = Progress

The only thing God wants for us is to trust Him and make Him the centre of everything in our life and the only way we can do that is to want God more than what we want in life. He wants to be our Joy, our hope and our first love, He wants this because He loves us, made us and chose us to fulfil our God given plan and purpose…