20: Who Jesus Says We Are: Fully Equipped

I have to be honest -- I am tired today. Tired of everything. I've sat in silence, staring into the gaping white space -- the blank, the empty, the need -- wondering how I could ever be enough to fill it. I wonder if I should just give up. The truth is, nine days out of ten, all I see is what I lack. The entirety of my line of sight is focused on that which I am not talented enough or don't have enough energy to do. I run myself ragged trying to appear as though I have gifts that I don't, and I pay little to no attention to my parameters. The truth is, when we live like this day in and day out, we are very nearly asking for disaster.

I chose rest for my OneWord365, but really, I think God chose it for me. A few days ago, I celebrated my one year anniversary as a social worker. Of course, I had no idea how hectic the year would be. How many days I wouldn't get home until late into the evening. How many miles I would drive. How the one angry teenage boy would take the scissors from my desk and sit sneering. How I would have to learn exactly where to shove an ink pen into an attacker's neck in order to incapacitate them and then practice the technique on an innocent grapefruit.

Who knows. Maybe your year hasn't looked like that. Maybe your year has looked like treatments following a diagnosis, or facing long nights awake with a new baby. Maybe you're just trying to make it through another day at the office. Maybe you feel like your marriage is on its last leg. Maybe you've purchased a new home in a different part of the country. Maybe you've tried to answer the calling of the Lord, but you've realized it doesn't look exactly the way you thought it would.

Maybe you're like me, wondering how little old, tired you will ever be enough. Maybe you've tried every last method of the world and nothing has worked, and maybe now you're left staring at a little pile of rocks wondering how in the world you will ever be able to bring down the giants in your life.

I think the truth is, sometimes, we won't be enough. At least not on our own.

You and I will never be able to do everything. But through Christ, we have the strength to face all the things that are set before us. Scripture says that we have everything we need.

You and I? We are fully equipped.

Originally, we find Paul speaking these words in scripture to Timothy. But when we dig deeper, we find that The Word is literally full of these stories of people who face of tasks that are flat out impossible through humanity's feeble strength.

When God called Moses to free the nation of Israel, scripture says Moses is worried about his speech impediment.

God meets with Gideon as he's hiding in a wine press and calls him a mighty warrior.

Mary is asked to usher the physical presence of God into our world at twelve years old.

When we look at scripture, we have the advantage of a complete picture, but as these people were living it, they could only see today. Like us, they didn't know what tomorrow would bring.

Christ tells us not to worry about tomorrow, and offers us an example of how to pray for daily bread.

And in Christ's physical absence, we have the Holy Spirit to remind us.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. -- Romans 8:11

We are fully equipped for whatever we face today. We will be fully equipped tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, because the God who gave us His Son graciously gives everything we need.

The call that you feel on your life to go into ministry, to adopt from a foreign country, to write that book, to branch out into a new line of work -- you have everything you need. God told Gideon -- fearful, hiding Gideon -- to go in the strength that he had.

[Tweet "You are the beloved child of a God who makes a way when there seems to be none. "]

Go in the strength that you have. Take the first step, and the next, and the next, believing in faith that you are the beloved child of a God who makes a way when there seems to be no way.

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The Conversation Starts Here: 

What are you facing today that seems impossible?

Share about the call God has placed on your life, and how you have seen His faithfulness.

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Some Fine Print:

This is the twentieth of thirty-one installments to be posted throughout the month of October. To view the entire table of contents as it is made available, click here. You can receive the entire series in your inbox for free by subscribing via email (no spam, just my heart by way of weblog). Please feel free to pass these words along to a friend. Sharing is caring!