We’ve all had those moments. The moment we look at someone else and see that they are better at or gifted in an area that we are not, and those old feelings of inadequacy rise. This happened to me recently. As I took my feelings of inadequacy to the Lord, somewhat baffled that I was having these feelings in the first place, I felt the Lord say, “Jami, I have declared you GOOD!” It stopped me in my tracks, as a flood of assurance poured through my mind and heart. A reminder, that God has declared me GOOD (Genesis 1:31).
He reminded me that it is in the image of God that I am made (Gen. 1:26). It was after the completion of creation, after the final piece was created, woman, when God said over creation, it is “very good”. As daughters of God, we need to understand this. God has declared us, “very good.” As I contemplated the fact that God has declared me good, and let it sink in, God brought forth a flood of reminders of all the things within me that truly are good. My giftings, talents, personality – all things that are meant to reflect part of Him and point people to Him. After all, I am created in His image, so the things within me that he has specifically designed for me, reflect Him. Things, that are necessary for me to complete the purposes God has for me on this earth.
God has designed each of us uniquely and specifically for a purpose. Ephesians 2:10 says, “I am God’s workmanship, created for good works.” You see, the deeper our revelation of our identity in Christ and of who God created us to be, and His “good works” He has for us, the more confident we can be in the “goodness” of His design! I don’t need to feel inadequate because I understand that every part of who God created me to be, His workmanship – my personality, my giftings, my strengths, they all are for a reason. And it is GOOD! Are we all a work in process? Yes! But we can be confident that He who began a good work in us will complete it (Philippians 1:6)!
Once we understand this, we have freedom to walk it out and be who He designed me to be, without allowing those feelings of inadequacy to linger, we can truly take them captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) and counter them with the TRUTH. I am good. I am very good. My Father, my creator says so. The more I do this, the less those feelings and voices even consider popping into my head, and the sooner I can combat them with truth.
Because, as a daughter of God, I know what my Father says, and I can declare the truth. I do not fear because He has not given me a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). I am free from condemnation (Romans 8:1-2). I know that He works all things together for good (Romans 8:28). He wove me together in my mother’s womb. Bit by bit. Piece by piece. (Psalm 139:13) He has good works for me, and has made me a masterpiece, a beautiful workmanship that He has designed, perfectly to fit His good works He has for me (Ephesians 2:10).
So you see, I am good. My personality is good. My voice is good. My talents and giftings are good. Because He says so. Because the master designer, the Alpha and Omega, the one who holds the world in His palm. He says so, and it is HIS VOICE alone that I will hear. The voice of my Father.
I pray that YOU also will hear his voice and know that YOU, daughter of God, you are good. Your Father says so.
I have a dream that I believe is possible for women. I believe that we can all come to a place completely free of comparison and jealousy. I believe that we can live in confidence and peace in exactly who God made us. I believe we can learn to stop looking at those around us and stop being jealous of the fruit that we see in someone else’s life and learn to continuously abide in Jesus. I believe through Him, we can do this, and be so completely fulfilled by Jesus that we are free of feelings of inferiority to those around us. If we do this, we will each produce an abundance of the unique fruit God wants to produce in our lives. And I believe this dream is possible because of how far He’s brought me free from comparison, insecurity and jealousy. And I know it’s only possible through abiding in Jesus.
John 15 gives us this beautiful image of Jesus describing Himself as the vine and we are the branches. Father God is the vinedresser and prunes us so we can produce more fruit. In the literal grape vine, the pruning allows the sap to run to the healthy branches instead of the feeble or sickly branches. This illustrates how Father God prunes us of the bad and sickly branches which allows the power of Jesus to run through us, just like that sap, and it brings the potency of Jesus to the fruit being produced.
We all have a unique combination of fruit that God wants to bring forth, just like each grape cluster is unique and full, God wants us ALL to produce unique fruit that’s full in our lives! We all should be producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but God has also given each of us different giftings. We’ve also all walked through different experiences, that through abiding in Jesus in all of these experiences and circumstances, brings forth fruit to feed those around us. He has people for you that YOU need to reach with the fruit that He wants to produce in your life. But we have to heed to John 15, and recognize that without abiding in Jesus, we can do nothing.
Stages to Produce Fruit Unlike a literal grape vine that has no choice when the vinedresser comes to prune, we have a choice if we are going to submit our hearts to God and yield to this process. He needs to prune us. It’s the first stage. It’s the hardest stage. It’s messy, and at times it’s painful. But it’s necessary. Without the pruning we have no blossoms.
Next comes the blossoms. One thing that’s interesting about the grape is the blossoms are not very memorable. They are a small white flower that requires you to get close to the branch to see. That’s exactly what the blossoming stage is like in our lives. It’s a sign to us, and those close to us, to see what’s to come! It’s an absolutely necessary stage, and it tells us that, YES, the fruit is COMING! I believe it’s important that the grape blossom isn’t what’s memorable about the grape, unlike the apple blossom or cherry blossom. Because what’s memorable about the grape is the grape!
The last stage is the fruit! God wants us to produce fruit in fullness in our lives, just like a grape cluster! Each fruit that’s produced in our lives is intended to bring someone around us closer to Jesus. It’s all intended to feed the kingdom of God! It’s not the blossom that feeds the kingdom of God, it’s the fruit that’s produced through abiding in Jesus through each stage.
Feed My Sheep In John 21:15-17, Jesus has a memorable conversation with Peter. “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “ Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, Tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
If we LOVE Jesus, we will abide in Him. If we abide in Him, we will produce the fruit needed to feed his sheep. Because it’s not just about us is it? Every sphere, every circle that you are in, every people group you’re called to, every relationship, God wants to produce fruit in your life to feed those around you. A sign of HIM!
If we LOVE Jesus, we will abide in Him. If we abide in Him, we will produce the fruit needed to feed his sheep.
Your VOICE is a pathway to fruitfulness. Your ACTIONS are pathways to fruitfulness. Your ATTITUDE is a pathway to fruitfulness.
They’re just words and actions aren’t they? Until you abide in Jesus and He’s in you, then they are potent words and actions that bring LIFE to those around you! You have no idea what someone is going through and the life that your words or how your actions can truly demonstrate the potency and power of Jesus through you.
Why do we compare? So why do we walk in comparison and jealousy of those around us that are producing fruit? The answer is it is only through feelings of inadequacy that we start to compare. If we truly abide (the Greek word for Abide means remain) in Jesus and have Father God, the vinedresser, prune from our lives on a regular basis, we won’t feel inadequate. Jesus IS enough and through him we see our value and our true identity. If we don’t abide (remain) in him consistently and if we also let the lies of the enemy in, we start to feel inadequate!
The enemy loves to whisper things like, “You aren’t as qualified as they are.” “They are so much more talented than you.” “They are so much prettier than you.” “They are a better mom than you.” “You aren’t doing your job well.” “You should stop trying, you’ll never measure up.” “They have their life together and your life is a mess.” “Why did you think you could even try? You should just give up.” “Remember that huge mistake you made years ago?” Do any of these sound familiar? It can be never ceasing until we learn to take our thoughts captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), and you can only do that when you remain in him.
But here’s the problem with jealousy amongst women who are following Christ. ARE we truly going to be jealous of the fruit in someone else’s life that is produced by Jesus in them to feed his sheep? Because that is exactly what the enemy wants us to do. To compare ourselves and to feel inadequate, which turns to jealousy. Jealousy is a bitter bad fruit that will lead to bitter rotten fruit in our life, and will block good fruit from growing.
God has called us to be women who celebrate when another is producing fruit in her life! To rejoice that the fruit that God has brought forth that will feed many in the kingdom of God!! Remember, the final stage is the only one that’s evident to everyone. The FRUIT! We didn’t see all that happened behind the scenes as that person abided in Jesus, allowed the pruning to happen. We didn’t see the difficult seasons where they clung to Jesus with all they had and were refined and pruned until the gold and bountiful fruit burst forth in their life. Most of us didn’t see the blossoming season when those small blossoms were signs of what was to come. Every piece of fruit Jesus produces in our lives has a story to tell.
Every piece of fruit Jesus produces in our lives has a story to tell.
Don’t allow comparison to steal what God wants to do in your own life. He has fruit he wants to produce in YOU that’s intended to feed someone! Someone in your sphere, in your circles, needs what God is going to bring forth in your life. You’ll be able to say to someone who is going through a difficult time, “I’ve been there! But look at what God did in my life! He is so good!” And you will bring forth a testimony and declare His goodness! You will bring forth the fruit of what he has brought you through, and someone else needs that fruit from you to point them to Jesus!
Fruit feeds the kingdom of God. Let’s not be women who are jealous of the ones around us who are bearing much fruit in this season. Let’s learn from them. Instead of jealousy, let’s be women who start asking the story of the fruit in their lives! I guarantee you, there will be a story that you can learn from. If we learn to do these things, and remain in Jesus, we can be women who live in freedom, full confidence, free of jealousy, and free of resentment. Women with an abundance of fruit, many different varieties, many different arrangements of clusters, and many different colors, that will feed the kingdom of God.
Lately I’ve been thinking about how many of God’s daughters go around listening to the voice of the enemy because it’s a familiar voice to us. Lies that have been whispered into our being for a very long time, that have become so innate to our minds and our ways. Lies that we’ve started to think are just our thoughts, they’ve just become what’s normal for us.
The reason I recognize this is because I’ve been there! I’ve had patterns and thoughts that were so normal for me that I didn’t even realize I was doing it. Thoughts of insecurity and feelings of anxiety were norms for me. Because of this I sought, for many years, to find things to cover up these feelings. The problem is, there is nothing that can cover up the lies and feelings. No matter how hard you try to cover them up, they are still there.
How I learned to overcame this was by learning to run to Jesus’ voice and to flee from the voice of the enemy. As I learned what Jesus’ voice sounded like, I craved it! It was the voice of peace, the voice of love! The voice of restoration and freedom! I then began to recognize that the thoughts and feelings I’d lived with for so long, were not of him! It takes practice, diligence, and effort on your part to run to Jesus. You can’t sit complacent. You can’t sit as a victim. You have to actively run towards Jesus. By doing this, you flee from the enemy and when those lies try to chase you down, you take them captive and bring them into obedience to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
You have to actively run towards Jesus. By doing this, you flee from the enemy and when those lies try to chase you down, you take them captive and bring them into obedience to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
My question for you is this, do you recognize the lies of the enemy in your life? Or have you grown so used to hearing his voice that you allow the whispers to permeate your mind? Familiar thought patterns, familiar feelings. Anxiety, shame, inferiority, failure, insecurity, self doubt, anger, resentment. Do any of these sound familiar to you?
Hearing the Voice of Jesus The Bible says that Jesus is our shepherd and we are his sheep. That means that he protects us and watches over us. He guides us and speaks to us to tell us where to go, tells us what is safe and what is not.
John 10:27 AMP says, “The sheep that are My own hear My voice and listen to Me; I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they will never, ever [by any means] perish; and no one will ever snatch them out of My hand.”
I love the picture here of the good shepherd. Jesus says, “The sheep that are My own…” So first, he is saying, the sheep that are mine hear my voice. Once we choose to follow Jesus, to make him our Lord and Savior, he says that you are his and that you hear him! If we hear him, that means he’s speaking to us. Isn’t that amazing? Jesus is speaking to us all the time, and he wants us to listen to him!
So the question for you is, are you only listening to the voice of Jesus, the good shepherd? The one who leads us out of danger and leads you in peace? Or are you still listening to the familiar voice of the enemy that feeds lies?
Being Born Again and Becoming Spiritual Babes I have two children, ages 5 and 2. What amazed me when they were born is knowing that they could recognize my voice! Studies show that babies start to recognize their mother’s voice around month 8 or 9 in the womb! So even before they are born, they recognize the sound of their mother’s voice. That is such an incredible design that God designed to happen so naturally. Of course the security and love that a mother’s voice brings is only further established once they are born. By the time a baby’s separation anxiety kicks in around 8 months old, they have completely established that my mother is a safe place. If I hear her voice, I am safe and I will run towards it – or technically crawl, but you get the picture!
So, what does this have to do with following Jesus? Well, in John chapter 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus, who was a leader among the Pharisees, that you can not see the kingdom of God, unless you are born again. We become spiritual babes. We start as spiritual infants who for the first time, our eyes are opened to who Jesus is, the good shepherd, that voice of peace and safety. And our EARS opened up to hear this voice. Remember, he says in John 10:27 that his sheep that are his own hear his voice and listen!
Just like babies know their mother is the safe place to be, they have learned to recognize her voice and stay near her, we, as children of God, need to learn to recognize his voice. The mistake many of us make is, unlike our physical children who learn by 8 months their mother is the safe place, many of us have heard the voice of the enemy for so long that it becomes background noise, and we don’t flee from it! We start to hear and recognize the voice of Jesus when we are born again, but many of us allow the voice of the enemy to remain.
This creates a vicious cycle of thoughts and patterns, where we continually allow the voice of the enemy into our minds – in the disguise of familiarity. He easily makes it feel like this is “normal” or just “our own thoughts”. He is a deceiver and disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). One way he does this by making us believe our negative thoughts that he actually feeds us are perfectly normal and acceptable. This is extremely dangerous because we can’t grow in spiritual maturity if we continually allow the voice of the enemy in and don’t learn how to take authority over it!
Just like babies know their mother is the safe place to be, they have learned to recognize her voice and stay near her, we, as children of God, need to learn to recognize his voice.
What if our physical children didn’t learn the difference between the voice of their mother (or father) and a stranger? There would not be trust developed to allow them to grow spiritually in the confidence of a son or daughter. There is an assurance and trust in the relationship between a baby and its parents which is necessary for the child to grow in confidence and hear the voice that will encourage, affirm, speak identity, and also guide the child. It’s the same way for us, as children of God. If we don’t learn to stop listening to the voice of the enemy and learn to only listen to the voice of Jesus, we remain spiritually stunted.
Moving towards Jesus Jesus also says in John 10:27 that we follow him. If we follow him, that requires movement! Repenting is a part of receiving salvation, and when we repent we turn away from our old ways of doing things and we run and move towards Jesus. That means we have to move from the voice of the enemy, the voice that even though it was not a voice of peace, it was familiar to us, and we need to run to the voice of Jesus. The voice that brings peace, healing, freedom, and our true identity as a daughter of the king.
The goal of the enemy is that we don’t move closer to Jesus, and that he drowns out the voice of Jesus, who is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE (John 14:6). We become stuck in a place in between the voice of Jesus and the voice of the enemy. He paralyzes us from moving forward in all that God has planned for our life. How devastating! If we can not learn to recognize and stop the voice of the enemy, we become paralyzed and miss out on so much that God has for us! So much freedom comes from taking authority over that voice of fear!
Far too many of God’s daughters are stuck in either a place of victimhood or complacency. When you’re being a victim, you blame your situation on others’ wrongs, and there’s not a whole lot you feel motivated to do because you always blame others. Also, equally dangerous is getting stuck in a place of complacency, with no motivation to take active part in the authority you have over the enemy! Listen, we are in an active spiritual battle, there is no room for complacency or victimhood!
Listen, we are in an active spiritual battle, there is no room for complacency or victimhood!
What do we do? It takes practice to learn to recognize the patterns our minds have become trapped in. The thoughts that have become a familiar and worn path. It’s personally taken me years to overcome and make NEW PATHS, but Jesus has given us the power and authority to do this!
2 Corinthians 10:5 says, We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
So how do we do this? When we learn Jesus’ voice, it teaches us what his voice is not. Then we take it captive and say no more! I will only listen to Jesus and what he says. We have to take thoughts captive to obey Christ. To his truth! We need to make a decision to move towards and only listen to the voice of truth!
When we learn Jesus’ voice, it teaches us what his voice is not.
Listening to the truth of Jesus means you stand on the Word of God! Once you recognize the lie for what it is, you must find scriptures that declare the truth. When those thoughts come, you stop them and start declaring truth over yourself. This is the process of bringing lies into obedience to Christ! This is running to Jesus!
Friend, you are more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37)! The cross is all the power you need to bring those thoughts captive and stand as a beautiful conqueror in freedom, moving towards Jesus and your beautiful destiny that he has for your life!
I challenge you to ask Jesus to reveal to you when the thoughts you’re partnering with are not of him. Pay attention to thoughts that don’t bring peace and bring instead – anxiety, fear, comparison, inferiority, shame, anger, resentment. Don’t ever come into agreement and partner with those lies. You are not an anxious person, you don’t have to live believing “it’s just who you are”! Far too many of God’s daughters walk around believing the lies of the enemy and that it’s “just who they are”. There is freedom available by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. It’s time to RUN towards Jesus.
Pray with me . Jesus, teach me to recognize when I am listening to a voice that is not of you. I want to live my life like John 10:27 says. I want to be a sheep that hears your voice and runs to you. Teach me to take authority over thoughts that don’t bring your truth and to bring them captive to obey you. Amen!
One of my five year old son’s favorite movies is Disney’s Cars. And not only is there one Cars movie, there are three! I have to admit, it’s one of my favorite Disney movies. It’s the story of Lightning McQueen, a young and fast rookie race car who learns the hard lesson that having friends and being kind are more important than winning a race. Cars 2 takes Lightning McQueen on an adventure to races in Tokyo, Japan and Italy, and England. Then in Cars 3, we see a much older Lightning McQueen. He’s had a long and successful career, but isn’t ready to retire yet. There is a younger, newer and faster race car named Jackson Storm, and Lightning realizes he needs help to prepare for a race against him. He gets matched up with a young race trainer named Cruz Ramirez.
Cruz and Lightning don’t see eye to eye at first, Lightning isn’t very fond of Cruz’s new high tech methods of training. Over time we see a friendship develop, and over time it becomes evident that Cruz is actually supposed to be a racer, not a trainer. She never planned to just sit on the sidelines and be a trainer for other cars, she used to dream to race!
Then, the unimaginable happens! During a practice race, Cruz beats Lightning! Lightning is a little taken back by this at first, but he soon realizes that this Cruz truly is a race car. It’s just that she’s been told her whole life that she isn’t, even though she had always dreamed of being a race car. She’s also been placed in a position that is below her calling.
Cruz has started to believe lies. She was built and designed to be a race car. It’s her destiny and her calling so to speak (in a car world of course) Somewhere along the way though, her true identity, that she was built and designed to be a race car, was compromised. She started believing the lies being spoken to her. She was never meant to stay in the position of race car trainer.
The Mighty Call on Your Life I’m so strongly gripped with how often this happens to God’s daughters. Every single one of you has a mighty, mighty calling. And when I say mighty, I don’t necessarily mean the most visible calling. I mean a mighty calling that is powerful because he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). It’s mighty because of the confidence we are meant to have in God’s calling, God’s placement, and God’s destiny in our lives. It is a unique position, that God designed for you, from the moment of conception! Just like Cruz was built to be a race car, God has built you for your destiny and purpose, from your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:16), he created you to be a racer. To run your race.
The author of Hebrews (AMP) says it this way in chapter 12:1-3… “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].
Just consider and meditate on Him who endured from sinners such bitter hostility against Himself [consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
What is so key in this verse is where it says, ‘stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us’, and ‘looking away from all that will distract us’. Many of us set out to run our race and have our eyes set on Jesus, to ‘consider and meditate on Him’. But we forget that the Bible tells us that during our race, we have to actively be stripping off every unnecessary weight and sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us. Wow. So EASILY and CLEVERLY entangles us! And, we are told to look away from all that will distract us.
The Great Accuser The enemy is the great accuser and a great liar. He knows if he can distract you from who God made you to be, a mighty daughter of the king who is equipped and prepared to run the race set before you, that you will shrink back and take your eyes off of Jesus. Watch from the side lines. Watch everyone else running their race and think things like this, “Those dreams I used to have must not have been from God, I just don’t see how this could possibly happen.” Or “Wow, I thought I was called to (insert your dream here) but I’ll never be as qualified as that person is!” By declaring those lies and believing those things of yourself, you’ve just come into agreement with Satan’s accusations against you.
To understand how Satan works against God’s people, you must understand how he operates. Revelation 12:10 states the following:
“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”
Ladies, hear this. The enemy is an accuser that will accuse you and disqualify you, even before you begin. It says he accuses us day and night! He doesn’t stop, which means we always have to be on guard of the fiery darts of lies he is sending our way. He entangles us by entangling our mind with his lies. If we bite into his lies and take our eyes off of Jesus and the authority and victory we have as daughters of the king and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), then we began to watch the race from the sidelines. We don’t think we are qualified to join in the race. But if we recognize that the lie the enemy is feeding us are intentionally trying to get us to stay out of the race, we can learn to take those thoughts captive to Jesus! (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Colossians 2:15 says, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities [Satan’s whole evil kingdom], he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Jesus disarmed the powers and authorities of Satan’s whole evil kingdom, his lies have no power over us if we take them captive and make them come into obedience with the power and victory of the cross!
Who are you? You must instead align your mind with the truth of the word of God, who does he say you are? You are more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37)! You are chosen (1 Peter 2:9)! You are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)! You are his workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)! You are a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19)! You are a daughter of God (Romans 8:14)!
It is he that qualifies you for the race, not yourself. Don’t let the lies of the enemy disqualify you from even beginning the race he has set before you! It’s not by your own power that you are qualified, it’s his power (the Holy Spirit) through you (Zechariah 4:6). If you disqualify yourself you are saying his power isn’t enough to work through you. Do you really want to stand before Jesus and say that you didn’t believe his power was strong enough to work through you to bring forth your destiny?
Do you really want to stand before Jesus and say that you didn’t believe his power was strong enough to work through you to bring forth your destiny?
Seasons of Training What’s interesting and very important about Cruz Ramirez is that it’s not a bad thing that she was placed in a position as a trainer – for a season. We are to walk in our calling in confidence and humility (but not false humility), which means we need to go through seasons of training. But these seasons of training are not meant to restrain us, they are meant to train us!
Cruz had fallen into the trap that because she was placed as a trainer, that that was her identity. You see, she had forgotten the identity that her maker had given her. She was a car designed and built to be a racer, not a trainer. But instead, she lost sight of what her maker said, and she believed what everyone else said. She missed the opportunity of her assignment that was meant to prepare her. So the very assignment that was supposed to train her into strength so she would have victory and success when her opportune time came to race, tricked her into believing for much less than the ultimate destiny she was meant to have.
These seasons of training are not meant to restrain us, they are meant to train us!
You see, Cruz was strategically placed around successful race cars to help them achieve their destiny, and to learn what it was like to be a race car. She needed to be around the track so to speak. We see this many times in the Bible, the most obvious one is King David. He had literally been anointed as the next King of Israel, but it was unbeknownst to the current king of Israel, King Saul. Once anointed to be the next king, David is then positioned to serve the current king and play music for him. While doing this he “learns the ropes” and he gets an inside perspective of the life of a king.
It was training! Strengthening! David grew in strength and wisdom, but only because he submitted himself to the process. If David would have doubted God’s anointing in his life and taken his eyes off of his race, the training would have been wasted and he may have missed it and never become king. Instead, he placed his trust in God, trusted that he was called, he was positioned, and he was anointed to be the next king of Israel, no matter what his current circumstances seemed to appear in the natural! That was David’s race that was set before him! Cruz, on the other hand, had let the views and opinions of others who didn’t see her as a racer to become her identity, and she took her eyes off of her race and she believed that all she would ever be was a trainer.
The Real Reason Satan Tries to Distract You The good news for Cruz is that she crossed paths with Lightning McQueen. Lightning saw in that moment of a practice race that Cruz was really a racer, not a trainer. He recognized her true identity and purpose. When it comes time for Lightning’s race against Jackson Storm, he gets part way through the race, then he knows what he has to do, he puts Cruz in to race for him!
At first Cruz is a little uncertain, makes a few wild moves, but with Lightning’s coaching from the pit, she soon catches up to Jackson Storm. This is the key moment, she is neck and neck with him! She is racing her race! Then the unthinkable happens. Exactly what Hebrews 12:1-3 says, Jackson Storm feeds her lies that easily and cleverly entangle her mind and she is distracted.
Jackson Storm pulls up next to her, “Hey costume girl. You look the part, can’t have everyone thinking you don’t deserve to be here. They don’t need to know what you and I already do. That you can play dress up all you want, but you’ll never be one of us.”
Cruz, obviously distraught and feeling insecure, slows down. Quickly, Lightning responds from the pit, “Cruz, did you see what happened there?” “Yeah,” she replies, “he’s in my head.” “NO!” Lightning says. “Listen to me. You’ve gotten into his head. Don’t you understand?! He would never have done that if you didn’t scare him! He sees something in you that you don’t see in yourself! You made me believe it, now you got to believe it too! You are a racer! Use that!”
What is it that Lightning is telling Cruz to use? If Jackson didn’t think Cruz was a threat, he wouldn’t be wasting his time trying to tell her lies. If Satan didn’t think YOU were a threat, that your destiny was a threat, he wouldn’t waste time trying to tell YOU lies!
If Satan didn’t think YOU were a threat, that your destiny was a threat, he wouldn’t waste time trying to tell YOU lies!
Cruz realizes what Lightning says is true, and she pulls ahead, right behind Jackson, she sees her move to win the race and she pulls next to him. He responds by quickly pinning her to the wall. “You don’t belong on this track!” Jackson yells at her. Cruz, finally in full confidence, complete identity as a race car, shouts out, “YES I DO!” as she flips out from the wall and over Jackson, lands on the track, and wins the race.
Do you realize, that like Cruz, the enemy feeds you lies because you are a threat to him, and you have a mighty calling to advance the kingdom of God – to run your race set before you? You are not called to sit on the side lines!
Here is my prayer for you. That you would be so confident with your calling to run the race set before you that every time Satan tries to tell you that you don’t belong on the track, you shout out “YES I DO!” and use the sword of truth to declare who you are in Christ! Are you ready to step in? Are you ready to silence the lies, once and for all? Let me be the Lightning McQueen in your life. You, beautiful daughter. You belong in this race!
Pray with me. Father God, I don’t want to sit on the sidelines, I want to run the race you set before me! Draw me close to you and teach me to recognize the lies of the enemy. Help me recognize what isn’t your truth. Bring your living Word to life within my being, may it permeate my heart and my mind. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen!
