For the first time ever, I preached!
Technically it was called a devotion, but that is because of the
amount of people I was with and what we were doing. The owners of the
Betor House (The house I stay at in Nelspruit, South Africa) own a
real estate agency as well. And on Tuesday mornings our hosts go
there and pray with them, worship, have a devotion, and talk…a lot!
It is an all women agency, so it keeps a certain feminine vibe going
on there! But the scripture I am about to share wrecked me all last
week. The Lord kept bringing it back up to me, and talking to me
about it, and teaching me about it. On Tuesday morning, the day we
went to the agency, I felt the Lord confirming what I already felt I
needed to do: share these verses with the women and share with them
what the Lord had been teaching me. After sharing the devotion, Terry
confirmed to me that it was the Spirit that lead me to speak that
morning, not myself. There were only a few women (3 women) that we
were present because of how close it is to Christmas, but 2 of those
women who were at work that day definitely received the message. One
woman was in an abusive relationship for years, and the other woman
has self image difficulties. Yebo, Holy Spirit! At that time, I was
confused as to why these women’s faces melted when I started my
devotion. Their faces transformed from the strong business women that
they are to the face of someone receiving something that God intended
for them to hear. Here is some of the material I shared with those
women, and a little something extra, too!
“All beautiful you are, my darling;
there is no flaw in you.” -Song of Songs 4:7
This is so hard for women, and men
alike, to believe. Society today tells us that we need to have the
perfect body, the perfect skin, the perfect hair, the perfect look.
But what God is sharing with us is that we are already beautiful! We
subconsciously strive to be accepted by others with our physical
looks. What we need to remember is that there is no one to impress
with your looks! The God of the universe who created you thinks you
are absolutely stunning. So if he thinks you are so beautiful, who
else matters? He is the best thing we will ever know, and yet we
continue to strive for physical perfection?
In Exodus, the Lord calls Moses to
bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses says,:
“O Lord, I have never been eloquent,
neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am
slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave man
his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes
him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and
will teach you what to say.” -Exodus 4:10-12
When I read this for the first time, it
really convicted me because I have said the same thing that Moses
said, just in more modern tongue. So many of us feel like we aren’t
worthy enough or good enough or able to do the grand plans that God
gives us. In the case of Moses, Moses doesn’t feel worthy or able to
bring the Israelites out of Egypt, even though the Lord appeared to
him and told him what to do. Moses says he is “slow of speech and
tongue,” but the Lord replies, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes
him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not
I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you and speak and will teach you
what to say.” Moses, such a prominent man of the Old Testament, had
trouble believing God is bigger than his stuttering problem (which
many scholars believe Moses had) and that He would help him speak and
teach the Israelites. I believe most of us can relate to Moses in
this situation in one way or another. You might not like the height
you are, or your body type, or your skin tone. Or it might be
completely different…someone might be deaf, mute, have speaking
impediments, or tons of other things that would cause difficulty in
public speaking. But God is bigger than those things and can and will
overcome them if he needs to for you to fulfill His plans for your
life. But, what is important for all of us is to understand is that
God gave us all these things and he thinks we are a beautiful. We are
His perfect creations. We were created in His image, so how can
anything really be wrong with us?
“You have stolen my heart, my sister,
my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with
one jewel of your necklace.” -Song of Songs 4:9
You! This is about you! God thinks you
are so captivating! This is so hard for us to accept because the
world today has been drilling into our heads how not beautiful or not
handsome we are. You should wear makeup if you want to look pretty,
and you need to gel and mousse your hair to make it the perfect
messiness so you have the perfect amount of masculinity, or whatever
it is. Those are all lies. God says, “You have stolen my heart,”.
You stole God’s heart…how amazing is that? How amazing is it that
people like you and me, who have tripped up and messed up and
disappointed God on so many levels on so many different occasions,
would steal God’s heart with one glance of our eyes? This is only
possible through Christ. If it wasn’t for his glorious sacrifice, God
wouldn’t be able to look at us! Without Jesus, we are filthy. We
would be covered in sin, but because of what Jesus did on the cross
we can steal God’s heart with one glance of our eyes.
“As a bridegroom rejoices over his
bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” -Isaiah 62:5
For some people, when they read this
verse, they relate it to the church. But I feel like it is talking
about us. Recently, on a car ride into Mozambique, Tracy (a
missionary from central Mozambique) was saying how some people want
to be “just friends” with Jesus…but what He really wants is to
be our bridegroom and for us to be His bride. When I was sharing this
verse with the ladies at the agency, I shared this example: Imagine
God is at a party with some pals. You walk in the door and your eyes
and God’s eyes meet. He looks to His friends, and says to them, “She
is mine!” Like a proud parent. Like you are a prize. Like you are
His treasure. Like you are something to rejoice over, and that is
because you are! When you are a child of God, a child of the Lord
Most High, you will always be rejoiced over! You will always be
viewed as a prize! You will always be Someone’s treasure!
