An Unqualified Opinion

  
Have you ever felt unqualified for something that God told you to do?  

 

You’re certainly not the first.

 In the book of Exodus, Moses told God multiple times that he was unqualified for the tasks God was calling him to. Standing in front of the burning bush – a physical manifestation of the presence of God that was commanding him to serve as God’s mouthpiece to the Israelites and to Pharaoh – Moses replied that he was not qualified to speak because of his lack of eloquence and speech impediment.  

 

In fact, despite being reassured of his purpose by God and receiving a promise that God would help him speak and teach him what to say, Moses still requested that God choose someone else several times – all because of his feelings of inadequacy. (Exodus 4:11-14, Exodus 6:28) In Exodus 4:14 God even became angry with Moses because of his lack of trust in Him. Moses must have been overwhelmed by the emotions he was experiencing in order to risk the wrath of God. Fortunately, God was gracious and merciful to him and allowed him another source of help in the form of Aaron.

 

Emotions are a powerful thing. Our worldly society is constantly bombarding us with reminders to “follow your heart.” This advice is spiritually dangerous! Jeremiah 17:9 says that our hearts (and emotions) are deceitful. Our feelings can lead us astray. We are meant to be led by the Holy Spirit, not by our own human heart. Our hearts must come under the authority of the Holy Spirit. The Word of God reminds us to commit our hearts to Him and act in submission to Him. (Proverbs 3:5-6) 

 Our actions should be in response to God’s leading. Our emotions should be secondary to our faith. When we allow emotions like fear to gain importance over our faith, our response to the call of God can be manipulated and it results in disobedience to God.

 

Moses didn’t doubt there was a God who was capable of the miraculous. The bush was physical proof of it! However, Moses as not only willing to go against the plan of God and step outside of His will, he was willing to risk God’s anger because of his feelings of inadequacy.

 Moses almost disqualified himself from God’s plan by operating from a mindset of being unqualified! Talk about powerful emotion! The power that Moses gave to his feelings of inadequacy almost stopped him from fulfilling God’s purpose for him. His feeling led to a desire to rebel against the command God was giving him.  

 

The same can happen in our own lives. Feelings of inadequacy can cause us to rebel against a command from God, even when we know without a doubt that God Himself is telling us to do it. 

There are 2 reasons that feeling unqualified get in the way of obedience to God’s command: It’s either a head problem or a heart problem.

 ~Dana Smith
*Please come back tomorrow for part 2 of this 4 part study to learn more on Overcoming An Unqualified Mindset. 

What I Really Really Want

  
Tell me what you want ? 
I’ll tell You what I want, what I really really want…. 

Now that I have this song stuck in everyone’s head too! 
I got my 9 of 9 download today and as I unpacked it that song stuck in my spirit. So I began to imagine God asking me that.   

God: Tell me what you want? 
Michelle: I’ll tell You what I want, what I really really want….. 

And just like that, I had nothing. I had no lists of whines or demands or cries of poor me. No Christmas wish list… Nope, I was in such a state of peace and contentment.  

I was in His presence and that was all I wanted …at this moment. 
My verse to unpack today was –
The one thing I want from God, the thing I seek most of all, is the privilege of meditating in His Temple, living in His presence every day of my life, delighting in His incomparable perfections and glory. ~ Psalm 27:4 TLB 
Then I read the notes in the Life Recovery Bible-here are my take aways:
Step 11-We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Most of us initially turn to God for the help He can give us, namely, His power to free us from the power of our dependencies. We may be surprised to find that, as time passes, we turn to God out of a desire to be near Him. As we discover how wonderful He is and how much He loves us, we draw near to Him because of the joy we experience in His presence. 

David found great joy by improving his conscious contact with God. God is always there, but we are not always aware of His presence. Our relationship with God usually begins with Him meeting our desperate needs. But when we begin to focus on getting to know God as an end in itself, we will discover that He will give us what we have always desired – the joy of being close to our loving Creator.

Then we will see that He can be trusted with every area of our life. ~Life Recovery Bible 

Draw near to God and let Him draw near to you. Let God fill every want and desire you have. 

Not like a genie in a bottle, (oops! Sorry, another song to get stuck in your head) but that you would seek His presence first and His will for every desire and wish, simply because,He is our loving Creator.

So I can answer now with ease and complete confidence- what I really really want, is simply You Lord! 

                ~XXOO Michelle Bollom