I’m going to start off with saying how darn excited I am to write this blog. My prayer for you is that you experience freedom in reading this, and you hear the sweet whisper of the Lord louder than any opinion or judgment that may come from man.
So… you’re a Christian. You have decided to follow Jesus and give Him your all. You have been on the mountaintop and you sure as heck have walked through the valley, and through it all He has been oh so faithful. Maybe you lead small group at your house on Sunday nights or maybe you are actually new to this whole thing. You have tasted and seen that the Lord is good and you have practiced listening to His voice.
But then you fall.
You make a mistake.
You say a hurtful thing.
You lose your temper.
You mess up big time.
This moment is crucial. What do you do?
Well, let’s just compare this to a Paleo diet, shall we? Recently I have decided to live a healthier life and so I made the decision to eat only fruits, vegetables and lean meats. After going hard for 7 days I began to crave a double cheeseburger. I’m talkin’ “get in my belly” crave. I convinced myself I would stay away from bread for the rest of this month and then last night… I messed up… and it tasted good.
Immediately after I ate the cheeseburger I felt disgusting. I was hard on myself for giving in so quickly and it honestly made me just want to eat a Mcflurry since I had already messed up. I wanted to back track and forget about all the progress I had made and all the healthy decisions that made me feel better about myself. I was already feeling shame, disappointment, and discouragement.
Now, tell me who would have been the better friend to me:
- The friend that constantly reminded me of that cheeseburger, told my mom I ate the cheeseburger and brought up the cheeseburger every chance she could?
OR
- The friend that said, “It’s okay. You messed up. How about we try again tomorrow and I’ll keep encouraging you every step of the way.”
Friend B is the voice of the Holy Spirit while friend A is the opinion of man in the flesh.
Recently on the Race my friends and I found ourselves in a hurtful situation. A story that was taken out of context and people’s personal opinions were voiced out loud enough to get back to us in a way that crippled our ministry and broke our hearts. We were hearing things about ourselves that we knew weren’t true. But for the things that were, like ways I had fallen short or messed up months ago were brought back up again and tried to place shame over me when I had already let the Lord heal those areas.
Then as I was sitting and processing with the Lord and asking Him to search my heart, He spoke so sweetly in a way that reminded me of His grace and mercy.
“Anissa. This is not of me.”
The things that were being said about me were not of Him. The way no one confronted me personally was not of Him. The things that were being said left me wanting to go home and trust no one, and that reaction is not the response to when the Spirit of God speaks to you. That is the response of a person covered in shame.
Here is how we can discern between the voice of God and the flesh of man:
- The Spirit of God NEVER brings condemnation.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8: 1-2
- The Spirit of God always presents you with grace and new beginnings.
“In John 8:3-11, a story is told where a woman was caught in the very act of adultery and they brought this woman before Jesus. Jesus said unto them in verse 7, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Each one of them were convicted in their own consciences, and walked away. When Jesus and the woman were the only ones left, He said unto her, “Neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more.”
- The Spirit of God never brings up past mistakes.
Let’s take our friend and homeboy Moses for example. Dude kills a man and tries to help two men caught up in their own argument. Immediately the men say “Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” Now answer this for me. In that moment would that call you higher, lead you into repentance and establish you in love? Heck to the no no. Just like Moses, I too would have run away believing I didn’t deserve to do anything for God let alone have a relationship with Him.
Here is the most beautiful part and why I love Moses’ story. Though man condemned…the Lord restored. Though man disqualified… the Lord called. God called Moses after everything he did and wanted him to lead His people from captivity. This is grace offered to us as sons and daughters. Though we strive to live Holy lives for the Lord… we will mess up, BUT it is important to not listen to the crippling opinion of man over the healing voice of the Lord.
He wants to tell you that even though you may fall short, He still wants to use you. Even though you messed up that doesn’t give you the right to believe that God is finished with you. The story is just getting started baby!
The fighting Israelites were not in charge of Moses’ calling nor his forgiveness. While men disqualified the adulteress woman, Jesus looked into her eyes as if saying “THIS is where your story begins… not ends.” And the same goes for you. Don’t let other people control whether or not there is grace for you to enter into the Lord’s presence… there is. And may we all be friend B filled with the Holy Spirit where people are called into freedom instead of slavery when they fall short.
There’s grace for you. Always. You are never too far gone, you have never messed up too much, and you will always be called and forgiven by the one who sent His Son so you wouldn’t have to live in condemnation. God Himself became man, died on the cross and rose again to fill you with His Spirit so that you would no longer be condemned. The pain, shame and darkness are not the parts of the story you get to enter into. Your story didn’t begin when you gave your life to Christ and ended when you messed up. Your story didn’t begin and end when Jesus died on there cross… It started the moment He walked out of the tomb and I can promise you He is not finished writing it.
