“You are the light of the world,” Jesus told His disciples. He called them, as He calls us, to let our light shine in a world so desperately searching for hope.
However, all too often, we find the stress of life or self-doubt starts to dim our light, and unfortunately, we can even end up adding to the darkness. How do we keep shining for God when our own hope dims?
Psychologist and author Dr. Glenn Pickering says the key is remembering Whose you are:
We all have doubts. Nobody doesn’t: every “calling narrative” in the Scriptures, when a person is called by God to go do something for Him (like Moses, Gideon, the apostles), the first thing they do is tell God why they can’t do it. When they explain why they can’t do what God’s calling them to, because they think they have to do it by themselves, and they think ‘I’m not good enough.’
Now here’s the tricky part of that: we can’t do it by ourselves and we’re not good enough. God doesn’t pick me because I’m good enough–I’m not! I’m just a person, and I can’t do that calling by myself. Don’t judge yourself for those thoughts, or feel bad about that. Look at what God says to them: “I’m going to be with you.”
In order to spread the hope of God, we have to be regularly filled with His hope and love ourselves. Our own strength will fail, but we have a mighty God who empowers us day by day, moment by moment, as we abide in Him.
If you find yourself drained, feeling like you’re just not enough, Glenn invites you to find a quiet place and pray a very specific prayer with God.
Instead of praying our normal patterns about our day or our needs, take some time to pray these two sentences:
“Lord, I’m your precious child. Thank you for that.”
Repeat that a few minutes each day until it really starts to soak in. Hear yourself affirm out loud what God says about us. It’s really true.
“I am God’s precious child. Thank you, Father.”
When it truly sinks in, the reality of who we are in Christ, what our character is–we are beloved by God! He feels about us just like any parent about their dear child. It has nothing to do with your kid’s performance. They just love them like crazy! And that’s how God sees you and me. Gently remind yourself, “I am God’s precious child. Thank you, Father.”
He is our hope. He is with us always. And His saving love is available to anyone who will receive Him and become His child! How could keep news this good to ourselves?
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” – 1 John 3:1