INMERSO

Overcoming Our Inadequacies

Have you ever find yourself in a situation where you consider yourself not prepared or not worthy of doing?

The christian life feels the same way when we do not have a good understanding of who we are now that Christ is in our heart. When we are living our life without Christ, we find ourselves struggling trying to keep up with the ever changing world we live in. To get a better understanding of our new nature we need to look back to our live. How we were raised, the values that were instilled on us, the truth that we were taught and the lies that we believe.

There are different kind of persons and personalities, some are very extroverted while others are introverted, some are shy while others are outspoken and lively, some people are so self assured that they will take on any challenge, while others need to plan ahead and are meticulous in every step. Some are so fearful that will never achieve anything because never dare to try. All goes back to what we were taught, life experiences and how we were raised.

When we start our christian life we bring with us all those ideas and believes that now need to be clarified and some of them rejected, and be replaced by the new knowledge of who we are in Christ.

Now we are positioned in a different nature. We are living in the grace of God and made alive through Christ sacrifice on the cross. Now we have His spirit living inside of us that puts us in a great advantage, because now we do not live by our strength or wisdom but Christ's. Lets see how the Apostle Paul describe this new condition, this new advantage:

2 Corinthians 3:4-6

4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Paul is writing to the Corinthians, a church that was having a hard time understanding who they were, as some of us now. When you read these verses you need to understand that it only applies to those who have accepted Jesus as their savior. Jesus is the way to gain access to these blessings.

In Christ we are now living not under our strength or will, but under Christ strength and will, not under my sufficiency but under Christ sufficiency. Now imagine what Jesus could not do. The omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God is living within you through His spirit. There is nothing that we could not do under His will. First of all you are now alive and connected to life by Him. Now you are eternally connected to Jesus, and His sufficiency is yours to do His will and live accordingly. Look how the Apostle Peter describe our new nature:

1 Peter 2:9-10

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Imagine what you could achieve if you completely believe with all your heart on those words. These are real promises, this is your real nature and new condition now. If you cannot believe this, you will never going to grow an inch spiritually. The world is going to try to keep you believing in the wrong ideas that you were taught. You are now a different person, you are not the one you were before knowing and accepting Jesus. Now you can appropriate of every promise, every power from God to do His will.

God created you with a purpose, there is something that needs to be done that no one else could do, but the enemy and the world keeps telling you that you can't. You are not worthy, you are not prepared, your not educated enough, you are too simple, you are too ugly, and I can keep adding and adding excuses that are only lies. If God is calling you to do something, you can be assured He will provide anything you need to be successful. And if in your way you stumble and fall, remember His forgiveness and mercy are renewed every morning and there is always forgiveness in Him. Just come back to Him and ask Him to help you stay in the path He prepared for you. He will get you on track without remembering your failures.

Forget your inadequacies, in Christ we are sufficient to do His will, we can thrive, if we let Him live His live through us. He is sufficient and His power will give us the victory. Do not let the old ideas and old believes steal you the blessings of your new nature. Now you are in a position to conquer and achieve great things for Christ and in return for yourself. Face every morning knowing that the God that saved you is living inside of you and goes with you wherever you go. You are not alone anymore, wake up every morning and ask Him to guide you and give you the wisdom and discernment for the day, He will provide them.

If you have been feeling the tug of the spirit to do something and you are struggling to believe, read those two passages over and over and make them part of your believe system. Jesus is looking for people willing to serve Him, to serve others, to help spread His gospel. Reject the devils lies about you and embrace the new you through Jesus. Get close to Him and know Him, the closer you get, the more love you will feel and receive.

In John 8:31-32 Jesus himself emphasizes the need to understand the truth of our new nature and He expresses it by stating:

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

We can be free of the old way of life and our feelings of inadequacy just by abiding to what Jesus said “abide in my word”. Do not depart from the Bible and do not neglect the time to read it and meditate in it. When we abide in His word we start to understand our value to Him and what we are, we will start to reject those misconceptions and wrong feelings we acquired through life. There are four steps that needs to be followed in order to overcome our fears and inadequacies:

1- You have to make a choice.

The choice to believe what Jesus said and promised through His word. You are no longer lost or lacking. God is in you providing you with all needed to live out the Christian life God has planned for you.

2- Stay in the word.

As Jesus says if we stay in His word we will know the truth of His love for us. We will be able to deconstruct the devils lies about us. We don’t have to live feeling inadequate or unworthy. Remember you are unique, there is no one like you, no one to compare you to. God made you like anyone else, so there is no reason to compare yourself to others.

3- Believe in the truth.

In God there are not one empty promise. He has proven over and over His faithfulness and character. There is no other God, there is no other love greater than His.

4- Claim the truth in your life.

Stay in prayer and claim these promises, expel wrong conceptions about yourself. With the power of His presence in you there is nothing He has chosen for you to do, that you could not achieve.

It is time for the church to understand who we are in Christ, there is so much to do and our wrong understanding is keeping us from enjoying the privilege of being instruments of Jesus love in this world. Do not think about big tasks, think about how you could change someone else's life and your life by overcoming your fears of talking to them, of sharing your faith, of helping in little tasks in your church, of being a servant to others as Christ came to serve and save us.

If there is something that we are not, is that we do not belong to this world, we "are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession".

It is time to start living in obedience to the loving God that didn't hold anything, not even His only son to save you and give you a new citizenship. Ask God to guide and clarify what He wants you to do, be brave to surrender everything to Him. To surrender the control of your life and prepare yourself to enjoy the journey and the satisfaction of being part of this glorious kingdom to which we belong.