Do you ever feel like you just can’t live up to the life God has called you to?

Do you ever feel like you don’t measure up?

Have you ever felt like you’re just not enough?

If you’ve ever felt inadequate or incapable… insufficient or invisible… a disappointment or a failure… be encouraged.

I want you to know that God sees you as so precious and fully enough, no matter how empty and inadequate you may feel!

You are always enough to Him!

God is satisfied in you.

The Lord has been reminding me of this truth today, in a season of life where every day I feel like I don’t measure up.

I feel inadequate.

I feel like there is something I’m supposed to live up to and I just can’t cut it. I can’t live up to it. I feel overwhelming pressure to measure up to everything and prove that I am good enough. But all it does is make me feel worse about the fact that I can’t ever prove that I am. I never feel good enough. It makes me want to give up. Too many things I fail. Too many things I mess up. I never feel like I am capable to live whatever life God wants for me. All these thoughts are like repeat in my head. It keeps whispering and whispering. And I know that it is the enemy trying to mess me up and make me give up. He wants me to fall apart.

I know the enemy does not want me to be confident whatsoever in anything of God.

So he attacks me with lies over and over again.

The problem is I can believe them.

I can believe the lies and become so paralyzed by fear that it may actually be true, and I shut down. I don’t know how to overcome the anxiety in that moment.

Until God begins to whisper His truth a little louder…and a little louder… And I am reminded that God is STRONGER than any fear I may be distracted by.

I love the verse Psalm 56:3. I used to say it when I was little. And my dad reminded me of it last week. It says, “When I am afraid I will trust in You. In God, whose Word I praise…”

God is strong enough to ease your fears!

God is strong enough to fight for you when you are weak!

God is strong enough to destroy the enemy when He tries to whisper lies to you!

God is strong enough to lead you when you don’t know which way to go!

God is strong enough to protect you!

“No weapon that is fashioned against you will succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises up against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication is from Me, declares the Lord.” – Isaiah 54:17.

May God be praised!

He will protect us.

“The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.” – Nahum 1:7.

I’ve never been more confident in this than I am now that God is strong enough to help me. If He weren’t I would fall apart. Because I need Him so bad right now!

You know why God chooses to protect you?

Because you are VALUABLE to Him!

1 Corinthians 3:17 says this,

“If anyone destroys God’s sanctuary, God will destroy him; for God’s sanctuary is HOLY, and that is what YOU are.” (emphasis mine).

God sees you as priceless and so worthy of His own love. His love! How crazy is it that the God who created the universe and everything in it would choose to love a mere human?

Because you are far from inadequate.

You are far from invisible.

You are far from unworthy.

You are far from not-good-enough.

God chooses you, beloved.

He chooses you!

He fights for you!

You are so valuable that God was going to do whatever it took to be able to have you live with Him in His Holy dwelling forever. He came and lived a really hard life, knowing all along the plan was to be murdered by His own people – just so He could pay what it would cost to have you be His forever. He wasn’t about to lose you. No sir. He went after you! He wants you that much! You are that valuable to Him.

You are far from incapable.

For you, precious son and daughter are made in the very image of the most high God.

His very image!

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). I can’t believe that God would choose to make us like Him. He wanted children who would reflect His glory and beauty.

And let me tell you…God is radiantly glorious and beautiful…and so naturally that is what YOU are!

Radiantly glorious.

Radiantly beautiful.

Every hue of your skin, every shade of your hair, every glimmer in your eyes, every creative idea in your mind, every desire in your heart, everything about you… it comes from God by His own expertise to design you. And what He designs is always breathtaking.

Psalm 139:13-16 speaks of God designing you,

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

For anyone who doubts their ability to live up to God’s standard, I know how you feel.

I’ve been there. So I want to encourage your heart today that you don’t have to measure up to anything!

Jesus Christ measures up to God’s standard and He stands in Your place reconciling you to God. It’s not your job to measure up anymore. That’s Jesus’ job. And it’s already been done. You can receive Him.

Jesus Christ covers you.

Therefore, God is satisfied in you.

Let that sink in.

God is satisfied in you.

I want you to know it!

God is satisfied in you…

The real you.

Not the “achievement” you.

Not the “hard worker” you.

Not the “educated” you.

Not the “all-done-up” you.

Not the “successful” you.

Not the “all-put-together” you.

No.

God is satisfied in you just how you are…

“You” on a bad day.

“You” when you mess up.

“You” when you cry.

“You” when you fail.

“You” when you sin.

“You” when you cuss.

“You” when you lie.

“You” at your lowest.

“You” when you get back from the gym all sweaty.

“You” when you have road rage (or maybe I should speak for myself : ) )

“You” when you feel like you’ve let everybody down.

“You” when you feel you just don’t measure up.

God is satisfied with that “you.”

That’s the “you” He chooses.

That’s the “you” He’s satisfied in.

Know it, my precious friends. Know it. God is satisfied in you just the way you are. And so are the ones who love you.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.” –Romans 8:38-39

I pray boldly as coming to the throne room of the Lord that you would believe God is satisfied with you the way you are. I pray this for my heart too. May you overflow with joy as you ponder the magnitude of what it means for Christ to choose you. May you smile at the thought of God looking at you with a grin on His face and love in His eyes…for you beloved, for you. May your heart be free today knowing that God is satisfied with the real you. Thank You, Jesus for how You love.

 

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by My name, you are Mine.

when you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk though fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the LORD your God,

The Holy One of Israel, your Savior…”

Isaiah 43:1b-3a

 

Questions for Today:

• Do I believe that God is satisfied with the real me? me at my lowest?
• If not, what keeps me from believing this truth?
• Why does God see me as valuable?
• Why did God make me in His own image?
• Why is it crucial that I believe that God is satisfied with the real me?

 

“Resurrecting” by Elevation Worship