DAY 29: Ending the Search for Significance

Over the last few years, I've watched both afar and up close as people have searched for SIGNIFICANCE. It's so very easy to get to the place where you feel as though your life or you specifically are the essence of being "too small or unimportant to be worth consideration; meaningless". Perhaps you feel as though your contribution on your job is meaningless. Or maybe you constantly feel like the people around you see you as unimportant. But I was reading in Colossians today and was really encouraged by a single phrase. Now, I have to warn you up front that I am completely taking this out of context here, but I could not resist. Chapter 2, verse 18 begins by saying, "Let no one disqualify you..." Another translation says, "Let no man rob you of your prize..."

I thought about it for a while and realized so many of us disqualify ourselves before anyone else even has a chance. While we anticipate being rendered as insignificant in someone else's eyes, we must first ask ourselves if we are significant in our own. Just like beauty, significance is in the eye of the beholder. Though there are times functionally that you may have less work-related significance; no profession or social interaction can ever have the power to define who you are. I Peter 2:9 reminds us that in the Kingdom economy of significance, we are a part of a "chosen generation" and "royal". As children of the King of Kings, we are to find our significance in that and not in the day-to-day workings of our lives.

True, that is easier said than done. When someone is facing you with a look of disdain or when you don't feel heard or trusted or valued, it is difficult to remember that your search for significance should lead you to the cross. Your search for significance should remind you that God even made something as small as a mustard seed be a symbol for faith. If a mustard seed has relevance and significance in this life, then how much more do we? When we measure our value and our worth, are we seeing the people whose lives are affected because we prayed for them or because we smiled at them when they thought no one cared? Are we thinking of the times when God has used a person or His Word to speak directly to us in answer to prayer--making us significant enough to warrant a response? Are we considering times when we have prayed or spent time with the Lord and simply felt the amazing warmth of the Spirit of the Lord comfort of his presence make us feel special and cared for?

Maybe that's the problem. Perhaps you've never had an encounter with God that gave you that comfort or that gave you that reminder. Today, my prayer is that each of you reading these Prayer Points will have such an encounter with God. I pray that your significance will be wrapped up in His presence and delivered with a bow. I pray that in the coming days, you will experience God in new, reviving ways that end your search for significance in the right spot--Him.

Be encouraged,
Pastor Andrea

DAY 17: Out of the Darkness

Sitting in a dark room can be comforting at times. Assuming you have no fear of the dark, the mere act of being alone in a space where everything is still can be life-giving when all the hustle and bustle of things have drained your last bit of energy. The darkness of the room seems to bring a silence that is calming to all angst. While, we often use the analogy of darkness to (appropriately) represent evil, there is a side of darkness that simply represents stillness and rest. In the still of the night so-to-speak... We sleep in the dark. Our bodies naturally regenerate in that time of still darkness. And then the light comes...

At some point, we must rejoin the world. At some point, we must allow the light, the activity of life to begin again. Whether you call it "the blues" or just being "down", depression is a big word with so many layers and so many levels. The one thing I know is that most people may not be clinical but have moments of depression in their lives. Sometimes it's because of relationships, sometimes our jobs, other times situations in the world and still other times we cannot even find the words to say why or how we got to this space...it just is.

But no matter how you get to the point of feeling engulfed in literal or figurative darkness, there is hope to pull us out of depression. What the enemy tries to convince us is that we must stay down in the depth of the darkness--turning it from a place of refuge to a place of bondage. But Truth says that "greater is he that is in YOU, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4) and that stinkin' enemy does not have the authority or the power to keep you in darkness. I'm not saying that taking that step will always be easy. For some, the mere idea of pressing forward can be overwhelming and cause anxiety. What I am saying is that there is a reward on the other side of the door...on the other side of the darkness. I'm here today to remind you that there is power in light. There can be joy in deciding to rejoin the world. There is freedom in making a conscious decision to speak to people and embrace life.

Maybe you've been feeling down, "blue", sad...depressed. The first step to healing is to move out of that space of darkness and into light. That may be a matter of shaking off your "blah" day and deciding by re-engaging with friends and family; or it may be that you shine light on true illness and seek help from a professional. You've rested. You've embraced the stillness. Now it's time to burst forth into life. The bible reminds us that we 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." Put simply, God is interested in our mental and emotional health.

Today, be encouraged to move forward in the decision to not allow the enemy to keep you bound in darkness. Come into the marvelous light...

Blessings,
Pastor Andrea