There are some popular beliefs floating around trying to convince us that we are enough… That we can do anything…That God wants us to have everything… We are strong enough for anything…

I would like to disagree.

While these statements aren’t inherently false, if we leave them as is, they become lies we speak over ourselves. I am not sure where this twisting words happened (probably with the serpent in the Garden of Eden), but someone took some truth and added or took away a little something to put the power back in our hands. I don’t know about you, but I know me down deep, and I know I am none of those glamorous things on my own. I know how quickly my faith turns to disbelief, and I’ve seen how easily I tank even after a seemingly solid landing. I hear my inner dialogue, and it’s not always pretty. Not even close.

So, in case you’re more like me and less like the, “I am woman, hear me roar without saying much,” variety, let me finish these incomplete sentences for you.

We are enough because Jesus gave everything to cover our sins.
We can do anything God desires of us as we seek him and obey his commands. In his strength.
God wants us to have everything according to his will. According to the life he has planned for us: a life of abundance in him.
We are strong enough because Christ lives in us.

We are getting it very wrong when we leave these sentences unfinished because we make them pretend instead of truths. If we are all of these things, why did Jesus have to die?

We can pretend our roar is strong enough to fight our battles, but being loud isn’t the same as being mighty. Remember when Job went to God and questioned everything God was allowing to happen in his life? God’s response was something like, “Job, you have a lot of questions about how I am running things, but now it’s my turn to ask you some questions. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? You think you are so full of knowledge and have some legs to stand on? Where were you when the stars were placed so perfectly in the sky? Can you make them sing? No? Too soon? Having regrets about this line of questioning?”

Maybe God isn’t as snarky as when I interpret him, but his point is very clear. We are made for his purposes, not the other way around. God has always been God and will always be God. That didn’t become truth when we decided to believe in him. We have nothing to bring him. And he wants us anyway. What a beautiful gift. It’s sort of like when we let a toddler help us put away dishes. We know it might take longer or be less efficient, but the joy that toddler gets from being in on the ordeal makes us happy too.

It’s time for us to stop stealing his thunder (which he also made) and twisting his words. It’s not about doing things in my own strength or fixing myself. It isn’t about washing my face because it’s my mind that needs renewing. And I can’t even do that on my own!

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Heal our land, Lord. And start with our words. Amen.

Written for Strength & Song by Shontell Brewer.