Chastity Owens
Founder & Clinical Director of Owens Behavioral Health
What things are you doing that will have a lasting impact in the world? What will impact God’s kingdom? Ultimately, what will be your legacy?
When I was in high school, most of the posters in the hallway encouraged me to attend afterschool programs, read books and so no to drugs. However, there was a poster that stayed with me. It was a message about legacy. It said,
When I was in high school, most of the posters in the hallway encouraged me to attend afterschool programs, read books and so no to drugs. However, there was a poster that stayed with me. It was a message about legacy. It said,
This poster challenged my adolescent brain. While I was often preoccupied with my appearance, this poster told me to focus on my legacy which I defined as what I learned and how I used it. I have not been out of high school for 30 years yet, but so far this poster has been true. Even when I look at pictures of myself from high school, I do not even remember a lot of the clothes I wore.
We live in a world that is focused on the present. How many things are you worried about today that you won't even remember 5 years from now? The bible guarantees us looks will fade. Yet we live in a society where billions of dollars are invested from consumers in the beauty industry.
Despite the time and effort that I put into assembling my clothes everyday, I’m not sure how much it has mattered compared to the knowledge I have acquired over the years. Today, I still consider my appearance; however, I am more interested in how I am making a difference in the lives of others.
What satan will try to do is get you so preoccupied in the obstacles and the small things of today, that we lack the desire to think about our future in terms of what God has called us to do. If God called you to be a praise dancer, you are a dancer. This is true no matter how much you weigh, or how you look. If God called you to be a pastor, you're a pastor! And this is true no matter how shy or insecure you may be.
We live in a world that is focused on the present. How many things are you worried about today that you won't even remember 5 years from now? The bible guarantees us looks will fade. Yet we live in a society where billions of dollars are invested from consumers in the beauty industry.
Despite the time and effort that I put into assembling my clothes everyday, I’m not sure how much it has mattered compared to the knowledge I have acquired over the years. Today, I still consider my appearance; however, I am more interested in how I am making a difference in the lives of others.
What satan will try to do is get you so preoccupied in the obstacles and the small things of today, that we lack the desire to think about our future in terms of what God has called us to do. If God called you to be a praise dancer, you are a dancer. This is true no matter how much you weigh, or how you look. If God called you to be a pastor, you're a pastor! And this is true no matter how shy or insecure you may be.
Let's take Moses for example. He was preoccupied with his speech. He did not think that he had the communication skills to carry out his legacy - bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. Lies! Despite his insecurities, Moses submitted to God and His assignment. God told Moses:
Exodus 3:10 “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt”
When God commissions us to carry out the assignment that He has for us, He gives us the provisions to carry out those assignments. To some those plans appear impossible but with God, all things are possible (Philippians 4:13). In other words, God supplies the anointing when He assigns us to do things that seem impossible to us.
God taught me this lesson in college. When it was time to choose a career, I chose journalism. I brainstormed my personal gifts and assets. I loved being a published writer. Up until that point, I served as a sports writer for my college newspaper. After I completed a summer internship at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, I realized that as a journalist, I was not helping people in the way I wanted to. I documented people’s struggles, what they overcame and exposed their vulnerabilities. This was not enough for me. I knew that there were many hurting people in the world and I had a burning desire to be a catalyst for change. However, I did not feel that my work in journalism fulfilled me. I realized that I was out of the will of God for my life.
I prayed, “What is going on, Lord? What’s wrong with me?”
I heard the Voice of the Lord say: “You have been doing what you wanted to do this summer. Now, are you ready for what I want you to do?”
I asked the Lord what He wanted me to do but I did not receive an answer right away.
A few months later, I helped one of my housemates with a paper that she needed to write. She was an exchange student from China and she asked me to help her write her paper. While I assisted her with her paper, her demeanor shifted from depleted, unsure and anxious to refreshed, confident and relaxed.
“That’s what I want you to do,” I heard the Voice of the Lord say to me a few months later.
“You want me to teach English as a second language?” I replied, confused.
“I want you to change the atmosphere,” the Lord replied. Through much prayer and fasting, the Lord revealed to me that He wants me to change the atmosphere by connecting people to resources, speaking life into desolate situations and by speaking His words to help comfort people.
In the same way God chose Moses to mediate His covenant with the Israelites, He chose me to change the atmosphere. Moses felt that he – a mere Hebrew boy – was inadequate to accomplish the things that God called him to do. But he chose to trust God. In a similar way, we often think that we are inadequate to change the atmosphere. However, God has been using me to change the atmospheres of people who come into my office. If He can use me, He can use you! God has a calling on our lives. The more we communicate with him, the more prepared we are for what is to come. As His children, God wants us all to change the atmosphere in our lives and in the lives of others. He wants us to usher in His Spirit, like Ezekiel did in the valley of the dry bones. Ezekiel explains:
Ezekiel 37: 1-14 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am theLord.’”
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord,when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”
Unlike Moses, who focused on his shortcomings, Ezekiel focused on God. Ezekiel knew that he himself could not cause the bones to live again. But he knew that God knew. He was obedient and said what God told him to say. As a result, Ezekiel resurrected the people of Israel. They were dried up, hopeless and cut off. Do you know anyone who has been sucked dry by the vacuum of life? Do you know someone who feels that they are in a hopeless situation? Is someone out there lonely because they have been cut off? Children of God, I urge you to speak life into those desolate situations. There is a vast army that’s waiting on you to speak life to them. There is a number of people who is waiting for your words of encouragement. There is a generation who has been cut off and who desperately need to be plugged into the generator of life. The Lord is calling you to your assignment. He is urging you to be a light in the midst of darkness. He wants you to speak life into desolate situations. He’s calling you to prophesy to the dry bones - to encourage those around you. Oh yes! God is calling. Will you answer?
0 comments:
Post a Comment