It's Not About You!!!

This is a sentence I repeat quite often in my house when speaking to my children..."It's NOT about YOU!" I find it necessary to let them know, much to their surprise, that the world does NOT revolve around them, LOL!

However, when it comes to stepping out in faith and being used by God, it is of the utmost importance that you remember the very same thing. In fact, you should keep these 3 things in mind:

1) It's not about YOU

2) It's not because of YOU

3) It's not for YOU

What do I mean?

It's not about you - If you expect to move in the power of God, praying, prophesying, laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover, all the stuff that Jesus said to go and do (Mark 16:15-20), you have to get over yourself! No more hang ups, no more worrying about your past, or beating yourself up about your failures & weaknesses. Allow healing to come to your spirit & soul that will set you free from the fear of man, and a people pleasing attitude.

It's not because of you - When you do see God move through you, either in word or in deed, remember that YOU didn't do it! It's not a time to get puffed up and think you've done something special, when all God really needs is a willing vessel who will believe in Him.

1 Cor. 4:7 "For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"

Remember after the disciples came back from ministering in Jesus name and they were excited about how even the demons had to obey them? Jesus rejoiced with them for what they'd done, but He also warned them in Luke 10:20, "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

It's not for you - Too many times when people reach a place in the Lord where they see visible fruit, they start to get the attitude that they've "arrived". They're getting attention from others, and it's very tempting to exalt themselves in their own minds, or to allow people to place them on a pedestal. In these cases, the person has an elitist attitude that says "I need to be served, not serve others". This thinking is so far from the mind of Christ!

Mark 10:42-45 - "But Jesus called them (the disciples) to Himself and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

The best way to escape the above traps of the enemy is to keep your eyes off yourself and on Jesus at all times! If we remember the following Scripture, we'll have no problem doing mighty exploits for the Lord, and never have to struggle with the above.

Gal. 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ; It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

I read a book by Loren Cunningham called "Making Jesus Lord" where he talked about laying down your so called rights as Christians. He said that dead people don't worry about their rights. He was of course talking about us, who are supposed to have been crucified with Christ. When we're dead to our rights, we live for Him, only wanting to glorify God in all we do and say. This is the place I long to be, where I can say like Paul "to live is Christ, to die is gain...or like in Phil. 3:7-10

"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death..."