Gideon is the topic of my next post on Monday. So I have not forgotten. However, Thursdays are dedicated to a community Jam hosted by Faithbarista.com. So when you are finished here, hop over and read more about this weeks topic.
Today we are going to turn our focus beyond the sky and find out what perfectionism will do to your dreams.
Recently God has been navigating me toward new horizons. For this I am grateful, after hard work at healing for years. My journey is moving onward toward dreams God has in mind for me. It has been a journey I have had to trust Him in every step of the way. I have had to put down the bags of my past, the ministry I was comfortable with, and push past fear of what others think to see there was a new horizon.
Ministry can be hard, thankless work, and that is just the beginning. When you are doing what God says to do the enemy does not like you. The battle rages on and gets really hard at times. So you can start to define your place in ministry as a place that needs to be perfected. You work harder, you long for approval of others, you learn to accept God’s approval over their doubts, and press on. However, one day you realize that you are being stirred up and out of where you worked so hard to get. You rationalize that moving on could not be God, that is Satan trying to deter you. You are used to that so it is normal. Then you feel more stirring. You hear God calling you elsewhere, but you are not finished with what you thought you needed to do.
The circumstances ask you to leave the job you were doing, ask questions of who will finish it, and will they get it right. How prideful perfectionism can be. And, it is all such a lie. There will never be perfection except for the perfection God offers. He is the only perfect one. He is the perfectionist we need to have faith in. There will never be perfect circumstances surrounding you leaving, or an end to the work of one who is not perfect.
Trying to hold on to what He is asking us to leave, and ignore where he is calling us to is because we have grown attached to defining ourselves by what we do. The world loves to do that. The world screams for perfection from imperfect people. But, is a perfectionist’s job ever done. No.
Letting go and letting God in the circumstances the ministry is in, and moving on has led me back to studying faith. I have been studying Abraham. In particularly, Romans 4:3 of the NIV, which says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness,
I have learned many a lesson. One of them is that Abram had to leave where he was to see new horizons. He had to get out of the tent, look up, past the sky, and to the stars. After he did so He believed God. Notice, Abraham was the name God had given him. He had to believe who God said He was to walk in belief.
God whispered to me the other night about the dreams we share. He said, “I showed Abraham stars for a reason”. Yes, we know they were related to the multitude of descendants, but that is not all. God said there is a saying you have. The sky is the limit. It is NOT! The stars are beyond the sky. You have to believe they are there even when you can’t see them. There is no limit to what I can and will do in you and through you, but you have to believe who I say you are. You have to stop limiting me.
I had to believe God was calling me, out of where I was, to a new land He was taking me to. I have to believe who He says I am. I have to leave what happens after I am gone in the hands of the only true perfectionist, and walk on. Well I have, and it is a scary place to be, but the excitement of the future is finally here. I hope this time the work will be left up to the real perfectionist. I never want to stand in my own way or God’s again. Here at the end of this post I hear Him whisper, “Melinda, YOU are a mighty warrior.”
What is perfectionism standing in the way of in your life? Leave it in the hands of the only real perfectionist. You’ll be glad you did. ❤ Melinda
Meditate on Romans 4. See what God is saying to you about faith and perfectionism. What did you glean? Share it in the comments here:
Another Samaritan Woman 