So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27
Wonderfully made by God
You were wonderfully made by God, and you are good enough. God did not make a mistake when He created you, and He did not make a mistake when He placed you here.
Maybe your life has been broken by the sin of the world and by your own sin; maybe you still have things that you need to work on – but none of that changes how He sees you.
When He sees you, not only does He see His own creation – He sees Jesus in you.
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:20
I grew up believing that I was never good enough; I didn’t have what many other kids have and couldn’t accomplish the things they could.
No matter what I’ve accomplished later on as an adult, I’ve always carried that spirit of lack with me – that I don’t measure up no matter what, and I don’t deserve what others have.
I lived with this mindset most of my adult life until someone spoke prophetically into my life. She reminded me that God created me and has placed me here for a significant purpose.
Although I’ve heard these words many times, they’ve only remained in my mind and have not changed me. When spoken prophetically, these words pierced my heart as if it was God speaking to me.
I’m reminded that it is no longer I but Jesus who lives in me. That is my true identity, and the enemy has been doing everything he can to prevent me from knowing and living out this true identity. The enemy wants me to keep living with the spirit of lack and not receive all that God wants to pour into my life.
The words she spoke into my life broke down the barriers that prevented me from seeing myself as His child and creation. All the years of believing in the lies of the world were being washed away.
Through the practice of inner healing prayer and prophecy healing, I was able to deal with the lies that have been holding me down and preventing me from becoming the person God wants me to be.
What is it that’s holding you back today?
The enemy will attempt to lie to you about your true identity, and if you allow him to, you will begin to believe and live a life that’s not meant for you. You can even end up becoming very successful by the world’s standards yet struggle with a deep sense of lack.
God made you be glorious.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
-Psalm 139:13-14
Not only were you made in His image, but you were also wonderfully made by Him. Have you taken time to reflect on just how wonderfully God has created you?
Many of us struggle with the spirit of lack because the world keeps reminding us that we’re not good enough. The world has also perverted our sense of self-worth and identity to a point where we’re not able to see how wonderful God has created us to become.
Instead of placing and finding our self-worth in God, we go by the standards the world has set for us. We end up spending our lives chasing after success and are left wondering at how meaningless life can be even after we attained these things.
The amount of success, fame and wealth we have will only amplify our spirit of lack and expose us to the emptiness within our souls. It’s no wonder we turn to even more soul numbing experiences as a result.
The way to healing this brokenness within us to discover the abundant life that God wants us to have and to fill our souls with His presence and find out identity in Him alone.
You were placed here to shine your light upon the world.
You may live an ordinary life today, but when your heart is fully surrendered to God, He will use you in extraordinary ways. You don’t have to come up with your own plans and ideas to begin with. In fact, if you’re constantly struggling to figure out what God wants you to do, you might have to pause and seek Him first.
Seek Him first and learn what it means to have Him guide your every step. Once you discover that, you can plan out your life with His guidance.
You don’t have to compare yourself to others or try to be like someone else. Just allow God to use you and don’t limit what He can do in and through you. There’s no reason why He cannot use you to touch a life or to be a voice that’ll make a difference in the world.
I’ve lived an ordinary life for the most part. In fact, I didn’t have much when I first arrived in the US as a young man fresh out of high school.
I arrived in Chicago as many immigrants do; a couple of bags, some cash in my pocket, and a dream to live a better life than the one I left behind in Malaysia. During my early years, I did what I could; clean, wash, and paint while I was going through school.
I did not think much of how God could use me because my world was limited to just surviving and trying to get through each day.
When I surrendered whatever I had to Him, including my weaknesses, failures, and pain – He took all of that and use them for His purpose. He gave me a voice and a calling to share His healing with others.
God placed you here for a higher purpose than just going through life, and when your heart is fully surrendered to Him, He will give you dreams that are even bigger than what you can dream for yourself. He will take you to places you never thought you could.
It does not have to be the kind of adventure as the world defines it, but it will be an incredible ride that can only happen as He pours His kingdom into your life.
Know who you are
Live with the confidence that you belong to His Kingdom and that you do have enough to live the life He wants you to live.
You are His and have been given the power and authority to live in such a way. Step right into your identity and begin to let your light shine.
Why is it then that many of us remain stuck in the old way of life?
It’s possible to have all the head knowledge and still not be transformed in our hearts. There’s so much emphasis on head knowledge in our churches that those who know the most are often called upon to lead. As a result, we’ve produced many Christians who continue to seek knowledge but never quite experience real-life transformation within their hearts.
There continues to be this wide chasm between what we know and how we live. Sometimes this is caused by the strongholds within us that prevent us from receiving God’s favor in our hearts. When the spirit of lack has a stronghold within us, it’ll cause us to believe that we’re never good enough to receive from God and that there’s nothing within us that shines.
We’re still driven by our calling and our brokenness. We can live out our calling and still be hampered by the spirit of lack within us. This continues to be a driving force within us that causes us to strive and work hard for validation. Even though we may no longer seek validation like teenagers do, we still do it as adults in subtle ways that we might not even be aware of.
Some of us can become successful in our occupation or even ministry, yet we struggle with a deep brokenness within us that leaves us unfulfilled with all that we’ve done. This is where we need to examine our lives with the help of someone who can speak to the depths of our hearts.
The work of ministry can be so fulfilling, but it can also become a source for us to seek approval. That’s why we can serve, lead, and minister yet still feel like a complete failure.
I’m familiar with this area as I’ve served and led for many years. There’s the part where I’m driven by my calling, and then there’s the part where my need for approval drives me to keep doing well in what I do.
This drive based on approval can be subconscious that we might think what we do – serving others, helping the less fortunate, sacrificing ourselves – is out of pure motive only. Yet, behind our actions is that hidden need for validation from others or from someone.
All of us have this within us, some more than others. While some of us are able to handle it better than others, even the most spiritually mature among us can still have this need for approval and validation.
We avoid rejection and miss out on feedback. One important way to handle this is to receive feedback from others that’ll help us overcome the spirit of lack. Yet we tend to avoid this because of our fear of rejection. But by not getting too involved in personal friendships that are more spiritually focused, we avoid what seems like rejection when others point out the areas of growth within us.
We settle for more discussions around the bible, theology, ministry, church stuff, things to do, and even what others are doing! If we want to heal in this area, we must take the risks of journeying with others dealing with the same issues and be able to share deeply from our hearts.
My tendency is to default to avoidance when it comes to dealing with feedback. Because of that, I need to focus on this area by committing myself to friendships where I receive healthy feedback from others.
You are seated in the heavenly places.
The mindset that the world wants us to have tells us that we’re only good enough if we chase after the kind of success defined by the world. Everything from commercials to our educational system trains us to pursue material and external success while neglecting our inner life.
For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. – Ephesians 2:6
Because of Jesus, we’re already good enough; what we have to do is receive this abundant life that God wants for us.
When we spend our lives chasing after success, accolades, recognition, titles, or approval from people, we continue to feed into the spirit of lack within us. In a way, we are actors living out the roles that the world has given us.
There was a time when I chased after recognition and titles because something within me needed that validation from others. I was able to do it in a subtle way while living in denial that I needed people’s approval. By being friendly and helpful, I gained approval and was able to fit in. There’s nothing wrong with being friendly or helpful, but the subtle driving force behind it causes me to feed the spirit of lack.
You’ll likely encounter friendly and helpful staff when you walk into a nice store or restaurant. Their main motivation is not really to serve you but to serve you as a paying customer. That friendliness stops once you decide just to be you and not that paying customer.
In the same way, we play these roles because of what we’ll receive back in return. It’s not just limited to working; it could be in a social setting or even a church setting where we gain acceptance by conforming to social norms.
Children learn this early on by behaving a certain way or achieving certain results in order to gain approval. Other times, we avoid playing these roles altogether by rebelling and becoming critical of others.
I’ve played these roles for many years and as I went through a season of spiritual dryness, God began to work in that area of my heart where I was living with the spirit of lack.
He reminded me that I was already seated with Jesus and that my position was already established. All I have to do is follow Him and do what He wants me to do without having to worry about the results and recognition. From there, He gave me a new dream and a new passion to chase after Him and His purpose.
Much of this can only happen in our hearts and not our minds. Head knowledge itself might not do anything if we don’t actually experience the presence of God healing us.
God can give you a new lease on life again when you give up what you’ve been chasing after to gain approval. Yes, it could mean making sacrifices or giving up certain pursuits for a season while you allow Him to work on your heart. It could also mean taking more risks to find inner healing instead of protecting yourself by avoiding rejection.