Strengths & Weaknesses

This past week as I was filling out an application for our Praise and Worship team at our church I came across these questions:

What are your Strengths?
What are your Weaknesses?

I have to admit those kind of questions always get me thinking about who I really am. The first thing I did was to ask Jack what he thought my strengths were. I mean who likes to sit and write down what you think your strengths are or what you think you are good at.  This is when the evil one loves to play with my mind and tell me you are not good at anything!! You don't have any strengths!! He really can make me believe that I don't have any, but then I say to myself ~ Wait a minute!!!! I do have strengths and I have them because God gave them to me. They are gifts that God gave to me from the time I was conceived.
God gives each and every one of us gifts (strengths) that He wants us to use for His will and for our good to not only use them to make us stronger but also to help others on our journey through this life.
Think about it, What is one strength you really feel like God has given you?
I know the first strength I wrote down was the gift of encouragement. I love to be able to encourage others. There is not a greater joy for me then to help someone who just needs to be encouraged. Who just needs someone to listen to. Who just needs to know that someone cares about what they are going through whether it be good or bad.
I believe that through the years God has allowed me to use this strength for His good. He allowed me to go through many different valleys and mountain tops so I could turn around today and help others through many of the same circumstances. There is a song that is titled, God Loves People More Than Anything. So if people are important to God, then they should be important to us. There are a lot of people in this world and especially in the church setting that are hurting or struggling with something and they just need to know that someone cares about them and loves them. I want to be that person that can give them encouragement.
So again I ask you, What are your strengths and how are you using them to give honor to God?

Now the question is, What are my Weaknesses??
This question can either play with your pride or make you feel even less of yourself.
Pride comes in and says ~ I'm not weak in any area of my life. I don't have any weaknesses!!! It's all good with me!!!
Or, the evil one tells you ~ You are no good to anyone, not even yourself. You are a failure!!! You are full of weaknesses! You can not do Anything right!! You can write down one weakness after another, because that is what you are ! YOU ARE  ONE WEAK PERSON!!!
Well, GUESS WHAT?? YOU NEED TO TAKE THAT THOUGHT CAPTIVE!!!!
When we are weak,  GOD MAKES US STRONG!!
We all have weaknesses and sometimes we dwell on them more than we do our strengths!!
Once again I have to admit that when I was writing down some of my weaknesses, I had to stop and give a little "preaching" sermon to myself!!!
One of my weaknesses that I wrote down is ~ Not Trusting People!! It's hard to know who you can trust!!
Over the years I have been hurt by people who I thought really liked or loved me. I mean, come on now, Who wouldn't like me!!! lol.... But sad to say, there have been people who I have trusted over the years and they have let me down or even worse have hurt me. So then you start to build this wall up between you and them. I'm sure you have done the same thing. If you are like me, I want to know that I can trust everyone.
Now, here's where my preaching sermon came in.
Becky, You can ALWAYS TRUST IN ME!! I WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!!
I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU IN THE GOOD AND BAD!!!
TRUST IN ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART!!
As I was looking over my weaknesses that I wrote down I had to stop and say ~ Why am I weak in this area?? How can I make myself stronger in this area of my life?
Well, as any good sermon should have ~ you have to have at least 3 points and if they are really good, they will all start with the same letter.
1. CHOICE
We all have to choose how we want to live our lives. Do we want to live in our weaknesses or grow from them. I choose whether or not if I can trust someone or maybe how to overcome fear. I choose whether or not how I want to live my life. It's all in the choices I make. If I am fearful, how can I change that? or do I just continue to live in fear. We make the choice everyday or in every situation how we should live our lives. God's Word says in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 that you need to Choose Life, that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for HE is your life!!
So who are you choosing to listen to?? Who do you think will help you grow from your weaknesses? God or satan.  As for me and my (Becky's) house, I will choose to listen and serve the Lord!!!!
2. CHANGE
Well, now that I realize that I choose to totally give over to God all my weaknesses because I know that through Him He can make me a stronger person. Now it's up to me to do something about it. I need to put some action to my words. I need to CHANGE!!! I need to change my attitude on how I believe I can make myself a stronger person with God's help. "The quality of your life and the duration of your success journey depend on your attitude, and YOU are the only person in this world with the power to make it better."~John Maxwell.  We all need to have more FAITH, faith in ourselves to believe we can change and MORE FAITH in God to know He can change us!!
3. CONTROL
Who are you giving Control to? I think many of us give to much credit to the evil one trying to control our thoughts and how we choose to live. Once again, we have to tell satan, IN THE NAME OF JESUS to GET LOST!!! I serve a MIGHTY GOD who has never let me down and has ALWAYS been there for me through the valleys and the mountain tops. I give TOTAL control of my life to Him.

So, You and I have a Choice to make!! Do we choose to live in our weaknesses or grow in our Faith in God? If we choose to have more Faith, then we need to act on it!!! And when we act on it, let go and let God have COMPLETE Control!!!
Well, there you have it!! That's my sermon for today!!!
I pray you have a wonderful week and that you give God complete control over your life!!
God is good all the time ~ And all the time ~ God is SO GOOD!!!