Oh Me Of Little Faith

(Please Note: All hi-lited passages in this post provide links to the appropriate site or Scripture referenced)

The other night, I was watching Joyce Meyer on TV and I was thinking "If only I had faith and wisdom like Joyce Meyer..." After the show was over, this line of thought continued, going nowhere but in a downward spiral of course, with me obsessing about how "amazing" Joyce is and how I could "never" be the amazing godly woman that she is.
Then the Lord said to me: "The Spirit within Joyce Meyer is the SAME SPIRIT I have given you (1 Cor 12:11) - So why would you think she has power that you are unable to access through My Spirit within you?"
This may be a "duh" thing for everyone else out there and maybe I am the densest person in the world, but this was ground-breaking for me. I mean I always knew that those who are believers each have the Holy Spirit but I guess I just never thought too deeply about the amount of power within each of us being the same, by the same Spirit, and what this means for ME. I "knew" it, but I wasn't LIVING it!
Anyway, I started getting really, REALLY excited about this once I got going with it. In my head, I was thinking through all the "gurus" of the faith that I could and acknowledging that the same Spirit within them is within ME. I was thinking "I have the same Holy Spirit as Billy Graham! I have the same Holy Spirit as Elisabeth Elliot! I have the same Holy Spirit as Beth Moore! Max Lucado! Oswald Chambers! C.S. Lewis! Mother Theresa!"
These people are/were simply human like I am. They are no "better," no more "capable" than I am - they are all just "jars of clay" who the Lord chose to use for His glory "to show that [their] all-surpassing power is from GOD and NOT from [themselves]" (2 Cor 4:6-7)
NOT ONE of these men or women could accomplish ANYTHING that they accomplished apart from the Holy Spirit within them - the same Power that is within me AND within YOU! (John 15:5).

In Ephesians 2:18-22, Paul writes of the Israelites and the Gentiles that through Christ, God "created in Himself one new man out of the two...For through Him we both have access to the Father BY ONE SPIRIT." This same "One Spirit", the Holy Spirit, is the One Spirit who unites us all as children of God and as equal heirs to His blessings through Christ (Gal 3:29). This One Spirit gives each of us different gifts and, although we are all given different gifts, we are told that each one of us (that means YOU too!) ARE given gifts "for the common good" (1 Cor 12:7-11). I may never be a national speaker like Joyce Meyer, as that may not be my particular gift, but I still have access to the same amazing Spiritual Power that lights her up from within - I have access to the same Truth that inspires her, strengthens her, motivates her.
Are you tempted to think that you cannot make it because you are just not "as strong as (insert name of 'great spiritual guru' here)_______?" The same Spirit who made that person "great" is the same Spirit within you, and He WILL empower you if you allow Him to! That person is nothing apart from Christ, and neither are you.

When the Lord appeared to Moses in Exodus and told Moses what He wanted him to do, "Moses said to the LORD, 'O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.' [Then] The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." (Ex 4:10-12)
Are you arguing with God that you cannot "handle" your role as a single mom? That you just cannot walk the road in front of you right now? If so, you, like Moses, are by NO means the first one God has had this "argument" with - so don't beat yourself up - Instead, listen to His Answers! What is He saying in His Word to us and to all the others who have "argued" with Him in the past?
He is saying to you, like He has said to those before you: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because [of the world around you], for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." (Deut 31:6)
Is this not the same message, in different words, that He gave to all of His people throughout the Bible? He patiently listened to their protests that they "could not do it" and then He gently showed them that they COULD do whatever He called them to, by His Power within them.
Is this not the same message that Jesus left with His disciples shortly before His death when He said "The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and DO NOT be afraid....In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world..."(John 14:25-27, John 16:33)
You are NOT alone, struggling to "survive" - As David says of the Lord, "You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me." (Psalm 139:5) Your Father has also "hemmed" YOU in - He is before you and behind you, He has His hand on you, He is within you and HE is your HOPE (2 Thess 2:15-17).
Remember Moses in Exodus 4 saying "I can't do it Lord!!"? Well, now skip ahead to Exodus 15:2 and look at the NEW SONG Moses sings to the Lord : "The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him." (Exodus 15:2)
The same Lord who put this new song in Moses' heart is the Lord who is within YOU and can put a new song in YOUR heart. He is within ME and will put a new song in MY heart. He is within all those who have "survived" before us. And now we, too, can stop arguing with God and instead "sing to the Lord a new song...praising Him...proclaiming His salvation...declaring His glory..."(Psalm 96:1-3)
Yes, Lord - I WANT to sing a new song to You - Forgive me, Lord that I took my eyes off of You and Your Power within me and I have been looking only to myself. I am weak, but you are strong Lord. I can do NOTHING apart from You Lord - Lead me, guide me, hold me - let me walk in Your POWER through the blood of your Son - In Jesus' Name

"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take [this burden] away from me. But The Lord said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor 12:8-10)