One way to recognize what is real or fake is to know yourself, as in the adage, “to thine own self be true.”
Before we can know anyone is true, we first must know the truth of ourselves and have discernment. It is by the Holy Spirit we obtain discernment.
It takes all types to gather in this season of Christmas for various reasons. The ultimate reason is Jesus. All too often, motives are hidden, never knowing the true reason for celebrating this time of year.
Whatever one’s reasons, it's a time when the meaningful and miraculous will happen, if you only believe. “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3: 1)
What is missed and rarely addressed is our relationship with the Lord, especially this time of year. Many heavy hearts from missing loved ones are no longer with us. It’s important to know the reason for the season by captivating our minds with truth.
I am reminded years ago of a man telling me the moment God got his attention. He kept getting into a car accident in his red Ford Mustang. After the accident, each time he’d go out and purchase the same car. This cycle repeated for five years, unbeknownst to him, God was trying to tell him something.
At the five-year mark, a light came on and he realized these occurrences were not a coincidence. An individual he didn’t know told him he needed to pray and seek the Lord as to why he kept wrecking his sports car. The stranger told him God was trying to get his attention and had been for quite some time.
He also explained the great lengths God had gone through to leave the 99 and bring plus-one into the fold. “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninetynine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?” (Matthew 18: 12) But do we know the truth of God's calling on our lives? No, most times the calling on our lives is dormant in us and unknown. More times than not, it’s when we go through something traumatic that our God calling is made known to us by Himself.
One of the best ways to know your God-given calling is praying to the Lord. As your prayer life is shaped, He will let you know exactly who you are. Now, don’t limit God as to how He will speak to you. There are a host of ways He can communicate with you.
According to what you are called to carry out, that’s how He speaks to us.
After all, we each have a measure of faith. “A key to any movement of God; according to your faith, be it unto you.”
(Matthew 9: 29)
Not only is He the God who sees (El Roi), but He infinitely knows who and what we are called to demonstrate at the appointed time.
Be mindful that He is known to use the unlikeliest people to get His work done the way He wants it done.
“I knew you before you were formed within your mother’s womb; before you were born I sanctified you and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.” (Jeremiah 1: 5) As time would allow and at just the right moment, God will get one’s attention by leaving the 99 going after the plusone. Why would He do these things because He has need of you, plusone? He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
Always knowing what He has assigned and designed His creation to carry out.
An example of the Lord going after the plus-one is Saul in the Bible. In doing so, He points out, Saul, why have you persecuted Me?
The things Saul did to Christian’s he did unto the Lord. He blinds him on the road to Damascus.
He sends Ananias to heal and deliver him. Ananias did as he was told, and Saul was transformed into Paul. He was healed, his sight returned, and he was filled with the Holy Ghost.
What are you called to do? Are you likened to Ananias going after plusone?
Or are you likened to Saul being transformed into Paul? He is raising up Ananias and Paul-type mantles for such a time as this.
Apostle Jacqueline Hudson is a Waycross resident and author of the book “Never Say Never: A Memoir with a Twist.”
