July 22

About Benjamin he said: “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders”. Deuteronomy 33:12 (NIV)

Living in limiting conditions, or on-going lack in our lives, can cause us to believe that this is who we are—limited and less than—not being able at times to separate our surroundings from ourselves. We may feel that we have become our circumstances and our circumstances have become us. We have less than. We are less than. We don’t deserve anything more.

Quite the opposite can also be true, where we have more than enough is some ways, enveloped by abundance, but this may also produce a pressure to perform and a desire to hang on to it all through our own strength and perfection. We struggle to maintain things as they are, haunted by a lingering fear that if the provision falls down or disappears, we may fall down and disappear with it! Believing there is not more to us than what we have.

However, cherished child of the Most High God, neither of these situations are God’s truth, or His divine design and perfect will for you. In and of yourself, you are more than enough to Him, and He to you!
 
In the midst of the lowest lows we may sink to, or the highest heights we may ascend to, it is Jesus Who reaches in to rescue us from any wrong belief we have formed along life’s way. He imparts the truth of who we are meant to be, based on how God has made us from the beginning of time, as His original design. 
 
He lovingly teaches us that we are not our environment, good or bad, and that any of the exterior trappings that confine us, do not define us, for we were created by God—made in His image and likeness with tremendous hope and potential placed inside of us by our loving Father and Creator God. With equal worth and value ascribed to all, we can overcome in the midst of our circumstances by the grace of God, through the supernatural strength of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, Who is our limitless help and unwavering hope!
 
You are the beloved of the Lord, never defined by what is around you, rather defined instead by the One Who is in you! Yes, dear heart, hold your head high, and find your place of rest, secure in Him, and in the beauty of who you are—overcomer, victorious one, beloved of the Lord, chosen and cherished child of God, with full access to the unlimited richness of the Kingdom of our Glorious King! 

Step out of the anxiety and the stress caused by the highs or the lows in life, and step instead into your God-given liberty and beauty of Who He created you to be. Rest, beloved, between His sheltering shoulders, secure in His abiding truth. There are no ups and downs here. No, more than enough, or never enough. No shaky ground or storm-tossed seas! Abide there forever, chosen one, and be free!

Prayer:

Precious Holy Spirit, I thank You that You are my Comforter, Teacher, and Friend.  Would You help me today, in the gentle and loving ways that You do,  to lay down all the weights and the worries, and lay my head instead upon our Beloved Father and Lord.  I rest in the fullness of the life of Christ; safe and secure; I rest and I trust in what only You can do.

What a glorious God we serve, Who daily carries our burdens for us, and gives us blessings in return.

Great is our God. And greatly to be praised!