So....you’ve set out to pursue a God given goal but got caught up in popularity and selfish ambition. Things became overwhelming and now you feel like a failure and hypocrite and fear that God will never use you again!
"Immediately following that affirmation of God and validation of the Spirit, the enemy endeavored to question and diminish the identity of Christ..."
1. Its okay
You know that saying...the moment you begin to work for God be prepared for the enemy to attack you. Someone once told me that the enemy doesn’t attack those who are not followers of Christ because he already has them. It is the ones who want to do something and be used by God and for God that he is trying to recruit!
2. Ask for and receive God’s forgivenessHe still wants to use you. The fact that you’re being attacked in such a way is evidence that you’re on the right path. It may not seem like it right now, but oh how good God is that he will turn your hot mess into a blessing.
3. Forgive yourself You’re convicted, not condemned. When the enemy attacks, he attacks. Something that began as an innocent desire to be used by God can quickly turn into the desire for popularity. We have to be mindful of our motives and constantly keep them in check and in alignment with God.
4. Move on: leave no thought unchecked and know that Gods conviction is not condemnation. You’ve been corrected! Someway somehow God has redirected your steps before you’ve drifted off too far. That conviction you feel is Gods pinch on the meatiest part of your arm. Of course it stings! But oh how God loves and disciplines his children teaching us his way and how to be better.
5. Surrender: God will still use you. That was just a trial run! God used this opportunity to expose you to somethings within you that needed to be dealt with. Your desire for approval, your need for attention and popularity, or an insecurity within you. These things needed to be exposed so that you can truly know who you are and why it is important to keep your thoughts and motives in alignment with Gods word daily.