As I spend this week in Bangkok for a sales conference, it's allowed me to see, from my interaction with my colleagues, the amount of passion and hard work they have for the brands we work with. And it's really opened my eyes to the amount of talented people I partner with everyday.
I remember when I first accepted this role, I was filled with fear at how I would perform in it -- I was from a slightly different industry and also, this was a team lead role. I had never really led a team before and I wasn't sure if I would be able to fill the shoes of the person who had left. I had many thoughts running through my head, thoughts that were negative -- most of them revolving around the thoughts of failure.
However, in this journey with God, I am always reminded of his faithfulness and goodness to me. It was never because of my "works" that I have been granted favour, but really by His grace and mercy to me. I absolutely cannot harbour a thought about myself that Christ doesn't have of me. I am a child of God and as a child of God, I only will listen to the voice of my father.
John 10:27 "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."
Truly, it is a battle to drown out any voice of fear and uncertainty, and only listen to the truth God is saying about me. I am His beloved, I am His child, I am blessed, His thoughts of me are of good things, His love overcomes all the fear I have, I can fully trust in Him to provide for my needs, He has better plans for me that I can even architecture for myself. And my experience is that everytime a negative thought comes, I confess the exact contrary over my circumstance.
"You will fail, you are not good a leader enough" --> "No, I will not fail, I will be the head and not the tail, you said Lord, You will make me the top and not beneath.."
Each time I overcome my fear and inadequacy with the spoken word of Jesus, I can be confident that my situation is changing and each time I exercise the power of my declaration, I get more and more comfortable and confident to slay the lies of the enemy. Like any muscle, so is faith and its power of declaration. The more I practice, the more this muscle gets stronger until positive declaration becomes second nature to me.
I have learnt in the last 7 months with my company, I have spoken and prayed things over myself contrary to how the circumstance is, and each time God comes through. This conference, my team won an award for business excellence, and as I remember receiving the award, I was flooded with thankfulness on how the Lord has showed me that He has given me the power to succeed and He is the Lord who provides. He has provided me with a great team, a great boss, colleagues who are so capable and business partners who have become as close as a sibling! Even these small desires I have, He cares enough about me to fulfill them. He knows about my insecurities -- and He would step in just to show me His love and favour. It's not about how capable I am, I know I am not, but it's about how God helps me fight my battles and obstacles, and how he opens doors and opportunities and gives me creative ideas I would not have thought of otherwise.
This is truly unmerited favour. Mark and I have come up with a list of things we speak over our lives every morning since we started dating. And I know although not everything on that list has come to pass, I am expectant that, as I co-partner with Him, He will show me more how to shine in my workplace. Afterall, if I am successful, I can be more credible in sharing Jesus. I can use the influence I have to share more about Jesus. And my deepest desire is that my work will be my worship, and in my office, I can be the atmosphere-changer. That people will see God in and through me.
I have a long way to go, but I know God is starting a work in me that He will be faithful to complete. I believe that Mark and I are meant to be world changers and history makers. We will be used in the marketplace to have our lives shine for Jesus. That through us, His name will be glorified and we can invoke a righteous jealousy from other who see the favour we have over our lives, so much so that people will yearn to know our God, just to understand how to receive the blessings we have. We are work in progress, but we have a faithful Father who meets us where we are, and He's committed to walking out the process with us as long as we are surrendered to Him.
If you need favour in this season of your life -- whether it is over a work engagement, an entangled relationship, a project you are involved with, or perhaps you may even be studying, I declare and pray God's wisdom over you life. May He shower you with favour and show you His goodness, and may he show you a glimpse of His faithfulness, that it will change your walk with Him. May the success and happiness you get lead your to new encounters with Him! Start declaring and believing for good things to happen to you today! Be blessed!