We Are Still God’s Workmanship!

Dear Friends,

This verse from Ephesians 2:10 says that: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us do!” The implications for us are that when God created us, we are the “Crown of His Creation.” Of everything He created only we are created in His image. Only we are able to come into His presence and fellowship with Him. Only we are created with a will and the ability to accept, or reject His invitation for intimate relationship with Him.

In addition to all of this it also says that: “…we are created to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Before we were even born He had laid out the “good works” that we were to do.

Keeping this in mind, who would try to stop us in our pursuit of what God has planned in advance for us to do? Our enemy Satan! Remember he hates us because of who we are and the position we have with our Father God.

This past weekend I taught on Shame/Rejection and Abandonment. During the preparation of this presentation I thought about the times in my life when Satan tried to discourage me or stop me from experiencing those good works God had prepared for me long before I was even born.

The earliest one I remember was the death of my Father. I was 18 years old when my father was killed as a result of being beaten to death by a group of four men who were never brought to account for what they did. I had a good relationship with my father so this trauma left me feeling angry and abandoned. This could have easily turned me away from the path God had me on. Fortunately when I was in my early thirties God helped me deal with this and the shame, anger and abandonment I felt were completely healed.

Shame may come as a result of things done to us but also things that we do to ourselves. “One story I remember was when a young man came up to us on Friday for prayer for his right ear. He had injured it swimming and could barely hear. When we prayed Friday night there was some improvement. He came back Saturday afternoon and we prayed once more and again on Saturday evening. Each time there was a little improvement. At first we were just praying for the physical healing but during the last session the Lord revealed to us that part of the problem had to do with an inner healing issue.

I asked him about this and he said that he liked to jog early in the morning. On one of his runs he was hot and sweaty so he jumped into an icy cold river to cool off. When he got out of the river he noticed that he was nearly deaf in his right ear. He said that he felt ashamed and embarrassed and that he was to blame and he had a hard time forgiving himself. As I prayed with him he was able to forgive himself and immediately God healed his ear.

When he came back Sunday morning he had this radiant smile on his face and told me this story. “Each Sunday when I walk to church I wear my iPod cranked all the way up so I can hear it. This morning as I was walking to church, I had to turn it way down because it was hurting my ears. I can hear perfectly now!” That’s how he knew he was healed.

When we allow God access to those areas of pain the shame and rejection begins to erode and be healed in our lives. This is the work of the Holy Spirit; God comes to us and shows us unconditional love. He transforms us and shows us our worth in Him. He will show you the truth that you are a very valuable part of the body of Christ.

Remember, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us do!” Ephesians 2:10

God bless,

Mike

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