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“From where he sits he overlooks all us earth-dwellers. He has shaped each person in turn; now he watches everything we do.” (Psalm 33:14-15 MSG)
God wired you in a unique way and gave you certain talents, and he’s watching to see how you use your shape. Are you going to use your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experience for yourself, or are you going to use them for God? Are you going to live for yourself, or are you going to make a contribution in the world using your shape?
Psalm 33:14-15 says, “From where he sits he overlooks all us earth-dwellers. He has shaped each person in turn; now he watches everything we do” (MSG).
Have you ever considered that God is watching every single moment of your life? There is no moment of your life when God is not paying attention. God never says, “I’m bored with her. That’s not important. I’m going to change the channel.” God actually says, “Before you were born, I had you in my mind. I have never missed one breath of your life.”
One day, when your life on Earth ends and you go into eternity, you’re going to stand before God, and you’re going to give an account of how well you used what he gave you — the opportunities, the networks, the relationships, the mind, the talent, your shape. How did you use what he gave you?
Do you realize how serious this is? Isaiah 44:21 says, “Take it seriously, Israel, that you’re my servant. I made you, shaped you: You’re my servant.”
Life is preparation for eternity. It is a test! Your shape is important because how faithful you are now with what God has given you will determine how much more he gives you in eternity.
The Bible teaches very clearly that your role and rewards in Heaven will be based on how well you did with what you were given in this life. And if you are faithful and make the most of what God gave you, he’s going to give you more. But if you don’t use what God has given you, it’s going to be a tragic loss in eternity.
Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much .… If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” (Luke 16:10-12 NIV)
Talk It Over
- Have you taken the time to think about how God has shaped you? If not, make time today to start thinking through how God has uniquely shaped you through your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experience.
- How have you been a good steward of your shape? In what areas do you need to better utilize your shape?
- What do you think it means — that no one else in the world has the same shape as you?
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And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments….”
Nehemiah 1:5
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If you read many of the prayers in the Bible, you’ll notice a pattern emerging. Great prayers are long on praise and short on petition.
Just like Nehemiah’s prayer is above. It begins with deep and wholesome respect and fear of God and His almighty power. Even the model prayer that Christ Himself gave us starts by revering God’s holy name (Matthew 6:9).
The point I’m making today is that what we believe about God will determine what we believe about prayer and how effective our prayers are!
Nehemiah went before the Lord knowing that God would hear him. He came with awesome respect and reverence, understanding that he was on holy ground. The fact is that careless and casual speech isn’t appropriate when we enter onto holy ground to converse with the Lord.
Nehemiah understood what we need to understand today. He knew that prayer begins with praise and worship of God. Let your prayer life be filled with joyful words of praise to Him!
WORSHIP WITH YOUR PRAYERS!
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