{"id":12648,"date":"2020-06-27T04:58:49","date_gmt":"2020-06-27T09:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=12648"},"modified":"2020-06-27T04:58:49","modified_gmt":"2020-06-27T09:58:49","slug":"i-just-want-a-gold-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=12648","title":{"rendered":"I Just Want a Gold Star"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was in a bit of a funk yesterday. Even though I’ve succeeded at getting quite a few household things done, as well as served in many ways during this time of quarantine, and posted my daily blog, still I’m not satisfied. As the doors for restaurants, businesses, and even my church are starting to open more, I\u2019m self-analyzing myself. Did I read the books I was hoping to read? No. Did I immerse myself into God and His Word more than ever because I had the time to do so? I\u2019m ashamed to say that I really didn\u2019t dive as deep into His open arms as I thought I would have. Do I feel that my blogs really impacted my readers and made a difference in their lives? Not so much!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly, I have a \u201cmoment\u201d when I sense the enemy of my heart is assaulting me. The script goes like this: \u201cYou can\u2019t be used by God,\u201d “You’re over-the-hill — you’re done!” \u201cWho do you think you are?\u201d The lies of the enemy are that we can never measure up to God\u2019s \u201cdo good\u201d charts. You know the ones in Sunday School \u2013 if we memorized that scripture or we brought a friend with us, we\u2019d get a sticky star by our name. Or the charts our parents made for us to do our chores? I want God’s gold star by my name on His “do good” chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then, into my little space, comes the assurance that it isn’t God making me feel inadequate and insecure. It is always the voice of the enemy that deceives, belittles and makes us feel we’re not enough. I look up scriptures and it is clear who accuses us and lies to us: “The devil was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44) And, this scripture: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And the icing on the cake was this scripture: “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) So, therefore “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) So, take that, Satan!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have come to know that if we are showing up to serve God, if we are seeking to follow Him, and some-thing or some-one is trying to push us away, then we can be sure it is not God. He is not saying we are disqualified. He\u2019s not hollering \u201cshape up or ship out.\u201d His instruction isn\u2019t, \u201cCome back when you\u2019ve got it together.\u201d Instead His invitation is, \u201cCome to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.\u201d (Matthew 11:28).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was in a bit of a funk yesterday. Even though I’ve succeeded at getting quite a few household things done, as well as served in many ways during this time of quarantine, and posted my daily blog, still I’m not satisfied. As the doors for restaurants, businesses, and even my church are starting to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17769,17767,17768,17770],"tags":[17762,1210,17766,17760,700,8422,9955,17758,14837,17761,17764,16897,2999,1580,17759,17763,17765,2953],"class_list":["post-12648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chart","category-gold-star","category-self-analysis","category-voice-of-the-enemy","tag-assault","tag-blog","tag-chart","tag-chores","tag-come-to-me","tag-enemy","tag-father-of-lies","tag-gold-star","tag-inadequate","tag-insecure","tag-over-the-hill","tag-quarantine","tag-rest","tag-satan","tag-self-analyzing","tag-sticky-star","tag-voice-of-the-enemy","tag-weary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12651,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12648\/revisions\/12651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}