STAY IN YOUR LANE...

Today’s devotion comes from Romans 12:3-8 (TPT)

‘God has given me grace to speak a warning about pride. I would ask each of you to be emptied of self-promotion and not create a false image of your importance. Instead, honestly assess your worth by using your God-given faith as the standard of measurement, and then you will see your true value with an appropriate self-esteem.

In the human body there are many parts and organs, each with a unique function. And so it is in the body of Christ. For though we are many, we’ve all been mingled into one body in Christ. This means that we are all vitally joined to one another, with each contributing to the others.

God’s marvelous grace imparts to each one of us varying gifts and ministries that are uniquely ours. So if God has given you the grace-gift of prophecy, you must activate your gift by using the proportion of faith you have to prophesy. If your grace-gift is serving, then thrive in serving others well. If you have the grace-gift of teaching, then be actively teaching and training others. If you have the grace-gift of encouragement, then use it often to encourage others. If you have the grace-gift of giving to meet the needs of others, then may you prosper in your generosity without any fanfare. If you have the gift of leadership, be passionate about your leadership. And if you have the gift of showing compassion, then flourish in your cheerful display of compassion.’

Grace vs self-promotion…

In this powerful passage, Paul imparts wisdom to the church in Rome. He draws a parallel between prideful self-promotion and functioning according to grace in Christ. He goes on to share that as part of the body of Christ that each one is uniquely gifted with grace gifts – by implication he is also saying that we should not try to operate outside of grace and pridefully think that we can do everything!

Now we can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens us, but we should not try to do things that we are not called or graced to do. In other words, Jesus gives us supernatural ability through power of the Holy Spirit do ‘all things’ that we are called to do, or graced to do – doing all things does not imply doing things outside of our calling or anointing.

This is where many believers make a mistake…

They get out of their lane and try to operate outside of their gifting and calling. I have done this many times – sometimes I have caught myself saying, “well it needs to be done, nobody is doing it, so I am just going to do it!”, or ”Nobody else will do this right, so I will just do it” – that my friend is pride… that my friend is thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to!

We simply have to stick to what we are gifted, anointed and called to do! Getting out of our lane does not please the Lord. We need to have faith that the Lord will raise up others in the areas that we are not called to operate in. Jesus wants us to function as a body under His direction… Nobody has everything that it takes to be successful by themselves, but we can be successful together under the headship of Jesus. Jesus designed His church to be interdependent, not independent.

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your unique grace gift to you, and then begin to run with that by faith!

One of the reasons that ‘responsible people’ end up out of their lanes and doing things that they are not called to is that others are not showing up and doing what they are called to do, whether it is serving, giving, helping, or leading… when these gifted people do not show up, or serve in their area, those that are engaged in Holy Ghost assignments feel that they have to pick up the slack and ‘just do’ what needs to be done. Again, that is the trap that I have fallen into many times… instead of praying in and having faith for those that have been graced to do things to be raised up and placed, we can get impatient and ‘just do’ what others are called to do.

Instead, it would be better for some things to be left undone until the Lord raises up someone who is called, graced and gifted to do it. This is a huge act of faith, but we simply cannot do things alone – we need a Holy Ghost team to get the job done!

This is a message for two groups of people…

If you are in the ‘passive group’, and you are not operating, or serving with your grace gift – please get active! Please take your place – the vision is being held up because you have not taken your place! If you are in the ‘over active group’… its time to let go of the things that you are not gifted to do – its time to get back into your lane and to trust the Lord to raise up others.

Doing things this way will please the Lord and will bring great success, in Jesus Name!

Make this confession of faith - say this out loud with me…

“John 17:17 says that I am sanctified and set apart by Your truth - Your Word is truth - Your Word absolute truth – the Word is for me to walk in, to accept as final truth and for me to stand on, to declare by faith and for me to do – I am who the Word says that I am - I can do what the Word says I can do - I can be who the Word says I can be - Christ in me can do all things – I can do all things through Christ - I have absolute POWER over ALL the Work of the enemy – nothing shall by any means harm me – I have power to raise the dead – I have power to heal the sick – I have power to do the works of Jesus – I have total authority over all of the works of His hands in Jesus Name! – the power and the authority of the creator of all things is on the inside of me – when I speak by faith, I ALWAYS have what I say – As I speak the Word, the Father ALWAYS watches over it to perform it – The Father loves it when I expect Him to ALWAYS perform His EVERY Word! – I always expect the Father to bring to pass every word that I speak according to His Word – God is not a man that He should lie – His Word is literal, His Word is truth and His Word is final!”