Are You Equipped?

“I am the Lord; there is no other God. I have equipped you for battle, though you don’t even know Me, so all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am the Lord, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:5 NLT)

This verse from the Prophet Isaiah gives us perspective as we evaluate how God has put us together as His child. Remember, He knew us before He laid the foundation of the earth. Every aspect of His creation was designed with us in mind.

Psalm 139:15-16 says: “You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” These verses can be confusing until we remember that God is ever present.

We ONLY see in this present moment, then have memories of past moments, but for God EVERY moment is present. How does that translate? My roommate in college believed that because God already knew what we were going to do, we didn’t have any choice, but that’s not true.

When I’m present with you, I can tell you what color shirt you have on. How do I know that? Because I’m present with you, so, I know because I can see it with my own eyes. But because I can see it in this moment doesn’t mean I influenced you in any way in the moments I wasn’t with you when you decided to wear that shirt. That was completely your decision.

Because God is ever present and all-knowing He is with us in every moment of our life – past, present, and future. His knowledge doesn’t change the fact that we have free will to make any decision we choose. However, with all of that knowledge that God has about us, He knows each decision we will make, thus, His knowledge of us enables Him to equip us with exactly what we’ll need to be everything He desires us to be whenever we decide to follow Him.

The Holy Spirit calls us, but we have the freedom to accept His invitation to follow the Lord Jesus or not. But once we do answer His call and yield our life and allegiance to King Jesus, then we can be assured that He has equipped us with everything we’ll ever need to be everything He designed and desires for us to be.

Christine Caine wrote: “God has equipped you with everything you need to do what He has called you to do.” He’s done that by giving you the personality you have, the spiritual gifts He’s chosen for you, even the physical, mental, and emotional makeup that you have. Sometimes we wrongly assume that God made a mistake when He made us. Surely He can find someone better suited to do what He’s called us to do, but we’re wrong.

He hand-picked you and me to do exactly what He’s filling, empowering, and calling us to do and be. But how do we know what that is? That’s a great question. Let’s look at that in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊