Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Dwell or Excel

“The Christian often tries to forget his weakness: God wants us to remember it, to feel it deeply.” by Andrew Murray


I don’t know about you but when it comes to weaknesses the last thing I am able to do is forget them. For me they seem to pop up frequently, haunt me often, and Satan uses them as a board to beat me over the head with. They are the boots that stomp me in the ground when I’m already down. Over and over again its Satan’s voice I hear that reminds me daily of my areas of little strength. He is the first one to point them out and the last one to keep silent regarding them.


To me, God is the one who tells me not to worry about them because He has them covered. He is the support we need when we’re at our weakest. He is the strength we lack and the confidence we need to get by. That’s what God wants us to remember is the fact that He is there for us, that we shouldn’t worry about those areas in our lives because He has them wrapped up in His own strength and wisdom.


What God doesn’t want us doing is dwelling on these areas to the point we get stuck in our own flukes and flaws. Too often we like to use them as an excuse to get out of doing things for the Lord as well as other people. “Oh I can’t do that I’m too shy. I can’t serve God there I’m not talented enough…..” and the excuses go on.


There’s a balancing act here to be found. An act of balancing between dwelling on our weaknesses too much or not enough. We can learn from our weaknesses and become stronger where we once were feeble. We don’t need to dwell but to excel in these areas using the strength of God so that we can’t boast that we “did it ourselves.”


Where we are weak God is strong if we would only allow Him to be. God’s not in the stomping business but the carpentry business of building us up. The part we play is to want to be teachable. Learning from our own weaknesses instead of always trying to point out other people’s to make ours look better.


Dwell or excel the choice is ours. God makes the one possible, we make the other happen.

© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

7 comments:

nani said...

Beautiful words, my friend! It is so true that satan wants to keep us down! Dwelling with God and calling on His name...definitely the answer!!

Marsha Young said...

Karen,
I very much agree with your take on the quote that God does not want us to unduly dwell on our "flukes and flaws" (great phrase by the way).

He wants us to be aware, and then allow him to help us "excel". Very good post.
blessings to you - Marsha

Irene said...

A poignant post on dwelling or excelling in our weaknesses. I am actually guilty of a lot of things here. I let my weaknesses take over for the most part of my life. I've been afraid to take risks. I wish I could overcome that.

I feel blessed to have read your post. Thank you. God bless! :-)

Visiting from In "Other" Words

Anonymous said...

A great post! I'm visiting from Sunflower Faith's blog, and I really enjoyed your post.

Sunflower Faith said...

So true and so on the point...there are times, that I'm guilty of the same and seem to zero in on everything that I could find is wrong or afraid or weak in me, that I forget the bigger picture and life passes me by instead of fully enjoying it!

God bless you dear Sister for your wonderful insight in this week's quote!

Tami said...

Dwell or excel--I like that.

Loni said...

Thank you so much for sharing on this quote . . . I just did not get all around that day! It sure was a good one and so appreciate all your input and thoughts.

You are the hostess next week! :)