Today my message is about the genealogy of you.  But unlike the many ancestry tools we have today that are supposed to take a sample of your DNA and trace your beginnings back to someone or some people, the question we are asking is in whose life can we trace  your future? 

Jesus warns us about being the kind of people who trust in themselves that they are righteous and they look down on others. 

Joseph grabbed his father’s hands and tried to reverse them, but Jacob knew what he was doing.

In the book of Isaiah, scripture recounts a conversation King Hezekiah had with God:  “For hell cannot thank You; death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the grave cannot hope for Your Truth. The living, the living man, he shall praise You, as I do this day.  The father shall make known Your Truth to the children”.

Why can’t we make ourselves be what we try to make others to be? Why can’t we make ourselves do what we try to make others do?  Why don’t we view ourselves with the same judgment we view others?  

I was once a very fickle person; changing my mind often.  I cared only for what cared for me. I loved only what loved me.  And worse, I judged most things to be unworthy of my best because I thought my best was deserved by only the best.  I was like many people whose nature is to run away from our storms and to the safety of the shelters we built for ourselves.

“The Lord said; for as much as this people draw near Me with their mouths, and with their lips they do honor Me, but they have removed their heart far from Me” (Isaiah 29:13).  

Anxiety robs confidence!  Hebrews 13:5 says “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have.  For He Himself has said “I will never leave you nor forsake you””.  A few years ago I studied for six months and took a 400 question, six hour test for a professional certification I needed for my work. There were over two hundred people gathered together with me on the day of the test.  Half of them walked out of the testing center after only two hours- discouraged because the test was not easy.  I was one of the last people to finish.  At first I was overwhelmed at the magnitude of questions and the things I needed to know.  But I knew I had diligently studied and prepared myself; I was happy going into the test so I knew I would be happy coming through it.  

You need my self-awareness.  In the book of Matthew 7:3 we are asked “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye”?  One day I stopped to answer this question.

In this episode, we meet the author and voice of LiveDelivered.com