Skip to main content

It’s not about your Competition


Noone can get in the way of what God has ordained for your life. It does not matter what the world says. It does not matter what your situation may look like, the word of the Lord shall prevail for you.
Everyone wants to be Rachel, but in longing for the life of someone else we miss our own blessings. Yes, Rachel was beautiful. Yes, she was chosen to be first by man, but Leah was chosen to be first by God. Leah failed to notice her own fruit because she was too busy looking at someone else’s tree. Don’t miss God in your life by watching how he is moving in someone else’s. Life is not about competition, but it is about the glory of God.
In a way, Leah may have been in competition with her sister through her process of child bearing. Rachel was barren during the beginning of her marriage and Leah used this opportunity to gain her husband’s affection. Don’t we do that in life? We look at our completion and we both find and try to use to our advantage what we are better than them at. We try to make them fill badly and we attempt to show out and label our victories with an emotion. Leah labeled her children with an emotion. She thought that her husband would finally love her because she gave him six sons and one daughter. We think that the world will finally love us because we are smart or because we finally lost weight, but life is not about that. Leah was having children for the glory of God. Through her son Judah, God gave us Christ, but in life we tend to miss the long term blessing looking for short term benefits.
No one is telling you to get used to being second best, what I am asking you to do is see God in your process. Don’t hate your competition, but instead pray for them. God wants to use them also. God used Rachel’s son Joseph to usher the people of Israel in to Egypt. What Leah did not know was that her own sons would hate her nephew Joseph and leave him for dead to be taken as a slave and that Rachel would die giving birth to her second son. Rachel needed all the prayer that she could get during her process from her sister, but Leah was too busy looking at her as the competition.
We have to learn to pray. Leah’s family needed prayer because they had so much turmoil after she was gone. Sometimes it hurts to pray for others when we feel so broken by them. God can use our brokenness for his glory. Instead of labeling her children with an emotion, she should have been looking toward God on their behalf.
See the fruit that God has given you and praise him for it. Ask him for insight concerning every situation that you are faced with because you have no idea of the spiritual impact that it could have on your lineage.
Leah was blessed even though she may not have seen it. You are blessed although you may not see it. There is a blessing in your hard place.
 Lord I pray that you help us to stop looking at our co-workers, our friends, and our family members as competition. We are not placed in this world to try to beat the next person to the mark. God humble us and remind us that you will lift us up for your glory when it is time. Lord let us not grow weary in well doing.  Let us see you in the midst of our process. Lord break us for your glory and help us to see ourselves and our situations through your eyes. In Jesus name.

Recommended Reading: And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (Galatians 6:9).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

You are Seen

“Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the LORD, who had spoken to her. She said, ‘You are the God who sees me.’ ” (Genesis 16:13) Hagar was unexpected. She was an Egyptian maid who turned into a baby mama, given to a man so that his wife could bear a son before her time of blessing had come. and she was a track star. My girl was a track star too. She got out of the house of Abram so fast when she became mistreated. Hagar never asked to be placed in the position to become a wife while still being called a maid. Her yes impacted her greatly and a ‘beef’ was the result.  Hagar knew the house rules, “We serve the big G and not the little g’s over here.” She saw Abram praying and observed him meeting with God, but then it happened. Sari commissioned her, and she was given to a man. Hager was never really asked, she was never really considered a wife and was more lik...

You are Not Lost in the Crowd. God Sees You!

Someone asked the question Why do we sing? When we lift our hands to Jesus What do we really mean ~Kirk Franklin “Why we sing?” It’s very very easy to get lost in the realm of religion or to get caught up in the hype of “church”. God has blessed so many of his people with gifts and talents that range from writing and composing, to worshiping, preaching and dancing. At my church, it seems like every one has some sort of gift and I must admit that I feel lost in the shuffle, but that brings me to point of asking myself questions such as ,“who am I going to church for?” and “whose attention am I aiming for?” Everyone wants to be noticed. We want to be praised and we want to be the favorite child, but at what cost? What are we paying to be number one in the congregation’s eyes? and do we even care if God is pleased with us right where we are? I’m the queen of being offended and I often compare myself, my progression in Christ, and my life to others. This should not be so and...

Beauty for Ashes: Release the Urn

  “ The Spirit of the Sovereign  Lord  is on me,    because the  Lord  has anointed me  to proclaim good news to the poor.   He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,  to proclaim freedom for the captives   and release from darkness for the prisoners,   to proclaim the year of the  Lord ’s favor ,  and the day of vengeance of our God,  to comfort all who mourn,   and provide for those who grieve in Zion ,  to bestow on them a crown of beauty     instead of ashes,   the oil of joy   instead of mourning,   and a garment of praise   instead of a spirit of despair .  They will be called oaks of righteousness,  a planting of the  Lord   for the display of his splendor. ” - Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV   A vessel of God told me to write the real story. The one that was uncut, raw, and honest. I was to write the TR...

Who Are You Married To?

“Jesus said to her,  “Go, call your husband, and come here.”   The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”   Jesus said to her,  “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’   for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly”                         (John 4:17-18 NKJV). Over the last few days, I’ve missed someone. You may wonder why I would even start things off in this way, but this type of stuff has to be confronted because it’s how people get caught up and entangled in what God loosed them from already.  As I was thinking what I was thinking, each time I heard, “What part of toxic do you miss?” I can’t argue with the question. The situation was beyond toxic, but with this being so, what causes me to miss something that left me so shattered? The answer: the familiarity.   Being familiar with a thing will cause you to run ...

Be Still and Know

“Be still, and know that I am God”- Psalm 46:10a KJV Today as I was driving to work, anxious, knowing that I needed Jesus, I saw “In God I trust”, and “ Be still and know” on two separate cars, one after the other. I needed both things, and that is what I am clinging to. The past can make you feel as if you are in a track meet running from it. It seems faster and more advance within the race, but God says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Being still in a world full of thoughts is its own task, but the command of God is bigger than that. “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words.”                      -John 14:23a Above anything, God’s word is the answer. It is what halts the past and brings stillness instead of constant worrying. I considered Moses today. This man, who literally ran from his past, was asked to lead others to a future that God...

Refreshment for the Journey

You cannot tell everybody your dreams because your dreams might be bigger than their expectation of you. You will do things for God that  man did not see coming. Learn to lean on the opinions of Jesus instead of allowing yourself to become esteemed by the opinions of man. Those folks do not know you or the potential that God has placed on the inside of you. Some of you even have family members that don’t know the real you. Think of yourself as a plan that God has up His sleeve. You are unexpected, but powerful through His grace. Nobody saw Joseph coming. His own brothers did not even know who he was to God. People don’t always treat you like the One who created you. That is why you have to learn to see yourself the way that God sees you and have no bitterness in your heart toward man. Forgive those people who talk about you and use you. Joseph had to forgive his brothers because God was going to use him to protect them. People have no idea that you may be the one that God is...

Waiting for the Promise vs. Moving in Impatience

“Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? ” And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him”   ( Genesis 17: 17-19 NKJV). Isaac was desired, but Ismael was birthed out of impatience. If God told you that you were going to birth something beautiful, no matter what your season may look like, bank on the Lord’s promises. Your Ishmael does not have to be a man, your Ishmael can be an opportunity. Don’t walk into just any ole thing because you got tired of waiting on God. If God promised you something in 2016 and you didn’t see it in 2017, that does not mean that He forgot about what He promised you. Isaac had a set season and ...

The Process of Faithing It: Trusting Jesus with Your Faith

  “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5:34 NKJV). Can you imagine Jesus in a crowd? Everyone has a need, but His target in that moment is to go and build the faith of a little girl’s family at the request of her father because they think that she will die. The father is scared, but Jesus was on the way until He felt something. This feeling was different, but powerful. Jesus turns around looking, asking questions, but finds his answer in the form of a woman, standing and looking amazed at what just happened to her. After 13 years of anemia, tiredness, dizzy spells, soiled clothing, and impacted relationships, she is healed.  This woman with an issue of blood had spent all of her money, but decided to trust Jesus with her faith, which was all that she had left. Jesus was not too busy to stop and ask, “Who touched me?”. The disciples reminded Jesus of all the people that were around them, but this touch was different. Some...

Will You Marry Me?

I’m not obsessed, but I’ve been thinking about marriage a lot more lately. As a Christian, I’ve learned where I went wrong concerning my standards of dating before I knew Jesus. I have been looking at the profile pages of exes to see if, perhaps, I was missing something. I’m happy to report that I am not. I more so found myself thanking God for what He didn’t allow. Even though I’m thankful for every failed relationship, I find myself encountering the hurt that still remains as a result of my insecurities. There is so much that I have not let go of. In a way,I’m afraid to let go of the hurt that I am carrying because that vacant spot could potentially attract more pain in its place. I want to trust people, but the fear of them knowing who I intimately am always gets in my way.                 I so badly desire God and everything that He has for me, but the past is a hinderance. I feel as if I should finally forgive those that misused me, ...

Abounding in Grace: The Unmerited Favor of the Lord

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) There I was, a senior in college looking forward to finally graduating until I got the dreaded email that I was lacking 3 semester hours. In that moment, I was upset with myself and wondered how, after working so hard, I managed to still be unsuccessful. Even though I was one class away from earning a degree, I was standing at the tail end of a 6- year journey that should have only taken 4 years.  I had to re-face the fact that I had failed many previous classes and I had also almost gotten myself placed on academic suspension due to bad grades, but by the grace of God, the computer somehow skipped my name, and I never received a notification that I would not be able to resume classes. God showed so much grace to me, but not being able to graduate made me angry with Him. I felt like a failure, and I thought that He w...