Why Serving Is A Struggle

In this episode of Beyond the Benediction, Kevin discusses the struggles of serving God, emphasizing that despite having the tools and support from God, many Christians face challenges in their service.

Transcript

Kevin (00:01.87)
Welcome back to Beyond the Benediction. quite a while since I've done a full episode and yes, this is a full, well, relatively full episode. It's been a while. Thank you so much for watching and listening. Just been, as you guys probably know, I've just been in position of God doing a lot of things in my personal life and just reassessing a lot of things. And this episode, like all of my episodes, comes directly from my personal experience. And this is one of the ones where...

You know, I'm at the point where I don't do episodes just to do them. I never do, but it was a while when I was doing them because I felt like I was obligated to do an episode every week. And now I'm to the point to where I realized that I need to do them when I feel like God has given me something to say. And now this is one of those cases. And most of the time, God will give me a word to say either in a podcast or even in a sermon, usually through what I'm experiencing.

And right now, being transparent as I try to be, this is where I am. That serving God can be a struggle. And this is one of those things, family, where I think a lot of times we're not honest. When you go online and you see people giving sermons and podcasts and then giving you encouragement to serve and tell you how great it is to serve the Lord, how wonderful he is, and all of those things are true. And encouragement is needed.

But we sometimes gloss over a week old, we come with rose-colored glasses, the actual day to day of when you endeavor to serve the Lord. Now this is not one of those episodes for someone who, if you're a Christian by title only, this may not be something that appeals to you today. But if you're someone who's endeavoring to serve, who's endeavoring to live for Christ, who wants to live a life that's pleasing,

and holy and acceptable and in His sight. This episode will be right on time. But more specifically, again, the serving part, because we have people who believe in God. We have people who even worship God. But the number shrinks significantly once you add the service piece into it. Now, the service piece means not necessarily just what you do in church, but the church is a part of it. If you are a person whose life is dedicated to really trying to...

Kevin (02:28.366)
claim the gospel. you're a preacher, if you're a teacher, if you're in some form of fashion, someone who deals with discipleship and teaching and sharing and molding like I do. This is one of those episodes I think that will really, really, probably you'll be saying amen a lot through this episode. Now, if you're not in that position yet, this is something that'll still help you because with anything that comes with doing something for God.

whether it's serving God, whether it's just waiting for God, you can still struggle. And we think sometimes again, we get this perception that because I'm a Christian, because I'm saved, because I'm in the Lamb's Book of Life, that my life should be great at all times. Especially when you've given the idea that because I'm a Christian, now I'm entitled to all the Christian benefits. So that means that everything should be great and there's never any struggle.

And I think a lot of times with the prosperity gods and all these things that goes out there, they give erratly that impression that struggling is not something a Christian should do, especially when you're serving. There's no way in the world you should ever be struggling when you're serving because serving God is a privilege. Serving God is a blessing. Serving God is an honor. Like I said in the introduction, you have the spirit, you have his word.

You're prepared. He's prepared a place. He's prepared a platform. He's prepared a space for you to serve him. So it seems as if again on paper, you should not struggle in this at all. Well, not only is the devil liar, but that also is not necessarily the case because in serving, we're going to talk about, of course, I got scriptures. I got three things I want to talk about about why

that serving can be a struggle because we have to be honest. We have an adversary first of all. This is not one of my points, but just to kind of set the stage. We have someone whose vested interest is to make sure we don't serve. This person, the enemy, is pulling out all the stops. Again, if you're not serving, he's probably not attacking you as verbally. But think about it. Compare and contrast if you're a person who serves the Lord.

Kevin (04:54.636)
compare and contrast your walk with Christ before you began serving with now. I would like to believe you feel like man I'm catching it more now because I've decided to serve the Lord. Now let me say this before I get into the the crux that doesn't mean we made a bad decision. episode, hopefully it's just to bring to light the reality of the struggle so then that way

You can continue despite the struggle. This is not a plea for anyone to throw in the towel, even though you may feel like it sometimes. And transparently, I feel like that sometimes. But I think in Christian circles, we need to be real with each other. Because me telling you I'm struggling too can maybe help you to continue to keep going. When you can say, know what? It's not just me. Brother Kevin, man, you on my street. Brother Kevin, you are reading my mind. So that's the aim.

for this episode is to give some light to the realities of what the struggle is in serving. then hopefully you can now see, you know what? I'm not alone, but I'm also realizing that there's a reason for the struggle and I can continue to persevere through struggle. So the first thing, the first reason why it's the struggle to serve is the first reason is poor reception. Now, when I say poor reception,

Usually think about it. you think of reception, these days you're probably thinking about your cell phone, right? When you're in a place where you don't get any signals and you can't hear from God. Now, when I say poor reception, I mean that in two senses. Sometimes the reception is poor when you feel like you're not sure you're hearing from God in your service, when you're going through a rough time. You don't realize you're hearing from God. But also poor reception from the perspective of when you do.

exactly what God has called you to do and the target audience of the service that you're rendering doesn't want to hear it. It's not interesting. Could care less. And if we look in scripture, this is something that we see plenty of times throughout the old and the new text because when you serve the Lord, you are now in a rare, you're in rare come.

Kevin (07:18.062)
And now because you're recovering, I have another episode coming up later on today, by close to the end of the year. I want to talk about this a little bit more where you realize the closer you get to God, the fewer and fewer people are around you and the fewer and fewer people are interested in what you have to say. I'm going to give a little quick something I say. I want to say now that was going to reference in that next episode I do that sometimes living for holiness creates

the atmosphere of loneliness. That narrow road that the scripture talks about, that Jesus hit, a narrow road that leads to life. And sometimes God will put you in positions where he wants you to serve and you're being obedient. You're trying to serve, but then you look at the results of your service. Now mind you, on the surface, we know we're not doing this for reception. The Bible makes it clear we're not doing it

to a policeman. Paul made it clear if I was here to please the Lord, if I was here to please man rather, I would not be a servant of Christ. So when you're put a point where you know you're not doing it for a reception, that's part of it. But that being said, even if you're not getting the numbers or things of that nature, you still are ruffled by the fact that people just don't want to hear it. And even if the numbers are not your goal,

The fact that there's a level of disinterest in the things of God at some point has to start affecting you. I know for me, when I go online, and I'm getting to the point now, I don't know how much longer I'm gonna be on social media, but you get to the point where you go online and you see people with just such a lack of reverence for the things of God and such a lack of concern.

for the things of God. And it makes you wonder, like, why are you doing this? Because people don't care. And the level of disinterest is now morphed into anger and frustration to the point where they're just straight up haters of the Lord. And here it is, that same area of people who don't want to hear.

Kevin (09:41.176)
God tells you to tell them. And you know what? You can have the right disposition. You know what? I'm pleasing. I'm doing this for the Lord. It's not about me. Yes, you have that disposition. And guess what? For a while, that will carry you. But let's be honest. At some point, every now and then, it gets to you. It gets to you when you see people who, when you're serving, and it's not because they don't acknowledge necessarily

your efforts, it's because even though it is part of it, but the fact that they don't even care that you're doing this for God, that you're serving God. Any preacher, any teacher, I can say this obviously, that's my lane, preaching and teaching. Any person, think about it, even in your worldly perspective, if you were a teacher, if you were someone who gives speeches or talks or something like that, then you could have great information.

But if you had a room full of people and you gave your best effort and the people walked out dismissive of everything you said, even though you may have been a seasoned and successful speaker, that would destroy you. And guess what? Just because we're Christians and just because we're saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, that doesn't mean you and I won't still have those moments where we feel as if people...

don't want to hear this, why am I bothering? What's the point of me doing this? Lord, send me to some people who want to hear it. Send me to people who would appreciate your word. Because conversely, imagine those moments I've had as well when you give your best efforts and it's appreciated that people leave not necessarily praising you, but saying, man, I'm encouraged now. I can keep serving now. You know what?

You gave me something to think about. You know what? scripture, that lesson, that sermon, whatever it is, now you've empowered me to really want to give this my word. Now, you know what? You helped me to change my trajectory. Think about the effect that has. That gives you the impetus to want to keep going. Right. So it's not sacrilegious or a lack of faith to have the opposite perspective. Sometimes that you just the poor reception can also

Kevin (12:03.022)
take the win out of yourselves sometimes and makes the struggle real. Of course, I got a scripture and this is the one when I was putting this together, this scripture jumped out of me like neon lights. Like I was just thinking and God, the Holy Spirit took me straight here. So this is one that's so awesome and you may have heard it before or not. It's one of those popular scriptures, but I think we got to look at it in the right perspective, especially considering what we're

So the scripture, Jeremiah chapter 20, starting at verse seven, and it says, Lord, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day. Everyone laughs at me. When I speak, the words burst out. Violence and destruction, shout. So these messages from the Lord have made me a household joke.

But if I say I'll never mention the Lord or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It's like a fire in my bones. I am worn out trying to hold it in. I can't do it." So that's one of those famous scriptures, just like fire show up in your bones. But look at what Jeremiah is saying. I teach my kids this at Sunday school at church. Word choices in the Bible are always important. I love this because it's such a real ex...

Real exclamation coming from Jeremiah. And God led me to Jeremiah. That's the book I'm in now because I feel like I'm in a Jeremiah season in my life personally. But look at what it says. It says, God, you misled me. And I allowed myself to be misled. Now, wait a minute. What is he being misled by? See, you read the scripture. He's been given this charge to preach and to prophesy to the nation about the impending judgment. Of course, Israel.

Judah split up the 12 tribes spread up in the northern southern kingdom. Now they're going to be taken into captivity. Assyrians had already taken the top 10 tribes. Now the Babylonians are going to take the bottom two. So here's Jeremiah called to preach the pending judgment. Now, mind you, he had been preaching for many years and telling them, hey, repent now. If you repent now, you can avoid this judgment.

Kevin (14:29.016)
But look at what he said, his word choices. You misled me. Now, what did he mislead him? He told him, go out and preach this word to people. Now, this is part that's interesting, right? This happened in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. God really didn't mislead him. God told him, I'm going to see the people and they're not going to want to hear it. Guess what, Christian, 2024? You're called to go out to people who are not going to want to hear it. If nobody told you.

Let Brother Kevin tell you, why would God have you spend time preaching and teaching extensively to people who already know the gospel? Wouldn't do much good with it. Would it be helpful to encourage them? Yes, Christians need encouragement. They need direction. They need focus. But the person who's not the pastor of the church, the person who's not the head of the church, when you go day to day, your job, my job, our job is to be ambassadors for Christ in the world.

in the world doesn't necessarily are going to be receptive. So first of all, he's obviously speaking from a place of hurt. He felt duped. God, you misled me. I thought when you told me to preach, and this is the thing, right? This is something all of us get caught up in.

Someone says, I've been called to preach. I've been called to teach. I've been called to whatever ministry. That part right there, we focus on that more so than the actual position and what it entails. We feel like I've been called, man, stick my chest up, I'm ready. Because the Lord called me to do this thing. We forget about what the calling means, what the fine print means. Well, you'll be called to do what?

to whom and what their reception is going to be. That's the first thing, right? But then he says, again, Jeremiah, fill with the spirit. The Bible says, one of the scriptures we quote all the time, let's get the right context. When the scripture says, we know it's in Jeremiah, says, before you were formed in your mother's womb, I knew you. He was talking about Jeremiah. So that means God had already carved out this plan for Jeremiah before he was literally born.

Kevin (16:44.366)
So this is not something he was not prepared for, created for, or dare I say 2024, ready for. But with all of that, look at what he says. You deceive me. You allow me to be deceived. Now, what is he saying? Go back to the same scripts we read. Now people are running from him. They don't want to hear what he has to say. He's been called to proclaim judgment. Guess what Christian?

Aren't you kinda supposed to be claiming judgment? Is there a judgment to come? Now this the part where it gets interesting too because all these people who are called by God and prophets, we don't want to talk about judgment. We only want to prophesy all the great things. We want to read all the scriptures, talk about God blessing us. Let's prophesy and use those scriptures. But the ones that are critical in preaching repentance, we don't talk about those things.

That's not a story. But scripture him, he says, you deceive me. He said, my words of violence and frustration and the people are frustrated. If you read Jeremiah, they say whenever he came around, it was like, here comes this Jeremiah, dude. my gosh. Every time he come around, he got bad news. Guess what, Christian? Same thing happens to you sometimes.

Here come that Christian, he always talking about Jesus. He always talking about salvation. She always talking about the end times. She always talking about turning my life to Jesus. I got time and I ain't got to do it right now, but every time I see her, every time I see him. So with all of that, the reception of you being obedient and serving is poor. Now that's where you and I got to really dig deep.

I talked about this in the last episode I did of what's your motivation? Now it's like God is, and this is the key, I think God allows it for two reasons, and we'll go through it all a bit in episode. One is obviously to make sure that you're doing it for the right reason. That difficulties can weed out the imposters. Because if God called you to do something,

Kevin (19:03.478)
in every turn it was successful in everything you did, God won't get glory. Because you start thinking it's you that did it. You start thinking I'm the great preacher, I'm the great teacher, I'm the great singer, I'm the great blank. But so the first thing is it keeps us humble to realize we can't do without him. And then secondly, it gives us the right motive for doing it. We realize, OK, they may be rejecting me, but they're really not rejecting me.

They're rejecting the one who sent me. So this episode, as I said earlier, is for those who want to serve and you have to have some maturity if you're going to serve God. You have to grow in your walk with Christ in order to effectively serve Christ. Because as you grow in your walk, God's requirements for your walk also grow. So he said, at some point, you're going to have to do more.

You're going to have to learn more. You're to have to apply more. You're going to have to have more faith. You got to read your word more because you're going to run into people like Jeremiah said. And the key is to finish that part and we go to the next point. He said, and this is the part that also makes it a struggle because as frustrated as he is, he can't quit. This is one of those for Kevin. This is why me and Jeremiah

When I get to heaven, I'm going to talk to Jeremiah for a long time. I'll be calling Jeremiah, but let's go in the corner. Bro, hey bro, let's sit and let's rap for a bit. Let's talk. Because Jeremiah, I'm feeling you brother. I feel you. Because it's one thing to want to serve God. It's one thing to even have the right motive. It's a totally different thing to continue serving when the reception is bad.

when the perception of you is bad. Because he said, they say every time he comes around, I say violence and violence. People hate him. People don't like him. And you're saying to yourself, but Lord, I'm only doing what you told me to do. It'll be different if people were mad at you for being disobedient or not following through, but you did exactly what God wanted you to do. And this is the result. But look at what he said.

Kevin (21:27.742)
Every time I want to quit, it's like fire in my bones. I can't do it. That is me. And maybe that's you. No matter how bad the perception is, no matter how bad the reception is, you say to yourself, as much as just, my goodness, I can't stand this. This is so frustrating. But I'm going get up in the morning.

Kevin (21:52.29)
That's how you know you've really been called. It's when the perception is poor, but your persistence isn't. Yeah, you feel like quitting. You got that towel in your hand, you ready to throw it. Every time you get ready to throw it, it's like your hand get arthritis. You just drop the towel. I can't, I want to quit so bad, but that's where I've been. That's where I currently am. Because when look at the landscape,

You said to yourself, why bother? But then you realize what else you're going to do. You've tasted and seen too much of God to throw in the towel. But that being said, poor reception can make serving the struggle. That's the first reason. The second thing that makes why serving can be a struggle is, and it's going to be an interesting one here, personal.

doubt. Now this has a bunch of different ways, different tentacles with it as well. Some of it could be you've been called to serve in a certain capacity, but then you wonder if you can do it. Now, why do you have doubts? Previous point. You wouldn't have doubts that you could serve if all your service endeavors were successful.

If everything you did worked perfectly according to plan, 100 % of the time, you would never have any doubts. Why do you have doubts? First reason, because of the poor reception, you now have doubts about your aptitude. Maybe the reason why I failed is because I'm not supposed to do it. Maybe the reason why I failed is because I can't do it. Maybe the reason I failed is because

I won't do it because I just, you know, yes, you, you're holding onto that tower as I mentioned a few minutes ago, but you still had those months where, know what, maybe, maybe I'm not called to do this thing. I had this thought that came to my mind. And again, this is one of those episodes I want us to really just be honest and I wish more transparency happened in church circles where people can say, you know what, man, I'm really struggling right now, right? You know, yeah, I'm the pastor.

Kevin (24:18.146)
Yeah, I'm the deacon, I'm the whatever, but right now I'm catching it. Right now I have doubts.

A lot of times people who try to come off as super spiritual, right? They'll say something along the lines of, someone asked them if there's anything in their life they would do differently. Well, no, I got no regrets because if I did anything differently, I would learn. I'm not saying you lying, but come on. You mean to tell me if you could go back and still have the lesson.

without the painful instruction, you wouldn't do that. If you could learn and have the same level of wisdom without having to go through the wilderness, you wouldn't take, you wouldn't rather take the scenic route. If God could teach you a lesson without having to teach you a lesson, you wouldn't choose that option. I know I would. So why am I saying this? Because the problem because people feel as if though, as if, right?

that if you don't have any regrets, my thing is, if you don't have any regrets, it's because you've never failed.

Because if you fail, you have regrets because you doubt now because you know what, because I failed, maybe I'm not good at this. And this is where the enemy comes in because now he attaches himself to those failures, to those shortcomings. So now where you have poor reception, now he attaches doubt to the poor reception. Well, you know the reason why they didn't want to hear you.

Kevin (25:58.158)
because you ain't supposed to be doing this anyway. You know what? They don't want to listen anyway. And if you really was called to do X, Y, and Z, they would have received it better. So maybe this isn't what God told you to do. Maybe you heard wrong. Maybe you just thought you were supposed to teach. You just thought you were supposed to preach. But if you look at the result, I don't think you're

That's how the enemy works. And don't tell me at some point you have not fallen prey to that. I know I have. There have been moments when I haven't done an episode or I haven't done a sermon or anything and I'm just kind of just living day to day and I'm wondering, can I do this? Can I be really honest? Before I did this episode, it had been a while. Can I still even do a podcast? It's been while.

And you know, again, you think about the reception, the word again, maybe the reason why, you know, I'm not getting the reception is because I'm not supposed to be doing it. But now there's another aspect of the doubt. It's not the doubt of just your personal, what you can do. You still doubt because you see what God either has or more importantly, hasn't.

Because this is another thing we're sold a bill of goods of thinking that when I decide to serve the Lord He's gonna open up all the doors and windows for me to succeed and then you're serving you're being obedient you're doing what he you to do and the reception is poor and you feel stuck And you're like Am I really doing this for the right reason? I thought that things would be better because after all

I am being obedient. I am serving. And then that phrase comparison is the thief of joy. Then you compare yourself to people who are not serving. And the perception is their lives are great. So now I guess what you're thinking. Man, I'm catching more hell now than I did before I started to serve. And I don't see things getting better.

Kevin (28:23.372)
I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't see where God is moving on my behalf, but I'm serving though. I got that, Jeremiah, the fire is in my bones and I get up every morning and I do what he calls me to do, but I... Yesterday is repeated the day before and tomorrow is repeated today. You don't see the change. You don't see the benefit. You don't see the fruit of your labor. You're feeling as if you're going through...

emotions, which leads to personal doubt. So you're doubting your abilities and then you're doubting whether God is even recognizing what you're doing. And this is something that we don't like to talk about in church circles. But let me give you a scripture, another famous one, that lets you and I see that this personal doubt, if you have them, I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you're in very good company. Matthew chapter 11.

starting at verse two. When John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing, so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else? Now think about that scripture. John the Baptist, again, not too dissimilar to Jeremiah. Jeremiah.

God says before he was in his mother's womb, he knew him, right? Let's look at John the Baptist. While he was in Elizabeth's spirit, in his stomach, he was jumping because he felt the Holy Spirit because of when Jesus came, when Mary came and was praying with Jesus. So John the Baptist was filled from the beginning. These two starwars, Old Testament and New Testament. Starwars of the faith. But here it is, John the Baptist still had doubts. John the Baptist.

The same one, going out, prepare the way for the Lord, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, going out, baptizing, doing all these things. You couldn't tell me he didn't believe. You can tell me he didn't know he was called. You couldn't tell me he wasn't obedient. But even with his obedience, even with that large following, he's in prison. Now he says,

Kevin (30:46.35)
or should we expect someone else? So if John the Baptist could have doubts, if Jeremiah could have doubts, don't tell me that you won't have doubts at times, either in your personal ability or on the fact that God has chosen you for this task. Now, this is not part of my points, but let me ask the question, what do you do in that moment? What do you do when you have those doubts? What do you do?

When it seems like no one cares. It seems like the reception is poor and the enemy's on your track and making you feel like a failure. And that is something I personally am not just telling you because this is just a good podcast episode. I'm telling you what I have experienced even recently. Two things you gotta do. One, you have to have...

You have to have people, persons that can come to you and to reinforce and to reestablish who you are. To let you see that this is a tactic of the enemy. To reestablish, we're going to talk about, and it's going to, the next point, the last one's going to kind of follow up with this as well. To reestablish and have you remember who you are. Remember who you are. But then secondly, you got to remember who you serve.

You gotta have a long enough memory to say, yes, this is discouraging, but the God I serve has always been there. Yes, I'm frustrated, but God has never failed me. Yes, I don't understand why it has to be this hard, but I've had many lessons I've learned and afterwards I say to myself, that's why it had to be this way.

Nothing happens in our lives for happenstance. God is in control of every single thing we do. He does not make us make the choices, but he's aware of the choices and he constructs our lives to revolve around the choices that we make and he makes sure that those choices end up for our good. So when you're not feeling good, you have to remember the goodness of the God you serve. You have to make yourself remember, he is worthy.

Kevin (33:10.796)
Not only is he good, but then you got to ask yourself the question, for those of us who serve, what does your word say? Your word says that Jesus said, you're going to have this tribulation. You're going to have these problems. But he also said that those who persevere will win in the end. He said those who strive, who go through the trials, James says those who go through diverse trials and issues, this

Christian walk is one full of perils, even more so for the one who serves. But then you have to ask yourself the question, why are you serving? When you look at the end result, first of all, where we're going to be at the end. And secondly, don't forget why you started serving in the first place, because God has been good to you. God is still good to you.

When you focus on his goodness, you won't focus on all the bad stuff.

You and I have to make a concerted effort. You and I have to make a concerted effort to focus our attention on his goodness. Even when we don't feel good, even when it doesn't look good. But then you have to ask yourself that long memory again, has he ever let me down? Sometimes he came at the 11th hour, but he's always come through. And not only that,

Last point that we'll go to, last thing I will go to the last point. Not only has he always come through, he's come through ways you didn't see coming. So when you felt like throwing in that towel, he found a way to encourage you. So again, bringing that, the end of this point home. How do you continue to serve when you have a personal doubt? You got to have community and you have to have a commitment to trusting in the God you serve that says that,

Kevin (35:14.464)
As much as it may not be popular and it may not be pleasant, it is still purposeful. So that's the second reason why serving can be a struggle. The last reason why serving can be a struggle is sometimes because we're victims of attempted robbery. Now, what do I mean?

I kinda alluded to it a second ago. The reason why we struggle sometimes as servants is because the enemy makes you and I forget who we are. Because one of the things that I think we do such a disservice of in Christian circles in the church.

We tell people how great we are from a worldly sense.

But we don't tell Christians how great they are in a spiritual sense. By that I mean, if God has saved you and God has secured you and God has now saved you to serve, that means you have some value. Why would God do all of that for something or someone in this case? It has no value. And guess what? The enemy knows you have value.

The enemy not only knows you have value, the enemy knows you're a threat. So what's his plan of action? His strategy is to make you forget all about that. You're not that special. You're not worthwhile. You're no different than anybody else. In some sense, yes, but in some sense, no. So guess what? You're nothing. So why do you serve?

Kevin (37:06.19)
It doesn't make any difference because guess what, it is what he does. Try to discredit your identity by making you remember your...

especially if some of the stuff in your past you still struggle with. Some of the things in your past you still see. Some of the people from your past you're still around. So in some cases, as I say in the second point, having a great memory is good. In some cases having a great memory is bad because he will make you remember where God brought you from to make you think you should stay there.

Yeah, you used to be this, but the enemy makes you think you're still that. Yes, I used to go to these places. I used to have this perspective. And the enemy tries to make you think that that's still your mindset. So think about it. In connection, if the reception is poor and your doubts are high, now you start to question who you really are.

perfect storm for you to struggle and want to give in and not serve. But we have to have, going to the second point, when you have community, when you have connection, then you can remember who God says you are. And guess what? You're not the first person that he tried to get to forget or not recognize who he is. Scripture, very famous one.

Matthew chapter four, starting in verse two. I'm you heard this before. For 40 days and 40 nights, he fasted and became very hungry. During that time, the devil came to him and said, if you are the son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread. Very famous scripture, Jesus fasting. Now keep in mind, context is a story, right? He had just had an experience with the Holy Spirit.

Kevin (39:10.67)
Holy Spirit leads him to be tested. The first thing that he does after he's been fasting and hungry, he attacks him in a place of weakness in his identity. Because he says, if you are the son of God. He didn't say, son of God, turn the stone of bread because you hungry so you can do it. He's trying to make him say, if you are.

He does the same thing.

If you're saved, then you shouldn't have had that thought. If you really are a Christian, you shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have said that. You shouldn't have thought that. If you were really Christian, all this stuff you used to do, you would have never even done that if you truly knew the Lord. Like you say, you do servant. See what he does. Attacks us in the area of our identity. But what does God also say in this world?

One of my favorite scriptures is Ephesians 2 10. I got it memorized because it's one of my favorites. It says, are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which he prepared in advance for us to do. I love that scripture because it's one of those scriptures to attack the idea of identity crisis, of identity being attempted as far as being stolen. We got to remember, we are his handiwork.

created to do good works. When God created you and I, there was a purpose, there was a plan, there was a reason. He saw good things in you and wants to do good things through you. The enemy wants you to not remember that. But this is the key guys, you and I, our identity can be in the reception and it can be in our feelings. It has to be in him. And he's a God, think about it.

Kevin (41:13.172)
If he's a God that never changes, his perspective of you hasn't changed. His view of you hasn't changed. His love for you hasn't changed. His plans for you haven't changed. The way he view you hasn't changed. What changes is how we view his view of us and we allow the enemy to distort our view. But the whole time, even when we're messing up, even when we're doubting, even when we're faltering, he still sees us the same.

So the key is to make sure we know who we are and we base our identity not in the reception, not in the rejection, but in our creator. So for a point of reiteration, to wrap up this week, what are some of the reasons why we struggle? We struggle because of poor reception. Sometimes people don't want to hear what we have to say and we feel rejected because they are rejecting us because of

Poor reception. Then we have personal doubt. We have doubt of who we are. We have doubt that we can do it. We have doubt in our abilities, doubt in our plans, doubt that God is listening. And then we're victims of attempted robbery. We elect the enemy, try to assassinate or steal our character and our identity. So these are three reasons why we struggle to serve. But hopefully this episode gave you some insight. So now what do you do?

Like I said earlier, stay in your word, stay connected. In order to continue to serve through the struggle, you have to stay connected to the one you're serving. Don't let the enemy, don't let the reception, don't let your personal feelings cloud the fact that you are God's child. And he is not a deadbeat father. And he does not let you go through something.

or do I have you benefit from it? I'm saying this to you, but I'm saying this to him. So hopefully this episode encouraged you as I know, hopefully it encouraged me. So thank you so much for watching, listening. I pray this bless you as I just said, and always, as always, make sure your light shines brightest for the Lord Jesus Christ, beyond the benediction. Until next time.