Beloved charter

I was very involved in ministry on campus most of my student years.  But when I reached my 5^th year, I began student teaching and had to step out of student ministry during that time as the preparation for teaching my classes took up most of my time.  I slowly began to have a nagging feeling that God wasn’t as pleased with me as He was when I was ‘serving’ Him daily on campus.  I understood in my head that He loves me and is pleased with me no matter what, but deep in my heart I still struggled with the idea that I needed to work somehow to earn His pleasure.

This summer I started working through a workbook called, Discovering our spiritual identities (practices for God’s Beloved).  It was the subtitle that caught my eye.  I am really enjoying going through the exercises understanding my ‘belovedness’ is based on God’s heart  rather than on what I do for Him.

I wanted to share with you one of the exercises that I have enjoyed the most so far.  It is to write what the author, Trevor Hudson, calls ‘a personal beloved charter.’   The Beloved Charter (I call mine, ‘my beloved letter’) “induces us to see ourselves through the eyes of the Holy One and to feel about ourselves the way God feels [about us].”   As an example, here is Trevor’s “Beloved Charter”:

Trevor, you are My beloved child in whom I delight.  You did not choose Me, but I chose you.  You are My friend.  I formed your inward parts and knitted you together in your mother’s womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made a little lower than the angels, and crowned with glory and honor.  You have been created in Christ Jesus for good works which I have already prepared to be your way of life.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you, when you walk through fire you shall not be burned and the flames shall not consume you.  You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.  I know all your longings; your sighing is not hidden from Me.  Nothing will ever be able to separate you from My love in Christ Jesus, your Lord.  Abide in My love.

When I read Trevor’s ‘Beloved charter’ I had a sense of the deep issues that his heart must struggle with.  I thought about which verses in the Bible really grab my heart and soul when I read them and so I came up with my own ‘Beloved charter/letter’.  You will see the deeper struggles of my heart (belonging, longing to experience grace and kindness, to be ‘fancied’/enjoyed/wanted – I’m a girl!). 

O Hephzibah, My delight is in you!  You are Mine and I am yours and together We belong to God.  You are precious in My sight and I love you, I am with you and nothing can separate you from My love. I desire your beauty.  I rejoice over you, I sing and shout over you. 

I will betroth you to Me forever in faithfulness and in kindness and compassion.  I long to be gracious to you… to have compassion on you.  I will allure [woo] you and speak kindly to you. I have loved you with an everlasting love.  I have drawn you with loving-kindness.  I will surround you and enfold you with unfailing love .

I think about you all day long, I sing over you throughout the night.  I cannot stop thinking about you and the number of My thoughts toward you cannot be counted.  I watch over everything that concerns you. You are My beloved, Hephzibah!  I have called you by name and you are Mine!

I heartily encourage you to write your own ‘Beloved letter’!  Read it frequently.  Delight that He simply loves you; it is not based on what you do!  Abide in His love.  Let your service flow out of your relationship with Him.

The kind of person God uses

Heart for God, faithful, available and teachable…the pastor talked about these 3 things at a church service I attended last month.  He talked about how, if a person had these qualities, then he was a person God could use. 

I thought back to my years as a student and remembered how fearful and shy I was.  I was not in any way someone would identify as a leader!  I did want to be used by God, though, and was so happy to hear that a person who was usable by God simply needed to have a heart for Him and be faithful, available and teachable. 

I could not offer Him an out-going personality that drew people to Him, I was not a compelling evangelist, I was in no way a public speaker – in fact, I grew tongue-tied whenever I was called upon to answer a simple question in a discussion.   I had no skills, talents, gifts, abilities or anything else to offer that I thought God could use.  The only thing of ‘value’ I had to offer God was my heart for Him, and an attitude of faithfulness, availability and teach-ability.  And no one was more shocked than I when God started using me in ways beyond my imagination!  (I never, ever, ever would have imagined that I would be doing public speaking on a regular basis now and actually enjoying it!!!!!)

We often talk about these 4 qualities in knowing who to invest in for discipleship, but these are also great qualities in helping you know who to focus on in developing upcoming leaders.  How do you know if someone has these qualities?  Here are some good questions to ask:

 Heart for God

     Do they demonstrate a hunger to grow?      Are they reading the Word?  
     Are they having quiet times and showing a desire to get to know God? 
     Are they dealing with sin in their life that the Holy Spirit reveals to them?  
     Do they take advantage of opportunities to grow?

Faithful

• Do they follow through on things?
• Do they attend Bible Study consistently?
• Do they want to be a part of the ministry?

Available

• Do they have time to meet?
• Are other things drawing them away from being able to commitment to fulfilling responsibilities in ministry or getting together for discipleship?
• Are there other things that come up in their lives that take precedence over the ministry that you are involved in or in the process of discipleship?

Teachable

• Are they willing to learn new things?  (You can know if someone is teachable by how they respond to what you try to impart to them. If you get a response like, “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard that before,” “I know that,” or “I was taught that before,” that person may not be teachable. )
• Are they able to go over foundational things with an open mind willing to learn something new in a subject they have heard before?
• How do they respond to input that leads to personal growth in their life?  Do they accept it, appreciate it and take steps to grow or do they resist those observations and refuse to change?

Heart for God, an attitude of faithfulness, availability and teachability…these are important things to look for in a potential disciple, a potential leader and most importantly, things to develop in your own life.  There is no limit to what God can do through a person who demonstrates these qualities throughout their lives!