Set the World on Fire

Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

I would like you to do something for me. I want you to visualize the great adventure that God has in store for you. Close your eyes and think big. It might be a conversation with an incredible individual that will change your life, but you never see them again. Or it might be packing your bags for an improbable journey to accomplish something unheard of. What I want you to conjure up is the impossible, that moment when God takes your breath away. A moment so big, so audacious that it could never happen. I want you to experience what it is like when you stop limiting God by your self-awareness. When you say to yourself, “it could never be,” you have arrived at the cusp of what it was meant to be.

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” – Catherine of Siena.

Jeremiah 20:11, “But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior. Before him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonor will never be forgotten.”

I was reading today about becoming the person God made us be. The conundrum was how we could be more of ourselves by surrendering ourselves entirely to God’s will. Surrendering ourselves was to deign ourselves, so I was taught. Greg Ogden in his book “The Essential Commandment,” argues that to be the person God wants us to be, we must first include Him. Including Him is the surrendering part.  God gave us all of these attributes that make us unique and special. We can not unlock our true potential without His key. He is the magic sauce that makes the flavor of who you are come alive. 

Colossians 1: 27, “God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Christ in you, not with you, not beside you, and not just when you call on Him; but in you at all times.

Paul was not a different person after his encounter with Jesus. He was a better version of himself. All the attributes God gave Paul at birth were rechannelled and made stronger. God didn’t transform his personality; He magnified him. He became a force to be reckoned with.

2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

We put limits on ourselves based on a lot of biased, worldly input. Much of that input is well-meaning but limiting. At a very early age, we start to define ourselves based on that world perception. By the time we are in our adolescence, we have crafted a comfortable expectation. We don’t know where we are going or how to get there, but we know our limitations. We are not consciously aware of most of these. Those limitations were not directly articulated, but subtly implied, they direct our decisions.

If God is with us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

By submitting ourselves to God’s will, we negate a lot of this influence. We start to view our potential through a new set of lenses. If we are in the center of God’s plan for our lives, the improbable not only becomes possible, it becomes absolute. God will not transform you from someone who can’t carry a tune to a concert pianist; He could, but probably won’t. What He will do is magnify your talents. He will guide you in ways you had not imagined. He will stretch you, challenge you, and make you stronger. The fear of being outside the artificial fences the world has put around us will be gone.

He will take your breath away. He will show you potential you never thought you had. In all of this, He will smile. He will see you come alive.

Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.”