He Has You

God loves us equally but rewards us uniquely. We’re all saved by His grace alone, but we all respond to that grace in different measures. We think it’s the world’s measures we can use to determine success, but God does not operate using the standards of this world.

Don’t measure the success of your ministry using the standards of this world. In God’s economy, what the world considers a loss is actually a gain. Consider Jesus Christ crucified and hanging on the Cross. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18 NKJV).

Your measure in God’s Kingdom is not the measure of your worth to God. Your worth to God is measured in the Blood of His Son Jesus who hung on the Cross and died to save you. You’re so worthy to God that He sacrificed His own Son to save you.

The precious blood of Christ shed for you is the measure of your worth to God. You are priceless in God’s eyes, and the blood of Christ was the currency paid for you. Know “…that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold…but with the precious blood of Christ…” (1 Peter 1:18-19 NKJV).

Your measure in God’s Kingdom is not the measure of what you can accomplish or what talents you may have. It’s not found in your finances or your charm. The world will use the world’s measurements, but God never will.

The measure of success as a child of God is not in what you accomplish, but whether you accomplish what God wanted you to. Jesus taught, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit…” (John 15:16 NKJV).

Your measure in God’s Kingdom is the measure He can use you. It is not based on what you can do but what you will let Him do through you. The greater your surrender to God, the greater work He can do in you and through you for His Kingdom.

The world says, “Do your best,” but God says, “Let Me do My best through you.” “Yes, God is working in you to help you want to do what pleases him. Then he gives you the power to do it.” (Philippians 2:13 ICB).

Your measure in God’s Kingdom is not how much you do for God but how obedient you are in doing what He puts before you. Too many think that it is the number of people we reach that matters. They’re wrong. What matters is that we reach the one that God wants us to.

When you seek the Lord first, He will help you with everything that comes after. “The thing you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all these other things you need will be given to you” (Matthew 6:33 ICB).

Your measure in God’s Kingdom is not how great a teacher you are of God’s truths, but how well you display God’s truths in the way you live your life. The best representative for God is the one who “walks the talk.”

Success in God’s kingdom is not measured in dollars but in lives transformed. “…Be an example to show the believers how they should live. Show them by what you say, by the way you live, by your love, by your faith, and by your pure life…” (1 Timothy 4:12 ERV).

Your measure in God’s Kingdom is never for lifting you higher than other people. You must lower yourself to be lifted by God, and when He lifts you, only He can get the glory. He lifts you up to be nearer to Himself.

The more glory you try to take for how the Lord uses you, the less He can use you for His glory in the kingdom. “I am Yahweh; that is my name. I will not give my glory to anyone else or the praise I deserve to idols” (Isaiah 42:8 NOG).

When you measure higher in God’s Kingdom, then you will almost always measure lower in the world. If the world hated and mocked Jesus, don’t expect it will be any better for you. The least known on earth are often the most known in heaven.

If you want to please God in your service, you must be willing and humble enough to accept a lower calling, with no recognition or rewards here on earth. “Take care not to do your good deeds publicly or before men, in order to be seen by them…” (Matthew 6:1 AMPC).

You cannot strive to be measured higher in God’s kingdom because the only way to get there is to let God help you. To the degree you’re trying to do things on your own power, your pride rules you, and God won’t help you.

The devil doesn’t have to turn you from God to win the battle, but only distract you from Him so that you’re not effective for the kingdom. “Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing…” (Luke 10:39-40 NLT).

If you want to go higher, surrender more. The way to surrender all is to surrender one thing at a time until nothing is left to surrender. We all imagine ourselves far more surrendered than we really are. But if we’re honest, there are vast regions of our lives we are refusing to let go of.

The problem isn’t that you lack willpower but that you have too much of it. Surrender until, like Jesus, you can say to the Father: “…not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42 NKJV).

Don’t let the truth about your own meager condition only make you uncomfortable, but let it be the spark of God’s fire to change you. Point the light of God’s truth right back into your life, and He will shine it so brightly that no darkness can remain.

Jesus did not call you out of darkness to remain in the shadows. Stop living the half-baked Christian life and thinking that is good enough. Good enough for what? Our goal should not be just to get to heaven, but to be filled with heaven here on earth. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9 NKJV).

The greatest enemy to yourself is yourself. Your self-deception tells you that you are higher than you really are. Ask God to show you where you’re wrong so that He can help to make you right. Be willing to be wrong to be made right.

You can’t go further with God until you reach the end of yourself. “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs” (Matthew 5:3 NLT).

Child of God, I’m praying that you grow in your spiritual stature to a measure in God’s Kingdom where He can use you to fulfill His purposes. The success of your ministry depends on the surrender of your heart to the Lord who is patiently waiting to help you.

In the kingdom, your stature is determined by how low you will kneel. “Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant]” (James 4:10 AMPC).

Don’t let the world try to measure your success using the worldly measurements of likes, fame, numbers, finances, or any other thing that is temporal, for God’s Kingdom is eternal. Don’t seek the approval of man but the smile of God. May He smile on you.

The success of your ministry is not measured by the applause of others but by a smile from God. “…God’s kingdom consists of God’s approval and peace, as well as the joy that the Holy Spirit gives. The person who serves Christ with this in mind is pleasing to God…” (Romans 14:17-18 GW).

Blessings to you always,

Paul Balius

I wrote this years ago and hold it up as a banner for myself as I do the smallest of things for God: By the measurements of man, my ministry is a complete failure. But if I’m doing the will of God, then my success is guaranteed in His kingdom.

Child of God, sometimes unpopularity proves you’re in the will of God. Seek His favor, and you’ll be going in the right direction. Don’t worry about what man thinks of you, but what God knows about you.