Dear Ones,
This week, God dropped into my spirit the words, “No comparisons, please.“ I thought, “Wow, God. How right you are!“. . . .as though God really needed my vote of confidence, BUT He does need our agreement! Folks, do you know what a dangerous tool of the devil it is to compare yourselves to others? The devil loves to talk to you to try to get you to compare yourself to others either to elevate yourself above them (pride) or to exalt others above yourself (self-condemnation). Neither of those produces godly fruit in your life or in the lives of others.
God spoke to me in my spirit and told me:
The person next to you is not your god. I am your God. When you compare yourself to another, you have taken Me out of the picture. I specifically designed you with certain gifts and talents that I desire for you to use for Me. When you compare yourself to others [envying their gifts or position], you are devaluing what I have given you. You are giving others control over your life when you try to live up to expectations that you impose upon yourself based on the gifts I have placed in someone else. When you compare yourself to others, you are empowering them in your mind and holding them up on a pedestal. I did not intend you to hold them up on a pedestal. That is a place they shouldn’t be and probably don’t want to be.
There is only one standard you need to be concerned about, and I have shown you that standard in My Word. When you follow the Word, you please me. When you follow My Word and judge yourself by My Word, you will no longer need to compare yourself to others. I am a loving Father, and I do not value you according to how you perform in comparison to others. I value you because I love you. I created you to be valued. Celebrate the gifts and uniqueness I have placed in you, and you will find new liberty and new freedom you have not experienced before when you lay down the bondage of comparison. All you need is already in you. Trust Me. Look to Me. Look up instead of over. Celebrate the gift I have placed in you instead of comparing yourself to others and evaluating yourself as less or better than they. Both actions are a form of judgment, and I did not call you to be the judge. That only leads to envying and strife and bondage. Instead, celebrate others, and celebrate yourself. When you do that, everybody wins. When you do that, you are celebrating all that I have created, and everyone is free to go forth in power to accomplish My purposes.
So, you see dear ones, what other people do or how they do it is not our standard. We are supposed to be guided by God’s ways in His Word. How someone else does something may work quite well for them, but it doesn’t mean that that is how we are supposed to do it. When we compare ourselves to others, we are creating bondage; we enslave ourselves to misplaced and inappropriate standards and expectations. The Word reminds us that we become slaves to that which we choose to obey or serve, whether for good or bad (Romans 6:16-18). Do not enslave yourself to the bondage of pride by exalting yourself above another or to the bondage of self-condemnation by putting yourself beneath another through the practice of comparison. We can learn from others, but we are responsible to do things the way that God speaks into our lives for our specific situation and personality. The Word tells us in Isaiah 30:21 that God will speak to us telling us which way to go, whether to turn to the right or to the left. When we inquire of Him, He is faithful to show us the way and make our path straight (Prov. 3:6). He will order our steps (Psalm 37:23) according to that which He has placed in each one of us.
I remember when our children were younger, and they would say, “Well, my friend So-and-So is doing it, or my friend So-and-So is doing it this way.” My husband and I always responded with the statement that we do not judge our actions by what others do or don’t do, but by what we believe God wants us to do. We don’t just do things because that’s what others are doing. We do not look laterally for our decisions or for our value, but upward to the Lord. We fix our eyes on Jesus and run the race God designed us – and only us – to run (Hebrews 12:1-3). We do not judge ourselves by others, but by the Lord. Even in our own home, we are always very careful not to compare our children one to another. Rather, we try to encourage each child to pursue and be happy with his or her unique talents while celebrating and supporting his or her siblings in the pursuit of theirs.
We can each look for good examples around us, but we must go to the Lord to inquire of Him about our own gifts and how He wants us to pursue that which He gives us to do. We are no one’s carbon copy (thank the Lord)! He has destined each of us for a distinctive, divine purpose. The seeds of that divine purpose are inside of you and no one else. You are special. You are matchless. You are created for marvelous things, and no one can do what God has put you on this earth to do. Don’t devalue your mission by comparing yourself to others. God has confidence in you!
Pastor Lisa Marie
If you have never made Jesus the Lord of your life and desire to, pray this: Dear God, I believe that Jesus is your Son, that He died on the cross for me and was resurrected for my redemption. I choose to make Jesus the Lord of my life. I thank you for forgiving me and for filling me with Your Holy Spirit. I thank You that I am Your child, that You are my Father, and that You have great things planned for me. Amen.