The Lord says: I Really Like You!
~ I Really Like You~
“Let Me Be Me Through Who I Made You To Be!”
I want you to know that the Lord wants you to be who you are and He is in you to help you be that part of Him to reflect all of who He is through each and every one of you! He wants to reflect Him through who He made you to be… It says in 1 Peter that you are the Many sided grace of God in this passage…
“As each of you has received a gift (a particular spiritual talent, a gracious divine endowment), employ it for one another as [befits] good trustees of God’s many-sided grace [faithful stewards of the extremely diverse powers and gifts granted to Christians by unmerited favor]” 1 Peter 4:10 (AMP).
The Lord Has made us who we are for a reason. He made our personalities, social status, hair color, sense of humor, talents, gifts etc…. so that when He came into us to live that He could express who He is through us. We want to be more like Him and we sing that song “To be like Jesus” but He wants to be in us as us or in other words express Himself through our personalities. He not only loves you but He likes who you are!
We are created in God’s image it says in Genesis. If you study the word you will see that God expresses Himself with many of our very own emotions. He grieves, He laughs, He takes pleasure, He weeps, He loves, and He hates that which is evil. He created each one of us to express a different aspect of who He is and so that is why He made us all different.
When I first was saved and filled with the Spirit I began to be very free in Him but then as religion began to take a hold and I began to “work for God” in the ministry I would look at all of the degrees and accolades that other men and women had who were ministering and I as an uneducated housewife who wasn’t even very good at that felt very inferior and unqualified. So I was trying to attain to something that I was never created to be! I began to be very sober and hard on myself and hard on others..
One day the Lord said to me “Jo, you were more fun when you were not saved than you are now!” He said to me, “Lighten up!!” Hahahaaa!!! Oh now you religious folk don’t like me now, but God truly said that to me.. I know what He meant because before in my BC life I was always a kind of a clumsy girl who always made everyone laugh and felt joy in doing that. I could laugh at myself when I made mistakes and bring others out of their inferiority by letting them see that they were not the only ones that made mistakes but that they could laugh at themselves too!! It was who I was!
The Lord then said, “This is who I made you to be and as long as you are trying to be someone else you can not flow in my Spirit and you will be unapproachable to people!!…. Be who you are! Take the gifts and talents that I have given you and with that personality of yours let me express myself through who you are!” You see as Wade Urban always says, “He is in us to move through us as us!”
So I guess what the Lord really moved on me tonight to say to you (and believe me He moved upon me tonight through a sister who allowed Him to move as Him in her precious personality) He said to me once again (as I had been being hard on myself because of men’s words and because of them trying to conform me to who they are instead of who I am in Him), He spoke and said…… “Jo, I really like you…. You are my friend .. I made you who you are…. Let me be me through who I made you to be……..”
He wants you to know tonight that you can put your name in this blank
“………….. I really like you!! You see I made you that way. Let Me be Me through who I made you to be!”
You are beautiful in His eyes!!
– by Jo Ellen Stevens
Arise Shine!
Jo Ellen Stevens of TCIC Ministries is a Prophetic speaker, author, worshiper and intercessor. She has ministered with her husband for 23 years and was a worship leader at the Assembly of God for many years. She is an ordained minister (Restoration Ministries) and works with Restoration Ministries in their Ministry Rooms doing prophetic worship with her husband. She has taught many bible studies and have led many intercessory prayer groups.
Thank you for this word the Lord gave you! My Dad said almost the exact same thing one day when we were talking on the phone. (We lived far away from each other and would talk every Friday on the phone.) He said, “You’re my daughter; I have to love you but I don’t have to like you. But I really do like you.” I just shared that three weeks ago at my Dad’s memorial service. The Lord has been trying to teach me to just be myself everywhere I go, even church lol! I am myself most of the time and it is so freeing. You don’t have to get exhausted being something or someone you are not. Just be the best you you can be and try to enjoy the ride while you’re being you. (not always easy)
Thank you for the confirmation of my Dad’s word to me! I really miss him but I know he’s with Jesus. That gives me a lot of peace.
God bless you!
-Joyce Hastings
Romans 8:29 (NKJV)
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.