Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

- Psalm 139:14 NIV

You are NOT a mistake! You are fearfully and wonderfully made! You are created in God's image (Genesis 1:27). He knit you together intricately in your mother's womb (Psalm 139:13). He knows everything about you: the good, the bad, the ugly YET He still loved you so much that He sent His one and only Son to die for your sins and sicknesses (John 3:16, 1 Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53:5). He put on human flesh to redeem you, to rescue you from the dominion of sin. 

Your body is God's handiwork. Therefore, it is flawless. Don't let the number on the scale, the color/style of your hair, the color of your skin, the size of your jeans, the brand of your clothes, or anything else about your appearance define you. Find your identity in Christ alone. Allow Him to fill your every void. Ask Him to help you see yourself the way HE sees you. It will blow your mind. Jesus is crazy about you. He wants a personal relationship with you. Spend time with Him daily in the Bible and prayer. Allow Him to transform your self image. 

Read Psalm 139 for more amazing truths about how God created you. 

GOD CREATED YOU ON PURPOSE

There are so many awesome truths found in Psalm 139. Below are the first 16 verses. Anytime you need a reminder of how special you are, read this Psalm. I love the way it talks about how well God knows us, the meticulous way He designed us. YOU ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT. I love the way Joyce Meyer puts it, "GOD CREATED YOU ON PURPOSE". Stop dwelling on your physical imperfections! The Word of God says you are fearfully and wonderfully made! When you talk negatively about your body, you are insulting God's perfect artwork. Don't dwell on what others say about you, look at what God says about you!

You saw me before I was born. 

Every day of my life was recorded in your book. 

Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. 

- Psalms 139:16 (NLT)

God knows your all your yesterdays, your today, and your tomorrow? God's already there! If you're a child of God, you don't have to worry. God's got you covered. He has a perfect plan for your life and if you love Him, He is going to work everything out for good for you (See Romans 8:28). Here is a link to a 2 minute video I shared about this: https://youtu.be/2k8oqLsGSBg :) Subscribe so you don't miss future videos! :)

You have searched me, Lord, 

and you know me. 

You know when I sit and when I rise; 

you perceive my thoughts from afar. 

You discern my going out and my lying down; 

you are familiar with all my ways. 

Before a word is on my tongue 

you, Lord, know it completely. 

You hem me in behind and before, 

and you lay your hand upon me. 

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, 

too lofty for me to attain. 

Where can I go from your Spirit? 

Where can I flee from your presence? 

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; 

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, 

if I settle on the far side of the sea, 

even there your hand will guide me, 

your right hand will hold me fast. 

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me 

and the light become night around me,” 

even the darkness will not be dark to you; 

the night will shine like the day, 

for darkness is as light to you. 

For you created my inmost being; 

you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 

your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 

My frame was not hidden from you 

when I was made in the secret place, 

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 

Your eyes saw my unformed body; 

all the days ordained for me were written in your book 

before one of them came to be. 

- Psalm 139:1-16 (NIV)

YOU ARE FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE,

Rachel Marie

Are you putting God in a box?

They spoke against God; 
they said, "Can God really spread a table in the wilderness? 
True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, 
streams flowed abundantly, but can he also give us bread?
Can he supply meat for his people?"
- Psalm 78:19-20 (NIV)

They even spoke against God himself, saying,
"God can't give us food in the wilderness.
Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out,
but he can't give his people bread and meat."
- Psalm 78:19 (NLT)

It's easy to read this Scripture and think WHAT?? The Israelites have seen God do many signs and wonders to deliver them from Egypt, part the Red Sea, guide them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire by night, split open rocks in the wilderness to give them water as abundant as the seas, and fed them with the bread of angels (see Psalm 78). Even after seeing all this, they still limit God? They still doubt His ability? They still doubt that He cares for them? Seriously?? The Israelites trust in God was limited. As many do today, they put God in a box saying, "This is what God can do; this is what He cannot do".

How often do we do this? Not necessarily with our words but with our attitudes and actions. When we take a step back, it's easy to see that we are not so different from the Israelites today. In Philippians 4:19, God promises to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus. Not only is it a promise in His Word (which should be reason enough to believe it!), but you have seen Him supply your needs 1,000 times (okay, if you're honest, more times than you could count), yet you still worry that somehow this time will be different-- that somehow God will fail you, that He won't come through this time. You believe God has saved you but you don't believe He will heal you. You believe God has redeemed you from eternal damnation, but you don't believe He desires for you to have a more abundantly life, that His plans are to prosper you and not to harm you. God has healed your body, but you struggle to believe He will heal your broken heart. You believe God created you, but you don't believe you're beautiful. God has brought you through things time and time again, but you just don't believe He will do it one more time. You believe God is bigger than your problems but you insist on carrying the burden yourself-- burdens you were never meant to carry. 

Why do we limit God? Why do we tend to have this "God can do this, not that" mindset? We have to cast down imaginations and every lofty thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and take captive EVERY THOUGHT and make it obedient to Christ (See 2 Cor. 5:10).

We learn from Mark 11:24 that we have to believe BEFORE we receive. 1) Ask. 2) Believe. 3) Receive. We have to believe not just that He can, but that He will. We have to build our faith by hearing the Word (See Romans 10:17). Stay in His Word daily. Listen to Bible-based preaching often! Build yourself up in the Word to keep the faith!

So as you face your current "impossible" situation, take time to reflect on what He's already done for you. Won't He do it again? His mercies? New every morning.

Trust God. Stop limiting what God wants to do in your life with your lack of belief.. Let God out of the box in your mind and see the power He will unleash in your life.


Scripture Reading:

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 

- Philippians 4:19 (NKJV)

...for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me? 

- Hebrews 13:5-6 (AMP)

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

- 1 Peter 2:24 (NIV)

Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole. 

- Isaiah 53:4-5 (AMP)

This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.” 

- Matthew 8:17 (NLT)

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

- John 10:10 (KJV)

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

- Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 

- Romans 8:28 (NKJV)

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

- Psalm 147:3 (NIV)

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

- Psalm 139:14 (NIV)

Blessed be the Lord, Who bears our burdens and carries us day by day, even the God Who is our salvation! Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

- Psalm 68:19 (AMP)

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

- Matthew 11:29-30 (NIV)

Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail).

- Psalm 55:22 (AMP)

Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

- John 14:27 (AMP)

---

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

- 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

- 2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV)

---

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

- Mark 11:24 (NIV)

God is Faithful,

Rachel Marie

CHALLENGE

CHALLENGE: I would like to challenge each and every one of you to pray/read Psalm 91 aloud daily as a prayer for our Brothers and Sisters in Christ who are enduring severe persecution. Psalm 91 is the Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God and claims protections and deliverance over those of us who have made The Lord our refuge. I urge whoever will commit to doing this daily. There is immense power in praying Scripture. Let's pray this Scripture daily for our Sisters and Brothers in Christ.

You know you would want others doing this for you, if you were one of them.

Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High 

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 

I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; 

My God, in Him I will trust.” 

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. 

He shall cover you with His feathers, 

And under His wings you shall take refuge; 

His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, 

Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, 

Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 

A thousand may fall at your side, 

And ten thousand at your right hand; 

But it shall not come near you. 

Only with your eyes shall you look, 

And see the reward of the wicked. 

Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, 

Even the Most High, your dwelling place, 

No evil shall befall you, 

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; 

For He shall give His angels charge over you, 

To keep you in all your ways.

In their hands they shall bear you up, 

Lest you dash your foot against a stone. 

You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, 

The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. 

“Because he has set his love upon Me, 

therefore I will deliver him; 

I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 

He shall call upon Me, 

and I will answer him; 

I will be with him in trouble;

 I will deliver him and honor him.

 With long life I will satisfy him, 

And show him My salvation.” 

 - Psalm 91 (NKJV)

Rachel Marie