What could God do with your yes? Your yes right here in these less than favorable circumstances. What could he do with your complete willingness to still show up, even though you really don’t feel like it.

So many times we’re limiting our view of God’s power in our lives because we’re stopping short of the potential. We’re backing down when we don’t “feel” like it. The moment it gets tough, the first time we fail, the morning our feelings tell us we don’t want to, we halt all progress and call off the mission.

God must be shaking his head. He must be saying “oh my girl, if you only knew what I have for you if you would just push through this.” So, he gives you another opportunity to push through where you stopped before.

All he needs is your yes today. And all he will need tomorrow is your yes again. That’s it. He doesn’t require perfection. He will gladly accept your flaws and all your quirks. He can work through all of that, and even use it for pure goodness. But what he can’t do is use your no. He can’t use you when you stop showing up. He can’t help you when you don’t ask. He can’t work through you if you aren’t willing to work yourself.

Whatever has been causing you to exchange your yes for a no, is ultimately robbing you of the potential God has placed within you. It’s stealing the position God has made possible for you. It’s postponing the progress God has available for you here. So what is it sis? Really, what has been causing you to back down, settle for less than your best effort, stop short of what you really could do?

Are you buying your own lousy excuse of being too tired, too busy, too young or too old, too poor, too fat, too late, too broken, too depressed, or too far gone? Well, when you buy something it becomes yours and you take it home with you. How about you stop buying that crap? It’s always going to be available and it’s always going to be a cheap and immediate offering to dismiss you from harder things, but buying into these excuses creates an exchange. It’s the exchange of yes for no.

No, I don’t feel like it today, so I’m not showing up. No, I don’t have time, so it will wait until tomorrow. No, I can’t do that because I’m not good enough, so you never know what you could have done.

And here’s the thing about this no … you don’t just stay the same as you take home the excuse you bought and plop it on your table. That excuse infests your entire house. More yeses turn to nos. Less effort is given. Less progress is made. You don’t stay the same, you slowly and progressively get worse. You lose momentum. You lose confidence. You lose hope. And this is exactly how one day you wake up to a life you don’t love and look in the mirror at a person you don’t know.

It begins with the buying of one excuse, an exchange of a yes for a no, then it infests your entire house.

You have been given life today. Do you understand what a privilege it is to be alive? Do you understand what a responsibility this is? Get up sis, and give God your YES!

Yes Lord, I will show up today. Yes Lord, I will go where you send me. Yes Lord, I will give my best effort today.

Now maybe your best effort can’t look like it did before because life has shifted. Sometimes you go from fifth gear to first. You shifted down sis, but don’t stall out. Don’t sit there doing absolutely nothing. Even if you’re stuck in bed today, you can use your mind for good things.

May I be honest? I’m sick. I don’t feel like doing this today. I didn’t feel like getting up. I could give you a long list of everything that hurts in my body right now, but what good would that do? God asked me if I would show up and do what I can do today, so darn it, that’s what I’m doing. What can God do with this yes? I don’t know, but I know it’s a whole lot more than he can do with my no.

What can God do with your yes? I don’t know, but I know it’s a whole lot more than he can do with your no.

Jesus sure showed us how to say yes. He showed us how to be available, keep moving forward, and never back down just because it was hard. Jesus showed up, with the best of him, always available for the work God had planned. And when that plan led him to the cross, Jesus said yes. He sweat blood with the anxiety of the pain he was about to face. He knew what the cross meant, but he still said yes.

And just think about what God did with that YES! He saved me and you!

Remember the story of Jesus on his final night of life, sharing dinner with his best friend the disciples. Do you remember what he did for them? He washed their feet. Even as the master, he served them. Then he said in John 13:15 “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”

Jesus’ entire life was an example for us to follow. It was a life of yes when it was hard. A life of yes when it was uncertain. A life of yes when every viable excuse was available. A yes when everyone was watching, and when no one was watching.

Will you do as he has done? Will you live a life of yes? Will you stare down the excuses and keep going anyway? Will you show up when you don’t feel like it? Will you give your best even when no one would know? Will you push through when every ounce of you just wants to give up? Will you give God your yes today knowing that is all he needs to do his miraculous works in and through you?

It’s your no that has been stopping the flow. Your no has halted this progress. Your no has caused you to fall short of the potential God has placed within you.

Maybe you didn’t really understand the power of your choices before. Now that you know better, you can do better. Now that you know the example of Jesus, you can follow it in your own life.

Show up with the best of you and be available for what God wants to do. What does that mean for you? It likely means something different for you than it meant for me today. Make it personal, because it is. God is asking for your personal yes instead of your excuse that dismisses you here.

Don’t you want to know what God can do with your yes? I sure do, that’s why I showed up today!