Movement Six
Open Hands and Pure Motives
Anchor Scripture: Psalm 139:23–24; Galatians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 3:6–7 (KJV)
| CENTRAL TRUTH |
|---|
| A real calling can become mixed with ambition, approval, comparison, control, or the need to be needed. God can purify the calling without shaming the person. |
Read Along
Ambition is not automatically wrong, but growth can become validation and leadership can become ownership. Success does not prove that God is pleased, and difficulty does not prove that He is displeased.
Comparison can corrupt calling. Competition can hide inside ministry. We may want to be needed more than we want people to grow, or become more loyal to a vision than to God. The glory and the increase belong to Him.
Surrender does not always mean God takes the assignment away. It means the dream, method, recognition, result, and right to control the outcome return to God. He is free to redirect us without becoming our enemy.
Guided response
Use an open hands inventory. Name the assignment or desire, then complete: I want; I fear; I may be trying to prove; I may be trying to control; I am willing for God to change; faithfulness today looks like.
Reflect and pray
- What do success and failure reveal in me?
- Could someone else carry this without threatening my identity?
- Do I want God, or only the outcome I attached to Him?
Remain in private prayer as long as needed. Return the assignment and its outcome to God, and allow Him to keep correcting your motives without shame.