Sight Your Source

When I was in school I wasn’t much of a writer but I enjoyed writing research papers. Sounds strange, right? But I loved that when I researched the information on a topic, it was all laid out and made easy for me to manage. My least favorite part of the paper came at the end when I now had to cite my source. The format was tedious and I, who worked last minute, now had to go through my paper and figure out which words, phrases, sentences went with the specific part of the source used.

As the Lord reminded me of this unsung part of the writing process, He said to me “I need you to tell them how important it is to sight your source. When you see me working in your life, when you feel me moving in your midst, when you hear my wisdom conveyed in another person, you must make it plain that I am is there.” I remember thinking, “what an incredible and deliberate concept!” God needs us to acknowledge that He is the one moving swiftly and mightily on our behalf in the same way my teacher needed me to comb through my entire research paper and cite my source.

As I continued my conversation with God, I sought out how to better understand what He was teaching me. “How can we better sight our source?” And Jesus said to me “it starts with correction.” What the Lord made clear to me afterwards was that often times we know that Jesus worked out an issue or problem in our lives and when someone compliments the fruits of Christ’s labor, we say thank you without acknowledging the true source of our success. We say we appreciate that they noticed without being transparent about the role Jesus played. I know I’ve been guilty of this before.

In continuing the lesson, I asked the Lord “what comes after correction?” And He said to me “once you correct the way you speak it corrects the way that you speak.” In other words, once you acknowledge Jesus as the source of your good, you ingrain acknowledging Him as a permanent part of your speech. This teaching was so important to me because I remember there being a time when I didn’t acknowledge Jesus properly for my blessing because I was surrounded by people I assumed wouldn’t get it. Even if they didn’t get it, I still owe everything to God and must give honor where honor is due.

I want to encourage anyone who loves Jesus but has felt uncomfortable bragging on God in certain spaces. You’re not alone. I want you to remember that the words of our testimony is how we are saved. I want you to remember that God is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. No matter what, these things don’t change, and you will be refreshed after letting loose the truth. Who knows who your transparency will inspire. Til’ next time adieu.