Here for us is a wonderfully and thought-provoking teaching that I recently learned from Peter Beamish. When we consider and contemplate things, this statement often becomes very true; “Having Doubt, just kills off way more dreams than Failure ever will, it just limits our impact, those crippling doubts bluffs us into thinking that we are just ‘Not Good Enough,’ thus another dream and a glorious bright future is destroyed, sunk and shattered, just by nagging doubt.” When you ask children what they want to be when they grow up, and then check back in their adulthood, 96% of them are not living their dream, they are not doing the jobs today, that was their focus and driving ambition as a child. Nearly half of employees do not feel that they are good enough, that they actually have enough talent, have had those necessary opportunities, or even had the resources, I didn’t feel good enough, I just didn’t feel that I could do it and achieve, or even make the grade. Surveys and studies often record that about 1/3rd of respondents are lonely, who would want to befriend me, who would want to even spend time with me, for I am just, “Not Good Enough.” “If you think you can do a thing, or think you can’t do a thing, you are dead right;” just your thinking alone completely changes the eventual outcome massively.
When looking at those who were high achievers, it was interesting to note that predominantly all of them had a “Mentor,” an advisor, a counselor, some body to cheer them onwards, that shoulder to cry on, that someone to give them a push, to scrape them up off the ground and to encourage them onwards, someone who believed in them, and it is interesting to note that the ‘Mentor,’ was not necessarily a ‘World Champion,’ that highly skilled Personal Trainer/Coach, almost anybody who cheered a person onwards, was actually good enough. What were the results of having a ‘mentor,’ an encourager, well that enthusiastically encouraged person achieved over four times as much as someone who had to ‘pull themselves up by their boot straps,’ who had to valiantly paddle on alone, overachievers invariably have somebody behind them, cheering them along, even if that ‘mentor’ was marginally better and marginally more skilled than the student. Remember that a competition pulling Ox can pull around 8,000lb, but a pair teamed up together easily pull some 32,000lb, for in a team one can do much more than four times more than what one can achieve when working alone.
Take the case of Moses, Exodus 3:11 “And Moses said unto God, Who [am] I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” God, I am simply not good enough. Exodus 4:10-12 ERV “Then Moses said to the Lord, “But, Lord, I am telling you, I am not a good speaker. I have never been able to speak well. And that hasn’t changed since you started talking to me. I am still not a good speaker. You know that I speak slowly and don’t use the best words.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who made a person’s mouth? And who can make someone deaf or not able to speak? Who can make a person blind? Who can make a person able to see? I am the one. I am the Lord. So go. I will be with you when you speak. I will give you the words to say.” Moses kept doubting; God, you have got this all wrong, go pick somebody else, there are way more eloquent and talented people than me, you can do way better, for I am just “Not Good Enough.”
Consider Gideon; Judges 6:12 “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD [is] with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” Hello there, you have got this all-wrong God, Judges 6:13 “And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where [be] all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? But now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” Judges 6:15 “And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family [is] poor in Manasseh, and I [am] the least in my father’s house.” You see God, you are talking to the wrong person, for I am just “Not Good Enough.” But you see, when God calls, he blesses and empowers us, Judges 6:14 “And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?” God said Go! God affirmed that you “Are Good Enough,” Matthew 19:26 “But Jesus beheld [them], and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
Let us now look at Jeremiah, as recorded in Jeremiah 1:4-9 “Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I [am but] a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I [am] a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I [am] with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.” God, you have this all wrong, I am just too young, I am inexperienced, I am a child; God, you have got it all terribly wrong, go pick somebody else, there are way more eloquent and talented people than me, you can do way better, for I am just “Not Good Enough.” Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Isaiah 41:10 “Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Romans 5:6 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Say with me; “I am Good Enough, I am of infinite value, Christ died for me, Christ paid the price to redeem me, thus “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” {Philippians 4:13}
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.” John 14:16 “And I [Jesus] will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;” a ‘comforter,’ a ‘coach,’ a ‘mentor.’ 1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” An ‘Advocate’ is in the same terms as a ‘helper,’ so Jesus and the Holy Spirit are urging you to press forwards, to advance, to overcome, to achieve, to claim victory, Romans 8:31 “What shall we then say to these things? If God [be] for us, who [can be] against us?” I can do ALL things, nothing is impossible for God and me to handle together, for my God is my “Mentor,” I am amazing, talented, and treasured, I am much more than Good Enough, and I am going to exceed and to achieve every single day. John 14:12 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” You are more than good enough, when ‘In Christ.’ Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Thus I am much more than Good Enough. Just remember that ‘Without Christ we cannot succeed, with Christ we cannot fail.’ In Christ we are forever ‘Good Enough,’ so good in fact that God has already adopted you, and you are now his precious child, thus you are forever more than ‘Good Enough.’ Isaiah 46:4 ERV “and I will still be carrying you when you are old. Your hair will turn gray, and I will still carry you. I made you, and I will carry you to safety,” for you are more than ‘Good Enough,’ cause God made you utterly amazing and special.
