Chapter 1: There is GREATNESS In You

 ¹³ For you created my inmost being; you knit  me together in my mother’s womb. 

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
(Proverbs 139:13-14 NIV)

 

Greatness is in you and you have also birthed Greatness.  Children are gifts from God (Psalms 127:3 NASB).  God chose you to bring your child(ren) into the world, no one else.  You belong to an Exclusive Club.  Just like every human being in the world has their own unique finger print, every human being in the world only has one mother.  Children may have many people that love them, but your importance as mother can never be denied. 

Bishop T.D. Jakes states that “God incubates your Greatness through your frustration”.  In other words, don’t curse your situation, don’t curse your children, don’t even curse their father.  If nothing else feels right about your circumstances, purpose to be the best mother you can be.  Being the best mother has nothing to do with finances, race and/or upbringing.  The quality of time spent with your child(ren) is far more priceless than quantity of time.

Speaking of Greatness, let’s talk about Mary, Jesus’ mother.  Based on society’s labels, she would have been considered a single mother because even though she was engaged to Joseph, she was not yet married.  One of the reasons God allowed Jesus to be conceived under those circumstances was to show the world that there is a right way and a wrong way to go about handling life, regardless of the situation.  I know it may seem as though Mary’s situation was different because she didn’t have a choice but to be impregnated, but that’s not true.  Mary had a choice.  God chose Mary because He searched her heart and knew that she wouldn’t deny Him.  We are all born with free will therefore Mary could have given the angel that visited her one hundred and one excuses for why it wasn’t good timing or a good idea for her to be pregnant and unwed, but she didn‘t.  Imagine if Mary had told the angel ‘I would love to help you out but I don’t have a nice house or a job to take on this extra responsibility right now  Plus, I don’t know what Joseph is up to.  We haven’t set a date yet, so I’m going to have to decline.’  Just imagine. 


So what does Mary have to do with you?  Well, think about it, God searched for Mary the same way the devil searches for you.  The devil sees your hurt and pain and lack of self respect and self-worth and he preys on it.  In comparison, God used Mary’s commitment and unwavering dedication to Him to ensure that the prophesy of Jesus Christ would be fulfilled.  Now, once the devil finds you, he seduces and deceives you, then comes over you with the lusts of the flesh (to emulate the same way God came over Mary with the Holy Ghost) provoking the desires of the heart.  Finally, based on your choices and the condition of your heart, each spirit will rest after conception.  One will reproduce God’s love and the other will attempt to reproduce the devil’s hate, bitterness and unforgiveness in the form of your seed if he knows you are reproducing on his principles, not God’s.   Because for every seed of righteousness that is reproduced the devil is trying to reproduce his own seeds of unrighteousness (Genesis 3:15 NIV). God has known this since Adam and Eve’s fall from grace and for this reason He sent his only begotten Son to die for our sins and shortcomings so that we and our seeds can be redeemed (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV).

  

Now, because Mary did not deny God or fall into depression, relinquish her self-worth or become bitter based on her circumstances, she remained steadfast in God’s love and birthed (and nurtured) the Greatest Man to ever walk the earth.  She made a choice.  Similarly, we as mothers have a choice.  We can become bitter and angry based on our choices before and after conception and then choose to continue to work for the devil by helping him to raise his seed in an environment of hate, scorn, unforgiveness and misery.  Or we can repent, knowing that only God alone can create life and allow reproduction to occur.  And more importantly knowing that God can turn all things around for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28 NKJV). 

Whether your child is 2, 6, or 26 years old, it’s never to late to rescue them from the claws of the devil.  It begins with you and your choice to walk in God’s love and to nurture God’s love in them, just like Mary, and to draw the Greatness out of them.  Mary was great and did a great work because she knew, even before it dawned on her what she had been called to do, that she had Greatness in her.  She wouldn’t have been able to reproduce His Greatness to His full potential otherwise.  She understood that she also had a destiny. 

If Mary’s story is to far-fetched for you to relate to your life, consider the Israel Houghton story (Courtesy of www.cbn.com):

  Israel’s mother was pregnant with him when she was 17 years old.  His mother is Caucasian and his father is African-American.  During the time she was pregnant there were still very significant racial issues in American society and Israel’s mother was encouraged by her parents to have an abortion.  She refused and ran off with Israel’s father.  During her pregnancy she ended up on drugs and the state threatened to take her baby upon birth.  To make matters worse, the relationship with Israel’s father ended when she was 8 months pregnant.  If it was not for a faithful follower of Christ that stopped Israel’s mother on the street and ministered to her, she may never have come to Christ and initiated the foundation for Israel’s success.  She didn’t turn her temporary failure into her permanent downfall.

Stop seeing your single motherhood as an opposition, a hindrance or weakness and embrace it as an opportunity to do great things.   Too often society wants to portray single mothers as weak, struggling, vulnerable and pitied.  But you are a child of God, royalty, therefore you should never take on what society thinks.  You are not an outcast.  Embrace your Greatness.  Some of the greatest and most influential people came from single mothers - did I mention Jesus?  How about Barack Obama? Dr. Ben Carson? Oprah Winfrey?  Don’t be ashamed.  Be empowered by Jesus Christ and get back on the right path.  The devil doesn’t want that.  That’s why he keeps you pregnant, distraught, tired, heartbroken and confused with words, thoughts and feelings of unrighteousness.   But I’m going to tell you the same thing the lady told Israel’s mother : “Jesus loves you.  You are not forgotten. You did the right thing.  It’s going to be all right.”

In His Presence Declarations

• Jesus Loves Me... even when I am wrong
• There Is GREATNESS In Me
• My Child(ren) and I Have A Destiny in Christ
• I Am NOT Forgotten
• I did the Right Thing
• It's Going to be Alright