THE GREATER REFLECTION OF YOU! For Our Young Ladies!

Happy Mother’s Day all! Stand up! Hug your mother and say, thank you for loving me! Thank you, for teaching me, thank you for spending time with me! Thank you, for mentoring me…thank you, for protecting me, and thank you, for loving me… Happy Mother’s day!!! Praise God….

Let us open in prayer!….Father, Guard those woman in our lives who have guarded us, struggled for us and made sure we were feed, prepared for the next day and held us when we were down, supported us when we were on the rise and stuck by us when the world tried to kill us! Allow this sermon to speak to their hearts especially our young woman! Keep them empowered, inspired and protected for they have inspired us all! Amen!!!

Now, let’s get into it…I thought it important especially with teenage girls of my own, to do a sermon this Sunday on the importance of knowing and respecting thyself…especially our sisters, daughters, lady friends and family. Special thanks to Jobs Daughters for allowing me to share this with them this morning!

THE GREATER REFLECTION OF YOU!

Ok here we go…

To understand the greater reflection of you, you must first understand what makes you special and how to rise above adversity…

– You are blessed and you are all beautiful! Say it to yourself: I am blessed and I am beautiful.!!!

1 Corinthians 1:10
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

You are better than this world tells you! You are stronger and must remember a few principles when dealing with this world and being able to show the greater reflections of you…your inner beauty, the internal not the external… Ok, let’s get into this, praise God…. let’s go through the top 5 or 6.

1. Don’t let this world fool you with its fake friendships and weak relationships! Your true friends will always reveal themselves..now hear me carefully… By their actions….NOT MERELY BY THEIR WORDS… somebody work with me… True friends WILL BE AND SHOULD BE there to encourage, support and lift you up! Say to your friend, “I lift you up!”…look to your friend and say, “Lift me up…inspire me, encourage me!”…praise God.

2. NOT EVERYONE IS WORTH YOUR TIME
Not everyone is worthy of your time; choose your friends well and take care of them and each other, remembering to look to God 1st for comfort and guidance, and then friends for support and encouragement. Make people validate themselves in behavior, before you decide to form your alliances.

3.Try not to focus so much on the NEGATIVE, but rather choose to focus on the positive aspects of life and what life has to offer! Think outside the box, think of what you would do with your life if resources were unlimited!!! Maintain that vision, dream and when the time comes …act and stay the course… God has created you with a specific plan in mind; you are created to accomplish great things. The bible tells us… “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.” (Proverbs 29:18 MSG) The vision that you see when you ‘think outside of the box’, is a God given vision. A vision that is too big for you to fulfill without Him!… Be continually inspired towards greatness… Speak greatness into your life, and follow through in action! …all right then…;)

4. Be encouraged!!! You are more than a conqueror through Christ who strengthens you. (Rom 8:37) Your age is not a factor; Your God is the common denominator when it comes to winning the battle. Do not fear, young people! Take up your slingshot and fight against the giants in your life; do not allow the giants to intimidate you! David was not intimidated, you need not be either! David was not
in the battlefield by accident, and neither are you… You are here by divine appointment…to defeat the giant and WIN the battle to reveal the greater reflection of yourself… Be encouraged! Yes indeed…

ROUND UP: fake friendships, friend validation, negativity and encouragement…

5. Let’s talk on FEAR… listen, we understand that being emotional is part of beiing human…we have all been there… but be careful…not to react out of fear! Fear can manifest itself in many ways…making bad decisions to act out, take drugs, smoke and drink to excess…this usually comes from the fear of not being accepted, wanting to be in the “in” crowd… This spills over into having bad relationships, etc. Have no fear and remember although you may feel alone…You’re not, …and to prove it, someone even died for you! You’re not alone…follow your guides, your inner compass, and embrace your conscience and the Holy Spirit within and fear no danger! If ‘fear’ is controlling how you are making decisions, the only effective weapon you have to overcome this is “FAITH”. Faith in God and his love for you. (2 Tim. 1:7) Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you,my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27) Faith in God’s perfect plan for your life is paramount… If you keep your eyes on GOD and not on your emotions.. your faith will become stronger than your fears. Praise God..Love for God and true belief in his power equals No Fear!

6. How important is it for you to be POPULAR? You may think this only relates to teenagers, but I assure you, this peer pressure lasts far beyond…remember “keeping up with the Joneses”? To what extent are you willing to go to become part of the “in-group”? Are you willing to compromise your values just to say you are friends with a certain crowd? ‘Why is this worth discussing?’ you may think, but of course everyone wants to be accepted in one way or another. I want to challenge you to evaluate what your personal definition of popularity is. Let’s look at the life of Jesus…Jesus was certainly sought after, but not necessarily with the “popular groups” of that day. Jesus did not follow the crowd, Jesus stayed close to God and did only what God told him to do… and this is what made him so attractive to others. I want to challenge you NOT to “follow the crowd” for the sake of trying to become accepted by others. You must learn to be the best “YOU” that you can be, and often times this means going against the crowd. What is God telling you to do? Perhaps God is nudging you to be a friend to the new person in your work environment, or volunteer your time after school at a study group, become more active in your religious group. It is God’s acceptance of you that will have a lasting impact on your life. Some of the most popular groups will come and go, but God’s plans for your life will stretch into eternity. Spend some time praying and asking God just how you can use the gifts and talents he has given you to become “popular” in His eyes….praise God…

So I say all of this to incite the thought process…

– What will your Makeover be!!!—I have often heard from people that they wish they could just get a total…”MAKEOVER!” The idea that life would be better if you had different make up, expensive car, a new hairdo, new clothes, and so on. These types of makeovers concentrate on the outward appearance. But, all these things are subject to change; always promising to satisfy, but never truly delivering the ultimate feeling you were looking for. I have good news for you! God is the AUTHOR of “makeovers.” When you truly give your life to God, he will change your life permanently from the inside out! God will make changes in you that will last for a lifetime, and others will notice these changes from the “outside” as well. People will begin to notice that there is something different about you. The difference is that you are making a lasting change that counts! A change that will last, that’s what shows your true beauty..the true reflection of who you are…a change that is the real thing, and will not be outdated with the season. At any age, without the proper knowledge and tools, it is easy to get caught up in your outside appearance, without any regard to your character, the REAL you on the inside! –This is who you really are; the person on the inside is the person that you live with everyday!!! Say it to yourself…”inside”!!! No matter how you try to package yourself on the outside, without paying attention to the inner you, there will always be a part of you that is seeking a “makeover,” never being satisfied. Remember…GOD loves you; He made you complete in him. You are loved, you are blessed, and you are the child of the living King! Keep your focus on these
things. Ask HIM to show you the areas in your life that will begin a makeover on the inside of you…to show the greater reflection of you!!! God loves you so much, that he will show you how to develop your character to reflect his love and his goodness. Let HIM develop your character, and you will have the ultimate “MAKEOVER!” Now is the time to focus on developing your character, as it is your character that will carry you to the perfect plan God has for your life. Stand tall in it, be inspired, encouraged and motivated in life, love, peace and unity….have the comfort of knowing you are loved by GOD and any additional validation is just gravy on top…bless you all… Remember…the greater reflection of you, is the beauty of you from within…strengthen it!!!

Let us pray…..Father we ask that you bless all people, especially our moms, dads, family and friends and keep them strengthened in your goodness and grace… Help us to remember…God is a loving God, a merciful God, who will forgive, reward and always love us, We ask that you remind us, father that our beauty should not come from outward adornments, but, instead father, it should be that of our inner selves, that unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in your sight. -1 peter 3:3-4″

May God continue to bless you all, stand tall in all that you DO and remember to always strengthen, the GREATER reflections of you! Amen….

I hope this sermon will help a young lady continue to love and respect herself and know that she is truly a diamond in the rough! Powerful you are! Rev. Poe 🙂

Rev. Gerald F. Poe Jr.
Defender of the Faith!
Upon this Rock Ministries
Gospel renewal missions international

CC: Pastor Dan Brewer.
CC: Bishop Anibal Marcera.