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PROGRAM D-8220
What Kingdom equity are you wasting? Kingdom equity is all that God has planned or allowed in our lives to equip us to do the good works he planned in advance for us to do. Kingdom equity includes the good things—our gifts, abilities, skills, and knowledge—as well as the hard things—our heartaches and our failures.
What part of your past—or your present—have you put in the category of “not good” or “not fair” or “shameful,” and therefore have tried to hide it from others as well as yourself? Or perhaps you’ve let it sit there so long that bitter roots are growing in your heart and those bitter roots are causing trouble, defiling you and others. Maybe you’ve allowed yourself to live in the lie that God can’t really use you like he uses other people because of your past.
The thing about this kind of Kingdom equity—the kind that is filled with sorrow, heartaches, and failure—is that it’s very difficult to see how God can use it when we’re in the middle of it. It’s usually only in hindsight that we can say, as Joseph did, “God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:29). So that means that when we’re in the middle, we have to walk by faith and not by sight. We must decide whether we’re really going to trust God or not—against our feelings and our emotions.
Some time ago, I was suddenly faced with a situation that was potentially very harmful. This situation was not resolved for almost an entire year. More than any other time in my life, my trust in God was tested. I had doubts; I certainly had fears; I wanted to run away and forget it all; my faith was tested. I wish I had come through better than I did. There were days that I did not have the victory. But in the end, by God’s grace, I came through as gold refined in the fire. I now have much more sympathy and empathy with those who are in the midst of a struggle than I ever had before. It’s Kingdom equity that God allowed in my life, to be used for his glory.
When we allow God to use all his Kingdom equity in us, it brings meaning to every aspect of our lives. Nothing is wasted. We find that the pains and hurts of our lives, as well as all the experience you’ve gained in your working world, the talents you’ve developed when you were young, the skills you’ve added through your life—can all be used for good. It’s all Kingdom equity, and God is looking for a return on his investment in you.