Billy Joe Daugherty - You are Valuable

Table of Contents

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made!

I will praise You , for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You , when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts of me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You .

Psalm 139:14-18

God's thoughts of you are as numerous as the sand on the seashore! His thoughts of you are continuous and wonderful! You are valuable in God!

Some people have the concept, "I don't know whether God likes me or not." Some think God is going to hit them with a club. Some feel like He has laid a trap for them. They say, "Well, I'm doing okay right now, but you never know what God's going to do!" You will live in self-condemnation and fear if you don't understand that God values you. He is for you. Satan is the one who wants to devour you (John 10:10). When you realize you are valuable to God, your whole life will change.

At one of our apartment crusades in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, a man stood outside the tent watching all we were doing. He was a terror to the people in the neighborhood. His lifestyle of ungodliness was so bad that everyone in the complex knew him, and many had been treated badly by him .

As the Spirit of God fell inside the tent, his heart was opened , and he began to walk toward me. He came forward and gave his life to Christ. He testified, "For forty-four years I have lived without knowing God, but now I know Him."

This man has been transformed by God's grace and rides the church bus to Sunday morning services. Today, this man believes in himself. His whole attitude toward life is positive and joy fills his heart. For years he had thought he was worthless, and the bitterness in his heart had come out in anger toward others. Jesus changed all that and made him a new man.

A lot of people today wear nice suits and dresses, but they're running, tormented by the devil just like this man, because they don't know they have value.

You are Gods Workmanship

Your value isn't based upon the net worth of your assets and bank deposits or your holdings and investments. Your worth is related to Almighty God!

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, just as the others.

Ephesians 2:1-3

This is a powerful word. Paul is saying, "Before a person is born again, he lives like the devil. He succumbs to the devil's control in his mind, in his actions, in his thought life, and as a result, he's under the wrath of God."

We were caught up in sin and living under the control of it, like a raging river carrying someone downstream to destruction.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

And raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-7

We've only scratched the surface of the riches of God's grace that will be revealed to us. The best is yet to come.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Not of works, lest anyone should boast.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10

When you were born again, you were created in the image and likeness of God on the inside. You may look the same on the outside, but you become a brand new person on the inside.

You were created in Christ Jesus unto good works. You are the workmanship or handicraft of God, created and ordained by Him for good works, which He has already prepared for you. In other words, you're walking out a script that has already been written. You're literally following the blueprint of God's Word and Spirit in a supernatural way to fulfill the thing God has preordained for your life.

God says to you personally in His Word:

Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands...your walls are continually before Me.

Isaiah 49:16, AMP.

Societys Standards of Value

Because of the value standards established by society, there has been a distortion in the minds of people concerning their personal worth. Their value has been degraded. They have seen themselves in the light of natural, outward things as being either valuable or not valuable.

For instance, people have judged beauty or appearance on the outside and have said, "This person is valuable, because of his/her outward appearance." On the other hand, "This person is not valuable, because of his/her appearance."

Education is an area which has been used to judge a person's value. "This person is valuable because of his education. This person doesn't know as much, so he's not as valuable."

Talent is another area we've used to judge a person's value. Some people have the ability to play an instrument, to sing, to play sports, or to do something in a business sense, and they are considered valuable, while others who may not have the same talent aren't considered as valuable.

People with great personalities are called valuable, while others who may not be able to clearly express what they feel are often degraded.

Achievements and success have caused some people to be elevated as valuable, while others who haven't achieved or succeeded on the same level are considered of less value.

Some people exalt a nationality because they're born in a certain nation. They're considered of greater worth than a person born in a less populous nation. Or someone of a certain color is exalted, while someone of another color is demeaned.

Parents at times have honored and lavished love on one child because they were intelligent and achieved, while ignoring another child who was not as bright and perhaps not as successful in athletics, music, or in other endeavors. Without being aware of it, parents have exalted one child and put down another. Perhaps your life has been affected because of a distorted value system either by your parents or in peers.

The value system in our society has created internal turmoil in many people. Putdowns and terrible things have happened because of distorted values.

People who compare themselves to the world's value system often fall into terrible insecurities. They're frustrated, tormented, and spiritually dwarfed because they are intimidated from the outside. Therefore, like a little tree that's tied at the roots, they never grow and expand because they see themselves in the light of how the world values them. When this process continues, it not only goes into insecurity, but it also leads to depression and discouragement.

The way people view themselves is back of the poverty spirit in America and throughout the world. If you don't know your worth in God, then you don't have hope. Without hope, there's no motivation . And without motivation, you'll live under whatever circumstances choose to oppress you, whether it's drugs, alcohol, poverty, depression, discouragement, or self-pity.