{"id":728,"date":"2023-06-08T16:31:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T16:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/?p=728"},"modified":"2023-06-08T16:31:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T16:31:10","slug":"be-you-nique-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/be-you-nique-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Be YOU-Nique Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">David was ready to fight Goliath. Saul gave David his armor to take on the giant. When David put on Saul\u2019s armor, he felt weighed down. He could hardly move. That is what happens when we try to be like others. Our inability to be like them weighs us down. We feel immobilized because we can\u2019t think, act, or do things like they do. That is the case because God did not create us like them. He created us to be unique.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span class=\"fontstyle2\">Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge. David told Saul, \u201cI can\u2019t even move with all this stuff on me. I\u2019m not used to this.\u201d And he took it all off.\u201d (1 Samuel 17:38- 39 MSG)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">We experience failure when we put on armor, gadgets, personalities or styles that are \u201csuited\u201d for others but not for us. If David had worn that armor to fight Goliath, he would have lost the battle before it started. Goliath would have fed him to the dogs. He would have been minced meat. But thank God David rejected being like Saul. He refused to proceed with a tactic that even Saul could not use. We should not reinvent the wheel; we should renovate it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">In any and every battle we need to be courageous; we need faith; we need hope; we need persistence and determination. However, how we apply those virtues does not have to be exactly like others. David needed an armor to fight Goliath. But based on his uniqueness, he did not need an armor of steel; he needed an armor of skill. Five smooth stones and a sling shot did not necessarily do the job. It was his shield of faith in God, the helmet of salvation that God \u201cgot his back,\u201d and the sword of God\u2019s Word in his mouth that God would help him prevail, that did the job. It was these armor that provided the support for David to catapult the stone that brought down Goliath (1 Samuel 17:40-50; Ephesians 6:10-14).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">David rejected Saul\u2019s armor because he had no experience with it. David had experience with his own armor\u2014the same one he used to protect his father\u2019s sheep from a lion and a bear, both of which he took out with faith in God\u2019s protection. He applied his experience with the animals against Goliath and prevailed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">We are not experienced in being other people. Some of us are even inexperienced in being ourselves because we\u2019ve exhausted lots of time and energy and suffered defeat by trying to be like others. We should be ourselves. We should take time to begin to discover and cultivate the gifts, talents, abilities and personalities that God has placed in us. We should begin to express our hearts. If we don\u2019t, well, like I\u2019ve been discussing throughout this book, rejection is hired to cause us to dig deep into ourselves and withdraw the things that have been lying dormant in us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">Friend, reject trying to be like others. In your own unique way, you\u2019re beautiful. If you haven\u2019t discovered that, just be-you-to-full.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>1. O. J. Toks, <em>Rejected for a Purpose<\/em> (Paoli, PA: Elevator Group Faith, 2010), 240 &#8211; 241.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ojtoksmusic.com\/store.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-104\" src=\"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/RejectedPurpose_WebCover1.jpg\" alt=\"How God Uses Rejection to Help You Find and Fulfill Your Destiny\" width=\"200\" height=\"299\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ojtoks.hearnow.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-719 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Tell-Her-Single-Cover-1-1-of-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"281\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Tell-Her-Single-Cover-1-1-of-1.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Tell-Her-Single-Cover-1-1-of-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Tell-Her-Single-Cover-1-1-of-1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Tell-Her-Single-Cover-1-1-of-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Tell-Her-Single-Cover-1-1-of-1-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 281px) 100vw, 281px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David was ready to fight Goliath. Saul gave David his armor to take on the giant. When David put on Saul\u2019s armor, he felt weighed down. He could hardly move. That is what happens when we try to be like others. Our inability to be like them weighs us down. We feel immobilized because we &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/be-you-nique-part-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Be YOU-Nique Part 2<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspirational"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":731,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions\/731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}