God Calls The Available

The Holy Bible

⁷ By God's grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News. ⁸ Though I am the least deserving of all God's people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.

(Bible Translation and Location: New Living Translation – Ephesians 3:7-8)

 
Thoughts:

Paul is reminding us that as long as we make ourselves available to God and are willing to be used of God, then much like He did through Paul, He can also do through us. Friends, Paul is one of the largest contributors to the New Testament and he probably started more churches in his day than anyone else that we have record of in the Bible. So you might ask, why would God have used an unqualified person amidst so many others that were probably smarter and better prepared to handle the ministries that Paul faced. I believe the answer melds with sound doctrine, and is very applicable for the excuses that many of us lay persons come up with today. In using Paul, the power of God was very evident! Not only in the sermons he preached, or the miracles wrought through his ministry, but in his determination to minister successfully even in the jails, as he did to the Philippian Jailer. So what might God be saying to us through this passage? I feel like God is encouraging us to stand tall for Him, and be willing to step up to the plate when God lays a ministry on our mind. He is probably laying it on your mind so that you might become involved and, through total dependence on Him, see the lost receive hope and a new life in Jesus Christ. Please don't refer a person to your church when God has placed them in your path. Become personally involved. Help them, even if the help ultimately comes from the church. You may have opportunity to minister to their personal and godly needs. Imagine for a moment if Paul would have said 'No' to God, the number of people who may not have been saved in that day! Imagine if Mary would have said 'No' to God when told that she would be impregnated by the Holy Spirit? Imagine the folk that might die and go to Hell, unless you are obedient to the Holy Spirit and do His perfect will with His awesome power and support?


 
Prayer:

Lord Jesus, please forgive us for 'passing the buck' so often instead of being obedient to Your commands! How dare us be disobedient in that way. How dare us pass 'the baton' to someone else who You never intended to do the job given to us. How dare us pass the joy intended for us on to someone else. Lord, we are weak, but thank God You are strong! Thank You for working with us and prodding us along to be the children You intended us to be. Please don't give up on us! Please continue to work on us so that we may learn to follow Your will and Your instructions as intended. Please help us to have hearts of mercy, that desire to see those that come into our realm of influence, come to know You in a very personal and committed way. Lord, You are good and Your mercies endureth forever! Thank You for choosing me to be Your child, and for using me in any way You see fit to grow Your kingdom here on earth. Please endow readers of this devotional with this same power and a strong desire to serve You in any way You desire through them. I ask all this in the worthy and precious name of Jesus, my Lord, AMEN!

 

 
FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day's devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!