What Will It Take

This is a question that should take some thought.  How many times have you asked the Lord to use you to further His kingdom here on earth in one way or another?  Then, when given the chance, you backed out, making up some kind of excuse why you couldn’t do it?  I know this has happened to me more than once, I wonder how many other people have had this same problem.

I have never been too comfortable teaching or preaching when the opportunity arose, until I was in it for a while, then I could relax more as time went on.  I am not, and never have been, a preacher but I have had the privilege to preach and I never took it lightly, but I could never preach without some anxiety at first.  I never wanted to say anything that wasn’t true and, to be honest, I didn’t want to be embarrassed by making a mistake.  Always worrying about making a mistake is called pride and I was sure guilty of that.  I have always had the fear of God in my Christian walk which is a good thing, praise the Lord.

 In 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 it talks about Paul and the way he felt when he first preached to the Corinthians saying this, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Paul knew that it wasn’t the man speaking that counted; it was the power of the Holy Spirit behind the words and in the man, who was speaking.  Paul was a brilliant scholar and could have overwhelmed his listeners with his knowledge, but that was not important, Paul wanted his listeners to fully understand his message so he made it simple because he knew with the Holy Spirit’s conviction, the Lord’s will would be accomplished and that was his goal.  Too many times, people get their eyes on the preacher and off the Lord and Paul knew that was a big mistake.  Paul was determined to get their focus off him and put it on the Lord where it should be.  That was why he felt like he did when preaching to the Corinthians.

Some people preach or minister with all kinds of self-confidence and some are very bold while others are very, very timid, some even seek different ways to get out of ministering when the opportunity arises.  This brings to mind how in the book of Exodus, Moses had a problem when God wanted him to go to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let His people go.  It seems like if an angel of the Lord spoke to you from a burning bush, you would have no problem going, but Moses came up with excuses not to go.  He feared what the people would think of him and that something might go wrong, after all, he wasn’t in very good standing with Pharaoh.  

Do you think you would have responded differently in Moses’ situation?  It does seem that Moses would have had more trust in this kind of encounter but be careful not to judge Moses too harshly, God may put you in a similar position to test you.  He tried so hard to get out of it that he made God angry at him, not a good idea.  Thanks to God’s patience and mercy, God provided Moses’ brother Aaron to go with him, so Moses finally was convinced to go and he went.  You can read about it in Exodus chapters 3 and 4.  This was quite a struggle for Moses, but when he finally obeyed, God accomplished His work and the Egyptians let God’s people go.

What will it take for you to go and do what God has called you to do?  God doesn’t always call the equipped but He always equips the called, so I want you to be encouraged today and step out in faith.  If God has called you, you will not be alone, He will go with you and help you be victorious in the task He has sent you to do, praise the Lord!  This is something to think about and I hope you will.  God bless you and yours and have a great day!