Who Qualfies?

WHO QUALIFIES?

 My power works best in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT)

Do you ever feel that God can't use you because you aren't qualified? Many of us feel the same way. In fact, there were very few men or women in the Bible who were used of God who didn't have a personal struggle or challenge of one kind or another. Moses and Mary weren't the only ones who didn't feel qualified for the work God was calling them to do!

Someone has pointed out that "Moses stuttered. John Mark was rejected by Paul.  Hosea's wife was a prostitute. Jacob lied. David had an affair. Abraham and Sarah were too old. David was too young. Peter was impulsive. John had a temper. Naomi was a widow. Paul was a murderer, as was Moses. Jonah ran from God. Gideon and Thomas both doubted. Jeremiah was depressed. Elijah was burned out. Martha worried too much. Matthew was a despised tax-gatherer. Noah had a drinking problem."

We are in good company.  

Let go and get the job done.



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DON’T GIVE UP.

 Years ago a certain Mr. Darby, a wealthy insurance broker, was caught up with gold fever and headed out to Colorado.  He did some prospecting and discovered a very rich vein of gold in the Rockies. He returned to his home on the East Coast and convinced all his friends to invest their money in a mining venture.  They formed a corporation, bought a great deal of equipment, and mined this very wealthy vein of gold ore in Colorado.

 About the time that corporation paid off all its debts, the vein of gold ran out.  The investors kept digging until they ran themselves into debt again. Finally, one day,  a discouraged Mr Darby ordered an end to the excavation.  He closed the mine, went into Denver, and sold the mine and equipment to a junk dealer for a few hundred dollars.  

Mr Darby headed home.
 The junk dealer hired a geologist to study the mine and the area.  The geologist came back with a report:  “If you dig three feet past the point where Mr Darby quit, you’ll find the same vein of gold.”.  The junk dealer became the wealthiest mine owner in the state of Colorado.  Just three more feet!.  

I wonder how many times we too, stop three feet short of victory?
 Maybe you been praying for someone in your family for many years and there seems no change.  You are questioning whether your prayers are having any effect.  You know it is God’s will for men and women to be saved.  You know that He has promised that if we ask anything according to His will He will grant it.  But the long delayed response is causing you moments of doubt.


Don’t be discouraged, don’t be dismayed, don’t be disheartened.  God has said it so it is as good as done so keep persisting.

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TOUGH TIMES

But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold (Job 23:10, NKJV)

Difficult times that are bitter to our souls put our belief in the loving sovereignty of God to the test.  They reveal our basic attitudes toward His perfect control.  If we see His hand in everything our complaints will be replaced with settled trust.  No one has said that when you accepted Christ as your Saviour you would have a trouble-free life.  

It is our responses to these problems that are important.  It is the tough times of life that can lead us into closer and sweeter fellowship with God and greater fruitfulness in His service. Men and women of God are fashioned on the anvil of affliction.  The pressures of life can be used of the Holy Spirit to mould us more and more into the image of Christ.  Everything depends on our responses

SPIRITUAL SUICIDE

"A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep—" (Proverbs 6:10, NKJV)

You sit in your car on a cold evening with the heater on the motor running; the next day they find you dead behind the wheel.  Carbon monoxide doesn’t warn you.  It makes you a little drowsy…then a little more drowsy…then you sleep…then you die.

Is this the story of your spiritual life?  You gradually lose your energy and slowly yet surely the motivation subsides.  Before you realise it you are spiritually dead.
The apostle Paul said, "And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:11-12, NKJV)

FAILURE BACK DOOR TO SUCCESS

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair (2 Corinthians 4:8, NKJV)

Walt Disney went broke seven times and had a nervous breakdown before he became successful. At age 40 Henry Ford was broke. Enrico Caruso, who became one of the world's greatest tenors, was advised by his voice teacher to quit singing because he failed so many times to carry his high notes. Thomas Edison failed more than 6,000 times before he could get an electric light bulb to work, one of his teachers once called him a dunce. Abraham Lincoln was well known for his many failures but became one of America's most beloved presidents. And Albert Einstein and Werner von Braun both flunked courses in mathematics. History is filled with similar stories.

Failure is not a dead end street.  It may well be your stepping stone to something better, greater and wonderful.  Don’t despair

Consider the Ant

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! (Proverbs 6:6, NLT)

Among other lessons, the ants "who store up their food in the summer" teach us the importance of being prepared ahead of time for whatever might come our way. The Chinese proverb, "Dig your well before you're thirsty" makes the same point. Children need to be prepared for life, teenagers and young adults need to be prepared for entering the work force, and for taking care of themselves. Those who are planning to be married should prepare ahead for it; unfortunately, too many don't. And all adults need to prepare ahead for retirement and old age.

And most important of all, we need to be prepared for life after life when we will meet our Maker face to face. As God's Word says, "Prepare to meet your God," (Amos 4.12). How tragic beyond all measure for those who aren't prepared for life after death.

Soul Winners Crown

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?   For you are our glory and joy. 

1 Thessalonians 2:19, 20 (NKJV)

The fact that we shall one day stand at the judgment seat of Christ ought to motivate us to be faithful in spite of difficulties.

Paul said that the believers themselves would be his crown when he met them at the judgment seat.  To be sure, some of the believers in the church were not living as they should, and some were a burden to Paul.  But when he looked ahead and saw them in glory, they brought joy to his heart.

However we will lose some of that joy if we go to Heaven empty-handed.  The Christian who has not sincerely tried to win others to Christ will not experience this glory and joy when Christ returns. 

Turning Point

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12, NKJV)

On May 24, 1738, a discouraged missionary went “very unwillingly” to a religious meeting in London. There a miracle took place. “About a quarter before nine,” he wrote in his journal, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

That missionary was John Wesley. The message he heard that evening was from Martin Luther’s commentary on Romans. The gospel is still transforming people’s lives, just the way it transformed Martin Luther and John Wesley. The one scripture above all others that brought Luther out of mere religion into the joy of salvation by grace, through faith, was Romans 1.17 “The righteous will live by faith.” The Protestant Reformation and the Wesleyan revival were both the fruit of this wonderful letter.

A Bright Future

BRIGHT FUTURE

Be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." (1 Corinthians 15:58, NLT)

Adoniram Judson spent 12 years in Burma without a convert. So the board sent him a very diplomatic letter, suggesting that he should come home. They asked him what the prospects in Burma were for the future. His reply was, "The future is as bright as the promises of God." His confidence in God was the reason he could stay. Although he suffered a great deal and it took a long time for revival to break out, it finally did.

Are you in a place of discouragement right now? Does it seem like you are getting nowhere in your life? Does your job lack fulfillment? Does there seem no fruit for your ministry?

"So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up." (Galatians 6:9, NLT)

YES WE CAN!!

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13, NLT)

A teacher in Georgia, USA taught her fourth-grade students an invaluable lesson by conducting a funeral. She enthused her class because the funeral was to be conducted for an enemy—the "I can't" enemy.

"Each child was encouraged to list their 'I Can'ts': 'I can't do math.' 'I can't make any friends.' 'I can't hit a home run in softball.' 'I can't give a book report in front of the class,'" and so on.

When the teacher collected all the "I can't" lists, she put them in a box and took them with the class outside where they took turns in digging a grave. In her eulogy she said, "We have provided 'I Can't' with a final resting place and a headstone that contains his epitaph. He is survived by his brothers and sisters, 'I Can,' 'I Will,' and 'I'm Going to Right Away.'

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A Walking Sermon

Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. (1 John 2:6, NLT)

In 1953 reporters gathered at a Chicago railway station waiting to meet the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Reporters were excited to see him. Cameras were flashing, compliments were being expressed when, looking beyond the adulation, the visitor saw an elderly black woman struggling to carry her two large suitcases.

"Excuse me," he said as he went to the aid of this woman. Picking up her cases, he escorted her to a bus and then apologized to the reporters for keeping them waiting.

The man was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous missionary-doctor who had invested his life helping poor and sick people in Africa.

A member of the reception committee remarked to one of the reporters, "That's the first time I ever saw a sermon walking." The measure of any man or woman is not their name, not their fame, not what they say, but what they do.

"Preach the gospel at all times -- If necessary, use words." - Saint Francis of Assisi