I was recently talking with a friend of mine about the feeling of inadequacy I have been feeling concerning moving forward to do some “new things” the Lord is calling me to do. My husband and I have recently moved from a ministry where we were both on staff and worked together as a couple. Through a series of painful events, the Lord moved us into a new place of ministry. Because I was grieving the loss of the ministry I had, I found myself paralyzed and unable to move forward. The Lord reminded me of Philippians 3:14 and showed me that I needed to forget the past, launch into the future and strive to fulfill His calling for me right now. I was challenged with several “new things” that He wanted me to do that looked different than the things I had previously been doing. Isaiah 42:9 says, “Behold the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.” I surrendered to Him and told Him that with His help I would do these “new things”. Almost immediately I was slammed with an onslaught of feelings of fear, inadequacy and doubt. My friend shared with me that God does not ask us to do the miracle. He only asks us to bring what we have to Him and let Him do the work through us.
For example, when Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding in Cana, He took what they had available to bring to Him and used it to do a miracle. They brought the water. He changed it into wine. God wants me to bring what I have to Him and allow Him to do the miracle through me. He wants to take the ordinary--water and turn it into something extraordinary--wine.
Consider the widow woman who had the insurmountable debt. The prophet Elisha asked her what she had in the house. She had only a little pot of oil. He told her to go borrow vessels from her neighbors and bring them to the house. She and her sons went out and collected as many vessels as they could find. When they returned and shut the door, they were told to pour the oil from her small pitcher into the vessels. The oil did not stop flowing out until all of the vessels were full. The woman went out, sold the oil, and paid the debt, saving her two sons from slavery. There was even money left for them to live on.
What about the boy who had a small lunch of five loaves and two fish? No doubt as lunch time approached the boy found himself to be quite hungry and ready to eat his meal. Yet he was willing to bring what he had and give it to Jesus. Jesus took what the boy willingly gave and fed a multitude of 5,000 men plus women and children. I imagine that the boy took home more food that evening than he started with in the morning.
The common thread in all of these stories is that they brought what they had to the Lord and He used what they had to do the miracle. The servants brought the jugs of water, the boy brought his lunch, and the widow brought her oil. The two key components in all of these accounts are obedience and faith. In our own strength we are inadequate, fearful and full of doubt. When we surrender ourselves to God He does the work through us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NLT) proclaims, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it CLEAR that our great power is from God, NOT ourselves.”
How about you? Are you willing to bring what you have to God in full surrender and obedience and allow Him to use you? Is He calling you to do a “new thing” that is not in your “comfort zone”? Will you take action to be intentional in what God is asking you to do today?
Jennifer Hart
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