Thoughts On Thursday…

Maturing in your Faith

We can’t reach our highest potential on our own strength.

“I, the Lord, am your God,

Who brought you up from the land of Egypt;

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” Psalm 81:10 

Take the limits off of God and let Him fill you. He is not limited by your lack of talent, lack of education, by your age, or by your financial status. Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t pray a “barely-there” prayer. Be bold in praying to God, and realize that it’s because you are a child of God that He allows it.

The Bible is filled with stories of regular people who allowed God to make extraordinary things happen because they didn’t limit God. The first one who comes to mind is David. He was just a teenager, a shepherd boy who was not skilled in combat. But he didn’t dwell on that when he encountered Goliath. Instead, he focused on what God would do.

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:46-47

David’s brothers were not happy he was there. In fact, his oldest brother, Eliab, was angry with him and told him to go home and tend his few sheep. He accused David of just wanting to see the action (verse 28). To Eliab and his brothers, David was just their little brother. They couldn’t see beyond his limitations. They couldn’t see how God could use David even though he was young and inexperienced. 

Be confident in what you have. It’s easy to focus on what you don’t have. As long as you think you’re lacking, it will keep you from God’s best. It’s not enough to just have faith in God, but you have to take it further and have faith in what God has given you. You are equipped, even if you don’t think so. Just look at Gideon. 

11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” 13 Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” 15  He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” 16  But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” Judges 6:11-16

This passage not only shows us that God is faithful, but He’s faithful even when we doubt we can be of any assistance to him. Look at verses 12 and 13 where the angel of the Lord calls Gideon a valiant warrior. What is Gideon’s response? Doom and doubt! But it’s as if the Lord doesn’t hear Gideon’s misgivings about himself, and again encourages him in verses 14 and 16. 

You mean God can really use me to do something of value in someone else’s life? 

YES!!!

But I don’t have the right education, talent, or financial stability…

Actually, you do! If you use what God has given you, no matter how meager you think it is, He will work through you and you’ll go further than someone whom you think has extraordinary means. All you really need to do is just say what Samuel said in 1 Samuel 3:10, Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”  And then as it says in John 2:5, His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”