The announcements were being given and I was about half way listening. He mentioned about a special speaker that will be there for four days in August and I thought that will be good. Then he said there was a new class going to start on evangelism and there is only seven spots left so you better sign up now. My immediate thought was...I need to do that. Then I thought...Have you lost your mind? Then it was...You need to do that!!!! Well, there are times when I don't do what I know I should. This was one of them. I left and did not find out about the class. As the day went on I couldn't seem to forget about it. No matter what I was doing, every so often that would be uppermost in my thoughts. I started thinking things like, if there is still one place open next time I'm at church I'll sign up. Deep down I knew that wasn't good enough. I needed to call and tell the people doing the class to sign me up. But, I didn't...
Monday came. I went to work and was telling my friend about it. We talked and I was more convinced than ever that I was supposed to take this class. The thing is, I really didn't want to because I will probably have to do things I am not comfortable doing. GOD doesn't seem to really care about that. HE likes to stretch you so that you will grow. At this point I still wasn't ready to concede my will. At lunch I went and sat in my car to eat and decided to read my Bible. That seems to be a mistake if you are trying to get out of doing something you know GOD wants you to do. I picked it up anyway and opened it to where I just happened to have a bookmark stuck...
Ephesians 3:1-13 (The Message)
The Secret Plan of God
1-3This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief. 4-6As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that7-8This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my
8-10And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!
11-13All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we're
The whole passage is very good but verses 7 & 8 just about jumped off the page at me. In no way am I comparing my self to Paul but, GOD wants to use all of us no matter what our natural abilities are. GOD will help us but if we have the chance to do something to help ourselves to prepare we should. So I went back in work and showed my friend this passage. She laughed and basically told me I needed to make the call. I still said I was going to wait. I went to my cube, sat down and put my headphones on. I was listening to a Christian channel and a new song came on. The first words are...HE could never ask too much of me, I will go there willingly. I thought okay, this is it I better call. So Monday night I got their number but I didn't call. My excuse was that it was late and they wouldn't know who I was anyway. I would see them at church. Then Tuesday came...
I woke up at 4a.m. Tuesday morning. That's about 30 minutes before normal. I decided to get up so I could read my Bible before going to work. I got ready then sat down and read a short devotional. I knew that wasn't what I needed to read for the day so I just asked GOD to show me something to read in the Bible. Something I needed. I really didn't finish what I was going to say and HE said Psalm 18:32. I almost said what and again I heard Psalm 18:32. I said okay and opened my Bible. This is what it says...
Psalm 18:32 (New International Version)
32 It is God who arms me with strength
and makes my way perfect.
I knew that GOD was just telling me that HE will give me the strength to do what HE asks me to do and it will be okay. At lunch time I went back to my car and made the phone call. When the person answered I said you probably don't know who I am but...Well, it turns out that she does know who I am and there was "four" places left!! In a way this is all very exciting because GOD really wants me to do this. If HE is in something then it will be good!! Even still, I am a little apprehensive because I get all the classic fear symptoms in these situations. I just have to remember that...
Philippians 4:13 (New King James Version)
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
We all can. We just have to meet the challenge and trust the GOD to take over and do the rest.
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