Be Menial, Unimportant, & Lowly

I have good news for you. Wouldn't you want to be a tool in God's hands? Wouldn't you want God to use you for His glory? Well He will, and here's why. God will use you friend, because you are no one special. You are insignificant. You are menial and unimportant. This is where your hope lies. God usually uses these types of people, because if God used someone powerful, someone famous, someone accomplished, if God used someone like that, they would think they did it on their own. They would not honor God, and they would boast in themselves. God uses weak things, to confound the vain wisdom of man. God uses insignificant people, because an insignificant person knows how small we really can be. Therefore, he is less likely to exhibit an unhealthy ego, and more likely to give glory to God. In fact, there is power in realizing your insignificance, as there is power in laying aside any power you may have. The word "meekness" in one sense means "power under control". Power, out of control, is a destructive force. But you take a drive-shaft and gears, then subdue that in a gear box, or a crankcase, and you realize the potential for real power. In reality, humans are a mixture of greatness and wretchedness, a.k.a., power and weakness. We are wretched because we have a sin nature which continually wants its way. We hurt others, and we harm ourselves. We are great, because God designed us to commune with Him, and of all created life, we are "Exhibit A" on Planet Earth. We are living and immortal, because God created us as spiritual creatures. Yet I speak today to those who are lowly, unimportant, menial and mundane. I encourage you. You have what it takes. You do! The truth is, we would all be better off if we saw ourselves as meek, yielding creatures, who cared for others, as much as we care for ourselves. One day we will dwell with God, and then the braggadocios, egocentric fools, will be passive, listless, and self-respectful. It's like the two men cursing on the corner, telling a dirty joke, and then the preacher walks by. They get quiet, then let out a, "good morning Preacher!" If they do this when the preacher walks by, what do you think they will be like when the One who made the sun walks by? But it's the little things in life that are so special. It's the trillions of little people that make the deciding difference. When someone or something gets too big, or flies too high, they burn out very fast, they have no staying power. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. The hare had the speed, that's for sure. But in the end, it was the tenacity, and the unrelenting scruples of the tortoise, that conquered. The tortoise looked menial, unskilled, lowly, and a sure underdog, but with a heart that wouldn't quit, and a motif and methodology from Creator God, sooner or later he was sure to win. Everybody wrote him off, and the hare certainly did. And, everybody has written you off too! I hope you know that by now. They sure wrote me off. But I have good news! There is company here at the bottom. There is A Carpenter with nail scars in His hands. The bottom is a good place to be. And now I know, it's the only place for me. GBY! Happiness comes in knowing that you are exactly where you belong!

Life's Storms

Life consists of storms. You are either coming out of a storm, or, you are heading into a storm. I wish every Preacher was a healer. I wish every prayer ended in healing. I wish I could come over to your house, and make your baby's temperature always go down. I wish every hundred dollars you gave to the work of God, came back as two hundred or a thousand dollars. I wish every doctor's report was a miracle. I wish every lie was a truth, and I wish every hell you endure, was a heaven. But that's not the life we know. Sometimes there are no easy answers. Sometimes there is no quick miracle. I know you know the Lord Daniel, but you are headed to the lion's den! Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael; I know the Lord is your Shepherd, but you are going into the fiery furnace! Paul I know you love the Lord, but Nero is going to behead you in Rome. Jesus, I know you've condescended from your throne, becoming human, to save the world, but not before you die a cruel death on a storm named "Calvary!" Sometimes we just have to let it ride. Job 2:10, states, "though the Lord slay me, yet will I trust in Him." What we do not always realize is, we belong to the Lord. Whatever suffering He allows to come across our path, He uses it to bring glory to His name. If you are over forty years of age, you probably have acquiesced that life is one storm after another. If we're willing to admit that life is one storm after another, we need to ask ourselves, "WHY?" I think I know the answer. As we grow older, we wither away, and eventually die, weathering many storms along the way. The storms I faced when I was two years old, were eclipsed by bigger storms I faced as a teenager. Storms I faced as a teenager, were eclipsed, by yet bigger storms I faced as a young man. The storms in my life as a young man were surpassed by even bigger storms in mid-life. As I pass mid-life, I can clearly see that the storms have taken on further magnitude. And finally, when I exit this earth, the storms will have coalesced with all the storms, as I face the mother of all storms. Now here is why we have storms. At age twenty-three, I had a huge storm in my life. It was do or die, sink or swim! But I made it, grew tremendously, and came out as a Bible believing Christian, enthusiastic, and ready to face the world again. Thinking with a kid's mind, I thought my storms were over. It was so bad, I figured that was it! Though bad, I had emerged, gaining more than I had lost, with an experience that many are denied. But little to my knowledge, there was coming, A Great Storm! It took a while; at first I oscillated, fluctuated, and vacillated, like a fool, as we usually do. But soon enough, as I faced this monstrous storm, I remembered something that I'll never forget. I remembered a few years earlier, when I had experienced the first storm I have spoken of. I remembered my doubt and confusion at that time, but though against innumerable odds, I distinctly remembered how God had saved me, putting my feet on solid ground, putting a song in my heart, to live again. Then I realized, God was about to invade this storm again! Sure enough, The Most High God, reached down in my river of tears, and put another song in my heart. Now I have truly learned a lesson of life, I thought. When I see a storm coming, I can now ask God; "What are you going to do this time God?" Get ready soldier! The Ancient of Days, is fixing to visit your life once again. We serve a Living God, Mighty, and able to save! If you don't know Him, I beg you to try Him. And remember, "don't get caught dead without Him."