GOD'S CHOICE
GOD'S CHOICE
Luke 2:37, "And she [was] a widow of about fourscore and four
years, which departed not from the temple, but served [God] with fastings and
prayers night and day."
LUKE 2:36-40
Let's suppose that Anna was fourteen years old when she married. She would have been 105 years old. Yet she was still fasting and praying night and day! Satan tries to convince us that God won't use us. He may cite things like age or lack of abilities, or failures that we've had. But just like Anna, there are many scriptural examples of the Lord using those who would be considered unusable by worldly standards.
Moses was eighty years old before he began to fulfill God's plan for his life and he worked right up until he was 120 years old. Abraham was in his nineties before he had the son that God had promised him.
Gideon was another one who looked unusable. He was hiding from the Midianites when an angel of God appeared and told him he was a mighty man of valor (Judg. 6:11-12). He couldn't believe it at first and had to have the Lord confirm it three times.
Truly, ...God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty... (1 Cor. 1:27-28).
If you feel foolish or weak, then you qualify. Let the Lord use you today.
Condemnation Is The Root Cause
Romans 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus.
“When you see a plant with sickly leaves, it would be
foolishness for you to just treat the leaves without knowing the root cause of
the problem.
Similarly, when “leaves” of sickness, poverty and despair
start sprouting in your life, you need to know what the root cause is. Experts will tell you that it is stress. They may go a little
deeper and say that it is fear — fear of the future, of rejection, of loss, of
death and so on. But is fear really the root? Or is there something deeper than
fear?
He Doesn’t Remember How Bad You Were
12For I
will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless
deeds I will remember no more.”
“Oh, if only you had seen my husband in the early years of
our marriage. He had such an explosive temper that I used to seek shelter at my
mother’s house!”
“No one would have ever guessed that she had such a
promiscuous past.”
“As a young boy, he would always lie through his teeth and
not even bat an eyelid!”
Man looks at you and remembers what you were like in the
past. But when God looks at you, He doesn’t remember that you were once a
little rascal, drunk or drug addict. He looks at you and doesn’t remember that
act of adultery nor the mess you were in. In the new covenant, God declares, “For
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless
deeds I will remember no more.”
It is as if God is saying, “When you come to Me, please don’t
think that I am thinking about your sins. Don’t think that every time I look at
you, I am reminded of your sins. Not only am I not keeping a record, but I am
also not mindful of your failures and shortcomings. I am telling you that I
will remember your sins no more — never again!”
Don’t Just Know But Believe!
1 John 4:16
16And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
16And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
You may have heard and know that God cares
for you and loves you, and that He demonstrated His love for you by dying on
the cross for you. But it’s one thing to know this; it’s another thing to believe
the love that God has for you.
For example, it’s one thing to know that the
sun shines on us during the day. But it’s another thing to believe that the sun
is still shining even though you don’t feel its warmth and all you see are
cloudy skies.
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