Why isn’t God using me right now?

Have you ever sat down and had a think to yourself – I wonder what I will do with my life?

Have you ever wondered what on earth you are doing with your life right now, and is it actually any use to anyone?

You have been given gifts and talents by God, and He wants you to use them – no question. But God doesn’t always just want to use the gifts you have, sometimes He acts supernaturally to change you into something else entirely. Don’t believe me? I could provide many, many examples, but one of the greatest of these is Peter, the apostle. Peter, the Rock.

I sat down to do a biography of Peter and his life, but it became long very quickly (a quick search shows 846 references to Peter in the New Testament)! So let’s just cover some of the high (and low) points.

Peter was a fisherman, in business with his brother Andrew. Possibly, as was often the way, from a family of fishermen. He was a Jew, and was interested religiously in what was going on around him, as most definitely was his brother. If you read John 1, Andrew meets Jesus the day after He was baptised, and possibly witnessed his baptism – he was a disciple of John the Baptist. Upon meeting Jesus, Andrew called Peter to meet him as well, describing him as’ the Messiah’. This would have caught the ear of any Jew at that time!

Later (we don’t know how much later after this), Jesus calls Andrew and Peter to leave their nets and be his disciples. Peter is then chosen as one of the 12, and based on all of the evidence, was most likely the leader of all of the disciples, certainly after Jesus ascension into heaven.

But Peter was also always the guy to speak up, to jump out. Think of all the stories you know about Peter. He was the one to declare Jesus as ‘the Christ’. He was the one to rebuke Jesus for predicting His death (quite possibly moments after confessing Him as the Christ). He was the one to tell Jesus to command him to walk on water. When Jesus was being arrested, he was the one to pull out a sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. If it was there to be done or said, Peter was often there in the thick of it.

And Peter was the one to deny Jesus (though the others also all scattered), despite his protestations that he would rather die than deny Him.

After Jesus had been resurrected, Peter didn’t know where to go next by the looks of it. But he had a skill – he had a gift – he went back to his boat and started fishing again.Jesus was gone, and despite all the good work, the three years of discipleship, at the moment of crisis, Peter had failed and he knew it.

But Jesus

But Jesus wasn’t done with him just yet. All of the work up until this point had been preparation for the rest of his life. Not a mountain top experience to remember all of his days while he cast the nets, but the foundation for what would come next.

If you read John 21, Jesus went out of His way to restore Peter, and put his feet on a new path.

That is when we get ‘changed’ Peter (read the first 12 chapters of Acts!). He takes immediate obvious leadership in the church in Jerusalem. He preaches and over 2000 people are converted in a day. In the name of Jesus he performs miracles, the healing of a cripple, and raising a lady in Joppa from the dead (in some ways mimicking Jesus ministry, to show that through the apostles it was continuing). He is then called to witness to the Gentiles, does so, and holds authority back in Jerusalem when he is questioned.

You see, God had a plan for Peter, and whilst it meant some of his life casting nets, there was much more in store for him when he was fully prepared and trained. Peter underwent the ultimate change – from a fisherman, to a fisher of men.

Just like Peter, God many not be done with you or me yet.

Just because you are skilled in one area, doesn’t mean that is where you will spend your life in service. Just because you know how to do a specific set of things now, doesn’t mean you will spend your life doing those things. Because God has a plan for your life – and what you are doing now may just be to prepare and place you, so that when the right time comes you will be ready for whatever He has in store for you.

So remember – God is either using you, or preparing you. You are not useless or wasted where you are, but you are a chosen child of God, doing what He has called you to do. And maybe, just maybe, He has more in store for you than you would ever believe.

Decision Points

One of the things that comes up regularly in most of our lives is decisions. In our ‘modern’ society, people no longer grow up, live with their parents until they inherit the house, and work in the same job all of their lives. In two surveys I looked at (from 2010), the average time a person spends in a job is between 4 and 5 years. No longer do we even stick with the same career paths all our lives, like many of our parents did, but instead change directions completely once or even twice in our lives, doing many completely unrelated things in the span of our working lives.

Decisions then have become more frequent even since the last generation. We make a lot of decisions – minor and major – in our lives, but  I know I am always conscious of trying to make the right decision. Trying to ensure that what I choose is the right thing before God – in other words, spending time to try and discern God’s will for my life.

Not surprisingly, the Bible has something to say in this area. And today, I came across a few verses in Proverbs that speak right to it, and they have a crystal clear encouraging message for us all…

Proverbs 16:3 (ESV)
Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.

Step 1 – commit your plans to God – all of them. This means being open and honest with yourself about what your real desires are, and about what your real motivations are. Then coming before God in prayer and committing those to Him. This doesn’t mean that you will ‘get what you want’! But step one is to hand them over to God.

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)
The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.

Proverbs 16:33 (ESV)
The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.

Step 2 – God will deal with it!

But what does it mean for me?

Don’t worry! It means that if you have given it over to God, He will ensure the right decision gets made in the end. Not that you shouldn’t look carefully at the choices before you, but that He will guide you. Maybe he will use friends to encourage you in a certain direction, or circumstances, or even a direct word of prophecy. But no matter what is the means of His action – know that He will act, know that He is sovereign. Even if we were to ‘cast lots’ (a last resort in many cases), He will ensure that the right choice is made in the end.

So? Don’t worry about it. Take the time to think through the options yourself, then take the more important time to commit those options to God – and let Him work. Know that because you have done that, when you finally make the choice, it will be the right one.

Philippians 4:4–7 (ESV)
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Chosen for Service

Have you ever thought about why God would choose to use us in His service? I mean, seriously, we are imperfect vessels at best, capable of ruining the simplest plan – without assistance. Or of derailing the simplest plan with our own ‘advice and ideas’. It amazes me that He would choose to use us in any way at all! But there are reasons I am sure.

Many of you will know this scene from the book of Acts.

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
(Acts 10:1-8 ESV)

Here we have an amazing scene. A Gentile is praying – and an angel appears before him. Do you think that if the angel had told Cornelius about Jesus, then he would have been saved then and there? No doubt! I am sure the angel could have given a perfect and powerful presentation of the gospel – so powerful they never would have forgotten it. And yet, what is the message? Go and get Simon who is called Peter.

Now why would God choose to do it that way?

In this case the answer is simple. Peter, though one if the closest disciples of Jesus, still had lessons to learn. He was currently receiving a vision himself from God – teaching him that gentiles were no longer different before God than Jews.

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
(Acts 10:34-35 ESV)

God chooses to use us, because when we are doing His will we are also learning, and drawing closer to Him. The benefit in this scene in Acts 10 (read the whole chapter if you are not familiar with it!), was not only that a house of ‘God fearing’ Gentiles was saved, but that the Jews who were to preach the World also learned something about themselves, and about God.

So in service, we ourselves are drawn closer to God! And in that process God’s will is revealed in our world. That’s just plain amazing.

Next time you feel yourself called to do something, to share, to speak, or whatever it is – don’t worry if you don’t feel like you have the strength, the knowledge or the ability. Just know that God is with you, and has called you to do something not just for the benefit of others, but also to teach you, guide you, and draw you closer to Him.

Faith is an Action Word

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
(James 2:14-17 ESV)

Over the last few posts, we have been looking at faith and action. There are lots more verses and examples we could look at! But today we will wrap up with this – faith is an action word.

Those who have faith, will live according to that faith. If we truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and Lord of our lives, then we will take steps to bring our lives into line with that belief. It is not going to happen immediately. In most cases, it is not going to be a miraculous change that will turn us from sinner to saint in a moment. But the evidence of change will be there.

Day by day, little by little, changes will happen as we look at our lives, and act according to our faith. Sometimes our actions will be internal – we might stop doing something we are convicted about.We might start doing something that brings us closer to God (like read our Bibles daily). Sometimes our actions will be external – we might see a need, and know that we can do something about it. We may share our faith with a friend or family member. We might start being regular in going to church, or pack our whole family off to go to the mission field we are called to.

For each one of us, in all of the stages of our lives and walk with God, the actions will be different. But the motivation will be the same – it is the outworking of our faith in Jesus Christ.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

So in the end, faith is an action word. If we have faith – we will act in accordance with that faith. Sometimes it will be hard, sometimes we might fail to act. Sometimes we may have no idea what to do – but in every case God is with us, and He will guide us and strengthen us to act out our faith, both in our internal lives and in the world in which we are called to live right now.

The Voice of Jesus – Faith and Action

Over the last couple of posts, we have been looking at faith – and our response to faith, which is our actions. Before we wrap this one up, I just want to take a quick listen to the voice of Jesus.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
(Matthew 7:21 ESV)

I think that is pretty clear! We can’t just proclaim with our mouths that Jesus is Lord (for many do so). We must then follow that through by obedience to God!

“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.”
(Matthew 21:28-31 ESV)

This again is Jesus speaking at another time and another place. Words mean nothing – my writing here indeed means nothing – it is my obedience before God to do His will that is what matters! It is not me proclaiming with my lips that I have faith – but me showing through my actions that same faith.

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
(Luke 6:46-49 ESV)

And those of you familiar with your Bibles were probably wondering when that parable would come up. Yes, we need to build our foundation on the Rock of Jesus – but doing what we are called to do!

A short post today, but take some time to meditate and hear the voice of Jesus. Read through those passages again, and let the Word of God work in you. In our next post we will wrap this one up with some final comments!