What If We Are The People We’ve Been Praying For God To Raise Up?
There’s no way Zacchaeus could have known that Jesus would be coming to his house with an encounter that would bring this dishonest tax collector, into being a follower of the Lord who would be written into the bible record for generations to read and learn from. This is just one example of a least likely individual being raised up to the call of God to fulfill their purpose, after all, dishonest tax man Zacchaeus’ name meant “pure, or innocent”. Let’s look at the account from scripture….
Luke 19:1 “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Who could have imagined….The nation of Israel was crying out to heaven for hundreds of years, that deliverance would come from a basket case like Moses, who grew up, as a stutterer, who struggled with speech, how could he ever imagine that he was the answer they were praying for!
Who could have known….A small North Carolina farming community, that was committed to praying for God to raise up a voice that would move the nation back to God, would discover that in their little country church was a boy who would be the answer, named Billy Graham…
Who would have thought it…. A mother was barren, but God opened her womb and the child she bore was given to the priest to raise for God’s service. But when God began to speak to him, the priest failed to see that Samuel was the answer that they had prayed for, but God found a way to use this prophet in powerful ways.
In the cancel culture we live in, how important it is that we establish and cultivate, and emphasize eternal truths that will outlive us all!!
(What if you raised your children as though they were destiny’s children, and there are no coincidences, so you raise them, knowing you were chosen by God to bring them into their Divine destiny) What if we got up and started our day, realizing that we were called, anointed and impowered to release something from God into the earth…
The disciples that God used to shake the world were just ordinary, fishermen and local folks that no one would have taken much notice of, until Jesus entered their lives and said “I will make you.” And He did!
Esther was just a teenage girl who used her beauty for God, to win the heart of the king of Persia, and save a whole nation of people. What a question God asked her…. “What if you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this”
Ruth was an outsider, from a despised race of people, but God gave her a connection through her mother in law Naomi, who introduced her to Boaz, that would bring generational blessings to the entire world. She was the grandmother of Joseph, the chosen father of Jesus, who was included in the linage of Christ!
I want this to ring in your spirit today…Zechariah 4:10 Do not despise (or underestimate) the day of small beginnings.
We’ve heard the saying that “Little is much when God is in it”….
All through the Bible, we encounter a multitude of examples of God using people – not because they are perfect, not because they have something nobody else has, not because they are mega rich, not because they are super talented… but because they are available. One guy said, “Dear God, So far today I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or over-indulgent. I’m very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, God, I’m going to get out of this bed and then I’m really gonna need Your help...
What a powerful prayer Isaiah prayed that we all should pray daily….
Isaiah 6:8 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I, Send me!”
God is speaking who is listening?… He is declaring His ability, His intentions, His strength in our weakness, and His total knowledge of who we are and how we can be used of Him…. All we have to do is listen and obey, and be available to Him. His job is to go before us and prepare the way, and create the conditions for His plan to succeed.
It never ceases to amaze me how an ordinary day can turn into an extraordinary, supernatural one in just a matter of seconds.
God often has a way of interrupting us in the middle of our ordinary, daily experiences and in essence, He says to us, “Ah-Hah! I made you look!”
David was on his way to take lunch to his brothers who were in the Israeli army, in a stand off, with the huge Philistine army on one side of the valley, and Israel on the other. As David is doing his ordinary task in an ordinary way, it suddenly turns supernatural, and he is standing over the slain body of the Philistine giant that just moments before was taunting the entire army….
What do you have that He can use to produce something supernatural?
I often sing the little Song to myself….. “It’s in my hands, I hold a miracle. Though not much to me, it matters to Him and He’ll take what I give to Him and make it what it needs to be, a miracle, it’s in my hands!”
A basketball in my hands is worth about $25.00.
A basketball in center Joel Embiid’s hands is worth a $148 million dollar contract with the 76ers. It depends whose hands it's in.
A baseball in my hands is worth about $12.00.
A baseball in Mike Trout’s hands, with the Angels is worth a contract of $36 million a year for the next 12 years. It depends whose hands it's in.
A tennis racket in my hands and I might hurt myself .
A tennis racket in Venus Williams' hands is a Wimbledon Championship, and 42 million. It depends whose hands it's in.
A rod in my hands will keep away a poodle.
A rod in Moses' hands will part the mighty sea.
It depends whose hands it's in.
Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish
sandwiches. Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in God's hands will feed 20 thousand people. It depends whose hands it's in.
Nails in my hands might produce a makeshift birdhouse.
Nails in Jesus Christ's hands will produce salvation for the entire
world. It depends whose hands it's in.
I’ll put this in the category, of IF GOD BE FOR US WHO CAN BE AGAINST US …. I was driving to the bank, and I saw a little mom with her two children. She was walking behind them, guiding, and directing, and making sure they were safe and securefrom all the things around them that could injure or destroy them. I couldn’t help but think how this is what our heavenly Father does. Looking ahead, for everything that could go wrong along the way. Telling us to watch out for the dangers and obstacles along the way. Steering us around the stumbling stones, and barriers that are in the way, and warning us of snares and things that might entrap us. He’s gone before us, and no matter what path we walk down, God is way ahead. The Lord is always going before us. No matter what mountain we come up against, He has already climbed it. No matter what journey of uncertainty we encounter, God is 100 steps further. He's laying out our path and preparing our steps. Sometimes it feels like we’re on the journey alone, but we are not!!
Tony Campolo, tells the story of a pastor who was trying to motivate a man in his church to become involved in ministry. Finally, the man relented and agreed to be the driver for a group of ladies who wanted to lead a monthly worship service for the residents of a local retirement community. As the ladies led the service, one day an elderly man in a wheelchair rolled up beside him and took his hand. He held it all throughout the worship. This continued month after month, until one Sunday afternoon, the elderly man didn’t show up at the service. The man asked one of the nurses, “What happened to the elderly man who was always in service?
“Oh,” she said, “he’s near death. He’s just down the hall. Maybe you should go in and visit him. He’s unconscious though.” So the man walked down to the room and entered. He took the elderly man’s hand and held it. As he was led by God’s Spirit, he prayed for him. And when he said, “Amen,” the elderly man gently squeezed his hand. As he was leaving, he bumped into a woman coming in. She said, “He’s been waiting for you. He said he didn’t want to die until Jesus came and held his hand. I tried to tell him he would see Jesus once he went to heaven, but he said, ‘No. Once a month, Jesus comes and holds my hand, and I don’t want to leave this world without holding his hand once more.” Our greatest challenge is to be Jesus to someone today….
You may not ever get a “thank you”, or get any indication that you made a difference, but the Father will record that you were faithful.
The best way to miss God is to follow the crowd. Too many folks spend their time following the sheep that are following the shepherd, instead of following the shepherd…
Christian author Max Lucado tells about the time he had to catch an early morning flight. He was really tired and dozed off while waiting for the plane. Suddenly he was roused from his sleep by the noise of a crowd moving toward the boarding ramp. He hurriedly gathered his belongings and joined them. When he took his seat on the plane, he slipped into another nap. Some time later he awakened to the bright morning sun shining through the window. He heard the flight attendant announce their estimated time of arrival in Houston. The problem was, he was supposed to be going to Denver! He had awakened in the terminal and saw the crowd boarding the plane, so he simply followed the crowd—and boarded the wrong plane.
The issue is not where I want to go but where has God planned for me to go. Have I sincerely asked Him. The path you are called to walk, is a narrow path, and there’s not very much room for a lot of other folks! It’s your path and your calling. You can be alone in a crowd, and you can be miserable with folks enjoying themselves all around you…
I realized once again how close Moses came to disqualifying himself, as the great deliverer of God’s people. Careful that you don’t disqualify yourself….Paul told the church of his day “I will not be numbered among those who oppose themselves…. Listen to Moses…
In Exodus 4:10 “Moses said to the LORD, "Pardon your servant, LORD. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." So first, he disqualified himself by saying that he was a stutterer…
In Exodus 3:11 “But Moses asked God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" ….Here Moses is basically telling God “Here I am, send someone else”
In Exodus 4:1 “Then Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.” I think God is exposing all of our excuses here!!!
In Exodus 6:12 “But in the LORD's presence Moses replied, "If the Israelites (my own people) will not listen to me, then why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I am unskilled in speech?"…. What if Jesus gave that excuse….Scripture tells us He was wounded in the house of his friends!!
God would not let Moses off the hook….Because He chose Moses before Moses chose Him. God has a very interesting book, and in that book, our purpose and our mission in life is recorded…. God will not give up on His story for us because He wrote it….
Psalm 139: 12 “Even the darkness will not be dark to you, the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body, all the days ordained for me were written in Your book, before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them”!
ALRIGHTY THEN!
Here’s another God word that offers insight for us and it is so good that I am compelled to read all 4 verses…..check it out…Get your eyes and ears on church….
Romans 8: 26-28 (Message Bible) “Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right beside, helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, and our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, He knows we our pregnant with hope, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is working into something good”.
Verses 29-30 “God knew what He was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love Him and align them with the life of His Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity which He restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in Him. After God made that decision as to what His children should be like, He followed it up by calling people by name. Then, He established them on a solid basis with Himself. And then, after getting them established, He stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what He had begun”.
COME ON GOD!!!
Someone asked me recently, when I thought Jesus was coming back… I told them that I wasn’t on the planning committee, but I was one of the members of the welcoming committee!!!
Make your plans and know that you can trust management….
I heard of a pastor who was an avid golfer, who was taking part in a local golf tournament. As he prepared to tee off, storm clouds began to roll in. The organizer of the tournament pointed them out to the pastor and said with a smile, "Preacher, I trust you’ll see to it that the weather won't turn bad on us." The pastor shook his head and said, "Sorry. I'm in sales, but management is the boss’s job!"
There are times when we pray, when we minister, when we share our faith, and follow God's guidance, that it's important and very liberating to remember that the results aren't up to us. That’s up to management. We can’t compare earthly management methods with heaven’s. Our God already knows the finish before the beginning. When He makes a promise and says “I will”… it’s a done deal! But that doesn’t eliminate our part in the process….
The wicked city of Nineveh was scheduled for destruction.Nineveh means “lifted up”….For 100 Years it was the flourishing capital of the Assyrian empire and 500,000 lives hung in the balances. God knew Jonah’s name and his location, his fears, his emotional baggage and his mental condition . He knew where he was headed and where he needed to go. When God called him, he basically said “don’t bother me, I’m on my way to Tarshish. The name Tarshis, means “the Refinery” how appropriate is that! Jonah’s plans didn’t include God’s plans and some refining was needed.. And that’s where it gets really fishy!!! God prepared a great fish…. What is your fish, that will take you where you didn’t plan to go! God says go this way and you’re going that way… You’re in the refinery and some crazy stuff is going on, and guess what… to you, it’s insanity, but God is turning things around just the way he planned. He’s got you in the fish.. and it was designed just for you….He’s directing your mess! You know the story… Jonah landed at Ninivah, He preached, the people repented, and a city was saved….But history records that they returned to their Godless ways under future kings and archeologists have discovered they were later destroyed by fire, and never rebuilt, according to the charred remains of the heaps of rubble they found.. so much potential lost!
Would you turn to someone and say….”Listen up, God is speaking to you and you would do well to listen. Someone is waiting for your obedience” You have the answer to someone’s question, Youhave the way to someone’s lostness, You have the supply to someone’s lack, and you have the solution to someone’s dilemma….
Come on, I want everyone to read this list with me… OK….I’llread the first part, then you read the second part (what God says)
You say, I can’t figure it out… God says, I will direct your steps
You say, I’m too tired… God says, I will give you rest.
You say, It’s impossible.. God says, All things are possible
You say, It’s not worth it.. God says, I give it value and worth
You say, I can’t forgive myself.. God says, I have forgiven you
You say, I’m not smart enough… God says, my wisdom is available to you
I look back to moments that were not of my own choosing, and think of pastors, missionaries, evangelists, college ministries which God has raised up, and lives were transformed because of simple moments of obedience on my way to somewhere else…..
God’s call is purposeful. When He calls upon us, He not only sees the seeds in the apples, He sees the apples in the seeds in the apples, and He sees the apples on the trees, in the seeds in the apple….Take it further…. He sees the apples in the orchards in the seeds in the apples…
He is the alpha and the omega, the author and the finisher, the beginning and the ending….of all things.
I love the Hebrew word for Bible… it is Mi-qra. It means something very personal about the word of God… it is a noun formed from the verb qara which means “to call” The Bible is not just a book to carry around and read for information about God, but a voice that we are to listen to. I like that. This word of God that we name Bible, is not at its root a word to be read and looked at and discussed. It is a word to be listened to and obeyed, a word that gets us going in His directions, walking in His purposes, and achieving His outcomes… Fundamentally, it is a call… God calling us into His custom made purpose for our lives.
We must thirst for His voice like a desert thirsts for water, we must desire His word, as a starving child hungers for the smallest morsel of food, We must search for His light, (our light) like a lost traveler in the blackness of a moonless night!
What use would it be to me to be able to formulate the deepest meanings of Christianity, and to be able to explain all the Greek and Hebrew meanings of original text, if it had no deeper personal meaning for my life?…I certainly do not deny that we have an imperative to get knowledge and wisdom, that through it men may be influenced and persuaded. But most importantly, it must come alive in me, and be my personal call from the voice of God.
Jesus died our death, to make it possible for us to live His life! He took our sin that we might take his righteousness. He was mocked and rejected so we could have His favor. He overcame so we might overcome also through His victory. He gave us His Spirit, that we might know our greater purpose, and that we might have a constant helper. He’s the witness within us, He’s God’s wisdom unto us, He brings truth, hope, comfort and power, He opens us to God’s gifts and spiritual nature, He reveals Christ likeness, He equips, and reveals to us the Father’s will, and so much more…. Take a moment and give the Lord praise…..
Let’s pray this prayer together ….. Lord Jesus, I thank You that You listen to me and guide me by Your spirit to follow Your Word and to enjoy what You have given to me according to Your purpose and providence. Lord, I pray that I would hear Your voice today as You lead, guard, protect, direct and govern me. Father, I thank You that You desire to guide me in spirit and in truth to obey Your Word and enjoy an abundant life.
Lord, I thank You that You have called me Your friend so, I may come boldly to the throne of grace to find help whenever I have a need in my life. Lord, Your Word says that when we draw near to You, You will draw near to us. So, I draw near to You today as I seek Your truth and wisdom for my life. I want to know You more, hear You more and obey You more.
Jesus, Your Word says Your sheep know Your voice and we will not follow the voice of a stranger. Help me to know Your voice and not be deceived by allother voices. Help me to guard my heart from the distractions of this world and the people around me who are not on my path to You. Help me to view all decisions through the lens of Your righteousness.
As I seek You today for instruction, correction and guidance, You said if I ask for wisdom, You will give it to me liberally. So, I am asking for wisdom to hear You clearly and consistently today and every day. Help me to feel confident in knowing and obeying Your voice. I praise You and thank You for it, in Jesus’ Name.
