Thought for the Month - March 2001

Our usefulness to God - By Barry Adair

Fellow Believer, ever felt that God couldn't possibly use the likes of you? Good!

"How is that good?" you may be asking. Well, it's good for a number of reasons:

It shows you know your own heart
It shows that you are aware that you are totally pathetic before a thrice holy God
It shows you are a realist

The Bible portion we want to leave you to dwell on is in James' Epistle, James 5:16-18:

"The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias (Elijah) was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit"

Being Bible believing 'realists' here in Grove, we would want to emphasise what the Holy Spirit was saying when James noted down the above verses. Even though Elijah was a mighty man of God, he, like us, was only a man and indeed, "a man subject to like passions as we are". You could almost say that, like us, he was 'disgustingly normal'. (Romans 3:23 & Jeremiah 17:9)

I dont know about you, but we like the thought of being compared with the likes of Elijah!

Of course, when it comes to the human race, the only real comparison in God's eyes is whether you are a child of His or a child of Satan (John 3:16-18). As believers, there are no big Christians and no small Christians, only sinners saved by grace!

And yet are we really like Elijah?

Remember, it's not what's in you that God needs but Who's in you! We have to 'let go' and 'let God'.

All that is fleshy in all of us is useless to God. But as believers, we should be filled with the Holy Spirit.

As Spirit filled believers, where our righteousness is of Christ and not our own, we are open to the will of God. Thereafter, it is only God who knows what mighty things He may have to accomplish through His obedient children.

As the old adage goes, "We're not called to be famous but to be faithful".

For us, we should continue to rely on the Lord for everything:

Believe totally in His word
Trust Him implicitly
Obey Him in everything
And pray unto Him without ceasing

As the hymnwriter put it so well:

Trust and obey, for there's no other way,
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey

So dont let the devil trick you into thinking that you can be of no use to the Lord.
Remember Elijah. Better still, remember your Saviour and His atoning death on Calvary's cross.

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6 - NASB)

Are you SURE that you have your place booked in Heaven? Read this if you're not!