"Not by Might ... Not by Power ... But by My Spirit"
It must be awesome being in heaven ... watching God work as an artist with his medium of choice--the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine? Not content to be the God that Deists believe him to be, he is constantly at work ... encouraging, challenging, motivating, moving, protecting, sustaining, invigorating, emboldening ... so that we might benefit and grow in our faith.
I was reminded of this the other day. God used me when I wasn't completely ready for it. Let me explain. Many years ago when I was young, I was in a trio called, Living Hope. Just little ol' me and two beautiful women (ah, those were the days). We represented my alma mater, Florida Christian College, at churches and summer camp weeks, telling kids about the college and letting people know about the ministry of FCC.
One of the songs I sang was a duet with Lori, one of the girls. It was an obscure song called By My Spirit. Leslie Phillips & Matthew Ward were the artists that orginally did the song, but Lori and I did our best to do it justice. I hadn't thought too much about it until I came across the song at Yahoo Music the other day. Just for nostaligic fun and amusement, I sent a clip of the song to Lori (who I haven't seen in several years) and did the whole remember-when-we-sang-this routine.
Did she ever remember? I had no idea but it was apparently a very important song for Lori at that time of her life, one she turned to in times of difficulty and needing strength. Interestingly, she admitted that she was recently going through such a time and my sending that song had just been a powerful confirmation to her of God's presence and direction in her life. I was dumbfounded. The email I got from her talked of hearing the song and reading my email through tears and thanked me for the blessing I was to her. I couldn't help but smile and think, "God, what have you been up to?"
It turns out he is up to the same things he always is ... "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28 ... NIV) He takes our meagerest of offerings and makes them grandiose gestures of service and love. He takes my little silly things and blesses a friend's life that I didn't even know needed blessing.
I think it is sort of like Joseph. After being abandoned and sold into slavery by his brothers, years later--as now the second in command in all Egypt--he sees them again in a position of need from him. When he revealed who he was they were understandably frightened, thinking that revenge was on Joseph's mind. But instead Joseph comforted them, telling them that God used what had happened to save lives ... ironically, theirs included. He told them that God had a purpose even in all the difficult things he had been through and that He had even used their jealousy and selfishness to accomplish his plan. If God can use our sin so powerfully, think of how he can use our commitment and obedience even more. It is a level of wisdom and understanding that we do not have, but trust in him to know and reveal to us as we have need.
Paul said it best when quoting Isaiah: "No one's ever seen or heard anything like this, never so much as imagined anything quite like it—What God has arranged for those who love him. But you've seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you." (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 ... The Message)
I was reminded of this the other day. God used me when I wasn't completely ready for it. Let me explain. Many years ago when I was young, I was in a trio called, Living Hope. Just little ol' me and two beautiful women (ah, those were the days). We represented my alma mater, Florida Christian College, at churches and summer camp weeks, telling kids about the college and letting people know about the ministry of FCC.
One of the songs I sang was a duet with Lori, one of the girls. It was an obscure song called By My Spirit. Leslie Phillips & Matthew Ward were the artists that orginally did the song, but Lori and I did our best to do it justice. I hadn't thought too much about it until I came across the song at Yahoo Music the other day. Just for nostaligic fun and amusement, I sent a clip of the song to Lori (who I haven't seen in several years) and did the whole remember-when-we-sang-this routine.
Did she ever remember? I had no idea but it was apparently a very important song for Lori at that time of her life, one she turned to in times of difficulty and needing strength. Interestingly, she admitted that she was recently going through such a time and my sending that song had just been a powerful confirmation to her of God's presence and direction in her life. I was dumbfounded. The email I got from her talked of hearing the song and reading my email through tears and thanked me for the blessing I was to her. I couldn't help but smile and think, "God, what have you been up to?"
It turns out he is up to the same things he always is ... "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28 ... NIV) He takes our meagerest of offerings and makes them grandiose gestures of service and love. He takes my little silly things and blesses a friend's life that I didn't even know needed blessing.
I think it is sort of like Joseph. After being abandoned and sold into slavery by his brothers, years later--as now the second in command in all Egypt--he sees them again in a position of need from him. When he revealed who he was they were understandably frightened, thinking that revenge was on Joseph's mind. But instead Joseph comforted them, telling them that God used what had happened to save lives ... ironically, theirs included. He told them that God had a purpose even in all the difficult things he had been through and that He had even used their jealousy and selfishness to accomplish his plan. If God can use our sin so powerfully, think of how he can use our commitment and obedience even more. It is a level of wisdom and understanding that we do not have, but trust in him to know and reveal to us as we have need.
Paul said it best when quoting Isaiah: "No one's ever seen or heard anything like this, never so much as imagined anything quite like it—What God has arranged for those who love him. But you've seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you." (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 ... The Message)
Great story! I love it. It is pretty awesome the way God works behind the scenes. As our minister said in a recent sermon on evangelism, we are always followers of what God is already doing in people's lives. It's not an odd thing. It's a God thing. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by
Charissa |
4:03 PM
Good design!
[url=http://elmwjede.com/eojr/eohq.html]My homepage[/url] | [url=http://oqrovpap.com/xtag/nnpf.html]Cool site[/url]
Posted by
Anonymous |
5:35 PM
Good design!
My homepage | Please visit
Posted by
Anonymous |
5:35 PM
Good design!
http://elmwjede.com/eojr/eohq.html | http://kvytolpt.com/yygf/avrx.html
Posted by
Anonymous |
5:35 PM
Post a Comment