8/30/2023
Do we celebrate the great things we do for the Lord? Is our life dedicated to accomplishing those tasks that we feel will glorify Him, and advance the Kingdom of Heaven? Well my friends the things of real value to our Father are not those that we do for our own gratification, faith, or to win eternity, but those we do to maintain a good and loving relationship with Him. When we do His will, and allow His work to flow from within us as an unending offering of love… we will glorify Him.
“Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?"”
John 11:40 ESV
As Jesus prepared to raise Lazarus from the dead these were His words to Martha. He didn't tell her that she would see His power or His great work, but rather He said she would see "the glory of God." The work of raising Lazarus was not done by Jesus, but by God through Jesus, and the things we do in our lives should be the same.
The great saints of faith that I know have very little understanding of the extent to which God is using them... the greatest of them have no idea whatsoever. They are busy behaving as Jesus would have them behave and their focus is on doing as He does... not serving Him. Do you know such people? Oswald chambers describes this motivation in these words...
"The tendency today is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make usefulness their ground of appeal. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure that ever lived. The lodestar of the saint is God Himself, not estimated usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him." - Oswald Chambers
When God calls us into His service it is not because we have some great skill or strength but because He can take whatever ability we have and make it greater than we could have imagined. He can even take those who deny Him, and use them to accomplish His will.
“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:27-29 ESV
I was amazed when I read an interview with Paul Simon regarding how he wrote the song “Bridge over Troubled Water." As it turned out Simon was enamored by Gospel music and had set about to write a hymn. When asked about this he said that it was a mystery to him and then he said this...
“Nothing prompted me to write it. I was listening to a lot of gospel quartets, particularly the Swan Silvertones and the Everly Brothers album ‘Songs Our Daddy Taught Us’. I was stunned [after he wrote it], and I thought, ‘that’s a lot better than I usually write.'”
This is what God does through those he uses, and we heard it in Paul Simon's own words... "That’s a lot better than I usually write." Then Art Garfunkel, who sang the original release of the song, said something equally remarkable... "I was very pleased to hear such a rich song intended for me. I always felt he [Simon] did some of his best writing when it came in the form of a gift."
Have you ever attended a Holy Ghost revival and as the Pastor preached, the congregation reached such a point of spiritual fervor that the Holy Spirit began to fall on them? If not you are missing something incredible because what you will see is a pastor preaching above what he is typically able to deliver, and God pouring Himself out from the pulpit in contagious and emotional worship that spreads like wildfire.
These are many examples of God using those He has called to glorify Himself. If these men had used their own skill to deliver what God had given them to do, they would have failed miserably. If Paul Simon had penned what he was capable of writing, his song would have been alright, but with God flowing through him it became epic. When preachers believe it is they who are serving God from the pulpit then their efforts fall flat, but when they allow God to use them then something spiritually powerful explodes from within them to find its mark in the congregation... and souls are saved.
We too need to concentrate on our relationship with God and allow Him to take whatever meager skills we might possess, and magnify them to achieve something worthy of Himself... something which brings Him all the glory! From what should be nothing will come the remarkable, and it happens without our knowing, and only when completed do we stare back at it in shock and wonder as we say "Oh my God! How great thou art!"
Prayer:
Father we thank you for taking something small and insignificant in each of us, and magnifying it into the grandeur of heaven. We thank you for hiding it from us and then revealing small glimpses as we praise you. Holy Father our only desire should be to wash your feet and yet you work in us to produce so much more; you take our hands and anoint them with the oil of your grace. Jesus you spoke to the masses everywhere you went and yet that was just the beginning of what your Father would bring forth through you. We thank you for showing us that in humility we too will find excess, and in our weakness strong oaks spring forth; they reach towards you on high as they carry our song of praise. Lord hide us in your shadow and let us serve you in our love; from the quiet places of our prayers let our voices find a melody. Let us shout your name from beyond your Holy Mountain and sing of your glory within the echoes of the valleys. Father, may all saints raise their arms to you in your brilliance, and we pray that you will allow us to see a glimmer of that moment from the depths of our souls where your Holy Name is born in utterance. It is you who lifts us up Father, and it is you who comes forth from within every meager offering of ourselves. You are great and greatly to be praised! You are the mystery within every good thing which pours forth from us, and the inspiration behind our worship. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God, who was, and is, and is to come.
Rich Forbes