To Encourage You

Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”

Do you realize that God can use you in His service, no matter what your background?  It doesn’t matter how much schooling you’ve had, how intelligent you are, whether you are a popular person, or whether you are wealthy. It doesn’t matter if your family is well-known, or if you are an elected official, or if you have a good and influential job.  You may not be articulate or stand out from the common man in any way whatsoever.  For you see, it was through uneducated, common men, that God turned the world upside down.  In this way He clearly demonstrated that it was His power, not man’s, that was at work in the world. 

Here were 12 ordinary men, commercial fishermen, a tax collector, and of the rest, we know little about their occupations, yet God used them in incredible ways. It’s all about God getting the glory.  Even Paul, who was educated, said this about the importance of his background to the work of Christ: “we . . . worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christand be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:3-9). 

So, do you think God can’t use you to build His eternal kingdom? Think again.  The only thing that limits His work in and through our lives is our own unbelief.   It is He, not we, that gave us the following message: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end” (Ephesians 3:20-21). 

Note that in this message He said that He is able to do whatever we ask or think, but beyond that “all that we ask or think,” and still yet, “above all that we ask or think,” and beyond that “abundantly above all that we ask or think,” but beyond that “exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think!” And to think this is all possible regardless of our own power or ability, for it is He that able to do this all through us, so that in the end, He may be glorified. 

God wants to use our lives for His glory.  May He help us to believe this and then simply obey whatever He has told us to do.