This month my team and I have had the opportunity to live and love in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. God called me further into boldness this month when He told me to speak in our church. The following is the message I had the opportunity to speak in an underground church in a closed country – God is good.
“God designed each one of us with a specific purpose and plan in mind. He doesn’t ask us to do it on our own; He wants to walk with us every step of the way and He wants to provide what we’ll need as long as we have faith in Him and obey His call for us. He chooses ordinary people and equips them for the extraordinary.
In Exodus 3: 7-15 God calls Moses, a shepherd with a speech impediment, to rescue the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Moses even says to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3: 11) And God responds saying, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:12) Moses questioned God’s calling for him, but God reassured Moses that God will go with him and equip him. God was not concerned that Moses was just a shepherd or that he had a speech impediment; He used Moses because he was a man of God, obedient to His call. Because of his faith, God uses Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery. Our fleshly shortcomings are nothing when we give God control of our lives; He is capable of anything and by trusting in that, we allow Him to do things that seem impossible with our flesh.
Joshua 2: 1-24 God sent spies in to look at the land of Jericho and a prostitute named Rahab housed them. When the king of Jericho got news of people spying on his land, he sent men to tell Rahab that she must give up the men. Instead of fearing the king, Rahab trusted in God and kept the spies safe. In Hebrews 11: 31 it says, “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” Because she was obedient to God and did what He asked of her, she and her family were not killed like the others of Jericho. Her sins did not prevent God from using her. Our sins do not change the purpose God has given us. Our past may be filled with sins but God is willing to redeem them as long as we ask for forgiveness and truly trust in Him.
Another example of this is in Acts 9: 1-19, which tells the story of Saul. Saul was a man that had God’s people persecuted for their belief in God. While on the road to Damascus, to arrest all that call on God’s name, God sent a light from heaven and said to Saul, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?(4)” Saul was blinded and his men led him into Damascus. God spoke to one of His disciples, Ananias, and told him to restore Saul’s sight. Ananias was skeptical of God’s commands because he had heard of the awful things Saul had done, but God responded saying, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.(13)” So Ananias did as God asked and gave Saul his sight back. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Saul was baptized and began living for God with the name Paul. He traveled proclaiming the name of God and ended up in prison, suffering for his love for God. God used Paul to write about 13 books of the bible and to reach people for many generations to come. God chose a man that persecuted God’s own people to be His instrument. No matter what sins we have committed in our past, God will welcome us home with open arms if we ask for His forgiveness and truly follow Him. He has incredible plans for us, and sometimes those plans may be difficult to follow through with, but God will always be with us.
1 Samuel 17: 48-50 God calls David, a small shepherd boy, to battle Goliath. Goliath was so large in stature and skilled in battle that no other Israelites wanted to battle him. Equipped with his staff, five smooth stones, a sling shot, and God David went into battle with Goliath. David says, “you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. (45)” “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.(47)” And with one small stone and his sling shot, God used David to defeat Goliath. He used a small shepherd boy with no knowledge of battle to defeat a dangerous enemy. Even when the task God has for us seems dangerous, we must trust that He will be with us and He will give us exactly what we need to do His will.
There are so many other examples throughout the bible where God called people that didn’t fit the requirements of a task and performed incredible things through them.
The path God has for us won’t always be easy or clear; there will be times that we want to turn from His call and run away but we’d be denying God the opportunity to do incredible things through us. We think things are different for us than the people mentioned in the Bible; that we aren’t able to do anything that will further God’s kingdom here on Earth. But as children of God, it is our responsibility to tell God’s story and share His love in every way we can, every form, every medium, every moment. We are to tell stories of His love, His redemption, and His forgiveness every time we experience them. We are to tell stories of reconciliation, surprise, and new life everywhere we find them. We must tell all of this wherever we are.
I grew up in a Christian household; every Sunday all of my family would be in church. As I grew up being a Christian looked more and more like going to church on Sunday and being a nice person. So I never truly had a relationship with God – I never accepted Him into my heart and gave Him my life. My teen years and early twenties got harder and harder because I tried to do everything on my own. And I became reliant on affirmation from other people. I found my value and worth in what other people thought of me. I lived to please other people so they would have good opinions of me. I never ran to God in times of need; I wasn’t willing to give up my worldly comforts so that He could comfort me. I didn’t have faith that He would take care of me.
In college I had friends that basically lived at the bar and drank most nights of the week, so when I turned 21 I started abusing alcohol. I’d do whatever I needed to for affirmation from those friends. I drank night after night and weekend after weekend. My life was empty. I was living to forget. I was choosing to be someone that God definitely did not design me to be, someone I was ashamed of. It wasn’t until a friend reached out to me and asked me what I was doing with my life that I realized that I was throwing it away. That all the potential my life held was being squandered for alcohol. I was determining my worth based on people that would rather be drinking than almost anything else.
It was then that I decided to recommit my life to God, but for real this time. I knew that this time I wasn’t going to cheat God out of my life; I’d give Him all of me and obey whatever call He had for my life. And that’s when I heard Him clearly for the first time in my life calling me on the World Race to leave home for 11 months to travel around the world sharing His love and His word. He’s used me to love on babies and children that don’t know what love is; He’s used me to pray for the sick; He’s used me to comfort and encourage the elderly; He’s used me to lead people to Him; He’s used me to speak in an underground church in a closed country.
The only difference between the girl drinking her life away and the girl standing in front of you is God. God is the king of my life; I’ve committed to obeying whatever plans He has for me no matter how uncomfortable or difficult they might be. I trust that He will equip me for whatever He calls me to. I’m still working on my relationship with God and growing in what He has planned for me everyday. I still struggle some days and want to be back home where things are comfortable, but He is using me for His glory. My life has never held more purpose and value than it does right now because instead of filling myself with empty things of the world, I choose to be filled by God and to help bring His kingdom to Earth.
God is waiting for the day that you choose to commit to living the life He has planned for you. He wants to equip you for the extraordinary.”
