We were talking on the prayer conference call tonight, and Nate shared that God had impressed John 19:26-27 upon him this week…
So Jesus, seeing his mother and the disciple
whom he loved standing there, said to his mother, “Woman,
behold your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold
your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into
his family.
Nate felt that God was saying to him that even though He could have
easily taken care of Mary supernaturally himself, He still chose to use a human
as a vessel for His work. Then we talked briefly about that concept.
What Nate said really resonated with me, as often I cannot fathom why God could possibly want to use me for ministry. He is this all powerful, awesome God, and I am this broken, sinful creature who is so unworthy of the grace He’s bestowed upon me. Who am I to be going out to the nations? What could I possibly have to offer? Who’s to say I won’t screw up what God wants to do. It’s scary to step out of my comfortable little life here. God could so easily meet the needs of all of those whom we will come in contact with this next year in an instant. Yet instead, He’s asked me to go. He’s asked you. How incredibly humbling.
A few weeks ago, our church showed a clip somewhat along these same lines that many of you may have already seen. It is a portion of the testimony of Mark Hall, the lead singer of Casting Crowns and the story behind the song, “Voice of Truth.” It was an encouragement to me not to buy into the lies of the enemy, no matter how scared, inadequate, overwhelmed, or discouraged I might feel, and a good reminder to continue to say yes to God’s calling not because I have anything to offer, but simply because He chose me.
P.S. The testimony is split up into 3 parts on youtube. This is only the 3rd portion, but I’d highly recommend watching it all if you haven’t. Hope it encourages you. 🙂
Oh,what I would do
To have the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I’m in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is,
And he’s holding out his hand
But the waves are calling out my name
and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I’ve tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
time and time again
“Boy, you’ll never win,
you’ll never win.”
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
the voice of truth says “do not be afraid!”
and the voice of truth says “this is for my glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
