Being "Used" by God

I stumbled across a most precious saying from a saint 30 years in the faith tonight here on SI:
"I often say that in the past, I worked for God; now I walk with Him."I think if you can grasp this statement, you will instantly grow 10 years older in the faith. One sister said something like this to me several years ago, but I did not get it until now. She said the above a little differently, but the essence of it was the same-- she said she had come to the place where it was no longer her desire to be "used" by God, as if she were some sort of gardening tool in God's shed. The young pup I was in the Lord at the time, I simply did not comprehend that. I was burning on fire, ready to tell the world about Jesus, and greatly desired to be "used" by Him. My youthful zeal blinded me from such a revelation as that.

Indeed, now I see that for all my zeal I was wrong. Instead of seeking to be "used" by God, as I often have, I pray that it is now enough that I simply "walk" with Him. We are told in Genesis that Enoch walked with God, but it was not until Jude wrote his epistle several thousand years after the fact that we find out that Enoch had a wonderful prophetic ministry. So far as can be discerned, Enoch was the first prophet to announce the second coming of Christ. An amazing thing considering Christ's first advent had only vaguely been spoken of at this time. Yet for all this, the thing that set apart Enoch, was not the dynamic prophetic ministry that he had-- though he most certainly did have that-- but rather, the thing that set him apart was, "that he walked with God."

When one walks with God, ministry just happens. In such a context, ministry becomes as natural as breathing, and is simply something you do along the way. Much like how Samuel in the Old Testament was serving the Lord night and day in the temple. Samuel simply sought to know the Lord, and commune with Him. And while doing that, he gave a few words along the way. The same goes with the little known prophetess, Anna, of the New Testament. She was simply a widow who walked with God, serving Him in the temple night and day. Then one day Jesus suddenly showed up in the temple, and Anna used that opportunity to show others the Messiah. Saul (Paul) and Barnabas were merely local ministers at the First Church of Antioch, when, while they were serving the Lord in fastings and prayer, the Holy Spirit spoke to the Church that they should separate these two men apart. Together these two men would plant some of the first Churches in the Gentile world, and one would go on to write a great portion of the New Testament.

For all the "activity" recorded of these ministries, and the much that is said about them, the thing they all had in common was the characteristic that defined them not only from the beginning, but also all the way to the end, and that was their simple walking with God. We often overlook that. Instead, we focus on all the great things they did, and seek to be equally as active and equally as great. As a result, we end up creating all sorts of great ministries with all sorts of programs, and make everything look "professional" along the way. I believe these holy men of old would be greatly perplexed about us today. I dare say they would call us an abomination. Professional? Are you kidding me? They could be no more professional ministers than they could professionally walk with God.

In all this great activity, how many of us are seeking to be as great as they were in prayer? Why is it that we seek to emulate the acts of the apostles, yet we do not seek to emulate the lives of the apostles? I believe if we honestly answer this question, we'll find that our hearts are not where they ought to be. Have we loved the work of the Lord more than the Lord of the work? That is ultimately where this boils down to. The result of this is that we get more out of doing the Lord's work than He does-- and anybody else for that matter. Brothers and sisters, it ought not be this way!

Therefore, let us resolve in our hearts to do nothing more than walk with God. If that means we have obscure and little known ministries as a result, even if we have great giftings (such as Enoch did), then so be it! For if you think about it, there can be no "greater" ministry than that of simply ministering to the Lord. For when all is said and done, He is the only one that ultimately matters. I would rather serve the Lord, than all His subjects and slaves.

Closing Prayer: Lord! Thank you for tipping over my apple cart today! Change my heart Lord, so that I might be a man like Enoch, known simply for only knowing you, and walking with you. Let that be my reputation. May I follow you all the days of my life, with a singleness of heart that desires you, and you alone. "Who have I in heaven, besides You?" Change the way I think about ministry. May I never again desire to be "used" by You, but may I simply desire to walk with You instead. Make it so that I don't simply desire to walk with you so that I may "grow" my ministry. Rather, may I always desire to walk with You for the sake of simply being with You alone. I thank You and praise you! Touch all the saints that read this short devotional thought today, so that they might receive what this word says. In Jesus precious name I pray. Amen!

A beautiful distinction, thank you, brother.

I stumbled across a most precious saying from a saint 30 years in the faith tonight here on SI:

"I often say that in the past, I worked for God; now I walk with Him."

I think if you can grasp this statement, you will instantly grow 10 years older in the faith.

Workaholics usually dive right into their carreers with great resolve and singularity of focus. After time, the alacrity in their profession can begin to eclipse the joy they should have outside the workplace, and their families begin to suffer neglect. As the gap between the family widens, the more fervor and resolve the father will spend at the office, and the job is now an escape hatch from reality.

Many youthful Christians embark right away in working for the Lord; they hear fiery sermons by godly men who are much older than they are - men who have learnt first how to walk with God before working for Him - and this element is not understood. The cart then goes before the horse, and lots of dirt and ruckus is kicked up - but nobody goes anywhere. Eventually, God has to undo this broken mindset...and it can often be an uncomfortable thing, laborious, and very humbling.

Working for God can happen the moment after conversion; walking with God is usually not comprehended until years after. When you first learn to walk with God, the Lord immediately puts you at rest from all the extraneous work. Anything on the outside that you've been trying to accomplish is laid to rest, and you are ushered into a new office with executive names on the door such as: [b]Mortification[/b], [b]Sanctification[/b], [b]Transformation[/b], and the CEO of all business activity: [b]Grace[/b].

You'll find that walking with God is much easier on your family, your mental health, job security,and overall compensation. The CEO is very wise, gentle and loving. He understands the concept of "rest", and though you'll be required to be at the office 24/7 (as opposed to merely "working" for God) it won't seem overwhelming or tasking at all. This is because the work load is spread out and the CEO Himself rolls up his sleeves and gets right into it with you.

Brother Paul

Something in our self resents the very idea of
being used; but that is what God has in mind:
someone who will be used to be a testimony of
the gospel truth, someone who will be used to
be a witness of His love and His Spirit within,
someone who will be used to be an instrument
to accomplish His purpose and His will !!
He is the Potter, we are but clay!!

When one walks with God, ministry just happens.

When one does not walk with God, ministry just won't happen?

What sincere and precious insights, KingJimmy, praise God for posting them. Remembering a while ago, were you the one seeking response to the discussion of Christian maturity? Brother KJ, read your own post here, what a demonstration of maturity indeed.

As someone having lived 30 years in the faith, walked with God and reared children with His Word, loved the Lord with some focus, etc.,I became discontented, I wanted to be used by God more !! In the past, I watched so many women busy "serving" in church buildings, teaching bible studies,even to men, despite watching their own children running wild, I had have no less picked up a strong sense of yearning to want to be "used" outside of the home somehow, especially while the sense of usefulness in the home has lessened.

Recently, this mindset had brought me a great deal of trouble and grief; instead of being used by God, I was in fact deceived and used by the devil. God allowed me to learn a very difficult lesson, though I'd still try to lie/comfort myself at times that whatever happened, happened because I was so wanting to be used by God, while in fact, I was living in discontentment and pride which could only mean, I was not walking with God. I was walking after the flesh!! Yes, it was I, I, I, and I some more.

Brother Keith Daniel, at the meetings this morning and the last two evenings in Mabank, reminded me of this walk. Just his presence alone, made me see his walk with God (this is not meant to idolize this man). When Mr. Daniel told us that a lady memorized the entire book of Romans at the age of 107, and how he himself has read the Holy Writ 400 times, and how one preachier, Will McFarland(?) read the Word 420 times... I'm now thinking to myself, and [i]I[/i] am wanting to be used by God?

"He died climbing", words taken from the inscription on a Swiss mountain climber' grave stone, was the topic of Mr. Daniel's sermon last night..., I pray that God would enable me to be climbing up in this walk...for now, to trust HIM in helping me to climb back up will be a great dose of grace enough from HIM.

How longsuffering and gracious indeed our Father is..
Margaret

Gulp! Flesh and Blood has not revealed this to you! This word hits me right into my guts.

Last week I talked about Enoch to the teenagers in our church and I had moments where the Holy Spirit "muted" me because of the awe He brought about. I had to stop in the middle of the sentence.

Although I talked in length and breadth about Enoch this is a very valuable truth that I have neither observed nor comprehended yet. Lord help me!

May I also recommend to read the book of Enoch which you can download from ccel.org. I do not want to argue whether it should be considered canonic or not, it reveals the righteous indignation that the Lord share with Enoch about the wickedness in his days. I am very fascinated about this man; hence the end note of my blogs.

narropath

When one walks with God, ministry just happens. In such a context, ministry becomes as natural as breathing, and is simply something you do along the way.

I am reminded of some Scriptures...

My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
(Proverbs 23:26)

And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: [b]but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.[/b]
(Daniel 11:32)

I think the order in those verses is important, there is a giving of the heart and a knowing of God in an intimate daily walk that proceeds observing His ways and doing exploits.

May all barriers and boundaries be removed as we search the heights and depths of our God.

In Christ,

Ron

I have been blessed by everything that you brothers have had to share on being used by God.

Thank God that He restrained me early on in my Christian life and didn't give me what I was seeking after. I have seen men developing their ministries and gifts without a corresponding growth in character, and great damage has been done to the Body of Christ.

Most of the emphasis in the church today is on working for God, when He is wanting to do a work in us, building His character and nature in us.

The fruit of our ministries will be there if we abide in Him. We are co laborers together with Him.

Much of the burn out in ministry today is because men are moving out in their own strength and ability instead of by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Mike

I believe God is more interested in reaching all of each one of us than He is in each one of us trying to reach the world.

If He does not have our all, we are useless to His purpose. If He does have our all, we'll reach more people accidentally than when He didn't.

Working for God can happen the moment after conversion; walking with God is usually not comprehended until years after.

I remember one preacher years ago when I was new to the faith mentioning how God was his first thought in the morning and his last thought at night. From such, I assumed he was also implying that he regularly thought about God between those times too. Such was an astounding thing to me at the time. For I must confess, God while starting to creep into my every thought had not quite done so. I think in essence, that is what it must mean to "walk with God." It is the place where one takes "every thought captive" and presents that thought to God.

"He died climbing", words taken from the inscription on a Swiss mountain climber' grave stone, was the topic of Mr. Daniel's sermon last night

What an amazing thought! I really like that. The preacher in me would like to preach that some day... Lord willing :-)

May I also recommend to read the book of Enoch which you can download from ccel.org. I do not want to argue whether it should be considered canonic or not, it reveals the righteous indignation that the Lord share with Enoch about the wickedness in his days. I am very fascinated about this man; hence the end note of my blogs.

Without getting into a debate, I think it is worth mentioning the book of Enoch. I take what I consider a sort of middle road approach to the book. Even though Jude quotes it, I don't believe it to be canonical/inspired. Though it's been a while since I've read the books of Enoch, I remember there being clear error within that book. However, even with that said, that does not mean that it does not contain some accurate and reliable information about Enoch and his ministry. I think its like the rabbi's and some of their oral traditions. There may indeed be some truth in the oral traditions passed along by them, but that doesn't mean everything they've passed along is right. Somehow, the author of the books of Enoch knew of a tradition and to some degree of accuracy, and preserved that. But, that's just my general thoughts. I don't feel too dogmatic about them :-)

Thank God that He restrained me early on in my Christian life and didn't give me what I was seeking after. I have seen men developing their ministries and gifts without a corresponding growth in character, and great damage has been done to the Body of Christ.

Amen. The Lord has been dealing with me about this very thing since I graduated from Bible college back in 2005. There is always this great temptation to just use one's degree and simply go into ministry. After all, that is what you went to school for! Issues of character are given little real consideration, all that matters is that you have the training, the willingness, and the gifting!

Such has been a "reproach" I have born anytime I meet with old friends and former students from Bible college. After all, some of them are ministering in large thriving churches with vibrant ministries and deep pockets. And the question then becomes, "What is Jimmy doing?" There is always this question concerning "doing." And if you aren't "doing," then there is something terribly wrong! Here I am, 26 years old, having graduated from Bible college several years ago, and I have yet to really have a "ministry." That's not to say I haven't done things for certain seasons, or preached the occasional sermon. But it seems an almost outrageous thing that I'm a Bible college graduate and I'm not even a Sunday school teacher within the church!

I used to get really frustrated with these thoughts. But ultimately, I realized such thoughts were simply of the Devil, and instead of moaning and groaning about my situation, I have simply received where I am now and the few things I am doing as from the hand of the Lord. I am perfectly content with that. I know God and as a result of knowing God, I know myself. And whenever the Lord in His mercy gives me an opportunity to share the hope that is within me, I do such.

I've come to realize charisma is much less important than character. I've known some people I went to school with who had it the other way around, and it wasn't long before entering their first pastorate that they had a significant moral failure. This individual was without a doubt a good preacher. But, he never was much of a Christian. Which is why I believe all the more that it is important that all our charismatic ministry flow out of our being a good Christian, instead of seeking to be a good Christian because of our charismatic ministry. Gifting is very important, and is without a doubt a grace from God. But gifting will never order living.

And the question then becomes, "What is Jimmy doing?"

I can certainly relate to this, brother Jimmy.

With the exception that I haven't attended a bible college; so I don't even have that to mark on my list of accomplishments. :-P

But this I know -- I know Him, my God and Savior Jesus Christ!

If I go to a bible college or correspondance, so be it, as necessary for the purpose of furthering His ministry with my life. All the same, there is one thing that has appeared to me in all of these questions during my few years concerning what the will of God is.

I pray this helps some of you out there who are asking yourselves,

[b]"What is the will of God for my life?"[/b]

[b]1 Thessalonians 4
1.[/b] Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.
[b]2.[/b] For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
[b]3.[/b] [b][u]For this is the will of God, your sanctification[/b][/u]; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;
[b]4.[/b] that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
[b]5.[/b] not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
[b]6.[/b] and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.
[b]7.[/b] For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.
[b]8.[/b] So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
[b]9.[/b] Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;
[b]10.[/b] for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more,
[b]11.[/b] and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,
[b]12.[/b] so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

[b]For this is the will of God, your sanctification[/b]

Anything and everything of the true Christian life naturally flows from the inworking of the Holy Spirit by the establishing and increase of sanctification in our hearts and minds through the washing of the pure water of the word of God and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus.

Such that our faith, hope, and love are hinged upon this revelation of Christ as the perfect sacrifice for the atonement and remission of our sins. "Those who are forgiven much, love much" -- And God is the One who has forgiven us much! Whereby He has shed His love abroad in our hearts by the Spirit of Truth.

There is no other Rock besides Him by which all of our ministries, all of our prayers, all of our fellowships, and every aspect and detail of our lives are the rivers that flow from this Eternal Fount.

When we have this -- truly "ministry just happens."

Amen Jimmy!

It seems like there has been a shift in much of the training up of leaders for ministry with an emphasis on "how to have a successful ministry". This usually evolves around a minister's gifting with the result that the minister becomes somewhat of a celebrity or superstar.

Jesus gave us the way to have a fruitful ministry: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." (John 12:24).

Mike

God is wanting to use His Church for His great endtime purposes. God can only use broken people, and this explains many of the dealings of God in our lives.

The Release of the Spirit by Watchman Nee is a excellent book on the subject of brokeness.

Excerpt from "The Release of the Spirit"

THE IMPORTANCE OF BREAKING
Scripture Reading: John 12:24; Heb. 4:12-13; 1 Cor. 2:11-14; 2 Cor. 3:6; Rom. 1:9; 7:6; 8:4-8; Gal. 5:16, 22-23, 25

Sooner or later a servant of God discovers that he himself is the greatest frustration to his work. Sooner or later he finds that his outer man does not match his inner man. The inner man heads in one direction, while the outer man heads in another direction. He discovers that his outer man cannot be subject to the rule of the spirit and cannot walk according to God's highest demands. He discovers that the greatest hindrance to his work is his outer man and that this outer man frustrates him from exercising his spirit. Every servant of God should be able to exercise his spirit, to secure God's presence in his spirit, to know God's word through his spirit, to touch men's condition by his spirit, to convey God's word through his spirit, and to sense and receive divine revelation with his spirit. Yet the frustration of the outer man makes it impossible for him to use his spirit. Many servants of the Lord are fundamentally unfit for the Lord's work because they have never been dealt with by the Lord in a fundamental way. Without this dealing, they are basically unqualified for any work. All excitement, zeal, and earnest pleading is vain. This kind of fundamental dealing is the only way for us to become a useful vessel to the Lord.

THE OUTER MAN AND THE INNER MAN
Romans 7:22 says, "For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man." Our inner man delights in the law of God. Ephesians 3:16 also tells us "to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man." In 2 Corinthians 4:16 Paul also said, "Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." The Bible divides our being into the outer man and the inner man. God resides in the inner man, and the man outside this God-occupied inner man is the outer man. In other words, our spirit is the inner man, while the person that others contact is the outer man. Our inner man puts on our outer man like a garment. God has placed Himself, His Spirit, His life, and His power in us, that is, in our inner man. Outside of our inner man is our mind, emotion, and will. Outside of all these is our body, our flesh.

In order for a man to work for God, his inner man must be released. The fundamental problem with many servants of God is that their inner man cannot break out of their outer man. In order for the inner man to be released, it must break out of the outer man. We have to be clear that the first obstacle to our work is ourselves, not other things. If our inner man is an imprisoned, confined man, our spirit is shrouded and not easily released. If we have never learned to break through our outer man with our spirit, we cannot work for the Lord. Nothing frustrates us like the outer man. Whether or not our work will be effective depends on whether the Lord has broken down our outer man and whether the inner man can be released through our broken, outer man. This is a very fundamental issue. The Lord has to dismantle our outer man in order to make way for our inner man. As soon as the inner man is released, many sinners will be blessed and many Christians will receive grace.

"What is the will of God for my life?".....For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;

Indeed. And this is something that entirely gets loss in today's "Purpose Driven Life." If it is acknowledged in a sermon on God's purpose/plan for my life, it is usually given mere lip service before moving onto why God has called you to mop the floors or mow the grass at the Church. Emphasis is on "doing" instead of "being." When in reality, doing should always issue out of being.

Indeed, another Scripture besides the one you quote that I think is good comes from Romans 8, on how God has "predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son." But instead of dwelling on this thing, we quickly move into the frinzy of religious activity that can be done for God. Then we enter into the dangerous territory where man is so focused on what he is doing for God, that he begins to think his activity is the basis of his justification before God. Works based religion then reigns on the throne, and men burn themselves out doing the works of God, because their relationship with God has become merely that, instead of a relationship that exists due to faith.

I preached briefly on this topic in a recent sermon ("Everything That Can Be Shaken"), where I plainly said our sense of unfulfillment comes from our lacking understanding on what our true purpose is. We can only rightly understand our calling and purpose when we first understand God's callings and God's purposes. Indeed, when I experienced my calling into the so-called "five fold ministry," I only understood and have continued to understand that the purpose of my ministry is intimately wrapped up into what God's purposes are. That is, those things contained in Ephesians 4:11-15. Yet when I ask many other workers in the Lord what their purpose is, they usually have some starry-eyed vision of being superstars for Jesus, and speaking before sold-out conferences with 10,000+ people. All ministry they are engaged in then at the present is a mere stepping stone to them. They then become miserable in their current ministries, remaining so "unfulfilled" in what they are presently doing, because they dream of the day they will be like Joseph, ruling over the twelve tribes of Israel as a prince.

Like Joseph, that's not to say God will not make them such a figurehead. But, I personally believe that as the day of the Lord draws near, there will be less and less superstars in the faith. For God's ultimate desire is to bring about a corporate maturity and unity of the faith, so that we get to the point where it is hard to tell one star apart from another.

KingJimmy wrote:

But instead of dwelling on this thing, we quickly move into the frinzy of religious activity that can be done for God. Then we enter into the dangerous territory where man is so focused on what he is doing for God, that he begins to think his activity is the basis of his justification before God. Works based religion then reigns on the throne, and men burn themselves out doing the works of God, because their relationship with God has become merely that, instead of a relationship that exists due to faith.

But, I personally believe that as the day of the Lord draws near, there will be less and less superstars in the faith. For God's ultimate desire is to bring about a corporate maturity and unity of the faith, so that we get to the point where it is hard to tell one star apart from another.

Well put.

These are the deep things of God, which we can so often and far too easily neglect.

Watchman Nee is right on - the battle between the 'inner' and 'outer' person is a constant one, only won by Christ in us, never by our own effort lest we should boast.

When we walk with God, everything we do comes as a natural result of our walk. We work because of our knowledge of Him who died for us. If we try simply to work, to fulfil some supposed purpose or 'great destiny' we risk standing in the midst of those Galatians who Paul said were bewitched, having traded the Gospel of Grace for one of works which is no gospel at all.

Friends, God does not treat us lightly. His love means hardship for us who are in the process of sanctification, aware of our failings before God, aware of His standard, aware of our failure to do what is required, yet assured that we have been made right with God.

I have been brought low by God, removed from doing one of the things I passionately enjoyed for God, on account of my shortcomings. We have a merciful God who will not leave us alone, but remind us of the basis of what we have in the Gospel. I have been closest to hell during this past year, but God has preserved me and because of Him alone I persevered, never truning my back on God who has never turned away from me, and now I know more of the extent of God's love for all of us.

We are not on earth to be used by God. He does everything - creation, the cross - very well all by Himself, thankyou very much. To say that God needs us is dangerous ground. Yet he chooses to work His purposes out through us. Hence the Church. But let us never, ever be deluded that God somehow needs us, that we are special in a wrong way. Our walk with Him, and everything we may do for Him is a result of His Grace at work. Micah 6:8 - let's walk humbly before God

KingJimmy wrote:

But, I personally believe that as the day of the Lord draws near, there will be less and less superstars in the faith. For God's ultimate desire is to bring about a corporate maturity and unity of the faith, so that we get to the point where it is hard to tell one star apart from another.

I woke up with a thought a couple of days ago that I think fits here.

If God decides to humble our ministry, we need to keep in mind, His scales are different than ours.

We think bigger is better. Not necessarily so with God. I have done the organized church work til I was in it up to my eyeballs. I got burned out. Still attend and get much from it, but my ministry seems to be moving outside the church to one on one situations. God is using that.