I was standing in the lobby of Honey Lake’s ornate Gathering Hall and a fancy car pulled up and let out a lady in a full length mink coat. She was dressed like a movie star and was wearing a huge diamond ring that would’ve made my pal, famed (ex)-jewel thief and cat burglar Jack “Murf the Surf” Murphy slobber like a dog hearing a bell ring in a Pavlov experiment.
She came walking in as though she owned the place and observed me standing there in my blue jeans, cowboy boots and flannel shirt and looked at me like she had just stepped in dog poop, (and I was it). Indeed when we made eye contact, she threw her head in the air and looked away like she smelled dog poop too. I knew that look, because I used to see it all the time when I was homeless and living on the street. I call it “looking down on someone”.
About that time her wealthy husband came walking in and as soon as he saw me he smiled broadly and boomed, “Hi Bob – Good to see you my brother!” and extended his hand to shake. Her head snapped around and her mouth flopped open like a ventriloquist dummy as she realized that they had come to see me, the lowest of the low. Her expression immediately changed and she smiled the biggest plastic smile I’d seen in months and proffered her hand as though she expected me to kiss it. I graciously smiled the biggest plastic smile I could muster and gently shook it instead.
Since I initially had the idea to launch our Renewal of America campaign I’ve received more resistance from religious folks who run big churches than all others combined. It is a sad commentary that those who purportedly have been “anointed” by God remain so cold to an idea to try and unite Americans to renew their faith in God. It is after all an attempt to save our country from its declining morality and wickedness and restore it to a wholesome God fearing and lovely place to live.
Call me crazy but I suspect that they are like the lady in the mink coat, and they think that it is “they” that are God’s chosen people and it is “they” that should launch initiatives like ours and it is “we” ordinary people, (unanointed if you will), who should sit on the sidelines because “we” are not worthy to do the Lord’s work. I suppose we should keep our mouths shut and keep giving them money.
Hmmm . . . I can’t help but wonder if these same naysayers (who are attacking me for trying to do something about America’s decline) are doing such a great job themselves, why is America tanking? Maybe they’re using the money to help decorate their ornate offices instead of revitalizing faith in our beloved country. I know – I know – that’s probably a little harsh . . .
Harsh or not I’m convinced that theirs is satanic attack in its most devious form, because it emanates from the church, and if we aren’t careful they’d derail us from accomplishing great projects for the Lord.
Sometimes satan tries to discourage us by whispering that we aren’t educated enough; we aren’t wealthy enough; we have too many weaknesses; we’re too old.
Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ did his best work during his mid-70’s. He wanted to be an important part of helping to fulfill the prophecy that every nation would hear the Gospel by the year 2000. The Jesus film was produced and 4 billion out of 6 billion people on this planet saw it and many millions came to know the Lord through his efforts.
Too old? I’m sure satan whispered that one to him . . .
There is a story in the Bible about a gal named Anna. It begins in Luke 2:36. “And she [was] a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served [God] with fastings and prayers night and day.”
Hmmm . . . How old was she? Let’s suppose that Anna was sixteen when she married. She would have been 100 years old and yet she was still fasting and praying night and day and going strong!
Satan tries to convince us that God won’t use us. He may cite things like age or lack of abilities, or failures that we’ve had. But just like Anna, there are many scriptural examples of the Lord using those who would be considered unusable by worldly standards.
Moses was eighty years old before he began to fulfill God’s plan for his life, (and he had a speech impediment) and yet he worked right up until he was 120 years old. Abraham was in his nineties before he had the son that God had promised him. Gideon was another one who looked unusable; in fact he was hiding from the Midianites when an angel of God appeared and told him he was a mighty man of valor (Judg. 6:11-12). He couldn’t believe it at first and had to have the Lord confirm it three times.
King David was another unlikely candidate; in fact Jesse wouldn’t even run him out there with his brothers for evaluation to be king, because he didn’t look the part. God saw him differently because the Bible states that He doesn’t look at outward appearance, but at the heart. Listen to how the Bible described God’s view of David: “He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.’ “From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus . . .
Generally I’m completely baffled when God assigns a project to me. I ask, “Why me?”
God’s answer: 1 Cor. 1:26 – For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, . . .
God loves to confound the wise of this world by using the weak to accomplish His purpose. That way when God shows up, we can be assured it was God and not the man that made things happen; so regardless of your opinion of yourself and your standing in life, if you get the call, step up to the plate with boldness and pursue it with reckless abandon.
We need to understand that when satan and his minions attack us and make us feel too foolish, too weak, too uneducated, or too inept to do a mighty work for the Lord, then we can know that we qualify.
James 2:5 Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him?
Let the Lord use you today.
1 Cor. 2:12
And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
January 21, 2014 – Click here to listen