All My Nothing

When it comes to surrendering self to God’s masterful use, many believers become anxious. The stubborn believer is another topic for another time. I’m writing about the believer who wants to be used for the glory of God but can’t seem to break through to the next phase of ministry. Perhaps the greatest fear, the biggest hindrance to being used by God, is this nagging idea: I’m not fit for God’s use.

It is that negative thought which causes the aforementioned anxiety.

When I was eleven years old, I used to read of how God used people like Kathryn Kuhlman, Oral Roberts, and Smith Wigglesworth. You don’t need to know who they are. I can tell you that they were people who were used mightily of God. Millions of people have been impacted by their lives in either a direct or indirect way.

Specifically, I used to watch Miss Kuhlman. She had such a divine energy about her demeanor, such a profound and genuine spirituality. I wanted that for my life and ministry. But, deep within, there was this thought: I’m not fit for God’s use.

I would read of Bible characters – Moses, King David, John the Baptist, Paul the Apostle. Everything within me would cry out for God to do in our modern day what He did in the Old and New testaments. I would think, “Why can’t God move now as He did in the book of Acts?” I would become stirred at that radical notion. My passion would become stirred, but then it would be immediately stifled into despair the very moment that I recalled the intrusive and discouraging thought, “I’m not fit for God’s use.”

I would check off a list of things I lacked: no notoriety, no charisma, no strong gift, no powerful sermons, and no idea how to start in the ministry.

But, dear reader, I would soon learn the source of these things I lacked. Everything – from the charisma about your person to the power that backs your preaching – is not given in a single moment. Sure, all of it is deposited at salvation. But a great anointing is like a seed. When it is planted in you, it lacks nothing, but you must tend to it in order for it to take on a useful form.

And nothing can tend the anointing like this one key – this one key that is found in the following portion of scripture:

Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do. Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough moneya to feed them!” Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.  – John 6:5-13

In the natural, what was offered by the young boy wasn’t enough to finish the job. It was, by all natural accounts, lacking, unfit, and useless. As an eleven year old boy, I used to look at that young boy in the scripture and think, “If Jesus can take his nothing and use it, then Jesus can take my nothing and use it too!”

I use the word “nothing”, because, compared to what the world needs, we have nothing to offer. It isn’t enough – it’s relatively nothing. But that’s what Jesus does: He uses nothing. God spoke to nothingness and caused all of time, matter, and space to come forth into existence. It’s in the nothing that God moves. The “not” in “I’m not fit for God’s use” is where the “I AM” finds a place. Thus, you can say, “I AM fit for God’s use.”

God uses broken vessels. When it comes being used by God, it’s not about how gifted you are, it’s only about how surrendered you are. The key to the anointing is surrender. Put your nothing in the hands of Jesus, and it will soon become all that you need.

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3 Keys to Financial Breakthrough

These are interesting, historic and uncertain times. No hour has ever been so key, so pivotal in God’s agenda for the ages. And, within this crucial moment, God has chosen to purposefully place you.

He placed you here and now, because He knew He could trust you to obey Him, to follow His Word by faith.

And I have good news for you: even in these times, God wants you to be fruitful. To His children, God gives peace during the storm, clarity during the chaos and prosperity during the famine. But there are three Biblical keys to claiming this God-offered fruitfulness.

#1 Stewardship

Stewardship is taking care of what you have, doing what you’re supposed to do with what you have and treating what you have like it’s what you want.

I find it interesting that many believers, who know that God is able, act as if He is unable when it comes to their finances. When we give to the gospel out of what we have now, we will be given more. I feel safe in saying that how you treat the gospel is how God will treat your finances. We say, “Bless me, and I’ll give.” God says, “Give, and I’ll bless you.”

We can’t expect more if we cannot obey with the little that we have.

We all want to be in a place where money is no longer a worry, where we can fund the Kingdom and bless our families. And God wants to take us to such a place.

But can God trust you with abundance? You’ll know the answer to that question by whether or not you give in time of need. When you can give with what you have now, it is a sign to God that you are ready for more.

“For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
~ Matthew 25:29

#2 Generosity

Without generosity, the stewardship of your finances requires no faith. For example, for some people, giving even $5 requires faith. To others, the giving of $5 is hardly even a reason for thought. Generosity is proportional. So if what you give doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t require faith to give it. And without faith, how can your financial management be pleasing to God? It’s impossible to please God without faith.

Generosity releases the flow of God’s provision in your life.

“The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.”
~ Proverbs 11:25

Be the blessing that you want someone to be to you. Send that check in the mail, that random check you’re always hoping to find, to someone else. In the words of Jesus, “Give, and it shall be given.”

# 3 Faithfulness

Finally, in order to unlock the blessing of fruitfulness, you must be faithful. Faithfulness cannot be had in days, weeks or months. It takes years to have faithfulness.

Some people begin to sow into ministries and, after only a few months, stop, because their financial situation doesn’t seem to be getting “blessed”. But what God blesses is long-term generosity and stewardship. Though you may not see the results you want to see, keep sowing. It’s usually when you’ve come to what seems to be the end of your perseverance that God brings the breakthrough.

A Challenge

So, dear friend, I want to challenge you today to begin or continue in a lifestyle of giving to the gospel. Give to your local church faithfully. Support missionaries and global Christian projects. Involve your finances in the gospel, and God will involve Himself in your finances.

No matter how far your breakthrough may seem, a single step of faith can take you all the way to a miracle.

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