If you want to be used by God and if you want to be great in His kingdom then desire to let God showcase His greatness and glory through your weaknesses and limitations. I absolutely love how Nancy Leigh DeMoss put it: “Don’t assume you have to be extraordinary to be used by God. You don’t have to have exceptional gifts, talents, abilities, or connections. God specializes in using ordinary people whose limitations and weaknesses make them ideal showcases for His greatness and glory (1 Cor. 1:26-29).”1
Too often we think if we are not the pastor or the worship leader then how can God use us. But God’s requirements for being used by Him have little to do with our human gifts and talents, as much as it has to do with our faithfulness to serving Him and our willingness to obey His will. I believe that all Christians can be greatly used by God no matter what station in life they find themselves in if their primary passion is to bring glory to Jesus.
Faithfulness, availability, and obedience are the key prerequisites to a life that God can use. And the exciting thing is that means that anyone can be greatly used by God, regardless of their gifts and talents.
I know in my own life, now that I am retired, I can devote more of my time to my daily devotional website, to prayer, and to being an encourager of the brethren. Not only to I get great joy in writing my daily devotions, but I strive to use them to encourage Christians with fresh manna each day. I am now in my fifth year of posting devotions and I can honestly say that this ministry has not only brought me great satisfaction, that God is using my writing abilities, but I believe it has, based on my feedback, been a blessing to many.
For the past three years I have also had the great joy to spend an hour a day in praying over a prayer list I maintain. We can all pray and the only requirement is taking the time and developing the discipline to do it.
Another practice I have been doing is to try to send emails, make phone calls, and drop text messages every day to encourage the body of Christ and let my circle of influence know just how special they are and how much God loves them.
So you see we don’t have to be very special as far as talents and gifting goes to develop ministries to bless others and thereby bring glory to God. My prayer for all who are reading this devotion is that each of you realize that not only are you very special to God but that God has a unique and special calling on your life. Be available, faithful, and obedient to God’s calling on your life and watch how God will use you to glorify His name, bless others, and as a result bless you.
Thank you for being such a blessing to me, for your willingness and availability to be a blessing to so many others and for bringing glory to God as you give of yourself so selflessly. May the Lord continue to use you to bless us with your daily devotions.