No, Can't, & Never

As I periodically do public speaking, I often hear people say, they could never do that. I'll explain to them that if God calls them to it, He'll anoint them and even do it through them, but again they insist they could and would never do it! That statement frightens me a bit. You see, NO, CAN'T and NEVER cannot be a part of our vocabulary when it comes to serving and obeying God. We must come to a place where we realize that our life is not our own. The price that was paid through the blood of Jesus, not only sets us free, but it placed us on the road to our calling. Veering off course can take us in a direction that we were never designed to follow... even if it feels more natural to our flesh. The cool thing is though.... even if you've gotten off track and made some terrible life decisions, He's still waiting to dust you off, wipe the tears, kiss your cheek, and point you back into the right direction. It's never too late to repent and start serving God.

Many are stifled by fear and insecurity. Perhaps they've felt a pull to ministry, but they realize their limitations and they never move past them. Let me encourage you by saying, I have absolutely no natural talents or gifts. I'm not a writer or a public speaker. In actuality, the thought of both can give me a shudder of terror. There's nothing my flesh fears more than standing in front of a room full of people who are waiting to hear me speak. As far as writing goes... every time it's my turn to write...3 times a week (at one time it was 7 days a week!) I get a little sick to my stomach, wondering how I can possibly come up with another devotion. I can't put 2 words together by my own means. Thank God! I don't have to "come up" with anything. I just have to read His Word and spend time in His presence and before I'm even finished, the words begin to flow. I may think the devotion is going in one direction, but He'll surprise me and it'll be totally different than I expected.

He called me to write a book and there's many more to come... but the thought of it... even as I was writing the first one... each time I sat at my computer... oh the fear I had to overcome... what do I know about writing a book and finding an editor and publisher? Yet the words flowed and even bypassed my mind. It was as if I was taking dictation. The rest "fell" into place.

There's something in my life that motivates me much more than my fears and that's my love for God and my desire to please Him. Against all odds or logic, He's called me to serve Him and I realize what a privilege that is! What terrorizes my flesh, thrills my spirit!

He doesn't call us to make a fool of ourselves... as we willingly submit, say yes, and do the work necessary by study and prayer...His Holy Spirit equips and empowers us to do what He's called us to do! By saying NO, I CAN'T, and NEVER, you're missing out on the very thing you were designed to do... not by your natural ability, the work He's called you to has NOTHING to do with that. Lets face it, if it did, you'd want the credit for it. He uses the most unlikely people to manifest His power so that no one can deny it was all done by His Spirit! Trust Him! BY HIS SPIRIT you have limitless potential!

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (TPT) Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside your sanctuary. You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood, so by all means, then, use your body to bring glory to God.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (NKJV) For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.