7. Be available for God to use your weakness as a strength
Hebrews 11: 32
“And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.”
The idea of allowing God to use the areas that we are most ashamed to glorify Him and bring life instead of death is one of the most bewildering concepts to understand. Where the enemy of your soul would like to bring shackles and tie you down, the Lord plans to use those short comings to set others free from their constraints. The dedication of walking forward in our weakness is not natural. When we are hurt and wounded, whether it was self inflicted or not, most of us would rather curl up in a ball and lick our wounds. Think about it… The Lord longs to take someone who is a thief and use them to bring blessings. He has goals of taking the promise breaker and liar and turning them into a solid example of purity and integrity. Think of the worst sin and pain that you have created and after you are done wanting to hide and cower away, think of how much glory can be brought to the Kingdom of God when He is able to use you in your brokenness to bring life. There are many things in this life that I am ashamed of, and do not like to even think about. The Lord has asked me to not only face those horrible memories of pain, but, to allow him to cleanse them and then use them as a testimony of how great His love is. It has never impressed me to watch someone love a person who is perfect and has it all together. They are loveable! However, it amazes me when someone can look directly into the pit of sin and stench and make a decision to love in spite of everything they are seeing and feeling. That is the love of Christ. He looks even
The idea of allowing God to use the areas that we are most ashamed to glorify Him and bring life instead of death is one of the most bewildering concepts to understand. Where the enemy of your soul would like to bring shackles and tie you down, the Lord plans to use those short comings to set others free from their constraints. The dedication of walking forward in our weakness is not natural. When we are hurt and wounded, whether it was self inflicted or not, most of us would rather curl up in a ball and lick our wounds. Think about it… The Lord longs to take someone who is a thief and use them to bring blessings. He has goals of taking the promise breaker and liar and turning them into a solid example of purity and integrity. Think of the worst sin and pain that you have created and after you are done wanting to hide and cower away, think of how much glory can be brought to the Kingdom of God when He is able to use you in your brokenness to bring life. There are many things in this life that I am ashamed of, and do not like to even think about. The Lord has asked me to not only face those horrible memories of pain, but, to allow him to cleanse them and then use them as a testimony of how great His love is. It has never impressed me to watch someone love a person who is perfect and has it all together. They are loveable! However, it amazes me when someone can look directly into the pit of sin and stench and make a decision to love in spite of everything they are seeing and feeling. That is the love of Christ. He looks even
deeper than the junk that everyone sees and He takes a look at the core of our heart. He looks at our motives. I believe that my motives and attitudes are the sewer pipes of my life. These are areas that I don’t want anyone to see or to know about. The Lord not only sees all of that-- He died for all of that! Dear Lord,
I thank you for not closing your eyes to my sin but for embracing my sin and loving me for the broken person I am. Thank you for not giving up on me. Please use my life to honor you and help me not run and hide from my past. There are times that I feel if everyone knew what was going on deep down in this prideful heart of mine that they would want to throw stones. Thank you for not throwing stones. Please help those that read this teaching allow you to perform the miracle of taking their brokenness and use it as a guide and a support to help others avoid the same pitfalls. Help them use their failures to bring you glory instead of allowing the enemy of their souls to keep them chained.
Amen
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