God has been speaking to so many people with so much clarity and in so many ways. All of these stories inspire us. However, you can be inspired and feel disqualified at same time. Yes, the story is amazing and obviously God speaks but our mistakes can make us feel unqualified to experience that ourselves.
Think about the common response we see in the Bible every time God asked somebody to do something. It seems that every person God called throughout the Bible gave reasons why they couldn’t be used by God.
Abraham - I’m too old. My wife’s too old.
Mary – I’m too young.
Moses – I’m not a public speaker.
Joseph was abused and forgotten.
Leah felt unloved unattractive
Peter was hot-tempered.
Martha was a worrier.
Thomas had doubts.
These three guys all had suicidal thoughts:
o Moses because of burnout
o Elijah because of fear and anxiety
o Jonah because of his disobedience and then pride.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. NIV
If you are going to go deeper, you must understand your weakness is not what keeps you from the purposes of God. Your weakness is what drives you into a deeper reliance upon Him.
When you are aware of your weakness you are more aware of your need for God. This makes your weakness and your sin a very necessary part of your willingness to embrace God’s grace.
Brother Yun, The Heavenly Man, “It is not the great who change the world it is the weak who are in the hands of a great God.”
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, “The one true mark of a saint of God is the inner creativity that flows from being totally surrendered to Jesus Christ.”
Luke 7:41-43 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. NIV
Some people have told me they’ve been too bad for God to save. This text could suggest that the more sinful behavior a person has had the more they love Jesus when they get saved. This isn’t true and I’ll explain why.
James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. NASB
You are completely guilty no matter how good or how bad you’ve been. Your behavior doesn’t make you more or less sinful. We are all completely sinful without Christ.
The problem is that “gooder” people feel better than “badder” people. Pride wears this crafty disguise in order to hijack God’s grace. The nicest person in the room is just as sinful as the meanest person in the room. Sin is about a state of existence as a result of Adam and Eve not bad behavior we have in our lives.
Helping people understand this is vital to their ability to embrace Jesus. If we only present Jesus as the answer without clearly helping people understand they have a problem, people don’t know they need him.
Tracy came to me saying her car was making a funny noise. I couldn’t hear it at first but final began to hear what she was hearing. The problem is that it was only having this problem intermittently. I took it into the shop and it would stop making the noise. After I would leave frustrated that the mechanic couldn’t hear it the car would suddenly begin making the noise again. This happened three times before it finally made the noise in front of the mechanic.
I was so happy! I wasn’t happy because my car had a problem. I was happy because my car was having the problem in the presence of the one who could fix it. You are in the presence of the one who can redeem you but if you keep hiding your weakness and pretending you’re good you’ll not see your need to embrace him.
Jesus alone moves from the grip of guilt to the grip of grace. #destinyokc
Isaiah 33:6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. NIV
We are designed to live in the deeper reality of God and the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Rehearse 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 every day this week thanking God for a deeper reliance upon his grace.
Discussion Guide for Community Leaders
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
UNDERSTANDING THE SEASON: We are designed to live in the deeper reality of God.
Isaiah 33:5-6 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. 6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. NIV
We want to start our group meetings making room for conversation that brings confirmation that God is speaking to us all as we discuss what we are hearing from the Lord as a family:
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
Feeling unqualified to be used by God because of the mistakes we’ve made is a common feeling among people.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
2. Everybody share on a scale of 1-10 how bad are you at disqualifying yourself from being used by God?
Everybody has reasons why they feel they can’t be used by God:
• Abraham was old.
• Leah was unattractive.
• Joseph was abused and forgotten.
• Moses stuttered.
• Jonah was slow to respond.
• Elijah was suicidal.
• Peter was hot-tempered.
• Martha was a worrier.
• Thomas had doubts.
If you are going to go deeper, you must understand your weakness is not what keeps you from the purposes of God. Your weakness is what drives you into a deeper reliance on God. When you are aware of your weakness you are more aware of your need for Him.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. NIV
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
3. Share a time when a weakness in your life drove you to pursue God on a deeper level.
“It is not the great who change the world it is the weak who are in the hands of a great God.”
-Brother Yun, The Heavenly Man
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Rehearse 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 every day this week thanking God for a deeper reliance upon his grace.