Brown's Daily Word 10-24-07

Good morning,
Praise the Lord. He is our Lord. His name is excellent all over the world. He is the Lord of miracles. He uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary miracles. He uses the things which are earthly and mundane to demonstrate His divine power and celestial authority. He takes "nobodies" and makes them to "somebodies", who trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
In 2 Kings 4, we read that the wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." 2 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil." 3 Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbours for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." 5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."
This widow had been the wife of a prophet who had died. She had reached the end of her rope and had nothing left. She was so poor her sons were being sold into slavery. She cried out to Elisha and he asked what she had in the house. Isn’t that a little strange? Instead of asking what she WANTED he asked what she HAD. He then took what she had and multiplied it.
This is how the Lord often works in our lives. Sometimes we can come to him and ask Him to make us something which we are not. When Jesus multiplied the bread and fish in John 6 (Feeding the 5000) he used what was given to Him. What do you have to offer the Lord. What has God already given you that you can give to him to multiply for His service?
A man was sitting on his porch in the Southern USA. He had recently retired from the post office, and he was sitting there when his first Social Security check was delivered. Very discouraged, He thought to himself, "Is this what life is going to be from now on--sitting on the porch waiting for my check to arrive?" He decided he wouldn’t settle for that, and so he made a list of all of the things he had going for him, including all the blessings and the capacities, the unique things that were in him. The list was long because he listed everything he could think of and in the list was the fact that he was the only person on earth who knew his mother’s recipe for fried chicken. It used eleven different herbs and spices. So he went to a nearby restaurant and asked if he could cook the chicken, and they said yes. It soon became the most popular item on the menu. Thus, he opened his own restaurant, and then others, and a string of restaurants. Eventually Harland Sanders sold the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise across all of America. He finally retired a second time (all this happened, you remember, after he had retired from the postal service), and he continued in the service of the company as a public relations representative for a quarter of a million dollars a year till his death.
Remember that God can use anything or anyone to accomplish His purposes. History is full of ordinary people who did extraordinary things for God because they used what they had been given. What talent or experiences do you have that God can use? Do you know your spiritual gift – if not then you need to find out what that is.
According to legend, writes Zig Ziglar, a very wise old man lived on a hilltop overlooking the beautiful city of Venice in Italy. It was reputed that he could answer any question anyone might ask him. Two local boys figured they could trick him, so they caught a bird and took it to the wise sage. "Tell us," they asked, "is the bird in our hand dead or alive?" The wise man replied, "Son, if I say the bird is alive, you will close your hands and crush it to death. Or, if I say the bird is dead, you will open your hands and it will fly away. The answer is in your hands."
In the busyness of our Christian life it is easy to become so pre-occupied with other things that we become unavailable to be used by God. We can look busy but not really be hooked into Christ and His will for our lives. In order to be filled you must first be available. God often does not move through the most educated or gifted person but through the most available person He can find. Through the one who says, “here am I Lord, use me”.
The jars which the widow brought needed to be not just available but also empty. Jars that were full of something else would have been of little use. You cannot fill an already full thing.
When Jesus gave His sermon on the mount He began with “Blessed are the poor in Spirit”. That is because emptiness is the starting place for filling. In addition to making ourselves available to God we must also must be filled with His Spirit. To have full use and availability of the gifts that God has given we must hand over the control of our life to God.
Ephesians 5:17 "Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
God is looking for people who are “under the influence”, whose mind, heart and will is controlled by His Spirit. In the Greek verb “Be Filled” is interesting:
1. It is imperative (a command). This is a non negotiable. It is God’s plan for your life.
2. It is passive. It is not something you do but something that is done to you. God is the one who fills - you simply receive. It is not taking more from God but allowing God to have more of you. You received all of the Holy Spirit when you came to Christ. Now you need to allow that Spirit to have free reign in your life.
3. It is present. It is not something that happened once but something that is continuous. It requires constant attention (every day). The reason for this is that there is constant depletion. No matter how much you eat today you will be hungry tomorrow. No matter how much gas you put in your car, if you drive it eventually it will need more. No matter how much you are filled in a service you have to be filled again - sometimes even before you get to the parking lot. You constantly need to be filled because you are constantly being pulled back into the flesh. Moody was once asked by a woman why he always preached on being filled and why one filling was not enough. He replied "Because Madam, I leak". The more you "leak" the more and more frequently you need to fill.
When you give God control in your life He moves in and starts to change things. Priorities and attitudes change. Nobody can be indwelt by the Spirit of God and keep that Spirit to himself. Where the Spirit is, he flows forth. And where there is no flowing forth, he is not there. -- Bishop William Temple
You have your gifts not so much for your own sake as for the sake of others. You are like an apple tree that produces fruit not for its own consumption but for the consumption of others. Your gifts are given so you can bless others by ministering to them. If even one gifted person fails to function, the body of Christ is deprived of a ministry it needs to function well.
Do you want to be used by God? It means identifying what the Lord has already given you in Christ. It means opening your life and making yourself available to God. It means giving over the control of your life and asking Jesus to use you. It begins with a prayer – “Lord Jesus Christ you can have all of me. I will do anything you ask of me, go anywhere you direct me, give anything you request of me, anytime.”
At the turn of the 20th century, there was a little girl who stood crying near a small church from which she had been turned away because it was too crowded. “I can’t go to Sunday School,” she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by. Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday School class. The child was so touched that she went to bed that night praying and thinking of the children who had no place to learn about Jesus. Some two years later she died in a poor tenement buildings and the parents called for the kindhearted pastor, who had befriended their daughter, to handle the final arrangements. As her poor little body was being moved, a worn and crumpled red purse was found clenched in her hand. Inside was found 57 cents and a note scribbled in childish handwriting, which read, “This is to help build the little church bigger so MORE children can go to Sunday school.” For two years she had saved for this offering of love.
When the pastor tearfully read that note, he knew instantly what he would do. Carrying this note and the cracked, red purse to the pulpit, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion. He challenged his deacons to get busy and raise enough money for the larger building. But the story does not end there! A newspaper learned of the story and published it. A Realtor had offered the church a new parcel of land worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. When told that the church could not afford the property he read the newspaper article and he offered the land - for 57 cents – exactly what the little girl had saved.
Church members inspired by the child’s generosity made large contributions. Checks came from far and wide. Within five years the little girl’s gift had increased to $250,000.00 – a huge sum for that time. Today that small seed of faith has grown into a mighty tree. When you are in the city of Philadelphia, look up Temple Baptist Church, with a seating capacity of 3,300. Next to it is Temple University.

We heard from Sunita, who has safely landed in Burundi. Pray for her trip there, that He will keep her safely in the palm of His hand and bless others through her.
In Christ,
Brown




“I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS SAY”

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down Thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting place, and He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold, I freely give
The living water; thirsty one, stoop down, and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “I am this dark world’s Light;
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise, and all thy day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found in Him my Star, my Sun;
And in that light of life I’ll walk, till traveling days are done.

— Horatio Bonar,