Avail-ability

when I think about the word availability I cant help but break it in two words where at one end you have ”Avail” and at the other “Ability”. Cambridge dictionary defines avail as “to help or be useful to someone or something“ and ability as ” the physical or mental power or skill needed to do something. This reminds me of my walk with God where I sometimes want to avail myself to be used by God but at the same time feel like I don’t have the ability to do it. Perhaps like me you also wonder how you can make an impact for God in your community, or in your profession or business, but you doubt that God can use you. Sometimes because of our past or current situations,background,skin color,race,height,lack of education and so on we feel incompetent to be used by God . However,God is not necessarily looking at our ability to do something (because he is able) , but instead he is looking for people after his own heart that will avail their heart to him,he wants our availability.

There were times in my journey with the lord where I would have an opportunity to talk to someone about Jesus and I would want to do it but my shyness, fear of rejection and not knowing what to say and so on would stop me from saying anything. I would build all this scenarios in my head on how I couldn’t do it,that I’m too shy, not enough,and that people wouldn’t want to listen to me. I didn’t feel worthy of being used by God because of my past and my sinful nature and eventually I would talk myself out of saying something.

But I realized that I don’t have to have it all figured out or to know it all in order to be used by God, I just need to seek God,have a heart for his Will and avail myself to him,lean on his strength and not my own and what I’m not able to do,hes able to do it.

“God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called”

I believe that God doesn’t look at who we think we are or our qualifications to see if he can use us or not, but he looks at our hearts,who he created when he created us and who we could be in him. The bible serves as the best example how God used ordinary people just like you and me to do great and mighty works for him, for example; Noah was a drunk,Abraham was too old,Isaac was a daydreamer,Jacob was a liar,Joseph was abused,Moses had a stuttering problem,Gideon was afraid,Samson was a womanizer,Rahab was a prostitute,Jeremiah was too young,David was an adulterer and a murderer,Elijah was suicidal,Jonah ran from God,Naomi was a widow,Peter denied Christ,Martha worried about everything and Paul killed Christians. These are people in the bible that were not perfect but still got used by God one way or another. whatever your situation is, it is not to late to turn away from it to leave it behind, to seek and turn to God,because he can still use you.

God can use us in many ways,it doesn’t always have to be grand and extra,it can be in the simple day to day ways, like being nice to someone who is going through a rough phase in their life just to bring a smile on their face or bringing a word of encouragement to someone when they need it the most, tipping a waitress with a generous amount at a restaurant whether the service was great or not, you never know maybe that person had a bad day and also really needed the money you tipped them. It’s in this simple kind gestures of serving that makes people believe in the goodness of people and in the love of God. It’s in these little moments that miracles can happen.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 1: 26-29 wrote ” For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;  God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God”.

Paul is telling us that God uses the foolish things to shame the wise so that no human being might be able to boast in their own ability. When you think you have it all together and have everything going in your favor, then you won’t lean on God,you will rely on your own strength. But if you know that you can’t do everything on your own,then you will rely on God for strength and that’s when God can show his greatness, for his grace is sufficient for us, his power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

So whenever you feel like you not enough or doubt your ability to do something great for God remember that it is not by our own strength or power that we are able to do things,but by Gods grace and strength. What you can do is avail yourself to him, give God your Yes,turn away from your sins, surrender your fear and anxiety to him and watch him do great things through you.

Love and Light

~Vee