Feeling Inadequate

"Have no I commanded thee?  Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." - Joshua 1:9

Do ever feel inadequate to do what God has called you to do?  If we are honest, all of us at one time or another have felt this way when it comes to serving the Lord.  It even seems that Joshua felt this way as well.  In Deuteronomy chapter 31 Moses encourages Joshua to be strong and of a good courage.  Then four times in chapter 1 Joshua is encouraged to be strong and of a good courage; one time by the people and three times by the Lord.

I want to encourage you today, that if you feel inadequate to do what God has called you to do, it is a good thing.  You are probably thinking that this sounds strange and doesn't make any sense.  It is good for us to feel inadequate because then we are forced to desperately, completely, and absolutely rely on the Lord and His power to get the job done.  The Lord is attracted to weakness.  It is through our weakness that His power is manifested and His strength is shown.  When you and I get to the place where we acknowledge our weakness and total helplessness before God, it is then that He is able to work in our lives in a mighty and powerful way!

I want to challenge you to passionately and desperately to seek after the Lord and His strength and power today.  Do not lean to your own understanding and your ability!  This is why we see such a lack of the God's moving in our lives because we adequate for the task.  When we get to the place that we realize how inadequate we really are, then we are in the place where Christ can begin to do something in our lives.

Today, humble yourself before the Lord by desperately and passionately calling out to Him to manifest His power in your life.  Seek and cry out to the Lord with your whole heart that He would equip you for His service.  Just remember, if you feel inadequate to serve Christ, that is a good thing!

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, I confess my total inadequacy to serve You and to do what You have called me to do.  I desperately need Your strength and Your power in my life!  Help me not to lean to my own understanding or ability, but help me to absolutely and completely rely on You!  In Jesus name, Amen!

Inadequate

"But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed.  Salvation is of the LORD." - Jonah 2:9


I just had quick thought that I wanted to share before church this morning.  Have you really tried to grasp the reality of the statement "Salvation is of the Lord."  Prior to our salvation, it is God through the Holy Spirit, that convicts our hearts of our sin and need for Christ.  Then after salvation, it is the power of God that keeps us saved.  Any goodness that we have in us today is because of Jesus Christ and not because of anything in ourselves!  You and I cannot be the least bit spiritual except by the power of Christ.

Notice some things that Charles Spurgeon said concerning the extent of our inadequacies:

"If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God’s gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because he upholds me with his hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God himself first does in me."

"Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own; but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and completely."

"As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I, except I abide in him."

"What Jonah learned in the great deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: Salvation is of the Lord.”

During this past week, the Lord has been showing me how inadequate I am in my own power to do anything.  I must completely and utterly rely and depend on Christ for EVERYTHING!  Today, I want to challenge you to realize how inadequate you are to do anything for Christ on your own, and then completely and utterly depend on Him for EVERYTHING!


Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, please reveal to me how inadequate I am to serve and live for You in my own power.  Help me to completely and utterly depend on Christ for EVERYTHING in my life and service to You.  As You reveal my weakness, may I draw on the strength that is in Jesus Christ.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Waiting On The Lord

"Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." - John 11:21


I just want to share a quick thought this morning about timing and patience.  We live in such a busy and fast paced world today.  We can have any information available to us in just a few seconds.  If you want to check the weather or read the latest headlines all you have to do is just pull it up on your smartphone.  Due to advances in technology, we literally can have almost anything at fingertips in just a matter of seconds.

When you read John chapter 11 you find the account of the death of Lazarus and the encounter with Jesus and Martha, the sister of Lazarus.  In the beginning of the chapter Jesus gets word that Lazarus is sick and at the point of death.  Then our Lord does something that is very unexpected, He tarries and waits instead of immediately rushing to get to Lazarus.  When Jesus finally arrives at the home Lazarus is already dead and he has been placed in the tomb.  Martha comes running out to meet the Lord, not understanding why He waited to come.  Martha thought that Jesus was late and that His timing was all wrong because Lazarus had died, but little did she know that Jesus was actually right on time.

As I said earlier, we are busy people living in a fast paced world.  Most of us, if we are honest, would admit that we find it difficult to patiently and quietly wait on the Lord.  Let's face it, we know what we want, and we know exactly when we want it: right now!  However, God may have different plans.  Just like Martha, we all have our ideas about what the Lord needs to do and when He needs to do it.  Martha thought that the Lord had done and was doing nothing, but little did she know that Christ was about to something miraculous.  There are many times in our lives when it seems like the Lord is doing nothing or that He is not there, but Christ is always at work in our lives, even when we cannot see it.

I would like to share something on a personal note on how I know this to be true.  I remember when our family came home from the mission field in late 2007.  I truly believed that it was the will of God for me to be on staff at our home church at the time.  All I wanted to to was to be a part of Christ's work.  Then all of the sudden things took a turn in the wrong direction and my heart was literally ripped out, stomped on, and crushed by not only my pastor, but my entire church family.  I ended up having to leave the only church I had ever known.  It was where I was saved, married, baptized, called to preach, called to the mission field, and ordained.  For the next two years I was in a constant state of depression.  I did not understand how God could open the door for all of these other people to serve Him but yet no doors were opening for me.  I wanted so desperately to serve Him full-time somewhere.  Then in August 2010, three years after leaving the mission field, the Lord opened that door I had been praying for.  I was called to be the pastor of Fairystone Baptist Church here in Stuart, Virginia.  As I look back on things now, I realize something that I could not see back then.  I realize that God was not only preparing me, but He was also preparing a place for me to serve Him.  The Lord was preparing the people of Fairystone Baptist Church to have me as their pastor.  I know now that if I had tried to pastor back in 2007 or 2008 that it would have been a disaster because I was not ready, and there were some things that the Lord needed to teach me.  The bottom line is that the timing was not right.

I want to challenge you today to wait on the Lord.  You might be just like I was, thinking that the Lord is not there or that He is not working behind the scenes.  I can promise you that the Lord is there and He is working.  You and I must learn to wait on Christ because His timing is perfect and He is going to do something far more marvelous than we could ever imagine!

Prayer For Today:

Lord, help me to patiently wait on You, even when it seems like You are not there or when it seems like You are doing nothing.  I know that You desire to do a marvelous and miraculous work in my life.  Help me today to understand that my time is not always Your time.  Give me the faith and strength to patiently wait on You and for Your will to be accomplished in my life.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Casting Our Care Upon Him

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." - 1 Peter 5:6-7


Do you ever feel weighed down by the burdens and cares of this world?  Do you ever feel like you do not have the strength to go on?  If we are honest, we all have days where we feel this way.  However, the Lord never intended for us to carry our burdens by ourselves and face our battles alone.  Yet, that is exactly what we do, we try to carry our burdens on our own shoulders and not turn them over to the Lord.

God is a tremendous source of strength and support if you will call upon Him.  When we grow weary in our walk, God will give us strength.  When we feel there is no hope, the Lord reminds us of His promises to us.  When we are grieving, the Lord will comfort us and make His presence so real to us.

If the demands and burdens of this world begin to get you down, you must not rely upon your own strength or abilities.  You must totally rely and depend on the Lord to get you through your trial and lift your burden from you.  The Lord Jesus Christ will go every step of the way with you through whatever you are facing.  He will not only hold your hand through it all, but when it seems you can no longer go on, He will carry you through.

"Faith is not merely you holding on to God, it is God holding on to you." - E. Stanley Jones


I am so glad that I am not holding on to Christ, but that Christ is holding on to me!

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, I know that You will never leave me nor forsake me.  You have promised to go through every trial with me.  You have promised to take every burden from me.  No matter what the day may bring and no matter what I may face, thank you for Your strength, comfort, and love.  Help me today to cast all my cares upon You.  In Jesus name, Amen!