I Cor. 1:26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
NIV
So your life is a mess? You are on God’s FIRST CHOICE LIST!
You say terrible things have happened to you? YOU ARE SOMEONE GOD CAN USE!
Maybe you have tried and tried and failed and failed. Now you feel that there is no hope. Well guess what? If you have come to the place where you have admitted that you can do nothing, YOU ARE RIGHT WHERE GOD CAN START!!
God does not use perfect things.
He takes broken things and makes them work.
He does not always fix them!
He uses them in condition that He found them so that He gets all the credit.
Look at some of the broken things God used:
- When Gideon led his men against the enemy, they had break the containers before the lights could shine out.
- When Mary anointed Jesus, the container had to be broken before the perfume could be poured out.
- When Paul and all those on board with him escaped the sinking ship they did it on broken pieces of the ship.
Your background may not be very good. Perhaps your family history is a bad one? You are in good company!
- Joseph came from a dysfunctional family. His brothers were
violent and homicidal. One of his brothers got his own daughter-in-law pregnant!
- Consider Samson. He loved to party and really enjoyed the company of bad girls. He often spent his evenings with a hooker.
- David married just about every girl he was attracted to including his neighbor’s wife!
You may think there is no hope. AND THERE MAY NOT BE .. at least in the normal way of thinking. That’s OK. You are not alone.
- Before God could bring the beginning of Israel He allowed Abraham and Sarah to get
'way beyond child-bearing years… to the place where there was no hope of having kids.
- Before God could use Jacob He had to cripple him so that he limped the rest of his life. But his name was changed and he came into his destiny.
- Before God could use Moses he had to remove his reliance upon his own strength and abilities. He spent 40 years hiding out from the law until came to the place where he relied totally on the Lord.
- Before Peter could become the Rock that God had called him to be he had to come to the place where he realized that without God’s help he was a failure.
The very thing that you feel is tearing you down can be the thing that God uses to make you the person you were meant to be.
2 Cor 12:7-10
Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
The Message
So .. you have been mistreated, misunderstood, gossiped about, lied about , horribly misused and gone through things that are terrible. I AM NOT SAYING THAT IS GOOD!! I am saying that these are the very things that can make you the person God wants to use to help others.
YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH!! YOU ARE WHAT GOD SAYS YOU ARE. Begin
to search the Scripture and find out what God says about you.
DO NOT GET HUNG UP IN THE PAST. GET HUNG UP IN GOD’S LOVE AND MERCY.
I am not talking about just giving up and living in sin. No!!
Hebrews 12:17 Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God's lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God's blessing—but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.
The Message
I am talking about the fact that some have tried and tried and cannot seem get victory and now the temptation is to just give up.
DON’T DO IT! KEEP ON GOING! It’s the keeping on keeping on, trying to move toward God … falling and getting discouraged and then getting up again and moving on that is the proof of faith!
Prov. 24:16 .... though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again
.......
NIV
The sin is not so much in the falling as it is
in giving up and laying there. GET UP! Move toward the Lord.
Have you been HURT?
Have you been WOUNDED?
Are you DAMAGED GOODS?
You are in good company! You are just
like most of the people in the Bible! So ..... Let’s move on .. into GOD’S
PLAN for our lives.
Start with:
FORGIVENESS
- forgive yourself ... forgive
others ... FORGIVENESS is a CHOICE. It is not a FEELING. Choose to
forgive and say it out loud. "I FORGIVE ____________ in Jesus
Name!"
RELEASE
- release those who have hurt or
wounded you . Say it out loud .. "I RELEASE
__________ in Jesus Name!"
RECEIVE
- receive by faith God's
forgiveness, His love, His mercy, His power, His release. Say it out
loud ..."I receive Your forgiveness Lord, in Jesus Name!"
Now get up and move toward the
Lord. Seek Him. Let His will become the main desire in your life. You
are a person that God can use to reach those who do not know His love.
Simply ask the Lord to help you see the one in front of you that needs His
love. Ask Him for His words of love for that person. Then go and
share the love of God with them.
Let them know that even if they
are Damaged Goods, THEY ARE STILL VALUABLE!