You And Me!

(weak, untrained, troubled, ignored, etc.)

Are you weak? Awesome, then join me in bringing God glory through our weakness. The Marines are looking for a few “good men”. God is looking for the weak–me and you! The Bible says that not many strong, not many wise in this world’s opinion, not many noble will be used or chosen. I have this treasure in a vessel of clay that the treasure might be seen the more awesome.

This is not to suggest that I should try to make myself weak or ignorant. It is vital to study the word, become more practiced in prayer, increase my comfort at witnessing, but I must not wait to serve till I “seem”, in my own eyes or the eyes of others, to be strong and wise. Trust me, despite my best efforts, I have more than enough weakness for God to get glory from whatever he is able to do through me. I remember one unsaved lady who went to Women’s Bible Study Fellowship for a luncheon and her prayer for salvation was such a beautiful start. “Well, God, if you think you can make something out of the mess that I am; good luck but go ahead and try.”

Because God loves to turn the world upside down with the weak, I need to look at my church and family to discern who “seems” to be the weakest. Since, according to First Corinthians 12:21, they are MUCH MORE important than the rest. So I would do well to think, “what do I need them for, how can I give them ministry, how does God want to bless me through them?” I need to give more honor to these weaker parts.

So who do I have on my list of the “seemingly” small and weak?:  The old, teens, mentally challenged, women, children, uneducated, low income, short, low IQ, shy, quiet, ME? Then these deserve, “more abundant” honor and protection.

Even churches, that are growing spiritually and growing in numbers, seem to not have figured out how to pull in the old, the shy, the teens. Oh, we have a vibrant youth ministry but we have not figured out what we NEED them for.

The “WEAK” do not need to be ministered to so much as THEY NEED TO BE NEEDED.

Needed, not in a general sense (such as, “Well, we need everyone.”) but in a, “If we can’t draw them into doing their part then the battles will be lost and the church will not thrive! sense.”

The teens go off and are not often seen in the door-to-door calling or visiting the shut-ins or in upholding the needs of others in prayer. Young men, especially, want to be called to do great deeds and fight the good fight and become part of a group of “battle buddies”, warriors in a battle with purpose and vital things that they can do.

Instead, they have been told that they need to “socialize” with other teens, “find themselves,” and “develop their individual identities.” So they go off by themselves and play and when they pass you, they look right through you if you are an older person, as if you don’t exist.

What about the shut-ins? What a potential powerhouse of experience and time to tap into for prayer if we would let them know the details of the battle.

It is hard to get the “weak” to do their part because they have been told so often that they are not needed or that their efforts are bothersome and not helpful. So when asked to pray, they never volunteer. Yet their prayers would be powerful before God.  I remember one time when a developmentally limited boy asked me for my business cards. Why? I asked. He replied that he was going to pass them out at his sheltered workshop and all the young people would pray for me. Hit the jackpot that time, I did!