The lyrics of one on my favorite worship songs goes something like this, "Not because of what I've done, but because of who You are, Not because of who I am but because of what You've done." God works in people's lives not because of their qualifications for miracles, but because of who He is and because of what He has done. Read all through the Bible and you will find that His great men of faith, that He worked miracles through and for, were far less qualified than what you would think. We have gotten into the un-Godly idea that only a certain class of people qualify for miracles. Therefore, the enemy has convinced most of us that God just won't do for us peons what He has done for those "special" people.
What was so special about Abraham that God would choose him to build nations from? What great university did he graduate from? He didn't. Was his family the ruling family of the area? Nope. If you will read in Genesis, his father had taken the family away from their home town and were not native to the area that God called him from. God chose Abraham because Abraham had the heart to believe that whatever God said was true. Abraham believed that whatever God said He was going to do, that He was God enough to back it up. Abraham believed that God would never let him down. The greatest qualification that Abraham had was--He believed God and God showed up just like He said He would.
David, the apple of God's eye, was not chosen because of who he was. He was the youngest son of a lowly shepherd family in the sleepy little town of Bethlehem. He was the brunt of all the little brother jokes. He wore all the hand-me-downs. One day, the prophet Samuel came to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse to anoint one of Jesse's boys to be the next king. All of the boys took baths, dressed in their dignified clothes, put on their best smell-goody and stood before Samuel. Samuel looked at the oldest one. He looked like a future king but he was not the one that God had in mind. Look at what God said in 1 Samuel 16:7 says, But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. Here we find GOD'S QUALIFICATION. God qualified David because of what He saw in David's heart.
Moses came from a dysfunctional family. They were slaves. They were afraid he would be killed so they hid him in the river. He was found by Pharaoh's daughter who raised him as an Egyptian. He later killed an Egyptian and had to run away from home a wanted man. He was shy and couldn't talk very well. But God saw something in his heart and He chose Moses, out of two and one-half million people.
Peter was a stinky fisherman. He was a loud-mouthed, foul mouthed, scaredy cat that let Jesus down when Jesus needed him the most. He was not from a prominent family. He was not chosen by the high priest. He did not go to a seminary. But, God saw something in his heart. Peter was chosen and anointed to be the leader of God's very first church because God saw something in Peter that no one else could see.
What about Paul the apostle, who wrote the biggest part of the New Testament. Now, here was a college-educated man from one of the finest families in Israel. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews and concerning the law, he was perfect. He was respected by the high priest and was one of the muckety-mucks of the Jewish religion. Yeah, boy! He was qualified, all right. He took those very qualifications started killing Christians and putting them in jail for serving Jesus. He tore homes apart, made widows out of wives and orphans out of children. He was really qualifed to be called into the ministry, wasn't he? A religious, holier-than-thou murderer and home-wrecker. That's who Paul was originally. But God saw something in his heart that He could work with.
God qualifies people. People might go to religious seminaries and stand before the grand councels of the religious organizations and become ordained. But in no way, shape, or form, does that qualify them for miracles. It's what you have in your heart. All of the people that God chose to anoint had one thing in common. God saw in them a heart that would run after Him with all of their might. No matter what you have done in the past, if you feel God tugging at your heart to run after Him, run on. Let God worry about your qualifications. Obviously, if He is tugging at your heart, He has already qualified you. So, run on, my friend and be oblivious of what men may say or how they look at you. It is not what you have done, it's who He is. And it is not who you are, it is what Jesus Christ has done for you on Calvary's cross that qualifies you to do what He has asked you to do. Run on, faithful Christian, run on.
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