The Usability Factor

Shared during Grow in Light*.

How can God use me?
Keep this question in mind as we go forth.
In the Bible, we find some people who are used by God. Take a look at these characters and ... How can God use ME?

300.
Have you watched the movie 300? Do you know that this show is inspired by the Bible's '300'? Yes, there is also a '300' in the Bible. They are known as the 'Gideon 300'.

Judges 7:1-7

Gideon's 300 Chosen Men

1 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him, rose early and camped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh R157 in the valley.

2 The LORD said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, `My own power has delivered me.' 3 "Now therefore come, F103 proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, `Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.' " So 22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained.

4 Then the LORD said to Gideon, "The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, `This one shall go with you,' he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, `This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go." 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, "You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink." 6 Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink water. 7 The LORD said to Gideon, "I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his home." 8 So the 300 men took the people's provisions and their trumpets into their hands. And Gideon sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

There are many conjectures to why God used these 300 men. Some said that it was because of the way they drank the water, it showed a certain watchfulness. There could be many reasons, but I'd like to believe that these 300 men had a heart for God. Something that the other thousands men did not have. These 300 really believed that they were fighting the Lord's battle, not for their own honor and glory.

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Paul. Everyone has heard about Paul. God has used him mightily to do many things and he also wrote the epistles. He was also a missionary to help spread the gospel.

But not everyone knows that he had someone who had a close friendship with him, to keep him going at the point of time in his life where he might have given up or failed. This person is Barnabas.

(Read Acts 4:36. 9:27-15:39)

His nickname was the "Son of Encouragement". Acts 11:23,24
We are rarely in a situation where there isn't someone we can encourage.
Our tendency at times is to criticize. It may be important at times to point out someone's shortcomings, but before we have the right to do this, we must build the person's trust through encouragement. Are you prepared to encourage those with whom you come in contact with today?

Throughout the years, God has used many people. Some, like the 'Gideon 300' are unnamed. Some have died for Christ as missionaries. Some, you would have never heard of them. But there is a reason why God uses these men and women, and in Trinity we use "F-A-S-T".

This stands for:
Faithful
Available
Submissive
Teachable

Points to ponder:
1. FAST. Which one am I good at?
2. Which do I need to improve?
3. One area which God can use me in (Eg Serving the needy, giving $, encouraging people...)

As a cell, we are on a "Secret Barnabas" mission for these 2 months, so let's start encouraging others in our cell! =)