God Has a Job For You to Do
“Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” ~God
Exodus 4:12
As a Christian, part of your job is to teach others about Jesus with your life—sometimes you should even use words. However, do you ever feel like you’re not good enough or qualified to tell others about God? YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Feeling inadequate to do God’s bidding is not a new thing, it began thousands of years ago with Moses. When God spoke to Moses and commanded him to go tell Pharaoh to release his people, Moses was like, “What?! No way! I’m not even a good talker, I’m not eloquent in speech at all. Why don’t you send Aaron? He’s really good at talking to people and using his mouth” (see Exodus 4).
God replied with, “Who made your mouth? I did. Now go. I will help you speak and teach you what to say” (see Exodus 4:12).
Who made your mouth?
Who made your mouth?
Who MADE your mouth?!
This is something that I used to repeat to myself all the time. When I decided to start my own personal ministry, I tried to talk myself out of it quite often. I was very afraid. And that’s what God wants from all of us, a personal ministry. One that starts with “Jesus and me,” and then goes on to infect the entire world.
For me, self-discouragement wasn’t where my problems ended. The hate from close loved ones, church members, and so-called friends who didn’t like that I was now “all in for Christ,” they made me want to crawl into a hole and just be quiet.
“You ain’t living right! Who do you think you are?! Everyone knows you’re a phony! Give up! You don’t have what it takes!”
Some Christians don’t want you doing too much for God because then they would have to apply that same graceful effort to their own lives. So instead, they try to discourage you to make themselves feel better. They want you to stay a wall-flower Christian, so be ready for that, you’ll be fine. God will actually use their hate for your eventual promotion and growth in Christ!
At first, sure, it’s a huge surprise and it stings—but that goes away. You’ll find your comfort in Christ, so lean on Him for strength because painful situations come to pass, not stay!
But besides other people discouraging you, the enemy will also accuse you day and night, “You’re a nobody. You’re not good enough to talk about God. Just shut up and mind your own business. Nobody cares.”
I didn’t recognize him at first because I had never really been taught about him. The teaching which I had received from the church I was attending never mentioned the devil, but instead, how much I needed to change myself.
So because of graceless teaching, my mindset was pointed in the wrong direction—toward my efforts. In return, the devil had his way with me all the time—BUT I REFUSED TO KEEP QUIET!
I knew there was something that God wanted to do through me, I could not deny this! I had to figure it out. So I kept pushing forward into His grace, I kept learning about Christ, studying the Bible, reading grace-focused books, as well as watching and listening to other teachers who I felt God was leading me toward. I also learned who God didn’t want me to be learning from: the self-righteous, hyper-critical, judgmental preachers. The ones who had conditional, legalistic love.
God does not have favorites (see Romans 2:11). You are just like me. I don’t care what anyone else has told you, there is something that God has placed inside you that He wants to use—something irrevocable! (See Romans 11:29) That means it won’t ever go away, it’s set in stone!
THE BEST NEWS OF ALL IS THIS: God wants to use that “something” for Him! That gift! That talent! That ability! That thing! He wants you to use it to bring attention to Jesus! He wants to use it to change the lives of others—for the better—and to stock the halls of heaven with souls! He has a job for you to do, and you’ll tap into that job through His grace!
So how do we begin? Here are four tips that I believe will help you, as they did me:
- Don’t be afraid. I could lie to you by saying once you begin to allow Jesus to live through you, you’ll be so full of confidence and bravery that you’ll never be scared—but that’s not fair to say. Fear will attempt to grip your mind daily. What you must do is push! PUSH. THROUGH. Fear leads you right into discouragement. After that, you will be back to square one where the devil wants you. So simply feel the fear, recognize it as “just fear,” and then, SPEAK UP AGAINST IT AND PUUUUUUSH THROUGH! Because of Christ in you, you have nothing to be afraid of!
- Graduate from baby-food to solid food. In Hebrews, it says, “By this time you ought to be teachers, but you still have to be taught the elementary truths of God, all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” (See Hebrews 5:12). In context, the author of Hebrews is comparing the difference in faith in the Old and New Covenants. But still, we must graduate from being a Christian who has a “little baby” mindset of “Gimme gimme gimme! I’m right, you’re wrong!” to eventually, being strong enough to say to God, “Even if it hurts, I’m willing to do this for you, because I love you.”
- Don’t just “go” to church. For years I was under the incorrect impression that attending church made me acceptable to God—it does not. No action makes you acceptable to God, only faith in Christ’s forgiveness does (see Galatians 3:10-11). Church is simply a place to learn and grow in Christ! If you are going each week, and then leaving each week, then rinsing and repeating with no growth, you are wasting your time. GO TO GROW!
- Overcome evil with good. When I finally understood that God’s Spirit in me overcomes evil with good through me, everything changed (see Romans 12:21). Because of the flesh and unrenewed mindsets, we can lean toward getting people back when they cause us harm. We can incorrectly think that we want to make them pay! But really, we don’t. The only real way to defeat evil is with good! The only authentic way! This is exactly what Jesus did, so as we allow Him to help us respond when we get hurt, we can definitely get the job done as Christ, and the real you, sees fit!
A prayer for you: Heavenly Father thank you for another day, I am all yours. With all the dumb stuff I’ve done in my past, I shouldn’t even be here. Thank you for loving me and protecting me. Right now, I lift up all who are reading this, directly to you. For those who are struggling to figure out what their purpose for living is, I ask that you help them understand it’s Christ IN them, living THROUGH them. Fill them up with confidence as they live Him out! GIVE THEM COURAGE! In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
This devotional is from 60 Days for Jesus, Volume 1. Get your copy here!