Thursday, August 18, 2011

He calls, He equips

 Moses was called to lead the entire nation of Israel out of captivity.  He had a stutter.  He did not have faith that God would equip him to do the job at hand.  Moses pretty much solved the problem himself - by having his brother Aaron speak for him.  Am I the only one who wonders what would have happened if Moses had just trusted that God had a plan to equip him?  Perhaps God planned to cure him of his stutter.  Perhaps.  I don't know, I'm not God, but it is certainly a possibility.

Sometimes I know that I try to do God's job of equipping.  Sometimes, I probably even ignore the call in the first place.  But after a discussion I was recently part of something has become abundantly clear to me.

Those whom HE calls HE will equip.

A quick search of the word equip on biblegateway gave me these three verses (there were others but these were the most applicable - the others were about equipment):

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV) 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

God equips us with His word.  We can be equipped for life by reading and studying and absorbing his word.

Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIrV)  11 He is the One who gave some the gift to be apostles. He gave some the gift to be prophets. He gave some the gift of preaching the good news. And he gave some the gift to be pastors and teachers. 12 He did it so that they might prepare God's people to serve. If they do, the body of Christ will be built up.
 13 That will continue until we all become one in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son. Then we will be grown up in the faith. We will receive everything that Christ has for us.


He has given us all different gifts and He has equipped us each to use our gifts.  We should not be a carbon copy of that other totally awesome blog mom.  We should not be a carbon copy of anyone.  We should rejoice in the uniqueness that God has created in creating us and we should embrace our calling.

Hebrews 13:20-21 (NIV)  20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

equip you with EVERYTHING.  What does everything entail?  I don't know.  I think that tends to depend on what you have been called personally to do for the kingdom.  I have been called to be a mom, so for me part of EVERYTHING includes patience, perseverance, wisdom.  Some callings require the equipment of knowledge, some require a large amount of money.

I've posted about adoption here on my blog before.  I've recently been saddened by some outlooks on adoption - international adoption specifically.  

James 1:26-27 26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

To be more clear here are the verses in the MESSAGE: 26-27Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

I think that we often - like Moses - deceive ourselves with thinking that we can't do what God has called us to because we don't have enough time, talent, or money.  But it's a LIE.  If God has called us He has equipped us.  He calls some to adopt, He calls others to give financially towards bringing these homeless and loveless children into warm and loving homes and others He calls to neither adopt nor give but to pray - a gift above measure.  But, to ignore or to judge those who are willing to open themselves up, their homes up, to ask for the community of believers around them to aid in the endeavor to bring the homeless and loveless home? That is nobody's calling.

Let me close with this: sometimes what God calls people to do doesn't make sense to the world's sensibilities. When we get to a point where we care more about the world's sensibilities than obeying what we believe God has called us to do then we have gone terribly, horribly wrong and my heart grieves for that.

2 comments:

  1. I praise the Lord for your post. I'm very grateful and thankful that this was the post I came to on your blog. thank you for sharing and prayerfully when you have time I would love to chat more about how awesome God is. I have a humble craft blog that I share on too, but I'm just really getting started. I really want to believe that God does equip all those he calls, but I'm going through such a rough time just seeing his hand move in my life on the call I do believe he has place on me. I hope that wasn't confusing. Anyway, may God continue to blee you and your family richly! I love your post and I'll be back often. Please come and visit if you get a chance!

    Raina
    Raina's Favorite Things
    scrapwithraina.blogspot.com

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  2. Raina ~

    Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I would love to chat with you more. Sometimes I think that God equips us in His own time which isn't always as fast (or sometimes as slow) as we'd like it to be. I know I'm still waiting for that windfall of patience (but at least He gives me lots of opportunities for practice every day) lol. I pray that God blesses you today!

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