Make Me Usable

"Just imagine what God will do if you will let go of all your excuses."

LET GO OF YOUR INHIBITIONS and watch what the Holy Spirit will do. We are why He doesn’t do more supernatural things. We prevent Him with our fears and attitudes. We hold Him back with unwillingness. Wariness. We’re too concerned with our reputation, with our finances, with developing our skillset. With HOW STRANGE it looks, and we refuse to give Him control.

Jesus did some unusual things while living on the earth. There’s Lazarus, for one. He waited two days, after He heard Lazarus was sick to even head in that direction, and then He made a huge scene resurrecting Him. All that “Lazarus! Come forth!” and “Unbind him” stuff. He spit on one guy to heal His blindness. He spit on another guy’s tongue to heal him of dumbness. He fed two multitudes with what was basically nothing. He raised a woman’s son from the dead during the funeral.

And then there’s His walking on water. Not only did He suspend scientific law (that He created, mind you), but it says He saw the disciples rowing from His place onshore, saw they were in a bit of trouble in a horrific storm, then when He headed in their direction, “would have passed them by.” Wait. What? They’d been toiling for hours and had only made it halfway across the lake. He walks on water in the midst of a raging storm and the plan was to pass by? He didn’t, hearing their cry, and then Peter had a go at it.

Turning back into the Old Testament, there are some unusual stories. You have Elijah and the whole “call fire down from heaven despite the fact everything’s swimming” event. And the prophets of Baal are there cutting themselves and yelling at the sky for hours. Meanwhile, Elijah’s picking his teeth, casually leaned on one leg, saying, “Yeah, maybe Baal’s on the phone!” (No, I’m not laughing.)

There’s the prophet Ezekiel who was told to lay on his left side for 390 days then to flip over onto his right side for 40 more, the whole time staring at a diorama of Jerusalem. Or how when his wife died, he’s told to get up and act like usual. No mourning. To quote minister Dutch Sheets, “Prophets are WEIRD.” Another case in point, the prophet Hosea married a harlot at the Lord’s instruction then named his children after upcoming judgments on Israel.

Turning forward, we have the apostle Paul shrugging off a poisonous snake after surviving a storm he told them would happen AND how during the storm, with the ship tossing to-and-fro, he had everyone sit down and eat. Never miss a good meal. There’s also Philip preaching the gospel to the Ethiopian in the desert and being translated away … yes, folks, Star-Trek-style. One minute he’s there. The next he’s not.

Just imagine what God will do if you will let go of all your excuses. Now, I can see you staring back at me. You, Suzanne, are telling us to let go? Yes, me. Because the Holy Spirit had me write this, for one thing. He wants to do more incredible things and just needs someone who is willing to let Him do them. And also, because twice, now, God has rescued me from a horrible pit, and each time, when I said, “I will do whatever you ask of me,” He took me at my word.

I take Him at His. We are to covet spiritual gifts, although they are given as He wills. This seems counter to itself except it is our desire for Him that He is looking for. So that when a moment presents itself, and sometimes at His doing, He can work in us whatever that person and that situation needs. A willing heart for God becomes a usable one, and that is where I want to always be.

He writes through me because I listen. He says what He does because I will post it. And although there are always times when He pushes me outside of my comfort zone, usually, what He asks is a perfect fit. I have prayed to be usable, and there is where I will stay. So that when someone else needs what He has placed in me, they will see it and be changed. By Him.

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. (8) For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; (9) To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; (10) To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: (11) But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

“But you should all constantly boil over with passion in seeking the higher gifts.” (1 Corinthians 12:31 TPT)

Photo by Klara Kulikova on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com