who God calls

An interesting thing about Jesus is who He calls. You may think that He will only do marvelous things through those that are super spiritual, or have it all together, or those on staff at the church. Not true.

In the book of 1 Corinthians it says:

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.    1 Cor 1:25-31

An amazing thing about me writing is that it proves that God uses foolish, weak, base things, which I am.

We used to play baseball in middle school p.e. and once I got to be captain of a team for the day and I got to pick which players I wanted on my team. (I was never great at sports but I sure liked them) The other captain and I took turns picking people for our team, and I always wanted to get the best players before she did.

Jesus is not like that, it is almost as if Jesus and Satan were picking players for their teams and Jesus picked the worst ones on purpose. You know, the ones that wanted to sit in the shade and skip the whole game, the ones that always missed the fly balls, the ones that couldn’t throw a ball if their life depended on it, and frankly didn’t care a bit. Its as if Jesus chose His team and said with great confidence, I can beat you satan, even with the worst players.

What Jesus knows about the worst players is that its not always that they don’t want to be great players, its that they already know they aren’t. He also knows that when someone knows how bad at the game they are they will often let Him play through them.

Jesus can send Holy Spirit from heaven when they are at the plate sweating and embarrassed and He can give them the courage to just try to swing at the ball, and zap! Holy Fire from heaven fills them and they hit a home run.

They are as amazed at this as is everyone watching! They like it a lot too, “ha, Jesus can make me look good! I will stick with His team!” And they soon find, even more amazing than their new ability to play ball, that their Captain is the most loving, gentle, and caring person they have ever met. They find that He loves them even if they can never hit the ball, that He just loves them because they are His Fathers children. Oh the depth of His love.

Here are a few players that Jesus has used before on His team:

Almost everyone on earth has heard of Moses, but not many know these things about Moses:

And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.   Ex 3:6

He was afraid of God.

And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?    Ex 3:11

He had no self confidence.

And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.    Ex 4:1

He was sure no one would believe him.

And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.    Ex 4:10

He knew he was a poor speaker, even though God had personally appeared to him. and the Lord answered him:

And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.   Ex 4:11-12

He still didn’t think he could do it, and he even got God a bit angry at his lack of faith, but the Lord let him use his brother to help him:

And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.  And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.  And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.    Ex 4:13-16

then there was Gideon:

And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.    Judges 6:11

He was hiding from the Midianites.

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.  And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.  And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?   Judges 6:12-14

Gideon answered and described himself like this:
And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.  And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.  And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.    Judges 6:15-17

He asked God to show him a sign. He still wasn’t willing to go against the Midianites, and the Lord asked him to tear down an alter that his dad had made. Gideon did that, but only during the night because he was afraid of his dad’s household. He wasn’t brave or valiant!

And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:  And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.  Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.   Judges 6:25-27

He asked God to confirm the fight with the Midianites again with a sign, and that wasn’t enough, he asked for even another one!                                                                                                             
And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,  Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.  And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.  And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.  And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.        Judges 6:36-40

Gideon finally decided to obey the Lord, and then the Lord did something that seemed amazing to me, He didn’t let Gideon have a whole army to work with. He wanted the people to know that it wasn’t by their might or wisdom or strength that the Lord delivers.

And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.  And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.  And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.      Judges 7:2-7

the Lord knew that Gideon was still afraid so He went even further to give him confidence:

And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.  But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host:  And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host.  And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.  And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.  And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host. And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.   Judges 7:9-15

Gideon, weak and not very willing, had a great victory when he eventually followed the Lord and did what He said to do.

Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian.  And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you.         Judges 8:22-23

I thought that last part was awesome because when Jesus does miraculous things through my willingness I often forget that its Him and not me. Sometimes we hit a lot of home runs when we play on Jesus’ team and forget who we are, then He lets us get humbled again because He knows how badly we can be injured if we try to walk alone in this world.

Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;  And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;  Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;  Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;  And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.  But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.    Deut 8:12-18

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.     2 Cor 4:7

King David prayed:
Let not the foot of pride come against me…    Psalms 36:11

the apostle Paul described himself:

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.     1 Cor 2:1-5

and they said about Paul:
For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.     2 Cor 10:10

Amos was a prophet in the old testament and he described himself:

Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:  And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.     Amos 7:14-15

If you are looking for spiritual giants in the world, maybe like I did, you are looking in the wrong places. When I looked for real spiritual giants I looked to the guys on the tv preaching in their nice suits with their jet airplanes. I noticed that some of them were screaming JESUS LOVES YOU!!! HE WANTS TO BLESS YOU!!! and because I have p.t.s.d. and don’t like yelling, I had to change the channel. I don’t know what their doctrine was, I couldn’t hear it past the yelling, and I just don’t remember Jesus ever screaming at anyone in the bible. Jesus does perhaps use some people on tv, but they sound a lot like Jesus, they have the fruit of His Spirit, gentleness, love, goodness, peace, etc. Not ‘charisma’ but actual fruit that comes from following Jesus and doing what He says instead of what the world says and not going outside of what the bible says.

Jesus had my friend and I meet a woman that lived in the immigrant slums in a town I lived in, she went about daily taking care of the children and elderly in her neighborhood in the midst of drive by shootings and extreme poverty. She was a true servant of Jesus. We could barely speak her language. To her joy, we gave her bibles in her language. In her eyes that was more than money to her, she wept and thanked Jesus. We gave her whatever else we could but it was a pitifully small gift, she also needed more clothes and food. Many “christian” people drove by her house daily and never stopped to help her or her ministry. Some may have stopped by to invite her to their church instead of the one she was going to, or to make her understand the evils of living in poverty, or to encourage her to better herself. Jesus didn’t call me and my friend to make her into an American, he didnt call us to try to “save” her, or get her to join our church. He asked us to help her right where He had placed her.

God likes to speak through parables. He once told His servant Hosea to marry a prostitute as a sign to the children of Israel, to show that He would marry them even if they were prostitutes to other people or other gods.

Jesus spoke with parables often, I think He still does with the people He uses. Looking for real Christians in the world today, I met a woman named Shirley, she was paralyzed for decades and in a wheelchair, she was more whole and able inside than I or others are on the outside. I would have quit long ago but she endured with great joy and peace. The love of Jesus and our heavenly Father emanated from her without her saying a word, and when she spoke it was with such great love I had never felt before. She spent her life telling people that no matter how bad life got Jesus would always see you through it.

I heard a blind singer named Ginny Owens that has more perfect vision than any sighted christian I have ever met. She praises God in Spirit and truth, the kind of worshiper that God desires. (John 4:23)

Jesus greatly used Mother Teresa before she went home to heaven, we all know that we can never get that holy or devoted. What we forget though, is that Mother Teresa did that for years and years before anyone ever heard of her. If I know my Heavenly Father, there are lots and lots of Mother Teresa’s right now working silently and unnoticed. People who will never be awarded anything down here and will never be on tv. There are people in the inner cities ceaselessly feeding the poor and preaching the gospel to those people that most of us are afraid to talk to.

There is that guy I heard on tv that said that the other prisoners in the jail he was imprisoned  in often called him weak and chicken- until one day he turned and said, “you want to see real bravery? everyone in here walks with a knife (shiv) you try walking down these halls with nothing but a bible.” That is real bravery and real faith.

Jesus said in the last days when the wedding supper is ready and the invited guests are called many will decide they have other things they would rather do, and then that there will be a great call to others instead:

“Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.  And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.  And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”                 Luke 14:21-23

I think if I want to find real servants of the Lord, they are probably out doing His will in the streets and lanes, and highways, talking to the poor, maimed and halt and blind. People probably don’t see a lot of real servants of Jesus because they usually are unfamous.

There are the fathers that go to work everyday and confess Jesus to ridicule and shame, “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation” it says in Philipians. They teach their children about the Living God and they lead by example. They treat their wives with respect and not as if they are their servants.

There are mothers that spend endless hours showing us what real love and compassion are. There are the people that the Lord sends to gather the outcasts that have been rejected by the church and the world.

There are a lot of real Christians these days. But we don’t see them on t.v. much, we don’t see them all writing books, or winning awards. But they are written in the only truly important book, the Lambs Book of Life.  If you give your life to Jesus, He will write your name there too.