"Fair Use for Information and Discussion Purposes"

http://www.calvarychapel.com/resources/article/view/the-reason-god-can-use-you/

This is a good piece of info. I like this part:

What Paul was telling us is that we do not have to rely and should not depend on our inteligence or wits in sharing God with others. We let the Holy Spirit take over and give us what we should say, we depend on His power to heal and restore. We get out of the way and let God do the work through us. Takes the pressure off to know that.

Thanks Tom, for posting the link and thanks Texas Sue for your reply.

You're absolutely correct Sue, when we allow God's Holy Spirit to take over He gives us the words, to speak, power to heal & restore, and to teach His straight and narrow truthful ways. We are God's instruments, through whom the Lord uses His willing vessels to accomplish His work here on Earth. God
the Holy Spirit works through those who have His indwelling within them. All Honor and Glory belongs to God, for He works in mysterious ways.

God Bless,

Valerie

Thank you, Tom, this was a great post. I love the Calvary Chapel churches. Before I became disabled, I attended one myself. They are very conservative and they teach sound doctrine, straight from the scriptures.

I totally agree what this article said. It is the Lord Who puts the desire and the ability to do good works through us. If we think it is because of our own ability and strength, we are sadly mistaken. God does not share the glory that rightfully belongs to Him, and we will eventually fail at our own feeble attempts of holiness and serving others in our own strength. We need the help and the anointing of the Holy Spirit in our lives to be able to minister to the saints properly without falling flat on our faces. Just look at the televangelists in the 80's who did just that, because pride took over and they were calling attention to themselves instead of giving glory to the One Who so richly deserves it.

And look at the graciousness of God. He gives us rewards at the Bema Judgement for serving Him when He gives the ability for us to do so! It's like giving a child the money to buy his mother a present. A mom will "oooh" and "awwww" over the present, even though that her child could not have been able to give her a gift unless she gave him the money to do it. But just knowing that it was done willingly and out of love was the joy that she received from the present. A poor analogy, but I think this is how the Lord feels when we willingly accept the gifts that He gives us and use them to the best of our ability to minister to the saints in order to please and glorify Him.

Lisaleenie, you said "A mom will "oooh" and "awwww" over the present, even though that her child could not have been able to give her a gift unless she gave him the money to do it. But just knowing that it was done willingly and out of love was the joy that she received from the present."

This is a wonderful analogy!!

Lisa, I can hardly wait to find out what new life will be like where Jesus lives!

I also loved that example and it is just right on target Lisaleenie.

Thank you for your responses to my analogy, Regina and Texas Sue. Since I am not a mom, I wasn't sure if the analogy fit or not, but I'm glad you both got the drift of what I was trying to say.