BY Argie Simonis
"Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations." (Jer 1:5)
Some people are so multi-talented though, that it is really hard to seek God because they can do so many things by themselves. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet far before he was quilified to be. The gifts and the callings of God are not according to your abilities. God's plans for your life were made before you were even born, before you have ever developed your skills or done anything else. We see the same with Paul in Galatians 1:15: "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace..."
In Romans 11:29 says that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. God never takes it back. Before you did anything good or bad, God had already a plan for your life. This plan never changes because God never changes. Even if you make a mistake and get off track, God has always a way to place you back on track again. Like a GPS. It doesn't matter what kind of a mess you got your life in.
I would like to use as an example the lives of some Bible heroes to encourage each one of you that did make a mistake and fell off track from God's will.
- Abraham
He really messed up many times, but God still had the same plan for his life. Abraham and Sarah thought they were getting too old and so they decided to help God out. So Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, after having sex with Abraham (Genesis 16:1-15). It turned out that it was not God's will. Ishmael became the father of all Arabs and the whole Arab-Israeli conflict we have today started back with Abraham because he decided to do things on his own and he messed the whole thing up. But God still brought His will to pass and it was 18 years later that Isaac was born when Sarah was 91 years old and Abraham was 100 (Genesis 16:16-17:1). God still did it, even when Abraham almost gave Sarah to Abimelech's harem (Genesis 20:1-12). He wasn't a perfect example. He messed up so many times!
- Moses
Moses knew what the will of God was for his life, but he stilled messed it up. At his 40's he kills an egyptian because this is how he thought God would use him to bring deliverance to the people of Israel (Acts 7:22-25). This cost him 40 years suffering in the wilderness and 30 more years of suffering to the Israelites.
- David
He commited adultery and when he tried to cover it up he became a murderer (2 Samuel 11:1-17)
- Elijah
In 1 Kings 17:17-22 we see Elijah raising the widow's son from the dead. That's the first time this happens in the Bible!
In 1 Kings 18 he calls fire from heaven and he turns an entire nation to God (verse 39). Then he broke the three and a half years drought and runs and beats Ahab riding his horse in a 20 mile run! Then Jesabel sends him a note and he saw himself dead and he ran away. The Lord told him to go and anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, Jehu to be king over Israel and Elisha to replace him because he had messed up (1 Kings 19:15-16). The revival Elijah caused didn't last because he ran to hide into the mountains. And then he only went to anoint Elisha without doing the other 2 things that God told him to do. He gave up.
We see Elisha doing these things later, when Elijah was gone (2 Kings 8:13, 9:1-6).
We also see that Naboth gets killed by Ahab (1 Kings 21:1-14). Ahab wouldn't be king if Elijah had obeyed God in the first place.
If Elijah had done what God told him to do (anoint Hazael to be king of Syria, Benhadad wouldn't have done all these things mentioned in 2 Kings 6:24-25,28.
You can't have messed it up more than Elijah did! But he still was walking with God, still had a relationship with God, he still splitted Jordan river in two and on the other side a chariot of fire took him in Heaven (2 Kings 2:11). He never died! That is one of the 2 incidents ever recorded in the Bible! Enoch was the first (Heb. 11:5).
- Apostle Paul
Paul was seperated from his mother's womb (Galatians 1:15). He may didn't throw stones to the first christian martyr Stephen, but he was complicit (Acts 7:58)
He got so zealous against the christians that he went everywhere and he arrested men and women, threw them in prison consenting unto their death. He was killing christians. Saul was the number one persecutor of the christians (Acts 8:1-3).
In Acts 9 while he was on his way to Damascus, God appeared
to him in a light and knocked him down to the ground and said "Saul,
Saul why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the
pricks." (Acts 9:3-18). And the Lord revealed Himself as Jesus. Saul
humbled himself and went in. It took a renewing of his mind. He spent 3
and a half years in the deserts alone, and then another dozen years or
more in Tarsus just renewing his mind, re-adjusting all of his theology
from the wrong things he had been taught, but he came back stronger than
ever! His name was changed to the apostle Paul. This is a man who was
totally off track, who was killing christians and yet he wrote half of
the New Testament!
- Samson
In Judges chapters 13-16 we see Samson, another guy who was anointed by God, and seperated from his mother's womb. An angel came and appeared to Samson's parents and told them that she was going to conceive a supernatural child and that this child would bring deliverance from the Philistines and from the day of his birth he was seperated unto God. He was a Nazarite to God, and he couldn't shave his head and so he went out and he began to start bringing deliverance. He conquered the Philistines on many occasions. But he had a lust for women. He married a woman who God told him not to marry, a woman outside of the Israelite faith. He married a Philistine and all kinds of problems came. They came and took his wife away and because of it he got mad. He fought the Philistines and then he had a number of sexual problems. He had a serious sexual addiction and finally he ended up with Delilah, who sweet talked him into giving away his secret. They shaved his head and instantly lost his power. It was his covenant with God. It was a spirit of might that came upon him. He did things that were humanly impossible. He picked up the gates of a city and walked off with them! This was God's anointing. He was a man seperated by God and given a special gift of supernatural strength to bring deliverance to the Israelites. He took a jawbone of an ass and killed over a 1.000 people with no weapon! He was mightly used by God not because he was a perfect man. He had serious problems but God used him anyway.
When they shaved his head he lost his power. Some would
think at that point that's the end of it. He broke his covenant. And
they actually punched his eyes out and they tied him to a wheel that
they used to put an animal to and walked around to grind corn. The
mighty man of God was reduced to being humiliated. The Philistines
brought him into their coliseum and they wanted to mock him. Many people
would think that after all these God was not with him any more. But
Samson told this young boy who was leading him around to put him next to
the 2 pillars upon which the whole house was built and after this young
boy did so and Samson repented for his rebelion towards God and he said
Some people are so multi-talented though, that it is really hard to seek God because they can do so many things by themselves. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet far before he was quilified to be. The gifts and the callings of God are not according to your abilities. God's plans for your life were made before you were even born, before you have ever developed your skills or done anything else. We see the same with Paul in Galatians 1:15: "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace..."
In Romans 11:29 says that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. God never takes it back. Before you did anything good or bad, God had already a plan for your life. This plan never changes because God never changes. Even if you make a mistake and get off track, God has always a way to place you back on track again. Like a GPS. It doesn't matter what kind of a mess you got your life in.
I would like to use as an example the lives of some Bible heroes to encourage each one of you that did make a mistake and fell off track from God's will.
- Abraham
He really messed up many times, but God still had the same plan for his life. Abraham and Sarah thought they were getting too old and so they decided to help God out. So Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, after having sex with Abraham (Genesis 16:1-15). It turned out that it was not God's will. Ishmael became the father of all Arabs and the whole Arab-Israeli conflict we have today started back with Abraham because he decided to do things on his own and he messed the whole thing up. But God still brought His will to pass and it was 18 years later that Isaac was born when Sarah was 91 years old and Abraham was 100 (Genesis 16:16-17:1). God still did it, even when Abraham almost gave Sarah to Abimelech's harem (Genesis 20:1-12). He wasn't a perfect example. He messed up so many times!
Moses knew what the will of God was for his life, but he stilled messed it up. At his 40's he kills an egyptian because this is how he thought God would use him to bring deliverance to the people of Israel (Acts 7:22-25). This cost him 40 years suffering in the wilderness and 30 more years of suffering to the Israelites.
- David
He commited adultery and when he tried to cover it up he became a murderer (2 Samuel 11:1-17)
- Elijah
In 1 Kings 17:17-22 we see Elijah raising the widow's son from the dead. That's the first time this happens in the Bible!
In 1 Kings 18 he calls fire from heaven and he turns an entire nation to God (verse 39). Then he broke the three and a half years drought and runs and beats Ahab riding his horse in a 20 mile run! Then Jesabel sends him a note and he saw himself dead and he ran away. The Lord told him to go and anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, Jehu to be king over Israel and Elisha to replace him because he had messed up (1 Kings 19:15-16). The revival Elijah caused didn't last because he ran to hide into the mountains. And then he only went to anoint Elisha without doing the other 2 things that God told him to do. He gave up.
We see Elisha doing these things later, when Elijah was gone (2 Kings 8:13, 9:1-6).
We also see that Naboth gets killed by Ahab (1 Kings 21:1-14). Ahab wouldn't be king if Elijah had obeyed God in the first place.
If Elijah had done what God told him to do (anoint Hazael to be king of Syria, Benhadad wouldn't have done all these things mentioned in 2 Kings 6:24-25,28.
You can't have messed it up more than Elijah did! But he still was walking with God, still had a relationship with God, he still splitted Jordan river in two and on the other side a chariot of fire took him in Heaven (2 Kings 2:11). He never died! That is one of the 2 incidents ever recorded in the Bible! Enoch was the first (Heb. 11:5).
- Apostle Paul
Paul was seperated from his mother's womb (Galatians 1:15). He may didn't throw stones to the first christian martyr Stephen, but he was complicit (Acts 7:58)
He got so zealous against the christians that he went everywhere and he arrested men and women, threw them in prison consenting unto their death. He was killing christians. Saul was the number one persecutor of the christians (Acts 8:1-3).
- Samson
In Judges chapters 13-16 we see Samson, another guy who was anointed by God, and seperated from his mother's womb. An angel came and appeared to Samson's parents and told them that she was going to conceive a supernatural child and that this child would bring deliverance from the Philistines and from the day of his birth he was seperated unto God. He was a Nazarite to God, and he couldn't shave his head and so he went out and he began to start bringing deliverance. He conquered the Philistines on many occasions. But he had a lust for women. He married a woman who God told him not to marry, a woman outside of the Israelite faith. He married a Philistine and all kinds of problems came. They came and took his wife away and because of it he got mad. He fought the Philistines and then he had a number of sexual problems. He had a serious sexual addiction and finally he ended up with Delilah, who sweet talked him into giving away his secret. They shaved his head and instantly lost his power. It was his covenant with God. It was a spirit of might that came upon him. He did things that were humanly impossible. He picked up the gates of a city and walked off with them! This was God's anointing. He was a man seperated by God and given a special gift of supernatural strength to bring deliverance to the Israelites. He took a jawbone of an ass and killed over a 1.000 people with no weapon! He was mightly used by God not because he was a perfect man. He had serious problems but God used him anyway.
"God strengthen me just one more time and let me die with the
Philistines".
God heard his prayers and he literally pulled those 2 pillars down. Again the same anointing, not his natural strength, this God-given ability came upon him and all of the Philistines in the coliseum died. He actually ended up slaying more of the enemies of God in that one act than he had in his whole life up to there!
David wrote a huge amount of the Bible. He wrote all the psalms and much of the Bible was written about him (1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles).
Moses is the one who wrote the first 5 books of the Bible (Genesis, Exhodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), and he also wrote psalm 90. Paul wrote half of the New Testament. If you put these 3 people together, just Paul, David and Moses, do you know that all 3 of them were murderers? And yet, half of the New Testament was written by a murderer, Paul, half of the Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs, the first 5 books of the Bible, was written by people who murdered people!
If you think that what you've done has just stopped God and that God could never use you, then you aren't reading the Bible accurately. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance. It doesn't matter what you've done. God has a destiny for you and you are never too late to find it. Moses was 80 years old when God finally started using him and went back to Egypt and started bringing deliverance to the Israelites.God used him up until he was 120 years old:
"And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." (Deut. 34:7)
At his 120 years he was still fulfilling what God had called him to do! I will say it again: It doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, how much you have messed it up. God has a purpose for your life. I am not saying that you can just live however you want to and it will still come to pass. You may cause yourself a tremendous amount of pain and suffering if you get off track. But if you will repent and if you will humble yourself and say
At his 120 years he was still fulfilling what God had called him to do! I will say it again: It doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, how much you have messed it up. God has a purpose for your life. I am not saying that you can just live however you want to and it will still come to pass. You may cause yourself a tremendous amount of pain and suffering if you get off track. But if you will repent and if you will humble yourself and say
"God I believe Romans 11:29 and whatever you've
called me to do I believe You can still get it done through me".
If you
would ask God "Father here I am, take this mess that I've made and
somehow use me, get me back on the right track".
If you would do that,
if you would be sincere, it's not too late God can still do awesome
things through you! And now that you know that you have messed up and
that you no longer are self-confident and you are no longer going to do
things your way, if you allow God to flow through you and if you will be
God depentent, I believe that your later years can be better than your
former years. You can actually see more things happen than you could
ever have imagined! God's plan will always be better than your plan, and
He has a way to do it.
Amen!
