Let Go of the "Little" you have!
As I was going through the week, this week. I came upon the old hymn, called “Little is much when God is in it.”
1. In the harvest field now ripened
There’s a work for all to do;
Hark! the voice of God is calling
To the harvest calling you.
3. Does the place you’re called to labor
Seem too small and little known?
It is great if God is in it,
And He’ll not forget His own.
5. When the conflict here is ended
And our race on earth is run,
He will say, if we are faithful,
"Welcome home, My child well done!"
Chorus:
Little is much when God is in it!
Labor not for wealth or fame.
There’s a crown and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ Name.
As I listen to it over many times, it really got me thinking. About how little time, we as Christians, Gods Sons and Daughters really give to God.
Is it just me, or have you noticed how little time there is now a days.
I’m sure you’ve heard more than one person say, boy, where has this year gone?
And that’s the truth of it , isn’t it?
Where has the time gone, so much to do, so little time to do it in.
Technology has gone totally crazy, new gadgets come on the market before we have even figured out the stuff, the old ones can do.
The phone companies let you do early upgrades on your 2 yr. agreements, because they can’t wait, to get to your next 2 yr agreement.
Next thing you know, you’ve had a cell phone for 20 yrs. And never fully fulfilled one agreement.
Everything is affected by the amount of time we have and give, to our families and friends and especially to the Lord.
On most of our calling packages, we want the bells and whistles and most importantly unlimited minutes.
With God, we have unlimited access, but choose to limit the time we give and spend with Him,
We come to church, or maybe give God 2-3 hrs. out of a 168 hr. week, but yet expect amazing results and blessings for the time we do spend.
If there ever was a minimum investment, with maximum results, that would be it!
God gives so much to us, and in comparison we give so little in return!
Makes you think twice, about the saying, the more you give, the more you get!
As we think about what lies ahead for us, the trials, testing, and tasks we face, both in our church and personal lives,
often we become enamored with the daily things, and that’s just what they are, things!
They come and they go and sooner or later, everyone comes to the realization that, this to shall soon pass and the sooner you give it over to God and get out of the way, the sooner it does!
Call it what you want, I call it drama and Gods people, really shouldn’t have so much drama, but you see
The accuser will use whatever He can, to keep you occupied with life, so you will forget what matters the most,
Do you notice the key word here, you become occupied, you will this, you can do that, you, you, you.
Enough already, with what were capable of, for most of us, what were capable of has got us where we are in life.
And if that was where everyone wanted to be, more people would walk around saying, “it’s a Wonderful Life”
Thing of it is, did you ever notice how many unhappy people there are in the world.
They don’t like the way they look, or the clothes they have, or the car they drive, etc. etc. etc.
Happiness, is not found in things.
We become disheartened, because sometimes feeling we have little to offer and what lies ahead is too great.
But God will use our little in a great way if we will let Him.
If we are willing to put our little into Gods hands, its not limited to our capabilities anymore,
Its not limited at all, when we place what we have into the hands of the one who doesn’t even have the word impossible, in His vocabulary!
Did you ever notice what the word impossible starts with, that’s right you guessed it, I’m?
If we want to get to all that God has possible for us, we have to remove the I’m, the I part of the equation.
And realize, a little can turn into a lot, when God is in the mix!
2 Kings 4:1&2 Msg.
1. One day the wife of a man from the guild of prophets called out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead. You well know what a good man he was, devoted to God. And now the man to whom he was in debt is on his way to collect by taking my two children as slaves."
2. Elisha said, "I wonder how I can be of help. Tell me, what do you have in your house?"
"Nothing," she said. "Well, I do have a little oil."
How is it, when she was asked, if she had anything, at first she said that, she had nothing, then she realized who she was talking to.
The self reliance mentality, hangs on even right down to the bitter end, like the little bit she did have left, would make a difference in the natural, in her situation.
God doesn’t need what we have to produce more for us, what He is looking for,
Is for us to trust Him, with the little that we do have and the faith that He is able to do what He says He is able to do!!
Mark 4:30-32 NKJ
30.. Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it?
31. It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth;
32. but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”
Its smaller than all the seeds on earth;
that’s the amount of faith we need to start God says, just a little bit,
He wants us to realize, when we put it into the mix with His capabilities, the end result becomes enormous. Praise God!
She knew what she didn’t have, but she also knew what she did have.
Some of you probably think that you have nothing at all but in actuality, everyone has something of value,
And its that something, when were willing to let God get a hold of it, has the potential for supernatural growth.
After she realized, she was willing to admit as to what she had and was willing to invest what she had and sow that seed into what she had need of,
the Lord began to reveal His plan to her, it was at that moment, that her situation started to go from hopeless, to hopeful!
3-4. "Here’s what you do," said Elisha. "Go up and down the street and borrow jugs and bowls from all your neighbors. And not just a few—all you can get. Then come home and lock the door behind you, you and your sons. Pour oil into each container; when each is full, set it aside."
Sometimes, the plan that God has to bless us, doesn’t always make perfect sense to us,
Guess what? It doesn’t have to!
TBS.(the bible says)
He will use the foolish things to confound the wise.
*He made a fish into an ATM. Machine one time, to pay taxes with. (wouldn’t you like to find that fish and keep him in your aquarium.
*He ask Nahum to go and bath in a muddy river, not once, but seven times to receive his healing. He did it and guess what? He was healed of leprosy. Praise God!!
TBS. his flesh was restored to that, like a little child’s flesh
Gods ways, are not our ways and they don’t have to be, He’s God,
He doesn’t need our help, figuring out the plan, only to be a part of it and believe the results will not only come,
but will amaze us and all those who know us, when they hear them.
Things that are over our head, are under His feet, all we have to do, is trust in His capabilities!!!
He has the hard part, we have the easy part, but always think it’s the other way around for some reason!
Now we get to the good part, to the most important part of story, the part to where it all becomes possible!
She trusted in Gods capabilities instead of her own, she made about Him and not about self reliance
She took a huge step, over to the wild side of possibilities of growing her faith in the God of endless abilities,
5-6. She did what he said. She locked the door behind her and her sons; as they brought the containers to her, she filled them. When all the jugs and bowls were full, she said to one of her sons, "Another jug, please."
He said, "That’s it. There are no more jugs."
Then the oil stopped.
We determine, the amount of our blessing, sometimes we are our own worst enemy.
If she would have had a 100 more, or even a 1,000 more vessels that day, God could have and would have filled them!
He is a God of Abundance, Praise God!
The prophet told her, go and find some vessels and not a few.
Her faith was the thing that determined the outcome that day!
There was no time limit applied to the task, she and her sons, determined the amount of their blessing that day.
Did you know that we still do the same thing today?
Our faith determines the outcome of our measure of blessing we receive from God!
God hasn’t changed, the accuser has tried to change the way man thinks, but God is the same, TBS. He changes not!
When you invest in anything, the greater the investment, the greater the risk, but also the greater the reward!
7. She went and told the story to the man of God. He said, "Go sell the oil and make good on your debts. Live, both you and your sons, on what’s left."
She truly found out the meaning of little is much when God is in it, that day;
She went from rags to riches, not because of what she was capable of, but because of the God of endless capabilities!
God didn’t make her march around the mountain she was facing, He carved a Super Highway right through the mountain,
The bible said; She went and told the story to the man of God,
I imagine she went and told the story to everyone she knew, for the rest of her life!
Not what she would be able to do for them, but what God was capable of doing for them and in their own life.
The entitlement mentality today, seems to want what everyone else can give them.
Why in the world, would anyone want to limit themselves to what someone else could give them,
Instead of what the Creator of the universe and all that’s in it, could give them.
We don’t have to settle for a sliver of pie, God wants you to know, you can have a whole pie.
What do you need from God today?
What ever it is, its not to much for Him to deliver to you!
*When you have faith in the world, you get what the world is capable of.
*When you have faith in Money, you get what money is capable of.
*When you have faith in self, you get what self is capable of.
*But when you have faith in God, you get what God is capable of,
And there is nothing, I repeat NOTHING, HE is not Capable Of, when you do!!!!
But you have to be willing to invest what you have and be willing to trust God for the results,
You have to come to the realization that;
Little can be huge, when god is in it!
The life story of the great missionary Gladys Alward, illustrates this truth.
Gladys was born in London in 1904. She attended a revival meeting at which the preacher spoke of dedicating one’s life to the service of God.
On a bus in England. Gladys, a poorly-educated 26-year old parlor maid, was reading about China and the need for missionaries there; and from that moment, China became her life and passion.
She applied to the China Inland Mission Center but failed to pass the examinations and was turned down.
Crushed with disappointment, she returned to her small servant’s room and turned her pocketbook upside down.
Two pennies fell on top of her Bible. “O God,” she prayed, “Here’s my Bible! Here’s my money! Here’s me!” That’s all she had.
Gladys was determined to take the little she had and trust God to do the rest.
She began working several jobs and saving every cent she could to purchase passage to China.
She knew she couldn’t afford to travel by ship, so she decided to go overland by train right across Europe and Asia, though it meant slicing through a dangerous war zone on the Manchurian border.
On October 15, 1932, a little bewildered party gathered at London’s Liverpool Street Station to see Gladys Aylward off for China.
The journey was hair-raising and nearly cost her life. But eventually Gladys reached China;
showing up at the home of an older missionary who took her in and shall we say, the rest is history.
Willingly Gladys took the little she thought that she had and God made the most of it!
Gladys Aylward eventually became one of the most amazing single woman missionaries of modern history.
Her mission’s career was so extraordinary that the world finally took notice.
Her biography was made into a movie, “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness” starring Ingrid Bergman.
She dined with such dignitaries as Queen Elizabeth and spoke in great churches.
She even became a subject of the television program “This is Your Life.”
But Gladys never grew accustomed to the limelight, for her heart was always in Asia.
“I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done for China,” she once said. “There was somebody else...
I don’t know who God’s first choice was. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn’t willing.
And God looked down... and saw Gladys Aylward.”
God can take anyone who is willing to step out in obedient faith, persevere in prayer looking in faith for the answer to that prayer,
giving Him whatever they have, little or much and witness the amazing results that He is capable of.
The only thing that matters in this life that we have been given,
and I say that, because the life we have, is a gift!
The only thing that matters, is what we do for the Kingdom of God with our life.
Maybe, God has been speaking to you, wanting you to do more for His Kingdom,
And you keep telling yourself, you want to do more and that someday you will, but
And maybe someone else, God has been speaking to you, to increase your giving and you say you will someday, but
.
If that’s you today, today is that someday,
God wants you to know, that there are great blessings that are awaiting you,
When you step out from where your at.
And someone might say, but you don’t know where I’m at, that’s right, I don’t know,
But God does, and He wants you to know, when you step out in faith, He can take you from the ordinary, to the extraordinary!
Don’t let what you think you have, keep you from what God has for you, trust Him completely today and realize,
5. When the conflict here is ended
And our race on earth is run,
He will say, if we are faithful,
"Welcome home, My child well done!"
Chorus:
Little is much when God is in it!
Labor not for wealth or fame.
There’s a crown and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ Name.
