Introduction
GOD WANTS TO USE YOU
The Bible in Ephesians 2:10 tells us that God has prepared in advance good works He wants us to do. What this means is that even before we were born, God had in mind a work, an assignment, a role for every one of us which He brought us to this earth to fulfill. The fact that these good works are things created and prepared by God, goes to show that the Almighty, the Most High, the King of Creation has interest in your life and wants to use your life for His glory.
God did not place us on this earth to just go to school, have a good job, drive nice cars, get married and have children. Those things are good but that’s not God’s main purpose for creating you and I. The reason why God brought us to this earth is because He has a special assignment for us. He wants to use us for His glory; He wants to manifest Himself through us. There is a unique contribution God wants us to make; there is a special role God wants us to play in our family, church, nation and world at large.
IT’S A BIG HONOUR AND PRIVILEGE FOR GOD TO WANT TO USE US
It is truly an amazing thing that God would want to use us. I say this because when we understand how we really appear before God, we will realize that indeed it is a big honour and great privilege for God to want to use us.
In Psalm 8:3-4, David said “what is man that you are mindful of Him, the son of man that you care for him?" Why did David say this? Because he had a clear understanding of how small he looked next to God.
Psalm 103: 20 tells us that angels excel in strength. Angels are so big and strong. You will observe from scripture that for most Bible characters that came in contact with angels, their reaction was usually one of fear. They trembled in fear at the mere sight of the angel that the angel would have to tell them fear not (Daniel 8:17, Luke 2:9-10)! Yet our God is bigger than the biggest angel. He has more strength, splendor, majesty and beauty than any angel. To think that a God so big can be concerned in wanting to use any of us should make us bow down in holy reverence before Him. Men tremble when they see angels but in God’s plan, God has bestowed a special kind of glory and honour on man which no angel has (Psalm 8:5).
Some Bible passages give us a picture of how big God is. Isaiah 40:15 tells us that before God, all the nations of the world are just like a drop of water in a bucket. Imagine how small one drop of water looks in a bucket, that’s how all the nations of the world appear before God.
The whole population of the world has been estimated today to be 7 billion people. But these 7 billion people are just like a grasshopper before God according to Isaiah 40:22. If 7 billion people appear as a grasshopper before God, then imagine how one individual looks before God. This means that before God, you and I appear much tinier than the smallest ant.
Now something that small can be easily overlooked and forgotten. Yet God remembered us, was mindful of us, didn’t overlook us when He was thinking of the work that needs to be done here on earth. He put us in the big picture when He was thinking of those spiritual, health and financial issues He wants to resolve in families, communities and nations of the world.
God isn’t going to come down physically to address or attend to the burning and pressing issues in our world today. It is you and I He will use to address these issues. This is why Matthew 5:13 describes us as the salt of the earth. Salt makes food sweet and tasty. In other words, God has put something in you to sweeten or make your church, family and nation much better than what it is today. God has set you aside to do certain things that will be of immense benefit to mankind.
YOU HAVE BEEN DIVINELY EQUIPPED AND EMPOWERED BY GOD
To fulfill your purpose; to carry out the assignment or the role God has for you, He has put certain treasures in you.
2 Corinthians 4:7 tells us that God has given us a treasure in earthen vessels. God cannot give you a special assignment or role to play and not equip you with what you need to carry out that assignment effectively. It’s like a farmer going out to farm without his farming tools. Such a farmer can’t do any useful or effective farming work that day. To be effective and fruitful in the assignment God has for you, God has equipped you with the right tools you need to carry out this work. The treasures He has put on the inside of you are the tools you need to carry out the work or fulfill the role He has set you apart for.
Treasures are things of great value and usually treasures are kept in special and expensive boxes or in a safe not in a clay pot; not in an earthen vessel. No woman is likely to secure her expensive jewelry in a clay pot. Rather, she will put it in a secure box that can’t be easily broken. But here God tells us that He has put treasures in clay pots or earthen vessels. What is the significance of this?
Firstly, the fact that a clay pot is not the best or most suitable place to keep a treasure goes to show that God doesn’t want to use us because we are the best or most suitable people to use. When you are not the best or perfect person to be given a job and that job comes to you, you know you have been given an opportunity of a lifetime. For instance, if someone with a Third Class is the one who gets a job even though the people that were interviewed alongside him were people with First Class from some of the best schools like Harvard or Oxford University, such a person has been given an opportunity that humanly speaking, he doesn’t deserve. It is the same with God wanting to use us. It is just out of His mercy and grace that He wants to use us. With all our frailties and shortcomings, we don’t deserve to be used by God. But out of mercy and compassion, God has chosen us for His work.
In Ephesians 2:4-9, before Paul goes on in verse 10 to mention that God has prepared good works in advance for us, Paul first takes time to explain how we are saved by GRACE. And one of the main reasons why God saved us is for us to serve Him. So it is by grace we have been saved, it is also by grace that we have been chosen to serve God, chosen to be used by God. God wants us to understand this so we don’t get puffed up and full of pride thinking that it is because of our qualifications, intelligence, experience, social status or anything about us that God wants to use us.
Also, that the earthen vessel or clay pot isn’t the perfect place to store treasures goes to show that God doesn’t need you to be 100% perfect before He can use you. God doesn’t need you to go to Bible School, have a PhD in Theology, become an ordained pastor, know the Bible from cover to cover, pray for three hours at a stretch, or have millions in your bank account before He can use you. At the level you are spiritually, educationally, socially and financially, God wants to use you to make a difference.
THE TREASURES ON THE INSIDE OF YOU
So what are these treasures God has placed in us? What are these treasures God has put in earthen vessels like you and I?
1. OUR GOD GIVEN GIFTS, TALENTS AND ABILITIES
You have certain gifts, talents and abilities that if fully utilized can do great things for humanity. You have on the inside of you gifts, talents and abilities that can make you a great person. You have a special grace upon your life. You have a divine ability or enablement to accomplish something unique and outstanding (1 Peter 4:10, 1 Corinthians 12:7, Romans 12: 6). These gifts, talents and abilities make you a person who adds value.
Joseph’s treasure was his gift of interpretation of dreams which took him out of the prison to a top government position (Genesis 40:9-40). He also had the gift of administration (Genesis 41:47-56 and Genesis 42) which brought deliverance to an entire country and other parts of the world when a severe famine struck. In the prison, his life added value to the prisoners. As a government official, his life added value to so many lives, his family inclusive. If not for his gift of administration, many lives would have died from hunger.
The slave girl that advised Naaman to go and see the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 5:1-3 added value to Naaman’s family because she was a naturally bold person. She used her boldness to an advantage. It’s not every house help that can be that confident to approach her madam or master and start giving them advice. Simple things like your boldness or your smile can be what God wants to use to make you add value to others. There are people that just their smile alone can lift up your spirit and make you forget your problems.
Dorcas’ treasure was that she had an interest or passion for sewing. She found a way to use this passion to bless others. It was this treasure; this ability she had in sewing which she used to minister to others that brought her back to life. If her life meant nothing to those widows, if her life hadn’t added value to anyone, if she hadn’t made any impact or difference, when she died, they would have just gone on with her burial ceremony and closed the chapter of her life. But because she had used her treasure to impact people’s lives, when she died, they sent for Peter to come and do anything he could to bring her back to life. Why? They weren’t ready to part with someone that was such a blessing; someone that was carrying such a wonderful treasure (Acts 9:36-39).
From these few examples I have mentioned, we can see that the treasures or gifts God has put in us differ from person to person. The gift or ability God put in Joseph was different from what He put in the slave girl. The gift the slave girl had, was different from that of Dorcas. The same applies to us. We all have treasures or gifts that God has deposited in us but these treasures, these gifts differ from person to person. The important thing is for us to discover what our treasure is; what our gift is and then use the gifts, talents and abilities God has blessed us with, to be a blessing to others; to add value to other people’s lives, to make a positive difference.
2. THE HOLY SPIRIT
Isaiah 61:1-2 tells us of a treasure; something of great value that God has put in us which can bless people when they come in contact with us. What is this treasure? The Sweet Holy Spirit. The anointing of God is such a delightful thing to have on the inside of you. 1 John 2:20 tells us that we have an anointing from the Holy One. We have this anointing because we have the Holy Spirit living in us. By this anointing, we have been empowered to preach the good news to the poor, bind up the broken hearted, proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. We have been anointed to comfort those that mourn and provide for those who grieve. We are carrying a treasure that can make a big difference to those who are broken hearted, oppressed, in darkness, sad, sorrowful, mourning and going through all kinds of problems. We are carrying a treasure that can give hope to the hopeless.
To be filled with this wonderful treasure, you have to make yourself available to God and keep your vessel empty. Your vessel must always be empty to be filled and continually filled with this treasure. In 2 Kings 4:1-7, the wife of one of the prophets was in a serious financial crisis. The prophet Elisha advised her to get empty vessels. For what God wanted to do in that woman’s life, He needed two things. He needed vessels and He needed those vessels to be empty. For what God wants to do in our world today, He needs vessels and He needs the vessels to be empty.
We understand from 2 Corinthians 4:7 that we are the vessels God needs. God needs us to be available for His use. God may want to use you but if you aren’t available, He can’t use you. The more available you are to God, the more you get filled with the Holy Spirit. You will notice from 2 Kings 4:6 that when there were no more empty vessels, the oil stopped flowing. That oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. For the oil of the Holy Spirit, for the anointing of God to keep filling us and flowing through us to bless others, our vessel must be empty. Your vessel can be full of things that hinder the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Your vessel could be full of sin. It could be full of pride, anger, bitterness and unforgiveness. These are things that can keep us from being filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. I pray that any sin in our life that will keep us from being filled with the Holy Spirit, God will remove from us today.
Maybe the problem with your vessel is that it has a crack or it is broken. Oil cannot stay in a vessel or clay pot that is broken. The oil will just seep out. Maybe you are here today and the reason why you have not allowed the Holy Spirit to fully possess you, fill you and use you for His glory is because there are things in your life that have broken down. Your body is broken down with sickness. Your business, marriage or ministry has broken down. Maybe it is even your heart that has been broken; you have been rejected, disappointed and let down. There are situations that are weighing you down, you are going through so much pain, that you just don’t see how in the world you can be a blessing to anyone when you yourself desperately need to be blessed, when you yourself desperately need a change in your situation.
Let’s try and put ourselves in the position of that woman in 2 Kings 4:1-7 which we read about earlier on that was facing a major financial crisis and her creditors were coming to lock up her sons. As a mother, it would have been hard for her to leave her children at home that day for them to be carried to prison while she came for choir practice. That day, if she was a member of the choir, choir practice would have been the last thing on her mind. Many of us are in such situations today. Our vessels have been broken down by spiritual, health, financial, marital or career problems which are keeping us from fully doing God’s work. For some people, things are so bad that some days you don’t even have money for fuel or transport to come to church. Even to fulfill your responsibilities to your family is a big problem. You have been having a severe back or neck pain for some months now that to cook for your husband or children takes the special grace of God. In fact, on some days, the pain is so much that you can’t even get out of bed. I have good news for you. The potter is here today and He’s going to put your broken vessel back together again. He’s going to repair and restore every area of your life where you need His healing touch.
I believe God intervened in that woman’s life through Elisha because He wanted to see her live out her destiny; He wanted her to fulfill her divine assignment. So God supernaturally stepped into her situation to remove that financial problem that was standing in the way of her fulfilling God’s purpose for her life. That same God is here today and He will intervene concerning every financial, spiritual or health problem that is standing in the way of your fulfilling God’s purpose for your life. He will lift you out of every valley, He will give you grace to rise above every circumstance and become a blessing to others.
3. JESUS
The final treasure I want to talk about which God has put in our earthen vessels is JESUS. He is a treasure beyond human understanding. He is an all in one treasure. What do I mean by this? A lot of women will understand this because women have a natural liking and appreciation for treasures. If a woman has a glittering gold chain, she still desires to have one made with pearls. When she gets her classy pearls, she wants a sparkling diamond ring. And on and on she keeps acquiring different kinds of jewels and gems. But Jesus is a treasure that encompasses several other treasures. Colossians 2:3 tells us that in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So if you have Jesus, you have wisdom and knowledge. If you have Jesus, you have a friend that sticks closer than a brother (John 15:13-14, Proverbs 18:24). If you have Jesus, you have peace (Romans 5:1). If you have Jesus, you are free from condemnation (Romans 8:1). If you have Jesus, you don’t have to spend another minute walking in darkness or in confusion (John 8:12, John 14:6). If you have Jesus, you can be a beacon of light and a blessing to your generation (Matthew 5:13-15). If you have Jesus, you have a treasure that satisfies every kind of thirst or longing a person could possibly have. This was what Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:13-14 - “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life”. People are thirsty for all kinds of things; people are searching for all kinds of things -money, wealth, power, position, success, love, peace, fulfillment, you name it. Jesus identified that the woman at the well was thirsty for love but she had been searching for love in all the wrong places. Because of her thirst for love, she had been involved with different men. Jesus made her understand that even if she entered into another relationship, she would still be thirsty again; she would still be hungry again for love. But if she drank His own water, if she accepted Him as the treasure He is, He would fill not only her thirst for love, but her thirst for all other things because He is a treasure that encompasses so many other treasures.
Jesus is also a priceless treasure. I read somewhere that some of the most expensive gemstones in the world like red diamonds are worth over $2 million. But unlike all the expensive treasures of this world, Jesus is so precious and great that His actual worth and value can’t be determined. You can’t put a price tag to His name. God’s unfailing love for us which He demonstrates and expresses through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is PRICELESS (Psalm 36:7).Yet as expensive as JESUS is, He is absolutely FREE! Isaiah 55:1 says “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost”.
So you see that you are carrying so much on the inside of you. You are loaded. You have God given gifts, talents and abilities. The Holy Spirit resides on the inside of you. Jesus the indescribable gift of God is with you, Jesus lives in you. You are a treasure chest filled with valuables. But what have you done with your treasures? Have you locked them up, have you buried your treasures or are using them to be a blessing to others? Don’t be like that servant in Matthew 25:14-30 who buried his treasure. Use your treasures to fulfill your divine assignment. Use all the treasures on the inside of you to enlarge and expand the kingdom of God. Use your treasures to create an eternal legacy so that on the last day you can hear these encouraging words of commendation, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
