Secrets of the Extraordinary

Secrets of the Extraordinary

Amos answered, "I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a shepherd... The Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'
Amos 7:14-15 NIV

I hate to sound like one of those cheesy self-help seminar speakers, but I believe that success rewards those who are prepared. Or I will say that if you want God to use you, put yourself in a position to be used. For instance, if you feel God wants you to open your home to people, keep it clean and in order. Or, if you feel that God wants you to teach, then you should study to show yourself approved (2 Timothy 2:15). Whatever it is that God has placed in your heart, pursue it with prayer, patience, wisdom, planning and tenacity. Be prepared for the thing God is calling you into.

These words may sound well for someone with a strong will, but you may be thinking that you are average at best, merely ordinary. But if you see yourself that way, you underestimate the power of our God! God regularly takes hold of the ordinary and does extraordinary things with them. He uses the seemingly common to confound the intelligent (I Corinthians 1:27). And Amos is just such a man. He is a commoner and by some people’s standards, he is a lowly man being a sheep herder and gardener. And God raised such a man to be a prophet.

Don’t worry about what you think you can do with your own power. If you know God wants you to do something, step out in faith. He will provide what you need to accomplish the task. Don’t worry about coming from the right family or a place of prominence or even the right school. Keep in mind that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). With God, no one comes “from the wrong side of the tracks”. If you place yourself in God's path and are solely at his mercy, He will use you on His own schedule to accomplish the extraordinary.

Come to think of it, I know for sure that there is one position we can assume that will allow God to use us. It is when we are on bended knee.