Wisdom From John
What can God do with a Stone?
Early in my Christian walk I started praying for God's will to be done in my life, and as often happens, a wiser than I fellow believer cautioned me not to pray that way. His reasoning was, "You leave yourself open for things you may not want." Being the kind of guy I am, I ignored him and expanded my prayer to include a promise…."God, if you open a door, I'll do my best to go through it." And so, with this article that you are reading I walk through another open door and begin a new ministry at Cedar Lake Christian Assembly. Who knows where God will take us.
So, what's the deal with the stone? Remember that story about David and Goliath? As Scriptures tells us, when David went into battle against Goliath he was just a boy but upon his shoulders rested the fate of Israel. What I find interesting is that David carried five stones into battle, but he only needed one to secure the victory. By the power of God, a boy with one stone defeated a mighty enemy.
Most of us have at one time or another prayed, "God use me for your glory" and then, as He spoke to our spirit, we added, "But God, I don't have the skills to do what you are asking me to do." And, with that, we sat back down and waited for God to give us more options. In truth, we missed an opportunity to serve God because we doubted our ability to do what he was asking.
I have learned that God already knows what we can or cannot do before he calls us. He placed within us, at birth, those talents or stones that we would have for life. All that is required of us is to trust God, be obedient to him, and use our God given talents for his glory: To walk in the fullness of his gifts.
As a young boy, I struggled in school. In fact, I was lucky to graduate with from high school and college was like quicksand. In two years of college, I spent a good deal of my father's money and achieved a D+ grade point average. Throughout my school years, my most dreaded subject was English for I was never taught phonics and was an extremely poor speller.
As I began to walk with God, he continued to push me into the field of teaching until one day I discovered that I had a passion for teaching others. Give me a room and some warm bodies and I'll teach something. Then one day in 1985 a guest speaker challenged me with this question, "If you had six weeks to live, what would you do?" To my utter amazement, I said, "Write a book." The kid who hated English really did say, "Write a book." God knew the talent that was hidden deep in my soul and he had a plan. My duty was to learn to use the talent and then wait for him to open a door.
So, what have I learned? I have learned that God will use us for his glory if we will just obey his calling. All that is required of us is to use the stones or talents we already possess. You see, God started preparing me for my new adventure in writing back in that 1985 classroom. He polished my writing stone and when it was ready to be used, he opened a door.
I pray that these thoughts of mine will be a blessing and that they will challenge us all to a closer walk with God. We don't need to be college graduates or captains of industry to be of value to God. All we must be is willing to trust him and follow his leading through the open doors he places before us. God has already prepared us, when he calls us by name. Try the next open door, you really can trust him.
Lord, I pray that you will use me for your glory…May I have the courage to follow your leading.
John Keilholz ICWAO@hotmail.com
ICWAO….In Christ We Are One
