Are you being prepared to do something for the Lord, or are you doing what you have been prepared for. How many of you are still sitting around waiting for the Lord to show you what your gift is, how long has it been now, ten, twenty, thirty years, and you still cannot find your purpose for the kingdom of God.
My lovely wife has only been saved by the grace of God for a little more than five years now, and she has at the time of the writing of this letter to you around one hundred verses of the Scriptures memorized, in full with their location in the Word. Do I boast? Why would I boast about the accomplishments of another, the Lord has prepared her for the ministry she now undertakes, she is doing what she has been prepared to do. How does that make you feel when you look at your own walk with Christ, embarrassed, ashamed, or does it give you hope and confidence, are you despondent now or encouraged to seek His face even more.
How many of you reading this have spent the majority of your time being prepared but never accomplishing anything that you have been prepared for. What is holding you back, fear of personal reprisals from those you call your friends that still live in the world? The Lord calls that being ashamed, (Mark 8:38) it matters little what title you give to it. Is church attendance enough for you, show up, repeat the same basic traditional routine every Sunday, go back into the world feeling better about yourself, deciding again that you have fulfilled your obligation to the Lord for another week. What is your gift then, what are you being prepared for, to go back to church again next Sunday?
I have spent more time saved and wasting a lot of that time than some of you reading this have even been alive, so perhaps I am a little more adamant about this subject, for when a man is shown what he could have been in the Lord, and the Lord continues to bless him with continued growth, it changes that man. You may call it a personal revival if you like, I call it the realization that I have been crucified with Christ, (Gal. 2:20) that I owe a debt to Him that I cannot repay, and so I stopped waiting around to see what I was being prepared for, and started acting on what I had already known what I was prepared for.
The cost is higher than anything I ever imagined; the rewards are higher than anything I ever imagined. The peace I know now is beyond understanding, the frustrations and grief I experience each day are beyond my understanding. What are you waiting for, why do you fear, what is holding you back, we are commanded to wait on the Lord, (Psalm 37:9) we are commanded to work as unto the Lord, (Col. 3:23) to go into all the world and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Are you? If you have only been saved by His grace for a few weeks, I can understand, if it has been decades and you still have no visible proofs of your salvation, not one person has been led to the cross by you, if you are still waiting around after all these years for the Lord to show you your gift, then you are either not saved, or, well, I don’t know what else to say you might be.
“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” (Heb. 5:12) Who? Just those individuals that Paul was speaking to that particular day. You. That is who he was talking to. You might want to get to work my friends, time is running out.
