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God Uses Ordinary People The world, and sometimes even the church, are impressed by people with wealth, fame, beauty, popularity and high levels of education and accomplishment. Yet, these are not the criteria God uses when He chooses people to be used by Him. He isn't looking for flashy, charismatic, powerfully gifted, highly accomplished people to do His mighty works. Instead He is looking for simple, ordinary women and men with a passionate longing to seek His face and do whatever He asks of them. The Word captures God's affection for these ordinary people…
"God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and He has chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty" (1 Corinthians 1:27 KJV). Based on these insights into the heart of God, the Spirit of the Lord is encouraging us to lay down the limitations that stop us and begin to see ourselves as the Father sees us. Even at this moment He is loudly trumpeting this challenging message across our lives…
"Let go of any mindsets that limit what I, the In his eyewitness accounts of the Azusa Street Revival, Frank Bartleman captures this message of the Father using ordinary people for His Kingdom purposes. He wrote this thought provoking description of those who were used in that move of God…
"The Lord's heroes will arise from the dust of obscure and despised circumstances. He draws
from the deepest seclusion the weak instruments by which He purposes to accomplish great
things. Here are some inspiring examples of ordinary people whom the Lord used to do mighty exploits for Him. William Seymour was a poor, one-eyed black man with a severely scarred face. He was uneducated, totally unknown and constantly up against the cruel prejudice and rejection that was part of being physically deformed and also being a black man in that era. Yet, he was one of those heroes whom God drew from the hidden places and he became the apostle of the Azusa Street Revival. Smith Wigglesworth is another example. He began as a poor, uneducated plumber who couldn't even read. Yet in his lifetime he became an evangelist who was used by God to shake the nations. Amos was also a simple, ordinary man. He wrote about himself… "I'm not one of your professional prophets. I certainly never trained to be one. I'm just a shepherd and I take care of fig trees. But the Lord called me away from my flock and told me, 'Go prophesy to my people in Israel'" (Amos 7:14-15 NLT). Amos obeyed and God used him to impact generations. David is a compelling inspiration for ordinary people who long to be used by the Lord. He was "selected from the common people to be king" (Psalm 89:19 NLT). Not even Jesse, his own father, saw his value. When the prophet Samuel asked Jesse to bring him his sons, this father left David out. Only after Samuel asked, "Are these all the sons you have?" did Jesse tell the prophet about his youngest son who was taking care of the sheep. Then after the prophet anointed David, his brother, Eliab, cruelly and jealously demeaned him. When David asked questions about Goliath, Eliab put him down in front of other people. "What are you doing around here anyway?" he demanded. "What about those few sheep you're supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and dishonesty. You just want to see the battle" (1 Samuel 17:28 NLT). In other words… "Who do you think you are, David? You will never amount to anything. Just go back and do what you always do and stop thinking you can do anything important with your life." Yet, this overlooked young man who wasn't anything in the eyes of other people is the one God chose to be king. Next comes Gideon. The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites fled to the mountains and God called Gideon to deliver them. He told Gideon how He wanted to use him. But this was Gideon's response…
"How can I save Israel? My family is the poorest in the Despite how small and lowly Gideon felt, the Lord could still see that buried inside of him was what it takes to be one of God's heroes. So He replied to Gideon…
"Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!" My final examples of the Father's heart to use ordinary people are found in the Gospels. Jesus could have picked what the world would consider the most educated, gifted, articulate, accomplished, charismatic people to help him set in motion His plan to evangelize the world. But he chose uneducated, simple men who were living what many would consider insignificant lives. They were so lowly and unimportant in the eyes of people that "the members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. For they could see that these apostles were ordinary men who had no special training" (Acts 4:13 NLT). The way Jesus lived among us is an equally powerful statement. He could have been born into an elite family of great influence, wealth and fame. Yet he chose to become the son of a carpenter who worked with his hands to provide for his family. He lived among the common people of His time and the following facts capture the humble simplicity of his life…
I personally understand someone coming from humble beginnings. My family lived in the poorest section of South Boston across from a soot-blackened factory and an abandoned, rat infested bus barn. Our home was in a cramped tenement with only cold water and no heat. Each day I lived in dread of the frequent encounters with rats and cockroaches that were everywhere. In late grammar school, we moved to the West coast and we were among the few white families in a black project. Our apartment had red cement floors that were always damp and cold. My room was actually an old kitchen with a bed in it. The project was a dangerous place. Crime, violence, screams and screeching sirens were a way of life. I never had any friends, so I spent most of my time alone. When I graduated from elementary school, my older brother petitioned the nuns of Notre Dame Academy to give me a chance to succeed in their school and a full scholarship was granted. Every day I gratefully boarded the bus that took me across the railroad tracks and far from the projects. I excelled in school but I always dreaded the days when we didn't have to wear uniforms because my clothes were old and shabby. The other girls were dressed in expensive, beautiful clothes. Our family was always one step away from being homeless due to my father's compulsion for gambling. One of the most humiliating places we lived was behind an old donut shop. The only way to our front door was past the reeking garbage cans that were always stuffed with rotting garbage. I was mortified to walk by them with anyone so I continued to have no friends. At age eighteen, I entered the convent and was a Catholic nun for five years. I went to seminary and eventually taught second grade, but I never graduated from college. After leaving the convent I chose two severely abusive marriages that ended in failure. The first time I was a single mom I had no job skills and could only find minimum-wage employment. The second time I was single I found a position as a teacher's aide. I loved the students, but once again the pay was just above minimum wage. Yet one day God had mercy on this ordinary person, who the world and especially many in the church decided had failed one too many times and didn't have much going for her. He looked beyond all my failures and what others could see. And He said to me…
The Lord is declaring this same message of hope and release into freedom over those who read this chapter. He is especially saying it to anyone who feels inadequate, insecure or painfully aware of their failures and the ordinary insignificance of their lives in the eyes of others. Perhaps you were overlooked by your family like David. Maybe your parents or a brother or sister didn't value you or encourage you to reach for all you could become. They may have even degraded you or said words that discouraged what you felt you were capable of doing. You may feel like a nobody, even though that is far, far from the truth. You may see yourself like Gideon and you have actually said to yourself, "How can God use me? I'm poor and no one has thought highly of me." Maybe you've believed that the important people will be the ones who accomplish great things in the Kingdom of God, but not you. If any of this speaks to your heart, then this day the Lord is saying to you…
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