LIVING A SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE, USEFUL TO GOD IS NOT EASY.
What does that mean? “Useful to God” means that God sees, honors, blesses, and rewards that person with endless honor.
Anything in our lives that is not pleasing to God will vanish away, turn to smoke & ashes, and be forgotten. Most people do not use God’s standard for significance, and therefore, their lives will amount to nothing.
Interestingly, out of all the thousands of Levites serving in the Temple in the First Century, Zacharias is one of the only ones we know by name. So we have been given a unique God-given insight.
TRUTH-6: GOD’S SPIRIT OFTEN USES STRUGGLING PEOPLE
In v. 13, with those words about this couple, “your prayer is heard,” we see that part of this couple’s life is that they had ordinary problems. Most of us think that we have extraordinary problems. But the more you step back and look beyond the circle of your own life and problems—you find that what we face is what Paul describes as what “is common to man” and what James calls “like passions”. Life is hard, all people have problems, and the key is only what we will do with those problems.
Zacharias & Elisabeth are such a model of how to go on despite what others would call extraordinary challenges. This couple lived in a world that measured God’s blessing and your personal worth by whether or not you had a son.
They never did. They spent their entire married life waiting for a child, waiting for a son, living and finally giving up on ever being able to have a child. If we think about it, there are so many lessons God can teach us from their lives.
No matter what they faced, they kept on serving the Lord and growing. Even in the weeks of silence—Zacharias kept on in the Word so that when he at last could speak, God’s Word flowed from his heart.
Application: Are you struggling with something? Do you feel that you have an impossible challenge, an unmovable obstacle in your life? Let God HEAR your prayer. He wants to use struggling people.
TRUTH-7: GOD’S SPIRIT ALWAYS USES SURRENDERED PEOPLE.
After Zacharias hears the good news of his son of promise, John the Baptist, he waits in muted silence for his unbelief.
After 40 weeks of waiting (and studying God’s Word), John is born, and his dad speaks. What was ZACHARIAS doing while he had no voice?
This song that Zechariah sings summarizes the ministry of John, pointing to Jesus.
This song introduces the Coming One – Jesus and explains why He came. But this song also reflects the notes from Zacharias’ 40-week Bible study conducted as he waited silently for his son’s birth. Here are all the places Zacharias found promises of Christ’s coming. First he quotes from Psalms 18, 23, 32, 34, 83, 106, and 132. Plus, he uses extensive quotations from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Malachi!
Application: It would appear that he spent much of the time while he was set aside, handicapped as it were, studying God’s Word! If you are incapacitated, crippled, handicapped, out of circulation, laid aside, out of work, and so on—you can waste the time or turn it to gold. The choice is yours!
ESH 35c God Uses Struggling And Surrendered People
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