For several months now I’ve been reading a devotional by Boyd Bailey called Seeking Daily the Heart of God. It has been incredible! He’s like a modern day Oswald Chambers! This morning’s section was no different. It’s entitled “God Chosen.”
Bailey begins by stating, “God uses whom He chooses, and He equips whom He calls.” That one statement is packed with so much truth. If you look at my mentor, Dr Johnny Hunt, this truth is screaming. He was a high school drop out living in the projects. He managed a pool room, and made his living hustling pool. He was an alcoholic living with no direction and purpose in life. Then on a snowy Sunday night in January he met Jesus. God radically changed His life! Now the high school drop out went back to school, became a pastor, and is now the Southern Baptist President. That’s the abbreviated story, but if you want to read more I’ll send you a copy of his testimony just contact me. Trust me it’s incredible. If you would have seen Johnny in those days you would have written him off, but God had other plans. God called and Johnny obey!
I think about it often in my own life. Why would God choose me to become a pastor/church planter? Am I qualified? Is there something in me that He saw? No! God called me on no merit of my own, and now He is equipping me to become the man He wants me to be. There is nothing to note in my life other than God. It’s only by God’s Grace I am where I am today. I know the propensity of my evil heart. I know where that evil could take me, but God’s grace keeps me from it.
Bailey continues his devotion by stating that God chose us first and foremost to be obedient. Through that obedience He will make you into the leader He desires for you to be. You must stay submitted, surrendered, and obedient, and He will fill you with His Spirit. “It’s a heart hungry for wisdom that He chooses. It is a ‘want of wisdom’ that opens up the windows of heaven’s resources.” (Bailey) Remember John 15:16, God chose me and I must spend my life doing His work!
