Qualified, Equipped, and Ready

On Sunday, I was asked to help in areas that I was familiar with but not certain about my ability to perform it. It caught me by surprise because I wasn't expecting it. I immediately began to feel fear, lack of confidence, and wanted to make excuses. I didn’t see what they saw at the moment so I went home and began to journal out my thoughts. What I was feeling wasn’t just fear.

I felt unqualified.

I didn’t want to say yes because it is a huge responsibility and it meant I would have to show up and produce the result they asked for. It’s easier to stay in the background hoping someone else would step up to the plate. I felt like Moses on the mountain asking God to get someone else because he didn’t speak as well as others.

Exodus 4:10 says, “Then Moses said to the Lord, ‘O my Lord, I am not eloquent enough, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’”

He also wanted to hand the opportunity to someone he deemed more qualified than he. (Exodus 4:13) I understood how Moses felt because I have people I would recommend for the job who I feel have more experience and are more qualified than I. But I couldn’t because my steps are ordered by God and he has given us all something to do on this earth. I had to come to terms with being the one God chose regardless of how I felt about it.

When I looked at Jeremiah, he felt the same way.

Jeremiah 1:6 says, Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”

Jeremiah was saying to the Almighty God that he couldn’t speak in front of the people. He was saying, "I am not qualified to bring corrections." Jeremiah was looking at his situation through the eyes of "me" and not the eyes of "HE who is faithful".

God has ordained us before the foundations of the world. He knows what he wants to do through us. We must not discount ourselves but accept what he says about us. We can do what he says because he knows who he created.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made and marvelous are the works of his hands. I found out this week that if he brings it to you, he will be with you to see it accomplished. We must remember that Jesus finishes what he starts in us. He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Often we look at what's going on around us and disqualify ourselves because we do not look qualified or we are not built like others.

David was anointed king in I Samuel 16 not because of what was on the outside for others to see, but because of what was in his heart. He didn’t look like a king because he was considered the least of them. God reminded Samuel of what to look for when it comes to choosing someone for the job.

1 Samuel 16:9 says, “But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at the appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'”

While his brothers were deemed qualified because of their strength, David was chosen because of his compassion for the sheep. You must understand that when God calls us to do something, he knows the heart and he’s not looking at anything else. He has put his word in you and qualified you. Don’t allow pride to lie to you about who you are. Your identity is sealed in Jesus. That's the only thing that matters.

God doesn’t just call you qualified; he says you are equipped to do what is needed. It's not about our strengths that gets us noticed but our willingness to become weak so that Christ's strength may shine brighter in us.

I was afraid to be seen as weak because I didn’t have what it took on paper. I had to accept that it’s not about what’s on paper but what’s done in heaven. What you are being asked is to bring the kingdom of heaven into the earth. You’re qualified and equipped because...

"greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." - 1 John 4:4

We don’t have to have it all figured out or put together perfectly. We just need to be willing and obedient. God will do the rest.