What things are you called to do that you are unqualified to do?  What deep waters has the Lord called you out into that you know are over your head?  Are you facing situations that are completely out of your league and beyond your experience?  If so, you’re in the situations where God shines.

Like Paul, we can say, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Paul doesn’t say, “When I feel weak, I push those thoughts out of my head and tell myself that I am actually strong.” No, he says, “When I am weak…” He admits that there are situations where he is legitimately weak.  Yet because he is in Christ who is never weak, Paul’s weakness and lack of ability is of no consequence.  He is both weak and strong at the same time.  One is a condition of his humanity and the other is a condition of his connection to an unlimited supply of whatever he is lacking.

Don’t let your feelings of being unqualified keep you from taking the risk and stepping out where God has called you.  Stop playing it safe and start walking in faith and obedience.  What God calls, He anoints.  Who God calls, He qualifies.

And if you’re scared about taking the steps that you know the Lord has put in your heart, good for you.  You should be cautious.  You’re counting the cost.  The Bible says that it’s the foolish king who goes to war without first counting the cost and making sure he has enough resources to win.  But I advise you to remember how to count in God’s kingdom.  If you count YOUR resources, you’ll never get out of the starting gate.  But if you count using His resources, you will have nothing to fear.  All you need to know is that infinite resource is found in a person.  It’s found in Jesus Christ.  Whatever you ask the Father in Jesus’ name, he will give it to you. John 14: 13-14

I want to look at the water at the Pool of Bethesda being stirred again for a moment. If you recall from Part 1 of this blog post, we talked about the story found in John 5:5-8 about when Jesus healed the lame man by the Pool of Bethesda.  If you didn’t read that story, you might want to read it quickly here and then come back. John Chapter 5

The movement of the water in the pool was a sign to the people that God had sent an angel to announce the fact that healing and strength were present in that place, in that moment. God still uses signs to show us what he is doing in the earth.   Jesus told us in Matthew 16:3 that He wants us to be able to interpret the signs of the times.

Matthew 16:3 (NIV)

³ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

God, in his Sovereignty, moves in certain ways in certain seasons. And He wants us to be aware of His movement and correctly interpret the seasons and signs so that we can jump in and get soaked with the blessing that is being poured out at that time and in that place.

I believe that the waters of favor, creativity, blessing, courage, entrepreneurship, and ingenuity are being stirred now and are available for you to step into. Let me share an example of a friend of mine who had a simple heart to help the homeless and those trapped in the cycle of poverty.  Her name is Theresa Tozier and her ministry is Seeds of Faith. Seeds of Faith and Lydia’s House of Hope

Here’s a quote from Theresa:

 It began with the simple desire, a seed, to help the homeless, to feed the hungry. Little did I know God would take me on a journey into the lives of those that suffer from not only the pain and suffering of poverty, but of hopelessness and lack of purpose. He taught me to trust Him, no matter how small or how big the situations were, there was always an answer whether it be a smile, a hug, food, clothing, a tent, diapers…

Now, here we are 15 yrs later about to become a million dollar Corporation with a house of hope to bring in the broken and shamed, to offer not only making a difference one life at a time, but one generation at a time! I never said “Pick me Lord” I just said “Here I am Lord.”

I have another friend who is the worship leader in our church.  She has always had a heart to write music but isn’t professionally trained in either theory or piano.  Nonetheless, as she faithfully sowed her gift into our church and began to sit down at the keyboard and expect to write songs, the songs started to come! Rena has come so far in her songwriting ability that I think her music could be played in any church in America. But once she had some songs written she didn’t have the money to record them. So instead of waiting until God dropped the whole amount for recording a CD in her lap, she got catering jobs to earn extra cash and slowly starting recording the songs a few at time until she had her EP completed. Now Rena has a website and is seeing people outside of our church blessed by her music.  What has always been in her heart is finally taking shape thanks to her obedience to step out in faith that God would provide all that she needed when she needed it. Rena Bold

Here’s my story: For years, I have received prophetic words that I was called to teach prophetically – that I would speak it, sing it and write it. I was told that I would go out to the nations. But I was a homemaker, then a single mom, then a working mom. I didn’t see how any of this could happen. Now flash forward to 2015.  For a few years, I had struggled with this call internally to such a point that it almost drove me crazy.  I knew that I was supposed to start speaking again and that I was supposed to start a blog.  But I was stuck.  Like the man by the pool of Bethesda, I was crippled by some issues that had hamstrung my love walk with the Lord and gotten me out of alignment with His Spirit.  Like the man by the pool, I was trying to drag my half lifeless self towards healing, but it wasn’t working.  All of my efforts were only making me more scared as I started to wonder if I was a lost cause, or if I had missed my window.

Then one day, when I least expected it, the Lord asked me, as he did with this man, Do you want to be healed?  In one moment, He healed years of bitterness and pain that had kept me crippled for a long time.

How about you? Are you feeling ‘stuck’ right now? Do you feel as though you are circling the same mountain day after day? Do you long to fulfill all of God’s purpose for your life but know that an issue has you hamstrung? The Lord can heal you as well. Bring the issue to Him in honest humility asking for healing and you will receive it – and keep asking until you have it!

So now that I was back on my feet, it was time to start doing the things that had been circling around and around in my thoughts.  But here was problem.  I didn’t have an opportunity to speak.  And I didn’t know how to blog.  I didn’t know the first thing about blogging. I was completely unqualified.

But within one week, my pastor called me and asked me to speak at one of our services. I was terrified, but I said yes.

Then it was time to tackle the blog thing.

In case you’re not aware, blogging can be very scary: you feel like you’re walking through the Mall in your underwear.  You’re exposed. Everyone can see you and form a judgment.  They can make public comments or they just can stare and think to themselves, “Isn’t she embarrassed to be so exposed?” Furthermore, I had no idea if what I was writing was reaching anyone’s heart.  I had no idea if all of my work and ‘exposure’ was making a difference to anyone at all!

But gradually, I began to get comments and feedback from people who were reading the blog and they encouraged me to keep writing.  I had some obstacles to overcome, but I so appreciate the great feedback from readers that they’re being blessed by what the Lord is giving me to write.  I now have readers all over the world!

I want to share a sentence that the Lord spoke to me that has really encouraged me. It’s simple yet profound: “The only way to get experience is to start.”  I wanted to have experience – or at least the savvy, the know-how, and the knowledge – BEFORE I started. I wanted to be qualified before I stepped out. And that’s simply not how things work in God’s Kingdom. As I said before, God doesn’t call the qualified – He qualifies the called.

So what are the things that are nagging you inside? What are the God-sized dreams that drive you crazy because you don’t know where to start, who to contact to help you, how to make the first step? As a finale to this blog post, I have an exercise for you to help you begin to identify what the God-sized dreams are that are in your heart and how to take that first step of obedience.

Now you:

In this exercise, you are going to write out as many details as you can of the God-sized dream that is in your heart.  How much of it can you imagine in your mind? Have you seen yourself doing this in your imagination? Have you seen others doing it and thought to yourself, “I can do that! I would be really good at that.”.  Then those are the God-sized dreams that I want you to start recording somewhere where you can return to your writing and review your thoughts. Here we go!

•  As you begin to write, don’t edit yourself for content.  Don’t read what you wrote and think, “Well that’s impossible so I’m not even going to write that down.  It’s too wild and crazy.” You have NO idea what God wants to do in the earth right now.  You just might have the next cutting edge idea full of God’s wisdom, creativity and passion.
  • Before Moses split the Red Sea, no one had pulled that one off.  After Moses, everyone was doing it – Joshua and Elijah and Elisha all split a sea. And Jesus walked on one. But Moses was the first.
• I want you to think about the dreams you just recorded and write down ONE action point to get started.
  • I want you to write what will be your first step.  And if you don’t know what that is, ask the Lord.  Your first step might be like mine – go on You Tube and find videos to show you where to start.
  • I don’t know what your first step is supposed to be but I do know this – it’s time that we get up and get moving.  We need to get out of our stuck places of excuses and pity parties.
  • We need to pray as if it depends on God and act as if it depends on us.  How many conferences and sermons do we need to hear before we’ll get up in obedience and do SOMETHING for God?  When we stand in the Lord’s presence at the end of our lives, how many of our excuses are going to stand?

I heard about a man named Nick Vujiic who was born with neither legs nor arms.  And he travels all over the world talking about a God who supersedes limitations, who makes doors out of walls and opportunities out of obstacles. And this young man surfs. Nick Vujiic

We really cannot talk about our limitation when we look at a young man like that who can preach everywhere in obedience and with courage. Are your obstacles beyond the touch of a limitless God?

If  you like this blog, I would love to hear from you! You can leave a comment at the bottom of this page and sign up on the Home Page to receive all of my blog posts in your email inbox.  That way, you won’t miss a post and you can read them at a convenient time for you!