May The Lord Find Us Useful, by Pastor (Mrs) Anthonia Obafaiye
The theme of the month of March is ‘Justified to be Gloried’, which ties in so well with theme of our Women’s Conference ‘Behold Thine Handmaid’ and the topic of our Sunday School ‘Are you Available?’ The Spirit of God is one indeed. The Bible says in Psalm 62:11 ‘Once has God spoken, twice have we heard that all power belong to God’.
Brethren God does not need to repeat Himself but when He does it is because He loves us dearly and He does not want us to miss it. I pray that whatever He has chosen to do in this season, He will not do it without us in Jesus name.
Luke 1: 26:38 – The story of Mary the Mother of Jesus is a very familiar story to us, the Bible makes us to understand that The Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.
Angel Gabriel greeted her with this salutation ‘Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women’. Even the salutation troubled Mary and the Angel said to her, ‘Fear not, for thou hast found favour with God…’. Someone here today is going to find favour with God in Jesus name.
Brethren, I want to believe that Mary was not the only virgin in the land as at that time, but there was something about her, she made herself available for a very challenging task, to carry a child without knowing a man, conceived of The Holy Spirit and becoming pregnant outside wedlock, if anyone at that time was caught pregnant outside wedlock they were stoned to death.
But Mary said to the Angel Gabriel ‘Behold the Handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word.’ She made herself available regardless of the consequence because she knew she was just a vessel that the Lord had chosen to use. May Our Father in heaven find us useful always in Jesus name.
Mary knew that when God gave you a vision He makes provision for the vision. She knew that with men it is impossible but with God all things are possible. She knew that with her faith and trust in God, she will please God and God will reward her.
Brethren God is always looking for a man or woman he can use for His exploits, a vessel that will make themselves available. Ezekiel 22:30 says ‘ And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.’
Hannah the Mother of Prophet Samuel prayed a prayer that pleased the Lord in 1 Samuel 1:10-11 when she asked Jehovah The God of Israel for a male child and she vowed to give him back to The Lord, it was not the eloquence of her speech that pleased God but the fact that she made herself available to be used as a channel for a High Priest that God wanted to use to replace Eli and his sons to be born. Hannah prayed according to the perfect will of God and The God of Israel granted her petition.
Someone here today will pray according to the perfect will of God, and The God of Israel will answer your prayer in Jesus name.
In Joshua Chapter 2 Rehab and the whole of her family were saved from the destruction of the city of Jericho because she made herself available to be used of God to hide His sons Joshua, Caleb & the other spies, when they were sent to spy the land, she defied the orders of her King and went ahead to hide the spies because she had heard about the Greatness of Jehovah the Man of War, The God of Israel, the One that has never lost any battle, the God that can save & deliver even from the lawful captor and she decided to make herself available to be used of Him, regardless of the consequence. She believed in a God that she had never known or seen. The Bible says blessed are those who believed without seeing.
Rehab was a prostitute but I don’t think we can call her that anymore seeing that she was mentioned in the Hall of Faith (Fame) in Hebrews 11:31
May Our Father in heaven deliver you and yours from every destruction of the enemy in Jesus name.
The question will then be will I make myself available, will I be able to say Lord here I am use me Lord, let your will done on earth as it is in heaven.