Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

"Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise … the weak things of the world to shame the strong … the lowly things of the world and the despised thingsâ€"and the things that are notâ€"to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."¹

Washington Irving is credited with having made the remark that "a barking dog is often more useful than a sleeping lion." Another way of saying the same thing is that "the race is not always to the swift but to those who keep on running."

One of the encouraging aspects about God is that you don't have to be an expert or anything out of the ordinary for him to use you. God uses people just like you and me. Consider, for example, the men Jesus chose to be his disciples: a couple of fishermen, a despised tax gatherer, a traitor, and so on. They did, however, spend three years with Jesus, the Master Teacher to equip them for service.

Jesus himself didn't attend college or seminary (or the equivalent in his day) but chose as his profession to be a carpenter as was his earthly father.

For God to use us, all we need to do is to be available and faithful to his calling. One of my daily prayers is: "Dear God, I'm available. Please make me usable and use me today to be as Christ to my family, to someone in need, and in some way to every life I touch."

What a difference we Christians would make in our family, in our church, and in our world if every one of us would pray this prayer and mean itâ€"every day!

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, I'm available. Please make me usable and use me today to be as Christ to my family, to someone in need, and in some way to every life I touch. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. 1 Corinthians 1:26-28 (NIV).

<:))))><

2. To Know God and be sure you're a real
    Christian click on:

3. Donate: To help send Daily Encounter
    without charge to people around the world
    click on:

4. To send today's Daily Encounter to a friend
    click on:

5. To share your faith in a simple, attractive
    way with a friend click on:

6. For today's featured article click on:

7. This week's chuckle as seen "On the Lighter
    Side"  on Weekend Encounter click on:

8. Change Address of your subscription to
    Daily Encounter click on: