Title: Twelve Ways to Be Useful to God
Scripture Reading: Psalms 57:7-11: Judges 6:6-8; 12-16
My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.
8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.
10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.
11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.
And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.
7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites,
8 That the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.
13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
14 And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.
16 And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
I am sharing this message to those that have been attending our church since the September Harvest Month. It is a new beginning for you. So, I feel that this message will be good for you. Do you want your life to make a difference? Do you know that your life can be a source of blessing to yourself and other people every day?
Twelve keys to be useful to God
If you want to be useful to God, here are twelve keys:
- Know that you are loved
Psalms 57:10 ‘For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.’
Psalms 139:13-14, ‘For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.’
You are not an accident. God himself created you, fearfully and wonderfully crafting every facet of your being. Every fiber of your DNA is the result of God’s master craftsmanship, and because he created you, He treasures you.
- Worship the Lord whatever
God is looking for worshippers.
Psalms 57:7-9, ‘My heart is steadfast, O God… I will sing and make music… I will praise you, O Lord.’
Respond to the experience of God’s love by worshiping him with every gift that you have – not just privately but also in public – not just when you feel like it but ‘steadfastly’ – in difficult times as well.
With the new beginning learn to worship God whatever; good times or bad times. When things are bad, say, ‘God, I thank you for everything.’ God will be so pleased that he will come and deliver you immediately.
- Honor God in your life
God honors those who honor him.
Psalms 57:11, ‘Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.’
This is David’s ultimate desire.
It is the same desire that is expressed in the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, ‘hallowed be your name.’
Bible commentator says that this verse is expressed in a worship event at the tabernacle and the temple.
This verse also has the implication of monotheism; that there is only one true God who created all humans in His image for fellowship.
- Do what ‘the Father’ is doing
The Pharisees, who were deeply religious, had become corrupted, legalistic, and rigid. There are many modern-day Pharisaic Christians who are corrupted, legalistic, and rigid.
Jesus cared for the poor.
Proverbs 11:24-28 says, ‘There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; And there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat: And he that watereth shall be watered also himself. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: But blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. He that diligently seeketh good procureth Favor: But he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him. He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: But the righteous shall flourish as a branch.”
- Listen to God
The people of God got themselves into trouble, as Israel today, because they did not listen to God.
Jesus says the key to life is to listen to him and believe: ‘I tell you the truth, those who hear my word and believe him who sent me have eternal life and will not be condemned; they have crossed over from death to life’ (John 5:24).
Even Jesus says, ‘I can’t do a solitary thing on my own: I listen, then I decide’ (v.30, MSG).
- Do all the good you can
You cannot earn your salvation by ‘doing good’. However, the evidence of a life of faith is a life of doing good.
Jesus himself, we are told, ‘went around doing good’ (Acts 10.38). Jesus says, ‘For a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned’ (John 5:28–29).
- Seek to please God
- Cry out to the Lord for help
If you study the book of Judges and the book of Kings and Chronicles, the people of God were in trouble again and again. They had done ‘evil in the eyes of the Lord’. As a result, they were oppressed and ‘reduced to grinding poverty’.The turning point came for them, as it so often does for us, when they ‘cried out to the Lord for help’.
9. Know that God is with you
God raised up Gideon and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior’. Gideon said to God, ‘But Lord… How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family’. The Lord answered, ‘I will be with you’. Jesus, has promised that he will be with you always, until the very end of the age.
- Know your weaknesses
Gideon is an example of God using cracked pots! Gideon said, ‘How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family’.
The Apostle Paul: ‘Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me… For when I am weak, then I am strong’.
- Obey God fearlessly
Gideon ‘did as the Lord told him’, even though he risked death.
- Be God – confident
The secret of Gideon’s power was that ‘the Spirit of the Lord came upon [him]’. Don’t be self-confident; be God-confident.
