Are You Ready To Be Used By God?

By Pastor Jerry Donovan

God loves every person on this planet. That is why Jesus commanded the Scribes and Pharisees in the first century, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40 NLT).

If you want to be used by God, you need to purify your heart. You don’t have to be a perfect person, but you do have to have a pure heart.

“In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:20-21 NLT).

Throughout the Bible God uses all kinds of people to do his work. He uses shy people. He uses outgoing people. He uses people of all different races, ages, stages of life, and backgrounds. He uses the strong and powerful as well as the weak and mild. He uses men and women. God will use plain vessels, and he will use ornate vessels. He will use big vessels and small vessels. But there is one thing that God will not use: He will not use a dirty vessel. You have to be clean on the inside.

How can you do that? How do you purify yourself? You do it through a simple word “confession” to God. Augustine said, “The confession of bad works is the beginning of good works.” The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (NLT).

The word “confess” in Greek is the word homologeo. Homo means “same,” and logeo means “to speak.” Homologeo literally means “to speak the same about my sin that God does,” or admitting that you agree with him: “God, you’re right. It wasn’t a faux pas. It wasn’t a mistake. It was a sin. It was wrong.” It doesn’t mean you attempt to bargain with God (I’ll never do it again). It doesn’t mean you offer a bribe to God (I promise to read my Bible every day if you’ll just forgive me).

You simply just admit it. Does that seem too simple to you? You may wonder, “All I’ve got to do is admit it, and God will forgive me?” Yes! It’s called grace!

I consider Rick Warren as a mentor and he suggests that “if you really want to be used by God: Take time this week to sit down with a pad of paper, and say, ‘God, what’s wrong in my life? Show me. I’m going to write it down, and I’m going to admit it. I’m going to confess it to you.’ Then, when God gives you an idea, you write it down.”

The first time you do this, you may think that you are writing a book. Make a list, and then write 1 John 1:9 over it and say, “God, I admit these to you. These are wrong. I don’t want them in my life.” Ask God to cleanse your life, and God will forgive you!

Pastor Warren suggests considering the following questions as you are purifying your life: what will you need to change about your schedule so that you can take time each day this week to write down your confession; you may not be able to write down your confession to God every day of your life, but what healthy patterns will this help you establish; what is the difference between a mistake and a sin?

This is the beginning to being used by God. You must have a pure heart.

May God Bless You!

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