“God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called.” 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 affirms the truth of this statement.
Over the past few years, we have lost several of God’s generals. They have gone home to glory, and now many people feel that we have lost our earthly shepherds. These generals won many souls to Christ for decades, and great is their reward.
With these mighty preachers of the gospel no longer with us, many people are searching for the next generals to point the way to salvation. Just how did these generals become known worldwide, and how and why were they given such a great platform in which to proclaim the gospel? “All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His power and presence with them.” —Hudson Taylor
The most notable people in the Bible were not qualified to be God’s generals based upon the world’s standards. Noah was a drunk, Gideon was afraid, Joseph was abused, Jonah ran from God, Peter denied Christ, the disciples fell asleep while praying, Abraham was too old, Jacob was a liar, Moses had a stuttering problem, Jeremiah and Timothy were too young, Job went bankrupt, Elijah was suicidal and the Samaritan woman was divorced.
God never judges us by the standards of the world. God uses those who are devoted to Him. That is His prerequisite. It is not how eloquent you are, how handsome or beautiful you are in appearance, God looks upon the heart. If our hearts are devoted to Him, He will equip us for the tasks He has planned for us.
He does not call the strongest among us. God’s power is made perfect in our weakness (see 2 Cor. 12:9). In times of weakness and inability, God does His best work. When you surrender all and rely on His power alone, you become the clay that God will use to make you a vessel that will reach many for His kingdom.
When David face Goliath, he was small and under-equipped to face that giant in the natural realm, but his faith and trust in God equipped him to be victorious.
In these last days before Christ’s return, God is calling and equipping the young and old alike. He is calling the most unlikely to have a heart on fire for God. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise“ (1 Cor. 1:27a, NIV).
In every case it is the one who calls and qualifies that makes all the difference. God alone calls us from all walks of life and will equip us if and when our heart and minds are stayed on Him with pure faith and devotion.
It is easy to call the qualified on face value, but when God qualifies the called, rest assured that He has done a deep qualification search of the heart and soul.
It is time now for those who have been made fit for what God has called us to do through the power of the Holy Spirit and through the equipping of His Word, armed with the lessons learned from our past experiences. We are to be His laborers, for the end-time harvest is ready. We have been strengthened by His power and qualified by our love, devotion and abiding faith.
The time is short. Those who are called must be about kingdom work, and that doesn’t mean building our own little kingdom. The Holy Spirit is working in and through many people now instead of a few generals of the faith.
It is a different season now. Only one general is needed, and that is God Himself. An army of Holy Spirit equipped soldiers is being raised up at an accelerated pace with one goal in mind: to reach and teach and give all the honor, praise and glory to the only one qualified to be called God.
May we be among the called to help usher in His kingdom. Amen!
In his book Whatever Happened to the Gospel?, R.T. Kendall says it’s time to bring back what it really means to be saved.
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Dr. Janet Maccaro has doctorates in both holistic nutrition and natural medicine and is a certified nutritional consultant. She is a member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants (AANC) and The AAPS (The American Association Of Pharmaceutical Scientists) She is a respected Christian inspirational thought leader and an expert in natural health care education with 14 titles currently in print, which include the bestseller, “Natural Health Remedies.” “Dr. Janet’s Guide To Thyroid Health” and “How Your Food is Sown & Grown, What YOU Need to Know About Glyphosate” are her two latest releases.