Written by Evangelist / Diana Gray
(Your Sister in Christ)
Copyright © 1999 All Rights Reserved

    Do you now have physical limitations that you didn’t have before.  How do you feel about being useful to God?  Have you thought about it? Have you reached a time in your life when things are winding down or they have come to a abrupt stop?   Are the problems of living  seeming like they are a little more difficult to deal with now?
     What are you feeling right now? Are you trying to hold your head up high in spite of your circumstances.  Has life gotten you down and you don’t know where to turn?
     Listen to me, I really do care.  My heart is with you and I understand if you’re feeling frustrated and maybe a little discouraged.  It’s OK, your still important.  You still matter and your special.  There is really is "no one else" like you!  God created you specially.  Your His child and you are loved, deeply by Him.
     "God can still use you" no matter if your "physically challenged" or time has taken it’s toil and you are in your "Senior Citizen" years.
     Bless your heart, You’re still important to God.  You still matter to Him.  He loves you dearly!  Yes He does, deeply!  Your loved! Your Useful! God Can "Still" Use You.  Even Now, Your Special!  Let’s read God’s Word,

   ISAIAH 40:28-31 Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding.  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

     But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

    "Dear Heavenly Lord we love you, and we praise your Mighty Name.  Thank you for this powerful Word of encouragement.  May we be as beautiful eagles doing your service.  Even in the face of our trials and troubles, may we glorify you.  Teach us your Holy Word, that it will not come back void.  That your Word go forth planting the seeds of the "Good news of Salvation."  We thank you precious Lord.  In your Holy Name, Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen"

     When an eagle molts to get rid of his old feathers, he has to go through quite an ordeal.  He’ll beat himself against the ground on rocks, trees, bushes ect.  He can’t fly until the old feathers fall off and new ones form.  He’s physically a great big bird,  yet at this time in his life, he is weak and helpless.
     He has to go through a revitalization or renewal process to enable him to fly.  To sore above the clouds again.  He has to go through a process of renewal, (or molting) in order to become beautiful again. He needs a time to pull back and recuperate.  He needs time to stop, rest and then go on.
     Sometimes people seem to go through hardships in their lives when they seem to be stopped in their tracks too.  They are unable to do the things that they want to do for one physical problem or another.  They are unable to sore like the eagles.  Even the biggest and strongest can succumb to hard times like anyone else.  Our strength may fail us, but God’s strength never will.  He’s our power, our real strength.  We can always call upon the Lord to renew our strength.
     How are you useful and special to God?  When you pray for others, that’s when you are being useful to God.  Your never too old or weak to do that.  Even from a sick bed you can pray powerful prayers for people.  Every time that you show people that you love and care for them with a loving heart, you are being useful to God.
     When you’re taking the time to witness about your life’s walk with Jesus, and how you came to accept Him as your Savior.  Again that’s being useful to God.  Also, what about all of the times that you take to teach others about God’s Word.  Isn’t that allowing yourself to be useful to God too?
     Is usefulness determined by how well we let God use us?  Yes! We are a special tool of God’s.  A fleshly human tool, not greater than God because He created us.  We need to totally recognize that this fleshly tool can’t do any of God’s will, without His giving us the ability.  The power is from the Lord Creator.  Without His permission, we can do nothing.
     We are useful only to the extent that we allow God to use us.  If we hinder our usefulness because of selfishness and just plain sinfulness, then we are "not" allowing God to use us.
     If we disobey His calling us to obedience, then we are again "not" allowing God to use us.  We hinder our effectiveness to be of use.
     Yet if we hear His voice calling us through His Word, and follow His leading, then we "are" allowing God to use us.  When we read and obey His Word, then we are allowing Him to use us inspite of our difficulties.  Does faith have anything to do with making us useful to God?  Let’s read,

    Luke 1:27-28,30  To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 

     And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

     Mary showed tremendous faith and acceptance of the Word of God.  She heard that she would have His baby son, Jesus Christ.  She trusted and humbly allowed God to use her to bring about this wonderful great miracle.
     John the Baptist believed that the Messiah was coming and told people about the Lord.  He allowed himself to be used of God to herald the great event saying, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The Apostle Peter, followed Jesus out of his faith too. Jesus said:

     Matt. 16:18 "That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. "

     Peter told everyone that through the shed blood of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins, they could have salvation. Thousands have come to be saved for the kingdom of Heaven.  Peter allowed the Lord to use him.
     When you tell others about Jesus Christ, you’re showing faith like John the Baptist, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Peter the Apostle.  When your life becomes a living witness of the love of Jesus, then you are showing faith and being of usefulness to God like John, Mary and Peter.
     Does God use simple objects to help make someone become useful to Him?  What about the "Five loaves and two fish, " that we read about in Mark 6:30-44.  They were small things yet they were used to feed 5,000 people.  They were simple objects, yet the Lord used them.
     The Rod of Moses was used to work miracles before Pharaoh to get him to let the Lord’s people go free.  It was a sheepherders’ stick, yet it was used to make a mighty Pharaoh of Egypt break down his will.  A  sheepherders’ rod is a simple thing, yet it was used to make someone useful to God.
     What about the precious, expensive perfumed ointment from an alabaster box.  A woman brought to Jesus and she poured it upon  His head, worshipping Him with it.  Here was a simple object, yet it was used to make someone useful to God.
     Finally what about Job’s prayers. Job was sick and sad.  His whole life was a real mess.  What happened to Job when he prayed for his friends?  Health, wealth, and happiness was restored to his life.

     Job 42:10  And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

     The simple object such as "prayer" was used to make someone useful to God.  Can you do that? Can you put your problems aside and pray for others like Job did?  Are you willing to take a chance, that if you too begin to pray for others, that the Lord can turn your life around and make you happy again like Job?  Are your eyes on yourself and your problems, or are your eyes on Jesus and doing His will?  Are you allowing yourself to be of used  of God?
     Can you be useful to God?  When we have wrong feelings, wrong thoughts and ideas, we can’t be.  When we listen to the lies of Satan and "not" do the right thing, then we can’t be.
     In the bible there is a story about a man named Lot.  He became useless to God.  He stopped praying, spent his time with ungodly men, loosing his Godly witness.  Finally he allowed his environment to twist his mind into believing that he could live a worldly life, not a Godly one.  He could have taken charge to go about changing his environment or situation but instead he just gave up and caved in to the pressures of life and the sad people around him.
     Judas became useless to God.  He was the Apostle who betrayed Jesus.  Money became more important to him than God.  He too spent his time with ungodly men and lost his Godly witness.  He allowed greed and selfish motives to make him betray Jesus.  A cold heart, is of no use to the Lord.
     Are you one of the crowd, blending in and backing off from being used of God?  Or, are you allowing yourself to be used of the Lord?  Do you tell people about Jesus and are daily praying for them?  There is real power there!  Are you being useful to God or are you sitting back complaining about your troubled circumstances?
     These questions really matter.  You do have to decide which way that you will go.  Are your eyes looking up to Heaven or are they looking down, dwelling on your troubles and circumstances?
     How do you overcome feelings of uselessness before God? Remember we read in Luke 1, that it tells about Mary the mother of Jesus.  Mary was a weak and poor simple girl.  She was very young and still living at home with her parents as was the Jewish custom in those days.  She had no power of her own except that of the men in her life.  That was Jewish custom too.
     Pregnancy out of wedlock was a stoning offense.  Yet, here Mary was pregnant with no husband.  Faith was all that she could stand on in spite of her circumstances.  Mary was obedient, faithful and as her reward she became the mother of the greatest human/eternal being the world had every known.
     You may feel worthless with no abilities and think that you can’t possible be used by anyone, let alone God Almighty.  Yes, you can though! It may seem to you that you are an unlikely candidate to be useful to God, but He can still use you if you have faith and trust in Him.  If you trust that no matter what your circumstances are, you can still be used of the Lord.
     Here is something for you to think about.  I once went to a nursing home to do a worship service.  You know worship music and then tell a sermon.  After wards I always try to go around the home hugging and praying with people.
     There was this one elderly man in a bed saying that he wished that he were dead.  He felt that his life wasn’t worth anything, anymore to anyone.  Let alone God.  I counseled and prayed with him then continued on with other people, keeping an eye on him.
     Well first a man came to visit him and he told him about Jesus.  Then a nurse came into take care of his needs.  Again he did the same thing, telling her about Jesus.
     I had to smile, I had to tell him what God had revealed to me about him.  "Sir I (said,) don’t you see why the Lord hasn’t called you home yet?  Why your an Evangelist, just like me.  Yes you are an Evangelist, even though you seem helpless in that hospital bed.  You’re telling people about Jesus, you’re winning souls for the Kingdom of God.  In spite of your circumstances, God can still use you mightily."
     I walked out of there remembering the wonderful smile upon his face.  He was letting the Lord use him in spite of his circumstances and winning them to the Kingdom of God.  Praise the Lord!  He finally had peace and joy again.
     How can you be used of God when your circumstances seems like the lowest possible?  How can you still be used of God when you are in a wheel chair or a hospital bed seemingly helpless? How can you be used of God when the years have taken their toile on you and you have become an elderly person?

1.)  Start by praying for those around you. 
2.)  You can ask the Lord to open up doors of opportunity to witness to them.
3.)  Talk and witness about Jesus and "walk the talk."  In other wards, you can start living like a true born-again Christian full of the love for mankind.
4.)  Teach the Word of God to those around you, even if it is only a little at a time.  You can still do it!
5.)  You can still encourage others in spite of your circumstances and be a living example to them of the Love of Jesus.
6.)  Be strong in your faith.  Showing  that faith to others who need to see the real spiritual thing, (not just an act of religion.)

     Even when we are weak, we can be strong if we have the Lord with us.  When we have difficulties and problems, the Lord is our source of strength.  When we are down the only place that we have is to look up, and that’s Heaven.
    We can still be useful if we set our minds and hearts to be, inspite of our circumstances.  We are still special and we still matter.  God can use us if our eyes are kept on Him! This is the best time of your life and you can live it for Jesus, no matter what your circumstances are.  Let the light of the Lord shine!

     "Dear Heavenly Father, we love you so much.  We worship and honor your Holy presence among us.  Even now we know that you are with us, and that you  know the circumstances that we are in.  You feel for us such Holy love.  We worship you with our whole heart.
     Please help us to renew ourselves again in your Word.  Help us to spiritually grow in faith and truth.  Renew your strength in us so that we can have new wings, like an eagle.  Help us to take real joy in our lives.  No matter what the circumstances are, help us to have our eyes upon you.
     Thank you Lord for showing us how we can always be useful for your glory.  Thank you for showing us that we are still special, even when we are down.  We love you Lord and we thank you for being there for us, always.  In your Holy Name, Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen"

   If you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior please turn your eyes towards the Lord.  He’s your refuge and strength.  I care about you, I really do, and I know how you are feeling, but the Lord really is the answer. If you have never really taken the time to ask Him into your heart, I want to give you the opportunity to do just that.  It's never too late to accept Jesus into your heart.  I want you to take a minute to say this prayer from the bottom of your heart with all of the sincerity that you can.

     Now if you have just said this prayer, I want you to find the closest Evangelical spirit filled church that you can find, and go to it this Sunday.  You want to choose a church where you will spiritually grow and be happy.  A church that teaches and preaches God's inspired Word from the Holy Bible.  Especially a chruch that teaches salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, and His glorious resurrectionfor our sins.  Because of our Lord Jesus, we can have salvation and know that Heaven awaits all who believe in Him.
     It’s very important  to go to church for Christian fellowship and to "spiritually grow."  Start reading the bible and begin a prayer life of worshipful service.  Tell everyone you meet that you have found the greatest joy, salvation through Jesus Christ.  I also pray that when you leave this forum that you have felt an anointing touch of sincere love from Jesus, and that you feel welcomed to come back often. Amen.
     I’m so happy for you, what a great feeling isn't? I would really enjoy hearing from you and anyone who has read this teaching. Email me a letter back!

May the Good Lord Bless you,
Your Sister in Christ, Evangelist/Diana Gray

     P.S.  I sincerely pray that this message is a real blessing to you and that no matter what circumstances that you are in, you know that your strength comes from the Lord.