God will work and speak through you! — Power Packed Promises

“Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:11 NASB)

I love this promise/command combination verse, that says that if we serve or speak, we should do so “as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies”.

You are God’s instrument!

Wow, this is clearly telling you to be an instrument of God! This means when you are speaking, you should expect God to speak through you; you let Him use your voice! And when you serve, you should expect God to serve through you; you allow Him to use your hands to serve!

How do you do this?

You fill your mind with God’s Words, so that they will roll off your tongue instantly, in positive and helpful ways (Out of the abundance of a man’s heart, so he speaks – Luke 6:34), and so that His Words will transform the way you behave, and will make you useful, kind, and helpful (Be transformed by the renewing of your mind – Rom. 12:2).

Here is the litmus test

You know you are doing it correctly when it brings glory to Jesus Christ.

Hansi, the girl who loved the swastika

Many years ago I had the privilege of meeting Maria Anne Hirschmann (you can read her story in her book, “Hansi, the girl who loved the swastika - Tyndale House Publishers), who, as a young peasant girl, had been intrenched in Adolf Hitler’s youth brigade. She had also been held in a Russian prison camp and forced into slave labor as part of the many horrors of WWII! But, through an amazing set of circumstances, she was able to escape Nazi Germany and flee to an American prison camp. She hoped that she would be treated better by the American soldiers than she had been by the Russian soldiers. And, she was! Many of the American soldiers were Christians. At their camp she found both kindness as well as a genuine life-changing faith in Jesus Christ.

Hansi’s prayer “A nail upon the wall”

After the war concluded she traveled everywhere telling about her amazing journey from hopeless desperation to joyful redemption. Wherever she spoke, she always started every talk exactly the same way, with the same simple “Hansi’s prayer”: “Lord, make me a nail upon the wall. And upon this thing, so insignificant and small; hang a great big picture of thy wonderful, smiling, face!”