“God doesn’t care about your ability or your inability; God cares about your availability”
Throughout our ministry life my wife Jenny and I have had “moments of calling” where God has called us to do something that is way beyond our abilities and often involves great sacrifice and disruption to our life. Every time this has happened, before God told us what He wanted us to do, He first asked us to be available.
God wants us to be totally surrendered to Him. When we say to God, “Lord, my life is Yours, do whatever You want with it;” that is when He uses us to do great things for Him; but it is also the time that it costs us the most to serve Him.
Recently I was travelling with our National Director from Mexico, Jose Carlos Gutierrez and his wife Sara. He was speaking at a school assembly in Arizona and shared a message on being available for God. He told the story about how Sara and he had married 12 months ago, had set up their home and were comfortable and content with their life. But God came to them and asked them whether they were “available”—whether they would be prepared to do anything or go anywhere for Him. Without knowing what God had in store for them they said “yes” to Him. Not long after this God clearly told them both that He wanted them to move to Juarez, Mexico to establish the YFC ministry in this city.
Juarez is currently the most dangerous city in Mexico and one of the most dangerous cities in the world. It is controlled by drug cartels and is known as “murder city”. The drug cartels recruit and pay large sums of money to young teenagers to kill people. They have recently started demanding protection money from churches and schools and have killed Pastors and Principals who refuse to pay.
When it was clear that God wanted Jose Carlos and Sara to move to Juarez, Sara cried every night for three weeks. But they were obedient to the Lord and moved to Juarez and for six months now they have been faithfully reaching out to young people who desperately need the love and salvation of Jesus. They have a great vision for the young people of this city and God is using them mightily to reach lost young people who have no hope without Jesus.
God calls us all to be available to Him. Are you prepared to say to the Lord, “I am available; I totally surrender my life to You; do whatever You want with me to grow Your Kingdom”? When we do this God can and will use us to do great things for Him.
