What Do You Have In Your Hand?

  "God is not looking for great ability, he's looking for availability" 

I’ve been contemplating this thought for a couple of weeks now, and as I’ve spent time thinking about it over and over, the more impressed I felt to write about it.

What do you have in your hand? What is it that you have that God could use?

I don’t always know who takes the time to read this blog, but I know, that somewhere out there, someone needs to hear this. Someone out there is feeling that their little is not enough.

Do you ever feel this way? Do you ever feel that you don’t have any talents or abilities that God can use?

Do you ever want to do great things for God, but you look at yourself and you just don’t see any potential or talent that God could use? Do you go through your meagre list of abilities and think that they are of no use to God?

Maybe you look around at other people and despair that you can’t sing, or play an instrument, or teach or preach or cook like them.

So often, we feel that we need extraordinary abilities in order to do God’s work. But we don’t! We just need to be available. God can put the EXTRA in the ordinary!

God is not looking for great ability, he just wants us to use what he has already given us. He wants to use what is already in our hand.

Can I draw your attention to a well-known story in the Bible? The story of Moses and the very plain, possibly ugly looking stick that he held in his hand.

Exodus 4:2-4, 12 - And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: ...

All Moses had was a rod. A stick. Does that sound like great ministry material to you? No. But it was what was in his hand and God wanted to show Moses how he could use what Moses thought was nothing, and turn it into something amazing.

What we see as nothing, is something to God. There was nothing significant about the stick Moses was holding. It was just a stick. But it was what Moses had in his hand, and when God got inside that stick, miracles began to happen.

God used Moses in a mighty way because, despite all his excuses at the beginning, he was willing to give God what he had and watch what God would do!

If that doesn’t resonate with you, then how about the story of David and Goliath? What did David have in his hand? A sling and 5 small stones. But when he gave them to God and let God use them, a mighty defeat of the Philistine army occurred.

1 Samuel 17:40, 49 KJV - And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. ...

And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

What about the widow of Zarapheth? We read of a widow woman with only a little flour and oil in her hand and God chose to take what she willingly offered and work a miracle.

1 Kings 17:12, 15 KJV - And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. ...

And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

And of course, I can’t think about this topic without remembering the little boy with the 5 loaves and 2 fish.

John 6:9 KJV - There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?

Mark 6:41-43 KJV - And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.

All that the little boy had in his hand, he gave to the disciples and when they placed the 5 loaves and 2 fish in the Lord’s hands, everything changed! When we are willing to give God what we have in our hand, miracles can happen!

So that brings me to an important question. What are you doing with what you have in your hand? What gift has God given you that you can give back to him to use for his glory?

It’s not your ability, your knowledge, your talent or even the size of your gift, it is your willingness for God to use it. God’s power is so infinitely huge that although our gift may seem small, if we give it to God, he can increase it, enlarge it and blow our minds with what he can do.

We just need to be available. It’s not about our ability. It’s about our availability.

One of our biggest problems as believers, is the tendency we have to underestimate what we have. Now I don’t mean that we need to be proud and boastful of what we have in our hands, but we need to realise that we serve an amazing, miracle-working God and he can make something out of nothing.

What God can do with our 5 little loaves and 2 small fish is beyond our human comprehension.

Ephesians 3:20 - Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us

If you love to write, then give it to God and let him use it for his glory. Write about what God is doing in your life and be an encouragement to those in your sphere of influence. If you have a voice that can sing, then sing praises to God and use your voice to bring glory to him. If you can cook, then use your talent for God. Show God’s love by being hospitable and serve others. If you have an ability to teach, then teach others about Christ and his ability to save the lost, heal the broken-hearted, lift up the fallen.

Give God what you already have in your hand and watch what he will do with it.

Often, we think we don’t possess anything that God can use, but we already have what God needs to do his work, we just need to be willing to give it to him.

If you don’t know what you have in your hand, then just ask. The Lord promises wisdom to those who ask.

James 1:5 -  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

If you take a good look inside your heart and dig up those dreams maybe you’ve pushed down deep inside, thinking they weren’t good enough, then it’s time for you to offer them to God and see what he chooses to do with them.

For years I had a desire to teach, to write and to speak, but I felt I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t have enough experience, I wasn’t old and mature enough, I didn’t have the opportunities offered me. Well, as sure as I am that some of that was true, when I gave my dreams and desires to God, he opened a door and made a way for me to use what was in my hand the whole time. I just hadn’t opened my hand and raised it up to him to see what he would do.

What I needed to serve him was there all along. It just needed God’s touch. His blessing. His approval. And most of all, my willingness to let him use it however he saw fit.

The devil loves to feed you lies about your abilities. He wants you to think that you have nothing to offer. He doesn’t want you to submit to God. He wants you to feel useless for God’s work. Don’t listen to him. He’s a liar and the father of lies.

So, quit making excuses. Open your hand. Give it to God. Whatever it may be. However small it may be. Ask him to show you what he wants you to do.

The world wants us to follow the “You are enough” philosophy. But, SPOILER ALERT! You are NOT enough. I don’t want to discourage you, but only God is enough! Without him, we are nothing! And when we give him our all, then he can work with our little and we can become enough. We can become a vessel that he can use.

Availability is the key!

When you give God what is in your hand, he will surprise you! When we give our little to God, everything changes. He is able to use us like we never imagined he could.

Give God what is in your hand. Don’t hold back. 

Even if it’s small, give him your all!