How usable are you??

The other day I was preparing for our young women’s group for our church…which this time I was the only leader! Yikes! It was actually 15 minutes before it started and I still didn’t have anything solid…finally I went into my room and was like “God! I need something to teach the girls tonight!” I asked Him where I should turn to in the bible and I felt like I was supposed to go to Daniel 1 for some reason…odd!

Basically it talks about how when Daniel was working for the king..they wanted to feed him all this crazy fancy food! But he didn’t want to defile himself…because a lot of it was the type of food that God had forbidden the Jews to eat! He asked to eat vegetables and water instead! You might think YUCK!! Who would ask for veggies and water if they had a huge banquet in front of them?? They MUST be out of their mind! But….it keeps going and said that for 10 days Daniel and his friends ate just the vegetables and water…as a test…just to see who would be healthier and better looking afterwards…well sure enough..Daniel and his friends won the contest! It says that they were stronger and healthier than any of the other men!

I was like…ok God so what am I supposed to teach out of this?? That the girls are to eat veggies now all the time?? Lol! No! He reminded me that the day before he had given me another verse out of 2 Timothy 2….basically it says that God has made some of us for awesome purposes like pots of gold and silver…but others he has made for just everyday menial stuff…like clay pots…I was like wait a minute God you are not a respecter of people though! You don’t have favorites! Then I kept reading though and realized that it’s MY choice what kind of pot I want to be! It says those who keep themselves clean and set apart will be used for great purposes!!

I’ll actually post the verse here…“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also [utensils] of wood and earthenware, and some for honorable and noble [use] and some for menial and ignoble [use]. So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work.”

So basically if you get rid of the stuff in your life that is contaminating you and keeping you as an everyday vessel God can use you and you will become a beautiful vessel that can be used for incredible world changing stuff!

How amazing is that!! But here gets to the hard part….the part that was THE hardest to teach the other night too…What are you feeding yourself with? The other night we were over at our cousins house and started watching some movie after awhile there just got to be too much “stuff” in it… not even bedroom scenes…just a lot of talk! And finally we all had to turn it off because we know what God has called us to and the influence that we want to be so we had to shut if off to keep ourselves clean! You might be watching something or listening to something and some questionable things come on…what do you do? Do you think it just goes past you?? NO!! You are letting it in and the more you let in the more you are opening the door to sin and lessening your capacity of God really being able to use you!

Trust me….I am TOTALLY going through this too and it is always a process!! But I know that the more I set myself apart for God the more he honors that and can use me!

I had the girls make a list of boundaries that they were going to set for THEMSELVES in areas that they wouldn’t cross, put before their eyes or their ears…I know for me….that if there is a bedroom scene, nudity, talking about sex in songs, swear words in songs, etc, then I don’t watch it or listen to it! Now these might not be your boundaries…yours may be more strict or less…but go to God and ask him to reveal to you what to cut out so that he can truly use you and you can be a beautiful sparkling vessel of GOLD!!