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Highly Unqualified, Highly Equipped

Bygroundsandgrace.com

What does it mean to be qualified for something? Who sets the perimeters for our qualifications? Are the qualifications always fair?

Those questions can be answered in different ways, but the more important question is who should qualify/equip us and for what purposes? It’s our human instinct, even as believers, to set the limits or hastily judge what others can and can’t do, but only God chooses who He will use and the purposes He deems fit for them.

Thankfully we are reminded in scripture that we have a heavenly, perfect, Qualifier that equips us to do what others (and ourselves) believe we are incapable of doing. We may be highly unqualified to others, but we’re highly equipped by our Father to do His will.

It’s not up to us or others to declare what we’re capable of or what we’re deemed qualified for. We often forget that the power of the Almighty God lives in us and empowers us daily. If we tap into His Spirit and listen for the direction He wants us to walk in, God can use us, flaws and all, to do His powerful work. Let’s stop allowing others to define our abilities and keep us from doing the things God invites us into.

A disheartening experience for me recently was a brother in Christ essentially congratulating me after I offered to pray out loud for our group. I know it was meant to be a genuine compliment, but it translated to me that it surprised him I was capable of praying out loud in front of others, and could do it “well” (whatever that means). I share this example, not because I have sore feelings towards my friend, but because it paints the picture of how we often forget the power of the Holy Spirit within us.

Something I want to challenge myself and each of you to do is to start seeing our brothers and sisters in Christ as exactly that…IN CHRIST. Meaning they have the power of Christ in them and are qualified for anything and everything He calls them to. Let’s stop looking at each other in light of the world’s standards and instead see the qualities of Jesus displayed in one another.

There are many examples from scripture of people, like you and me, with flaws and human inabilities to do what God called them to. However, because they believed in Him, His Spirit was with them and gave them the power to do the impossible.

  • God’s power, in Moses, split the Red Sea in two
  • God’s power, in Noah, allowed him to build an ark and endure a flood of the earth
  • God’s power, in David, slayed a Giant with a simple stone
  • God’s power, in Esther, empowered her to go before the king and free the Jews
  • God’s power, in Ruth, gave her courage to move to a new land and care for her mother-in-law
  • God’s power, in Daniel, helped him leave a lion’s den without a single mark
  • God’s power, in Paul, helped him spread the gospel while enduring beatings and prison

There wasn’t anything particularly special about any of these people, besides their faith in God. Their human abilities and limitations didn’t move or hinder them to accomplish the will of God. It was simply their trust in HIS POWER to do the miraculous.

Do we have that kind of trust and acknowledgement of God’s power in us? Do we trust in His power to work in those around us? Are we giving credit to the people doing God’s work, instead of to God Himself? I know I’m guilty and lacking in all these ways.

So, how do we move to a new level of trust in the power and movement of the Holy Spirit?

We start by turning to God’s Word. We begin reading scripture and stories of people like Esther and Paul, and remember the same Spirit that was in them is also in each of us who believe. His Spirit is alive and active, and we must tap into it and abide in His presence each day. This helps us remember the real source of power in our lives and gives us more confidence in His strength working through our weaknesses.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. -2 Corinthians 12:9

Let’s turn to the power of God in us and trust in HIS POWER working through us. Don’t rely on your own strengths, but the almighty power of Christ. Don’t discount others based on what you think about them, but instead see God’s power to use them in any situation. We may be fully disqualified from time to time by the world, but remember, we are fully equipped by God for His purposes.

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