Availability

Availability is the Key to Serving Christ

Scripture Reading: Exodus 3:14-22

Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. (Ex 3:10 NASB)

As I meditated upon the above passage of Scripture, the Lord impressed upon my spirit the words; I have a plan for you. It took many years before I realized the full extent of God’s plan, but I did learn that one important key element in serving the Lord was availability. If a person is not available, then God can’t use him. It all boils down to having the right attitude and being willing to say to the Lord, “Whatever it takes!” As my wife and I teamed up to serve the Lord, we learned another important principle—flexibility. Flexibility became our middle names for you never know what kind of situations the Lord allows you to be in. While in Cameroon we often lost electricity and water for days at a time. In Papua, New Guinea we had to purify the water and use it sparingly. That meant taking a shower by wetting down, soaping, and rinsing off. In Peru we were not allowed to flush toilet paper down the toilet because of the poor sewer drainage system. Instead it had to be put into a waste paper basket. All these things called upon each of us to exercise flexibility. Do you see why flexibility became our middle names?

     In the Old Testament we see availability in the actions of Moses at the burning bush. God sought Moses’ availability and the text says that Moses resisted. He gave all kinds of excuses why he wasn’t the one God wanted, and asked God to send someone else. But God answered his every excuse and said to Moses—you are the man. I have chosen you. I have a plan already in place for you. You will be my mouthpiece to Pharaoh and the lords of Egypt. In the end, Moses learned the secret of availability, and went before Pharaoh demanding the release of the children of Israel “or else”. Pharaoh resisted and found out what the “or else” really meant. Finally, after ten plagues and the death of his firstborn, Pharaoh sent the Israelites away. The Bible tells us they “went in haste.”

     I love the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip had a tremendously successful evangelistic program going in Samaria. Hundreds were being saved and receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Suddenly Philip was whisked away by the Holy Spirit to a desert of all places. There was a man returning from worshiping in Jerusalem who needed to hear the Good News and Philip was sent by God to preach to him about Jesus. Philip never would have reached this man for Christ unless he had made himself available and flexible to God’s calling.

     God has a plan for your life just as he had for me. Are you willing to be available? It boils down to whether you want to sit in the stands and be a spectator or whether you are willing to step up to the plate. God will use you if you will make yourself available.

Prayer: Dear Lord, may I be willing to answer your call by saying, “Here am I send me.”