2  Timothy 4:1-5 (NLT)

I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom: Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.

 

2 Timothy 4:2 (NKJV) Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

 

Are you available to God? The word “available” means to be suitable and ready for use. Those who are useful to the Lord are readily attainable and accessible. Sufficient of power and valid in faith, God is looking for those who have surrendered all to His Purpose “in season and out of season.” Preach the Word! The Lord is looking for useful believers today. Not those who have God penciled in on Sunday and an occasional Wednesday night, but those who continuously seek His Face through His Word by faith and righteousness only found in Jesus Christ. Is that you today?

 

God did not call you as a Christian to be a trophy on His Shelf of Victories. He has the victory. Jesus owns it. There is nothing greater than conquering death and the grave because no one else has but the Lord. Salvation is a Gift from God that is received by faith and confession that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, but now what? Is that all that there is? After the moment of victory when the Blood of Jesus wiped the slate clean, what happens after that? Picking up the pieces of their life, most people return to the filth and squalor of their past rather than seeking the riches of God’s Grace including all the blessings, promises and favor that the Lord has tucked away. God has called us to minister and fulfill ministry opportunities in this life. He has equipped us with all that is necessary to accomplish this task but we must be available to do so. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) God’s Word is the beginning and foundation of our faith as believers discover God’s Plan and Purpose in their life. But it is up to you whether or not you avail yourself to God. It begins by discovering your purpose, submitting to preparation, empowerment by God, and you will then become productive. What’s the benefit? Fulfillment of God’s Purpose for your life which may come in a variety of options that all result in the Glorification of God and preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through your life. Are you available?

 

I Samuel 1:10-11 (NLT)

Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.”

 

Hannah served the Lord and her husband faithfully. However, Hannah felt unfulfilled as she was barren and without a child. Her husband, Elkanah, had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah who had been blessed with children. In the midst of her sorrow although loved by her husband, Peninnah would taunt Hannah because of her barrenness only causing greater despair. Hannah petitioned God for fulfillment and in doing so offered to give the Lord her all in return. Hannah made herself available to God in exchange for His Blessing.

 

I Samuel 1:17-18, 20 (NLT)

“In that case,” Eli said, “go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”  “Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad. “And in due time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel for she said, “I asked the Lord for him.”

 

God granted Hannah’s request.

 

I Samuel 1:24-28 (NLT)

When the child was weaned, Hannah took him to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. They brought along a three-year-old bull for the sacrifice and a basketof flour and some wine. After sacrificing the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord. I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And theyworshiped the Lord there.

 

To many it would seem like a cruel twist of fate for God to give this woman a child that after just three short years, she would have to give back. Most women would forget their promise to the Lord after seeing their precious child and no longer remain committed to their word. Hannah made herself available to the Lord. Hannah gave her all to the Lord willingly and with a heart full of praise. (I Samuel 2:1-10) Her faith strongly invested in God’s Person blessed with the privilege of living a life of faith expressed while watching God’s Hand rest on her child. She was useful to God. Her wants and desires remained aligned with the Will of the Living God. Hannah was willing to give her all to the Lord willingly that day even if it was her only child.

 

On October 24, 2011, I began to pray for my son. I was not barren but threatened by his death from cancer. Faith assured me that God was our only hope of life in the midst of overwhelming odds of death. In March of 2012, God answered our prayer with the confirmation that the cancer was gone. We rejoiced and then almost immediately he returned to college to prepare for transfer to the state university to fulfill his educational calling. Those first few days were agonizing as I felt stripped of purpose after months of relentless care giving and constant attention, now he was gone. The Lord would gently ease the transition and create the same heart of rejoicing by pointing to my fellow mother, Hannah in the sheer revelation that God had given my son life to fulfill his calling escaping death and the grave. The blessings, promises and callings of God are useless unless they glorify God. Your life is essentially worthless out of His Purpose. To be fulfilled requires giving your all to the Lord and making yourself available to Him. Sometimes it will feel like everything is falling apart or you are losing those things you worked so hard to attain, but availability to God will fulfill and satisfy your life. It fulfills God’s charge to be ready in season and out of season. Whatever void that you desire to be filled happens in the moment you surrender to the process of usefulness to God!

 

I Samuel 3:9-10 (NLT)

So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.  And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

 

We rediscover young Samuel in the middle of the night in Chapter 3 as he is constantly awakened by a Voice and runs to Eli in obedience. But it is not Eli calling Samuel, it is the Lord. Jesus Christ called you out of the darkness and into the Glorious Light of His Amazing Love for a purpose. His Word has equipped you to fulfill His Purpose. Do you hear a voice that you cannot discern? Is it calling you day and night but you can’t seem to get it right? Maybe it is the Lord calling you to fulfill your Purpose and reach for Destiny today? Will you make yourself available? Are you willing to say today, “Speak, your servant is listening?”

 

Isaiah 6:5-8 (NLT)

Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”  Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

 

Availability to God is a process. One must discover His Purpose in order to follow the Lord’s Plan but all of this requires a commitment to His Word, His Way and His Will which many times requires more of a person than most are willing to give. When you invited Jesus Christ to be Lord of your life, it was a promise to yield your entire existence to Him in exchange for Eternal Life. God has great things in store for you according to His Kingdom not this world. Those who are willing to let go of everything and accept His All will be available to God but be warned God will take it. He wants every less than perfect detail of your life to fill with His Word and His Power. Grace reveals our insufficiency but faith does not leave us there. Empowerment grows as we relinquish the details of our meager existence for the Extravagance of God even when it seems like we must give our all. Hang on your promise is coming. Purpose will be fulfilled. God’s Power is available for those who give God everything – readily accessible to the Most High God with a heart that is attainable and not attached to the idols of this world. Valid faith releases God’s Power that is all sufficient and effective. Will you say to the Lord today, “Here I am. Send me.” It is not a question but a bold statement of faith that invites the Lord’s Intervention in your life today. He will take all of you to perform His Will and Purpose – God will be glorified with such a commitment.

 

2 Peter 1:3-8 (NLT)

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.  In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

God has given us everything we need to live a God-like Life. Just knowing God avails us to every benefit that His Kingdom offers those who are called His Children by faith. However, availability requires that we make room for the Lord to inhabit and fulfill our life. The only way to make room for God is to take all that I am and give it to the great I AM. He is too big to fill a portion of your life. He requires your “all” to perform His Perfect Will concerning your life. It doesn’t matter what you have done in your past because unlike the world that holds your past against you – God does not. Your sin is as far as the east is from the west. (Psalm 103:12) Never to be taken into account again because Jesus paid your debt in full and erased it from the books. Now your name is found in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You have everything you need to be productive and useful just by knowing Jesus Christ. Do you know Him? Salvation comes by calling on His Name. Fulfillment comes by vacating your life to the Lord for His Will and Way. Knowing the Lord allows you faith to release all that you are, all that you have and all that you desire for His Use with a heart of gladness. You will not experience such satisfaction outside of a true commitment that says, “Speak, your servant is listening” and “Here I am. Send me.” Both require faith that extends beyond this life into Eternity, a God that is only good in this life really does humanity no good at all. Our God must reach across death and the grave in order to offer us something we cannot gain ourselves. Faith confirms with confident hope that Jesus Christ did just that. Get to know the Lord through His Word. Work to give God every single facet of your life to be glorified. His Purpose and Promise for your life will be revealed. He will give you the Power to achieve His Plan. You will become productive and useful in availability to God!

 

I Corinthians 1:20-21 (NLT)

For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory. It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us…”