You don’t have to look far to be overwhelmed by the many needs in our world today.
We live in a broken world, and sometimes wicked people succeed in their wicked schemes. We live in a broken world with broken systems. Life has fragility. Things are never quite right here on this earth.
Problems will always arise in our world, but we will always rise to bring God’s hope, grace and peace.
For all the needs in our world, God is simply looking for a people. Men and women He can use to bring His healing, hope and grace. God doesn’t need much to change the world, He doesn’t need people of great talent, wealth or influence (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-30). He simply calls for people full of faith and the Holy Spirit.
Acts 6 shows us God’s plan as challenges arose in the early Church with the food distribution program to the needy. When there were problems, God led the church to raise up people. The apostles raised up seven men known to be “full of faith, wisdom and full of the Holy Spirit.”
These men raised up were already known to be full of faith and the Holy Spirit in their everyday life and work before they were chosen for leadership positions. Whenever problems arise in the world, or the Church, God is looking to raise up more people full of faith and the Holy Spirit to meet those needs:
God is calling for people “full of faith” when the world is paralyzed by fear
When problems arise in our world, do not be surprised. Remember, God is calling for us to rise and bring His hope, grace and peace to the great needs in front of us.
There are many promises in the Scripture to not walk in fear. It is interesting that God calls us to live in reverent fear of the Lord, and yet he does not give us fear toward anything else.
2 Timothy 1:7 tells us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
Psalm 112:6-7 tells us, “Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD.”
When you live in the reverent fear of the Lord, you don’t need to fear anything else.
God wants to give you great faith to meet the needs around you. When hope is hard to come by, let’s be the people who believe God will show up.
God is calling for people “full of the Holy Spirit” rather than being full of ourselves
Where do we find the energy to run toward the problems in our world, instead of away from them?
Remember, when you don’t feel like you have anymore strength left, you can lean on God’s strength, which never runs out. When you don’t have any grace left to give, God can give you His grace. When you worry about the state of the world, God can show you He’s still on His throne.
It is the Spirit of God in our lives that strengthens, empowers and sustains us to step into the problems and help people see the hope, love and grace of God.
God can’t fill us full of the Holy Spirit if we are already full of ourselves.
We need to surrender more of our lives, so God can fill us in a greater way. John the Baptist prayed, “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” (John 3:30)
Scripture tells us that the same power which raised Jesus from the dead lives in us. Andrew Heard has said, “It is inconceivable that the same power which raised Jesus from the dead would come in our lives and do nothing.”
When we surrender more of ourselves and ask God to fill us, God will surely come and fill us. We will sense God’s power flowing in and through us to a world that so desperately needs him.
Matt Brown
Matt Brown is an evangelist, author of Truth Plus Love: The Jesus Way to Influence, host of Think Eternity with Matt Brown, and founder of Think Eternity—a ministry dedicated to amplifying the gospel every day through podcasts, devotionals, videos, live events, and more. Matt and his wife, Michelle, have three children and live near Minneapolis, Minnesota. You can follow Matt at @evangelistmatt and thinke.org.
