picturesfromheaven

It's a beautiful evening, and I'm about to go work in my garden. But before I do, I just wanted to post one more picture. I pray that it will be blessing to you.

Picture…a slide show of musical instruments. It begins with a ram’s horn, then a lyre, and then a simple stringed instrument and then speeds up giving only glimpses of the different musical instruments that have been used through two millenniums of time. The slide show stops with a picture of a man. It’s fairly straightforward slide show of musical instruments until that last slide of a man just standing there, with his arms hanging loosely at his side.

Hear…the Lord say, “I want to play you like an instrument. I want to use you to do awesome things in this world.”

Consider: When I first learned to play the clarinet, our dog, Fritzie, used to howl. When I transferred to French Horn, he just hid. The moment he saw me take my horn out the case He would run for cover. He didn’t even wait to hear how it would sound. He knew it was not going to be to his liking. It took quite a bit of practice before Fritzie would stay in the same room with me when I played my horn. But God doesn’t need to practice in order to play you well. He is your creator and He knows everything about you. He is a Master Musician and He knows how to bring forth the most beautiful music from you…that is if you will surrender control of your life to Him. For some this is difficult, because of their hands-on approach to life. They want to be able to control, if not others, at least their situations and/or themselves. But if you will trust Him enough relinquish control of your life to Him, and take your hands off so that He can put His in their place, He will be able to use you to accomplish great things. He’s not looking for great, powerful and gifted people. He is looking for people who will say, “I trust you God. Do with me whatever you want to do with me. Play whatever song brings you pleasure.” For some people it is not a control or trust issue that causes them to shy away from yielding completely to God, it is the fact that they have believed a lie. They feel inferior and believe that their gifts do not compare favorably with others. I just want to say one word about that, it’s not biblical but it is appropriate. Hogwash. That is a lie of the enemy. God did not create any inferior people with small or useless gifts. Every child of God was created and gifted by Him to be a part of a beautiful symphony that He wants to play in these last days. Every instrument is important in a symphony, every musician critical to the outcome of the performance. Do not hold back because you do not feel that you have much to offer. Recognize God created you for a purpose. Surrender your life, your strengths, weaknesses, gifts and abilities both small and great into the Master Musician’s hands. He will use you in a beautiful and meaningful way.

Pray: Father, use me for your purposes. I am sorry that I have held any part of my life back from you. I repent of that selfishness. I yield myself unreservedly for your purposes. Here I am, use me. I trust you, and will be obedient to whatever you want to do with my life. Make my life be music that can comfort, inspire and aid others.