I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord
Real service is what I desire;
I’ll say what You want me to so, dear Lord,
But don’t t ask me to sing in the choir.,

I’ll say what You want me to so, dear Lord,
I love to see good things come to pass;
But don’t ask me to teach boys and girls, dear Lord
I’d rather just sit in my class.

I’ll do what you want me to do, dear Lord,
I yearn for the kingdom to thrive;
I’ll give you my nickels and dimes, dear Lord
But please don’t ask me to tithe.

I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord
I’ll say what you want me to say;
But I’m busy just now with myself, dear Lord
I’ll help you some other day.

If you put a sponge under a faucet of water, within a few minutes, it’s saturated.

But what if you leave that sponge under the faucet for another five minutes? Will it receive any more water? How about if you left it under the faucet for a whole week? No more could be absorbed.

What do you have to do for the sponge to regain its absorbency? Squeeze it out. Then its absorbency returns and it sucks up water again.

That’s how God created us. Some of us have become saturated. We’ve received so much we feel like we’re not receiving like we used to. It’s time to squeeze our sponges — and that’s called serving. When we do it, the absorbency of our heart is restored. Things that used to be boring become fresh and vibrant!

By Wayne Cordeiro

There are many reasons why God shouldn’t have called us. But don’t worry. We’re in good company:

Moses stuttered; David’s armor didn’t fit; John Mark was rejected by Paul;Timothy had ulcers; Hosea’s wife was a prostitute; Amos’ only training was in the school of fig-tree pruning; Jacob was a liar; David had an affair; Solomon was too rich; Abraham was too old; David was too young; Peter was afraid of death; Lazarus was dead; John was self-righteous; Naomi was a widow; Paul was a murderer; So was Mosed; Jonah ran from God; Miriam was a gossip; Gideon and Thomas both doubted; Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal; Elijah was burned out; John the Baptist was a loudmouth; Martha was a worry-wart; Mary was lazy; Samson had long hair; Noah got drunk; Did I mention that Moses had a short fuse?; So did Peter, Paul–well, lots of folks did.

But God doesn’t require a job interview. He doesn’t hire and fire like most bosses, because He’s more our Dad than our Boss. He doesn’t look at financial gain or loss. He’s not prejudiced or partial, not judging, grudging, sassy, or brassy, not deaf to our cry, not blind to our need. As much as we try, God’s gifts are free.

We could do wonderful things for wonderful people and still not be Wonderful. Satan says, “You’re not worthy.” Jesus says, “So what? I AM.”

Satan looks back and sees our mistakes. God looks back and sees the cross. He doesn’t calculate what we did in ‘78. It’s not even on the record.

Sure. There are lots of reasons why God shouldn’t have called us. But if we are deeply in love with Him, if we hunger for Him more than our next breath, He’ll use us in spite of who we are, where we’ve been, or what we look like.

I pray that as believers we will step out of our limitations into the unlimited nature of who God is. Then our passion for God and our passion to communicate with Him will make short work of our limitations.”

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Written by Matt Tullos. © 1993 LifeWay Church Resources. Used with permission.