October 1

     “There are many who long to help others, but they feel that they have no spiritual strength or light to impart. Let them present their petitions at the throne of grace. Plead for the Holy Spirit. God stands back of every promise He has made. With your Bible in your hands say, I have done as Thou hast said. I present Thy promise, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

          Christ’s Object Lessons p.147

     For the last 30 days we have been hearing that God answers prayers. What we haven’t heard is what we should pray for. Here we see the first inklings of the kind of thing we should pray for.

     “There are many who long to help others, but they feel that they have no spiritual strength or light to impart.”

     We should pray that God gives an answer to this plea, “I want to serve, I want to help, I don’t know how to help … and I’m not equipped.” The human response is simply to say, “attend some training.”

     The training is good. We should attend training, we should be technically equipped to serve. That is one of the reasons why our local Conference asks church officers to attend training meetings. We do need to make sure that as we serve people know that we are well equipped to serve, that is why we insist that those who work with children and vulnerable adults have the proper DBS (the old CRB) certificate.

     We need more than training if we long to help others. We do feel inadequate to serve. The resolution we should have is to pray for God to be the one who equips us and directs us.

     Gladys Aylward was not the person you would recognise as a hero. She apparently lacked all ability, except that she knew God had called her. She trusted that God would enable her to serve. She did just that with great distinction. So could you - all you need do is ask.

     We started this blog with the idea that it should last for 40 days. Should we carry on with the readings? Please vote here