God Chooses the Unlikely Ones Like Me… How About YOU?

If stories weren’t important, including ours- we wouldn’t have all those crazy names in Jesus’ lineage to read! Right? I know you’ve probably skipped over them like me and wondered how to annunciate them – like Mahershalalhashbaz. I dare you to try and say that fast five times in a row!

Yet without those stories and lineage, we wouldn’t know the stories of God’s intervention and love for mankind and how He blessed us IN SPITE of our shortcomings.

Did you know the Bible is 75% story, 15% poetry, and 10% instruction? Yes, that is so surprising to me too - God is into story more than we realize - and He is into YOUR story too.

When I think about people in the Bible who became leaders, I think of people who didn’t believe they were leadership material, yet God’s perspective change came to them suddenly - through an angel, an epiphany, or a prophetic word, which revealed something different about their identity. He seems to choose people not based on outward appearance, but on the heart (I Sam. 16:7).

I am reminded of people like Gideon, Ester, Moses, Mary, the mother of Jesus, who by human appearance, seemed the most unlikely people to be chosen to lead and do great things for God.

This means that the way God thinks of us is much HIGHER than the way WE think. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9).

I wish I could’ve been there for that dramatic scene when Saul was knocked off his horse by a bright light when Jesus asked him why he was persecuting Him. Saul thought he was righteously following the “Law” by stoning Christians, but God saw that Saul needed the “right assignment” in that he was truly Paul, who would lead the charge to bring salvation to the Gentiles. I know that Ananias in Acts 9, who gave him a word from the Lord, thought that God had made a mistake in choosing Paul who was hated by the Christians - but God chooses the most unlikely! Wow! What can happen if WE truly knew our calling and WHO we are called to lead?

Let’s now look at another story of one of our patriarchs of faith - Abraham. Galatians 3:29 explicitly says that we are from the seed of Abraham, who was childless. He had to wait till he was 100 years old before his son, Isaac was born. Yet, the Bible says that he became the Father of nations - even though he was the most unlikely person. Abraham is mentioned in Hebrews 11 as one of the heroes of faith. God’s ways are so different than ours.

I was the most unlikely

In my own life, I had a vision from God when I was around 5 years old that I would be serve God and teach, leading others. But who was I? I was a shy introverted child who felt scared to death to open my mouth for fear I would be punished. I never felt qualified or capable.

But God… HE QUALIFIED ME! He gave me a prophetic word that I would lead a Creative Movement of hungry wild and crazy creatives and that is what I have been doing for the last two to three decades. And happily, heaping coals on the enemy’s head who tried to silence me.

Maybe that’s your story too. What has held you back from being an influencer? What has kept you trapped into doubting your prophetic word? Like Esther, “Who knows that God has raised you up for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

I pray that you discover the greatness of Christ living IN you and you become the influencer you are born to be.

-Theresa