Prayer Focus for February 2015
Boundless Availability
‘To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy’ (Jude 1:24).
When we think of the word availability, we hear the call for us to be available when that call is given.
We are familiar with the call of Jesus to Peter and Andrew to become two of the twelve disciples. It appears that they dropped what they were doing and immediately followed Jesus. This should cause us to recognise the trait of availability, as there seemed to be no hesitance in them joining Jesus.
Too often we view being available to the Lord either as a case of sitting and waiting or – at the other extreme – being so busy that we miss the call.
Peter and Andrew were doing work that had nothing to do with the ministry that God was about to call them to. They were just doing their own tasks – fishing or collecting taxes. What made them available was their willingness to immediately leave what they were doing to do God’s thing.
We are also familiar with the story of Saul of Tarsus – who was on his way to Damascus to further his ambition to be a leader in the Jewish religion – and how after his conversion he began to preach the same gospel that he had once persecuted. Saul was available to be used by God, and his work for the Lord began in God’s timing.
Availability is more of an attitude than an action. It is an attitude that manifests itself when we have our priorities right. It is an attitude that says, ‘I will not hold anything tighter than I hold my commitment to the Lord’.
We live in a world where being available is not popular. But if we are going to be used in God’s service we have to be available all the time, with listening ears ready to hear his call.
In Isaiah 6:8 we read: ‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”’
Are we always available for that call? Are you available today? God is always speaking, but are we listening?
Are you available right now or do you say, ‘Give me some more time’? The Lord needs people who are available at his timing and calling, not their own.
He will equip you for the task, prepare you for the work, and walk beside you in the journey. Are you willing to be available? Check out this link to the song ‘Here I am, wholly available’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3sDEDFqjoo
‘But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’ (Joshua 24:15).