Coffee Stains: Three Little Onions in a Bottle

The chorale of the church we work at when we’re not preaching in other places really sang well for their Christmas presentation.

One thing surprised me though. It’s always tough to get guys to sign up for the chorale and that day some of them had already left on vacation so the score read: ladies-twelve, guys-three. Those fellows were like three little onions drowning in a bottle of Chanel Number Five (that’s perfume guys). But when the chorale sang, I was amazed at the men. They were really gettin’ down, and you could hear them well. I was impressed until I looked closer. There were six microphones, strategically placed–two microphones in front of the three guys, and four for the ladies. That’s not chauvinism. That’s wise and practical. No wonder I could hear them. A microphone takes what we have, for better or worse, and amplifies it. That’s the way it works in the spiritual realm, too. God gives us natural gifts and spiritual gifts but they seem so small and we feel so weak. But as the Holy Spirit amplifies what we do, our little gifts become much more effective. Jesus disciples must have felt overwhelmed when He left them and went to the right hand of his Father. There was an ocean of need and they were just fishermen, tax collectors, housewives, etc. But, in obedience to what Jesus had told them to do, they looked to Him for the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

“You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations, starting from here, from Jerusalem! You’re the first to hear and see it. You’re the witnesses. What comes next is very important: I am sending what my Father promised to you, so stay here in the city until he arrives, until you’re equipped with power from on high.”(Luke 24:46-, The Message)

And that’s just what they did. The Heavenly Amplifier magnified them and their impact started in Jerusalem and rippled out to the whole world, like a spiritual tsunami. You and I need the same amplification system so that that God can take what He’s given us and multiply it to meet the need of a hurting world. Wait before Him. Pester Him to death.

“So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.” (Luke 11:9, 10, Amplified)

In reality, God wants to do it, because it’s His promise and His will. But he wants us to ask, seek, and knock because that grows our heart. Feel like your voice is to weak to sing? Get in front of God’s microphone and you’ll be surprise at how well you warble.

Hmmm …

‘Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets.” Paul Tournier