“If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it…” (Mark 11:3)
In college, I had a plethora of jobs to pay for school. I worked hard and long, yet I was still a poor and starving student. Well, I didn’t really starve, but I was limited on my choice of meals. My dream was to build a successful career in the medical field so that I would be able to lead a comfortable life, without worrying what I could or could not afford to eat. That was until the Lord began to place His dream for my life in my junior year in college. God’s call gradually grew over time to the point that I knew my future was not in medicine, but in full-time Christian Ministry. For several years, I worked a secular job with a very good salary, while I wrestled with God over His call for my life (never wrestle with God, not only will you not win, you might also end up walking with a limp for the rest of your life). I finally obeyed, resigned from my well-paying secular job and gave my future life into the hands of the One who called me. Though there have been many challenges, I have never regretted that decision. In fact, I often wonder where my life might have taken me, if I hadn’t obeyed His voice. As Jesus was preparing to make His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus asks two of His disciples to go to a nearby village, where they would find a tied colt that no one had ridden. He asks the two disciples to untie the colt and bring it to Him with the words, “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it …” (Mark 11:3). That colt became a symbol of the Palm Sunday story and a part of the fulfillment of the prophecy given by Zechariah, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). “The Lord had need of it.” Thankfully, the people released it to the disciples (Mark 11:4-6). Thus, began Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:7-10). On this Palm Sunday, what is Jesus asking from you? What does He need from you, to fulfil a part of His great plan in this broken world; in this crazy world we are living in today? Is it a special talent, your time, your energy, your career, maybe part of your finances? Does He need your knowledge, your wisdom or your work experience? Whatever He needs, as He speaks to you, do not hold it back, but release it freely, just like the village folk released the colt. If ‘The Lord needs it’, and you release it, He will do amazing things through what you offer Him! Many years ago, I read Pastor David Wilkerson’s powerful book “The Cross and the Switchblade.” In it, Pastor Wilkerson shares about how, convicted by God, he made a decision to give up his time of relaxation in the evenings so that he could use that time to seek God’s face in a deeper way. As he kept honoring that commitment to God, one night, God spoke to him about ministering to street gangs. That was the moment when the worldwide ministry of Teen Challenge was birthed!! It all happened because he responded by releasing what God needed from him. May we do the same: release to God’s use those things that “the Lord needs” from us. Comments are closed.
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