Our God is active and moving and calling to you. Do you hear him? If not, it might be due to a barrier you've placed between you and Him. That barrier could be busyness (especially this time of the year), apathy, exhaustion, not recognizing His voice, or a feeling of inadequacy. If you're experiencing any of these barriers, I want to come along side and encourage you. God is most certainly calling out to you. Why? Consider these truths:

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You are a child of God (Gal. 3:26). What good father doesn't desire to talk to his children?

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You were “fearfully and wonderfully made;” (Ps. 139:14). God invested Himself in you.

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You are “God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,” (Eph. 2:10). You have a purpose.

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You, my friend, have much to offer! His Kingdom is a better place with you in it. No wonder God is calling to you. Whatever barriers you may be experiencing, I invite you to pray against them. Tear them down because quite frankly, God needs you. Why? Let's look within today's story for the answer.

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The story told in 1 Kings 17 isn't a real pick-me-up, at least not initially. The woman in the story is in a hopeless circumstance. She believed she was of so little value that she had resigned herself to death. No one was going to help her. She is empty, with nothing left but a handful of flour and some oil. And then Elijah, a stranger to her, asks for even that. Now here is where it gets really cool. She does it! She doesn't know why it's important, she doesn't even question it, she just obediently does it. She may very well be the one the Nike Marketing department was thinking of when they came up with the slogan, “Just do it!”

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Would you, “Just do it?”

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I encourage you to stop a moment and think about your gifts. You may not think you offer much, but everything you do in His name brings glory to His Kingdom (Matt. 5:16).

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Think of it like this, just as a human body has many parts, so too does the body of Christ. As Christians, we fill different roles in serving the body: feet, head, arms, etc. Separately, we can do nothing. Together though, we bring the body to life. And God has placed every part of the body just where He wants them to be (1 Cor. 12:18). Each part lives synergistically with the other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it (1 Cor. 12:26).

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God delights in this symbiotic relationship. Everything you do in His name is like an offering of sweet incense. By doing what God is asking you to do, you serve as a witness, affirming His plan of salvation. My fellow Devo writer, Skyler Harty, put it so eloquently a few weeks back when she wrote, “Every act of generosity is a declaration: 'I believe in what God is doing here.'“ Amen!

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I regularly pray with people whose world is in chaos. They think they have nothing left to give. Yet by the simple act of obediently asking for prayer, they witness to me. They believe in what God is doing here on Earth. Their gift blesses me and fills my spiritual tank. They restore me and keep me alive in the body. I need them. What if they didn't listen to the calling of the Holy Spirit? Or worse, heard but said no?

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I love the message of the woman's story. It's a great reminder that God uses you because of who you are. After all, who better than Him can employ your gifts at just the right time and in just the right place? In the bustle and hardships of everyday life, it's hard to remember that. Yet if you do, the reward is immense. The woman's scarcity would have resulted in her death, yet she gives up her last handful of flour in a sacrificial act of obedience. God rewarded that obedience with everlasting sustenance. God offers you the same thing. Imagine never going hungry, no matter your circumstances.

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If your gifts are flour, is God asking you for a cup? Someone might be starving that only you can feed.

Lord, thank you for creating me. I sincerely want to serve others through you. Please speak to me and show me how to use the gifts you fearfully and wonderfully created within me. Your ways are perfect Lord, and I confess I may have forgotten that. Please forgive me, open my eyes, guide my feet, and use me as only you can. Thank you, Lord, Amen.