DEVOTION: Ordinary People, Extra-ordinary Results ~ by Shirley Corder.

Moses was born under a death threat. Pharaoh had ordered the death of all male baby boys born to Israeli women. His mother, an ordinary Jewish woman who loved her new baby and trusted God, used ordinary tools to weave a tiny watertight basket. She placed her beloved baby in that vessel and lowered it into the River Nile. We know the results. He was rescued by Pharaoh's princess, and brought up by his own mother for the first three formative years. One day God used Moses to lead the Israeli people out of Egypt toward the Promised Land. An ordinary woman performed an ordinary task which produced an extra-ordinary result.

God planned to wipe humanity from the face of the earth, but he chose Noah to continue the human race. Noah, an ordinary but righteous man, obeyed God and built an ocean-going ship such as was never seen before. He used ordinary tools and skills he had obviously developed through his ordinary work on earth. The result? An extra-ordinary vessel that survived the biggest storm the earth has ever seen. And the human race and all the animal and bird species of the world were saved from extinction. An ordinary man, using ordinary tools, performed an extra-ordinary task.

The Scriptures are full of such stories. David, the ordinary young shepherd, who took up five ordinary pebbles, and killed an extra-ordinary giant. Rahab, an ordinary Canaanite woman, who hid ordinary Israeli spies in an ordinary way, and thus saved not only her family but brought herself into salvation and the extra-ordinary line of Jesus Christ. 

Fishermen, tax-collectors, religious leaders, men blind from birth, lepers, prostitutes . . . ordinary people. When they turned their lives over to Jesus, they used ordinary tools such as dinner parties, fishing boats, pens or quills and scrolls, walks on the dusty Palestine roads and chats along the way, to bring about extra-ordinary results in the lives of those with whom they came into contact.

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, an ordinary Albanian-born woman suffered from the ordinary disease of tuberculosis when she received a call to follow God. She went on to achieve many extra-ordinary results under the name of Mother Teresa.

William Franklin (Billy) Graham was born into an ordinary Scottish family in Carolina. He had an ordinary education and was nearly expelled from Bible College. He suffered from hydrocephalus, pneumonia, broken hips, and prostate cancer.Yet he has used his ordinary speaking ability with extra-ordinary results, to become indisputably the greatest evangelist the world has ever known.

Please note none of these were born with the expectations of being extra-ordinary. They were all ordinary people. Like you and I.

I am not worthy of being added to this list of remarkable people but I include this story to show it is not only the "greats" of our world that God can use. I am a very ordinary person. I wrote a very ordinary book using an ordinary computer. Yet I keep hearing from people who write to tell me about the extra-ordinary blessings they have experiences through reading the words of Strength Renewed. I know there are countless authors who have similar stories to tell.  

Are you an ordinary person? 

Oh good. Then you no doubt have ordinary tools and skills. Ask God today to show you which tools He wants you to use and what task He wants you to tackle. Then prepare to see some extra-ordinary results! And be sure to write and tell me about them.   

Do you have an extra-ordinary story to share with us? Please give us a brief summary below. We'd love to rejoice with you.  

SHIRLEY CORDER lives an ordinary life on the coast of South Africa with her husband. Her book, Strength Renewed: Meditations for your Journey through Breast Cancer continues to bring about extra-ordinary results for readers in the cancer valley. 

Please visit Shirley through ShirleyCorder.com, where she encourages writers, or at  RiseAndSoar.com, where she encourages those in the cancer valley. You can also meet with her on Twitter or FaceBook. 

DEVOTION: Are You Listening? by Kathi Macias

“Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:9).

Billy Graham was once asked if he really believed God spoke to him. He answered something to the effect that God speaks to everyone, but not everyone is listening.

What a powerful reminder that is to us in this day when we so desperately need to hear His word and receive His direction! So why is it that so few would positively and absolutely declare their belief that they hear from God—not just occasionally but regularly?

I believe it is because few of us (yes, I’m talking about Christians here!) actually spend much time faithfully reading and studying God’s Word. How can we expect to hear from God when we neglect reading the words He has written specifically for our learning?

Most of us as believers would verbalize our belief that the Bible is God’s Word, and that it is relevant to us today—even necessary for our spiritual growth and survival. And yet…how many of us can find time to do just about everything except daily converse with God in and through the Scriptures? For though God speaks to us in other ways—through the still, small voice inside us and/or through other believers, or even an occasional sign or wonder—His primary way of communicating with us is through His written Word. 

Everything we will ever truly need to know is contained in the Scriptures—and yet we neglect them…to our peril. Worse yet, we then complain that God doesn’t “speak” to us as we would like Him to do.

Billy Graham had it right, as did the little boy Samuel, who said, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.” If we want to hear from God, we need to get into His presence and LISTEN with open ears and willing hearts. 

And the place where we are most apt to hear His voice is while we are reading and studying His words.

As the time grows short, beloved, and the darkness presses in, there is no better place to be than immersed in the inerrant words of a faithful and merciful God. Read them, meditate on them, memorize them—and act on them. And be thankful that, so far, we still live in a country where we can do so openly and without persecution.

Unlike fallible human beings, God will never give you bad advice or steer you in the wrong direction. And the more time you spend listening and obeying His words, the sweeter and clearer His voice will become….

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 40 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences. She won the 2008 Member of the Year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) and was the 2011 Author of the Year from BooksandAuthors.net. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband.