ARE YOU AVAILABLE TO GOD?

We often ask God to make His power available to us.

“God, give me strength.”

There is nothing wrong with that prayer. Jesus Himself promised His followers, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8 NLT).

But what if we have it all backwards?

Instead of only asking whether God’s power is available to us, maybe we should also be asking:

Am I available to God?

Because the power of the Holy Spirit isn’t given so I can accomplish my will with God’s help. I am empowered to participate in His will, His mission, His way.

And sometimes His way doesn’t fit my schedule.

PETER HAD SOMEWHERE TO BE

Acts 3 begins with Peter and John are going to the Temple for the afternoon prayer.

They have somewhere to be.

But sitting beside the Temple gate is a man who has been unable to walk his entire life. Every day people carry him to this spot so he can beg from those entering the Temple.

Imagine how many people had walked past this man.  He had become part of the scenery.  People knew he was there.  They expected him to be there.

Maybe they occasionally gave him something.

Then Peter and John come walking toward the Temple and the man asks them for money.

And Luke records an interesting detail:

“Peter and John looked at him intently.” — Acts 3:4 NLT

Before the miracle, Peter noticed the man.

That’s where Spirit-empowered ministry began that day.

With availability.

SOMETHING HAS CHANGED IN PETER

This is the same Peter we meet in the Gospels.

He had always been willing to act. He gets out of the boat, speaks when everyone else remains silent, promises Jesus that he will never abandon Him, and draws a sword in the garden.

He doesn’t suffer from a lack of initiative.

But Peter frequently acts according to Peter’s plans, Peter’s understanding and Peter’s will.

Then Jesus tells him to wait.

After the resurrection, Jesus tells His followers not to leave Jerusalem until the Father sends the promised Holy Spirit.

Peter has to stop. Wait. Surrender.

Then Pentecost happens. The Holy Spirit fills Peter, and something begins to change.

Peter doesn’t lose his personality. He’s still bold. He’s still decisive. He’s still willing to speak.

God didn’t erase Peter’s personality.

Peter’s personality became surrendered to the purposes of Jesus.

That’s what makes Acts 3 so important.

The Peter who once seemed determined to get Jesus involved in Peter’s plans is now available to participate in Jesus’ plans.

SURRENDER MAKES YOU AVAILABLE

We often think about surrender primarily in terms of giving up sinful things.

And certainly following Jesus requires us to relinquish sin.

But surrender goes deeper than that. Sometimes surrender means giving God something that isn’t sinful at all.

My schedule. My plans. My priorities. My comfort. My expectations.

There’s nothing sinful about any of those things. 

The problem comes when my commitment to my agenda makes me unavailable for God’s agenda.

That’s why surrender can be so difficult.

Sometimes God isn’t asking me to choose between something bad and something good.  Sometimes He’s interrupting something good with something He wants to do.

AVAILABILITY MAKES YOU ATTENTIVE

Here’s one of the dangers of living a hurried life:

We stop seeing people.

We see obstacles, appointments, tasks and a host of other problems. 

But sometimes we don’t see the person standing directly in front of us.

Peter looked at the man.  Understand this, Peter couldn’t respond to someone he wasn’t willing to notice.

Neither can we.

Sometimes Spirit-empowered ministry begins with something incredibly ordinary:

Paying attention. Listening. Looking someone in the eyes.

Maybe the person God wants to use you to reach today isn’t waiting for you inside a church. They may be sitting in the office next to you. Standing behind you in line. Living across the street.

We can become so busy asking God to use us that we walk right past the person He wants us to serve.

ATTENTION CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR OBEDIENCE

The man at the gate expected Peter to give him money.

Peter gave him something completely different.

“I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” — Acts 3:6 NLT

Peter takes him by the hand.

The man’s feet and ankles are instantly healed. He jumps up and begins walking.

Then he enters the Temple with Peter and John, “walking, leaping, and praising God.”

And suddenly everyone is watching. A crowd gathers and Peter begins preaching.

And once again, Peter points everyone toward Jesus.

And all of this started with an interruption.

Peter didn’t wake up that morning knowing everything that was going to happen.

He simply made himself available to God.

WHAT ARE YOU PROTECTING FROM INTERRUPTION?

This is where Acts 3 gets uncomfortable.

Most of us probably aren’t deliberately telling God: “Don’t use me.” We would never say that.

Instead, we can communicate the same thing by making certain parts of our lives unavailable to Him.

And without realizing it, we can spend our lives asking the Holy Spirit to empower something we haven’t completely surrendered.

But Acts gives us another picture.

I don’t possess the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers me.

The Spirit isn’t a power at my disposal.

My surrendered life is at His disposal.

That’s an entirely different way to live.

GIVE GOD A LIFE HE CAN INTERRUPT

So maybe the prayer isn’t simply: “Holy Spirit, empower me today.”

Maybe there’s another prayer that needs to come first: “Holy Spirit, I am available today.” And when You put an opportunity in front of me, give me the courage to obey.

Because the most powerful thing I can do as a follower of Jesus isn’t convince God to help me accomplish my will.

It’s relinquish my will to His.

So here’s the question:

What part of your life are you still protecting from interruption?

Don’t just ask the Holy Spirit to empower your life.

Give Him a life He is free to interrupt.