Swiss Army Knife or my old Cornbread Pan?

I have written about being “God’s cornbread pan“, (and may bring that one back out again soon,) which is good because I take great care of my cornbread pan, I keep it well seasoned and only use it for that one purpose. When it is not in use it is hidden under the cabinet because it is old and the outside of it is blackened from years of using it over gas flames, but if the most important person in the whole world were here and I was going to make cornbread for them, I can guarantee you I would pull that pan out and use it!

I want to be that cornbread pan person, I may not be the shiniest, youngest, prettiest, smartest or most talented, but maybe I would have the very person God needed for me to be used… the willingness to stand in the gap and make up the hedge for someone in need!

Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

To think that I could, through intercessory prayer, call attention to your problem and help you get an answer is too wonderful to imagine!

I once heard an announcer of a football game I was watching refer to one of the players as a “Swiss Knife” because he could do a little bit of everything! 

Wow that is a wonderful thought! 

I always wanted a real Swiss knife and I finally got a very tiny one, but it has a tooth pick, a tweezer, a fingernail file, a scissor, and of course a knife! The only way anyone could be a “Swiss Knife” is for that person to be filled with the Holy Spirit and have all the fruit and gifts operating in their life! 

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 

With the fruit of the Spirit we have nine different attributes that will help us to help others!

The fruit I lack the most in my life would be the “longsuffering“, or patience… 

Luke 21:19 By your patience possess your souls. 

James 1:2-4 “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”

As you see it is dangerous to pray for patience unless you are prepared to face trials and tests! So, what else will convince God to take me out from under the cupboard for use?

1Corinthians 12:4-11″Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful: wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust, healing the sick, miraculous acts, proclamation. Distinguishing between spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.” The person that can soothe a wounded spirit with a word, or know when the person spouting religious quotes is really nothing more than a wolf dressed up like a sheep, or what about someone that can encourage you and help you find your way back to the right path?

That is the person I want to be! 

What do you need to do to become that person? Simple, you invite the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God, to come into your life. Jesus said He must go back to heaven so that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, could come to earth, He told us that this Holy Spirit of God would be with us forever and it seems that kind of loyalty is un-heard of!

 Well whether you are a cornbread pan or a multi-purpose Swiss Army Knife make yourself available for His use!