Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
[1 Peter 1:1 KJV]

Our focus in this edition is on the man, the vessel that God trusts, depends on, and uses for His assignments. There is so much emphasis today on availability of lives for use, but there is still a concern. Though we have lots of men available from whom selection can be made, the Bible says that God is still in search of HIS MAN.
Despite the fact that there are several men on the streets flocking the churches, yet, God is not engaging any of them. Why? The reason is because even though there are several men who are available, they are not useable.

"Peter..."

Why was this revelation of the whole book of Peter preceded with the name of a man, Peter? Why would the Bible allow the name of a man to begin a whole divinely inspired epistle? Should not this book of Peter be like the book of Hebrews that began with the word "God"? Instead of promoting himself, should not Peter, the writer of this book, have begun his epistle with a description of Jesus just as John the beloved began the book of John with "In the beginning was the Word"? Other books like 1John began with: "That which was from the beginning" while Revelation started with "The Revelation of Jesus Christ". Is this practice of putting "Peter" first, not a show of pride...?

What the Spirit of God is quietly saying here is that: "there is a man before any revelation. The divine order in any great works or revelation, whether it is announced, written or it is silent, is that there is a vessel before that great work".

There is a "Peter" before we could have the books by Peter. God FIRST secures an instrument before His works can be done. God prides in His men (His vessels), and when God has found a man into whom He could pour Himself, He resumes to deal with such a man and mould him to reflect the kind of assignment He has for him to the world. God does nothing, except through the Vessels He has found.

The man is not the worker, he is the vessel. The man is Gods instrument for execution. No matter how brilliant a boy is, before he could pass an examination gallantly and receive a certificate, he must have put down his knowledge and answers in writing during the examination. To achieve this, there is an instrument he used, perhaps a pen. The pen is NOT the custodian of knowledge, it does not understand the intricacies of the exam or what is to be written, the pen is not the embodiment of knowledge and brilliance, it is only an instrument. It is the tool to get the job done, and without it, the boy cannot make any tangible achievement. In order words, for all of Gods greatest works on earth, there is an instrument for that task.

There may be plenty food in the house. We may have rice, beans, yam and flour. We may possess the best cooking system, the gas to provide fuel, the cooker to provide fire, matches to light the gas, water to do the cooking, seasonings for a great meal, and very skilled chef/cooks in the house. But, as loaded as all these materials are, as available as the food items are, if we do not have a container or pot to do the cooking, no food will be available for any man. We must have the right cookware before the food can be cooked for eating. God may have all the grace, all the anointing, power, Holy Ghost and everything, but it is a pity, no work will be done until He finds the right vessel and "pot" to cook His divine meal.

"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.” [Ezekiel 22:30]

There is a man before any divine manifestation. There is a vessel before any outpouring. If God is eager and longing to do any work in any generation, if He is ready to release His presence, liberate souls, and do a lasting work, the first thing He does, is to look for men who will be the instruments for that task. It then means that if there is no man ready for God to use, then the purpose of God is either not executed, or is delayed until He (God) finds the right kind of men to use. A leaking pot cannot cook rice, it will cause more harm than good and leave men hungry still. God prefers to suspend His works and allow perversions to reign, than use a faulty instrument to execute His mandates if He cannot find correct men. Many great works are being delayed (by men, not by God). Tens of years pass, and God still waits in search for the right man.

Could it be that I have been part of the men stopping the move of God in my generation? Could it mean that my unseriousness to divine things, my blindness to spiritual insights, my deafness to the beckoning voice of the Spirit, is the very reason why the decadence in my generation has grown at such an alarming rate? Could it be that my commitment to my business, my devotion to my family, my dedication in yielding my all to the official duties in my workplace and my pursuits of good life, dotting all my "Is" and crossing all my "Ts", all at the expense of preparing my life for Gods perfect use, is the reason why hell increases day by day? Is it not my procrastination of the promptings of the Spirit, my laziness and dragging of feet on spiritual issues, my satisfaction with my beggarly state and refusal to wake up and grow in the Lord that is causing what God wants to do to be delayed?

It has been my normal lifestyle to blame the wicked for their wickedness, to heap blames on wretched sinners for their refusal to surrender to Jesus, to judge the ungodly and condemn them to hell because of the hardness of their hearts and to blame the religiously cold churchgoers as being the reason for their own coldness. But Jesus is saying, "No. The reason for increase in the iniquities of the world is not because the world has grown to love iniquity so much. The reason why men are blind to the beauty of Gods grace and have remained perpetually in their sins is not their faults, the reason is because MYSELF, the man who should have shown them the way and rescued them, is not available. The instrument of God to be and deliverer, who should have opened mens blind eyes, has busied himself with pleasure, and has neglected the suffering multitude to perish in their ignorance. The man with the hook to draw men out of sinking waters has got himself some other jobs that has nothing to do with saving lives. Oh, the man of God has become sophisticated, chasing good living, pursuing how to grow his barns, build his empire and get a name, he is nowhere to be found, therefore, multitudes perish in blindness.

Can a bird probably rescue itself from a cage? It may try, it may exert energy, it may cry, but it is a pity, the wherewithal is not present with the bird, it needs an outside force, a deliverer, who is willing and ready to save it. Such is the situation of the world! God is in search of a man like Isaiah, who will cry, "Here am I, I will go!"

Friend, your unseriousness with God, is the destruction of the world. Because you are not up and doing, it is not only yourself you are hurting. Multitudes tied to your assignment, are groping in darkness because the instrument God depended on for specific tasks is relaxing. Your relaxation spells doom for many. Your carelessness can send multitudes to hell. Friend, there is something attached to your neck you cannot afford to trivialize. There is a portion for you in divine service to accomplish. Even if there are multitudes on the field labouring for God while you fold your own hands, and you are looking generally that "Praise God, at least, people are working", the truth is that the multitudes you see labouring, are only doing their own portions, your own portion remains undone.

PURITY OF DIVINE VESSELS

A pipe that connects the reservoir to the taps in the house is an example of a Vessel which transmits water from source to destination. The pipe is not the source, it is not the reservoir of treasures, it is not even the custodian of grace, it is just a transmitter and a channel. If the pipe is dirty and rusty, no matter how clean and pure the water is at source, the recipients at the destination will only collect dirty water. What was engineered to give life will suddenly become the very thing that causes death. Gods instruments are the very determinant of the effect that God has in our world. As mighty as God is, He is incapacitated by the kind of Vessels that carries His treasures about. This is why the issue of the choice of Gods Vessel is very critical. We ought to be vessels, divine instruments in the hands of God, and He is checking what manner of vessels we are before He can use us.

CHANNELS ONLY

How I praise Thee, precious Savior, That Thy love laid hold of me,
Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me,
That I might Thy channel be.

Refrain:
Channels only, blessed Master,
But with all Thy wondrous power
Flowing through us, Thou canst use us
Every day and every hour.

Just a channel full of blessing,
To the thirsty hearts around,
To tell out Thy full salvation,
All Thy loving message sound.

Emptied that Thou shouldest fill me
A clean vessel in Thy hand,
With no power but as Thou givest,
Graciously with each command.

Witnessing Thy power to save me,
Setting free from self and sin,
Thou who bought me to possess me
In Thy fullness, Lord, come in.

Jesus, fill now with Thy Spirit
Hearts that full surrender know,
That the streams of living water
From our inner man may flow.

[Mary E. Maxwell]

Friend, you are not the custodian of grace, divine treasures and power. You are not the embodiment of the anointing, NO!!! GOD IS. You are just a channel, and you are to be attached to God, so that all He has for men can flow flawlessly and unhindered through you. But has Gods channel become contaminated? When God releases His grace and treasures to men through me as a channel, is the temperature of His treasures at the destination the same as at source, or I have watered His treasures down by my cold inner life?

All a vessel needs to do, is just to present itself useable. All a pot to be used for cooking a great meal needs to do is ONLY to present itself clean. The pot does not care about purchasing food items it does not bother about water, gas or fire. All its concerns, is just to be clean. The materials for cooking will be supplied, and not by the pot. All I need to do to be great for God is nothing but just to present myself useable. My concentration is ON MYSELF. My concentration is NOT on ministry, it is NOT on any work, it is ON MYSELF.

Somebody says: "oh, I want God to use me mightily, so I am looking for power..." Friend, you are not more passionate for Gods glory than God Himself. You are not hungrier for revival than God is, and you are not as desperate to be used as much as God is passionate to find a man in whom to pour His grace. God Himself is busy looking and searching for whom to use. So, what to occupy your life with is not how to get power to be used of God. God will lavish all He has on anyone who meets His criteria of life. It is how to present yourself useable, to fit the kind of man that matches whom God is searching for that you should focus on. These days, there is too much emphasis on THE WORK at the expense of the THE MAN .

"Peter…"

Who was Peter? Was he the best that God could find? Peter was a mere fisherman? He was a man born WITHOUT the silver spoon in his mouth, a man without formal education, without an air of polishing, without aesthetics and beauty, a second rated citizen whose family has no voice among the elites. Is it that God decided within Himself to always go for these kinds of men? I really do not think so. I think that while God was looking around in search of the man to use, it is so alarming that many of the highly placed men, many of those who have some polishing, those who have boldness, power of speech and natural endowments... they are not available for God to use. Men who went to school and have become polished are busy pursuing greater degrees. Those who are clean are busy taking care of themselves and their families. Those with formal education and are rated high have become so busy. You hear them saying, "I have so many things to do..." So many things of no eternal value. They have become so full of themselves, they are holding tight to, and are encumbered with the little riches they have got, hence, they have no time for the Saviours demeaning task. They have become sophisticated and too high for God to use. They are no more available because of the entanglement of riches, position, status, education and colour. Many of these men are in church, even on the pulpits, but they are more concerned about what they can get out of God than having a life wholly yielded and given to Him. They are more interested in their messages, in their authority over the flock, than tarrying with brokenness in Gods presence for His visitation. So many are cumbered with numerous church activities that they care not to even ask God, "God, are you in this, is this your direction?" They are keenly interested in moving God, than surrender their lives for God to move them. Hence God has no choice but to go for those who are nothing in the eyes of the society, since those are the ready ones, the available ones, the useable ones.

"Peter..." The man before the message. Peter was a man that is self-igniting, the man who within himself carries the fire. It is this inner fire that sets whatever he meets and whoever he meets ablaze. He is the source of the fire so to say. Of course, Christ is the source, but Christ fire will never reach the world automatically without a man who has appropriated this fire into himself. Such was Peter.

A man who cries every day, "God use me, God use me..." but, is not self-igniting, he has no passion, he is got no fire. What will God pick up in him to use? A man must burn. He must be able to awake and ignite the fire in him before God can take him serious to spread that fire. If God deposits His fire in the man and the man is just too cold, such fire will die. But if the man himself is hot, the fire of God within him will be kindled and it will ignite others. The man himself must burn.

Peter was the man with the fire, he was self-igniting, self-consuming, and he was the man of God, the divine vessel.