Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months James 5:17.

Have you ever admired someone so much, that you wanted to be like them? Basketball players emulate Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant while golfers emulate Tiger Woods. I personally like Pastor Rod Parsley of the Breakthrough Ministry. His delivery of the Word excites and refreshes me, and I can’t help but see something in him that I would like to replicate.

Many individuals feel that before they can be used of God, they must reach some high level of faith and holiness. The bible records many persons who were used by God to perform supernatural works. They simply believed and trusted God to do what they knew they could not do. Apart from the power of God, they had no basis for boasting. God alone gave them the strength to succeed.

The truth is, God is determined to fulfill His will even if He has to use men and women with weaknesses. Nearly every faith giant in the scripture had struggles and failures. Abraham, the friend of God and father of faith, lied repeatedly about Sarah being his sister. He actually allowed his wife to be taken by a heathen king, and had God not intervened, she would have been humbled sexually. What’s great about using your wife to save your own skin? Nothing. It is certainly not an act of faith. Yet God made him a father of many nations and multiplied his seed as the sand of the sea shore (see Genesis 17:4).

The list goes on and on. From the very beginning Adam and Eve turned the perfect marriage into a nightmare, and the perfect paradise into a thorn cursed wilderness. By one act of disobedience, they altered humanity eternally. I am sure at some point, they felt like they failed God. But God gave them the strength to overcome and find joy in family life.

Samuel was a prophet who was mightily used of God. His birth was rooted in prayer and supernatural suspense, and his childhood was spent in service to God. When Samuel reproved King Saul for disobeying the command of God, he got so mad that he took a sword and chopped King Agag into pieces (see 1 Samuel 15:33). I understand that prophesying can be pretty intense, but that doesn’t justify war crimes.

Yet God used Samuel to trot right over to Jesse’s house and anoint David as the next king. Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, but he did some of the most foolish things ever recorded.

The bible records these men and women failures and all. He never tries to hide their weaknesses, cover up their sins or justify their disobedience. We are allowed to see them just as they were. Yet in spite of human frailty, God kept right on using them to fulfill His plans. He gave them the strength they needed to succeed in what He gave them to do.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us 2 Corinthians 4:7. Because we are clothed in humanity, we do not have the power within ourselves to control anything. We cannot stop trouble on every side, but through God’s power, we are not distressed. We cannot prevent perplexity, persecution or from being cast down. But through the power of God we are given the strength to overcome despair and destruction. God already knows that in our flesh dwells no good thing (see Romans 7:18), therefore, in His grace, He uses us anyway.

God looks over the high and mighty and uses the weak and cast down. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence 1 Corinthians 1: 26-29. The world glorifies the strong and smart, yet God chooses the exact opposite to accomplish His perfect plan. He chooses the least likely one to work the impossible. That way we know that God did the work.

Often, when men have success, they become inflated with pride. The first thing they do is start looking down on others. No matter how talented we are or how well we can preach, God is not impressed by it. When the anointing comes on us, we may feel like running through troops and leaping walls. But we are only human, and the only way we can experience God’s power, is through our weakness.

When I speak of weakness, I am not speaking of weak in terms of righteousness. God doesn’t use people caught up in adultery, gambling, drunkenness and lustful indulgence. I am speaking of the human inability to obey God’s Word and achieve His purpose in his own strength. God has not called us into uncleanliness, but into holiness and sanctification. He purged us from sin, and separated us to Himself. It is impossible to be perfected in Christ Jesus without supernatural intervention of the Holy Ghost.

In our own power, we can do very little to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh Galatians 5:16. By our own power we are unable to come out from among them and be separate. Honestly speaking, who has a natural inclination to love their enemies? I believe the average person would fight his enemy to the end. But through the Word of God, we learn that God’s way of success is to love our enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you Matthew 5:44. That commandment is impossible to achieve without the help of God. We need God’s strength to help us deal with the attitudes and personalities that confront when we are called to His purpose.

It may seem that if we are not in a visible ministry like preaching or teaching, that our presence is not important. If we do not come to church for a month, no one would even notice. We may think that we can never reach a place where we can be used of God. You are looking at your own strength instead of God. As long as you think like that, you will always feel inadequate. Listen. God doesn’t play favorites; that’s a people game. I don’t care how super you think you are, if God doesn’t give you increase, you won’ have any.

We should never frown upon our weakness or give in to it. Accept it as a part of lives that God uses to draw us to His supernatural power. When we look to Him, He gives the power to succeed.