Be careful when you ask God to use you. Don’t just declare and say, “Oh God! USE ME!!” See, because when you offer yourself up to be used by God, for God, through God, you’re going to hurt like He hurt. You’re going to be scorned like He was scorned. You’ll be put down and lied on and cheated, like God.

But you have to be willing to take all of that- it matters. The Bible says He will use it for good. FOR GOOD. Not necessarily your good, but HIS GOOD. And His good looks a little different than our good. Our good looks like prosperity and happiness and acceptance. “I have it so good! I’m well off, have a nice home, good family, cushy job, lots of friends…”

But are you kingdom minded?

Is all that stuff serving His purpose? Or yours?

Does it reflect Jesus? Or you?

Sometimes His good looks like you, alone, on your face at 3am travailing in the spirit. “Lord, take this pain away from me! Take this burden off me! Take this heaviness away from me!” But God says, “no, no, no…that’s GOOD.”

How?! How is any of that GOOD?! Because it’s working something in you. Because it’s testifying to the world His grace and mercy. You’re hurting, but you’re here. You’re in pain, but you showed up. You’re struggling, but He is good. Life is unfair, but God is just.

His good, His glory, His ways.

We can’t pray for blessings and anointing and power and presence and not expect hardship and struggle and suffering. If Jesus had to endure those things, and His spirit be in us, how can we honestly say we shouldn’t bear it too?? Because His promise isn’t easy, but His yoke is light. His promise isn’t sunshine, but He’s with us in the storm. He’s asleep in our boat. He’s in the crowd of the 5,000. He’s in the valley of the shadow of death. He’s in the room when the report is bad. He’s on the floor with you at 3am.

And if we truly want to make an impact, to be like Jesus, we have to set down our silly flesh ideas of “good” and pick up our cross all the way to Calvary. We have to honestly hold our selves up as living sacrifices and say “Your will, not mine,” and then accept WHATEVER comes next.

Anointing and attacks are married. The greater your anointing, the greater your attacks. The bigger your blessing, the bigger the opposition that’s coming against it. The higher the calling the high the water will rise. Get okay with not being okay. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Get familiar with being fought against.

And whatever you do, don’t ask to be used unless you’re ready to BE USED. Used by people for your generosity, your kindness, your service, your joy, your friendship, your work ethic, your prayers, your talents, your provision, your heart. Don’t you shut yourself off because you don’t want to be used. Keep that door open and release what’s inside you, it’s not yours anyway!

Be used. Be used up until you’re empty. Then go get refilled and let it be used up again. Get in a rhythm of filling and pouring out. You are not a storage tank, you’re a VESSEL. A vessel is temporary. In Hebrew, the word “vessel” is translated to mean “something prepared,” and also “a weapon.”

Why be prepared and a weapon if you don’t use it!! God is not calling us to be storage tanks, we are vessels He wants to prepare and pour out His glory from as weapons against the darkness!! Stop limiting Him and putting Him in a box to say you can’t be used, yes you can. You just don’t want to be.

Get alone with Jesus, empty out all that junk you’re holding inside, make room for the miraculous. Let Him fill you with precious oil, let it run over into everything you do. Don’t be afraid of making a mess. We’ve been so conditioned to be tidy and perfect we’ve lost the art of anointing- anointing isn’t clean and precise, it’s MESSY!

I don’t want some instagram worthy anointing to flow out of me in cute little drips- I want to crack open because I can’t hold back the over flow. I want the oil on me, my home, my children, my family, my friends, my church, my community. I want it to get on every person I come in contact with. Why?? Because the anointing breaks the yoke!!

I want to be used of God, no matter the cost, no matter the mess. I want to be so used up for His glory you can’t not see the oil wherever I go. I want it to soak in deeply to my soul and leave a trail behind me. I want to be His vessel and be emptied and filled and broken over and over and over again.

– KB