Mensa Otabil - I Cannot Speak
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Welcome to a brand new week in our 40 Days of Power. This week, we are going to look at overcoming limitations, because many times, when God wants us to do something, we feel inadequate. We have to trust the Lord to break the barriers that stand between us and God’s purpose for our lives. So, we’re going to look at various characters and how they broke their limitations. We’re going to look at Jeremiah, we’re going to look at Gideon, Zechariah, Caleb, and then we’ll go later to the New Testament. We start today with Jeremiah, and this is the 12th day of our 40 Days of Power.
Jeremiah 1, verses 6 and 7: «Then said I, 'Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.' But the Lord said to me, 'Do not say, „I am a youth,“ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.'» Jeremiah was young and inexperienced when God called him to his mission. He had been raised as a priest, but God wanted him to become a prophet to His people and also to other nations, to speak into the destiny of nations. He felt very inadequate.
Many times, God wants to do something, and the task is far bigger than how we perceive ourselves. We think we don’t have the qualification, we are not the right age, we don’t come from the right family, and that becomes a stumbling block. But this year, as we fast and pray, every sense of limitation and inadequacy that stands between you and your assignment has to move away, because God wants to do great things with your life.
Jeremiah talked about two things. He said, «Lord, I cannot speak.» That’s a very serious excuse from somebody who is supposed to be a prophet, because a prophet must, of necessity, speak. Jeremiah says, «I can’t speak,» and the reason he gives is that he is afraid of the people God has sent him to. He’s afraid because they are big people, mighty people, and older than him. He just can’t stand in front of them and declare the word of the Lord.
The second thing he says is, «I am a youth.» At this time, Jeremiah is in his 20s; he is young in a sense, but he’s not really young because he’s a priest and qualified to be a priest. He says he is a youth in relation to the assignment. I don’t know where you stand in your life; maybe you look at where God wants to take you and say, «Oh, I don’t think I’m ready. I’m inexperienced; there are better people, people better qualified than myself.» Well, if there were people better qualified than you, do you think God would have chosen you? God chose you because you are the qualified one He can use. You don’t qualify yourself when God chooses you; He qualifies you. If He says you can do it, then you can do it.
So, Jeremiah gave those two excuses: «I cannot speak.» Maybe for you, you can say, «I don’t have the right degree, I don’t have the money, I don’t have so many things that could be your excuse.» But then God responds to Jeremiah and says, «Do not say, 'I am a youth, '» and that’s very important because what we say can be a snare and a limitation for us. As we trust the Lord this month, one of the things you’re going to learn to do is not to say the wrong things about yourself. Don’t say, «I cannot;» don’t say, «I am not able;» don’t say, «I don’t have what it takes.» If God says you will do it, you will do it. That’s exactly what the Lord said to Jeremiah: He says, «You shall go to the people I’m sending you to, and you shall say what I want you to say.» Whether you can speak or not, you will say it.
So, this week, we are breaking every limitation, self-imposed limitations, and limitations within us, maybe based on past mistakes we have made that we think disqualify us. God says, «Don’t say that about yourself;» trust in Him; He will give you the victory. So, somebody is breaking barriers this week, and limitations are giving way to God’s purpose. Let us pray: say with me, «Heavenly Father, I receive Your assignment for my life. By Your grace, I will perform the task You have given me. In Jesus' name, Amen.»