Greater than Ourselves by Lisa Burkhardt Worley

“God has given us a desire to strive for something greater than ourselves.” That was the statement in the devotional I’m reading on YouVersion called “How to Plan for Success.” It struck me that in my own flesh, I could never accomplish what the LORD has put on my plate. At times, when I don’t spend enough time centering myself in the morning, feeding on the strength of God, I get overwhelmed with the task list and start to back-peddle. But then it’s time to return to the place of sustenance, the presence of God.

In a few weeks, Pearls of Promise is taking on something that, on paper, seems over the top for a small ministry. We have purchased an Exhibit booth at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention and will be taping interviews at the booth with some of the leading Christian media and writing professionals of our time like June Hunt, Joel C. Rosenberg and Richard Blackaby, son of Henry Blackaby.

Both Dr. Lynnette Simm and I will be doing book signings in the Exhibit Hall. She will be signing her book, And the Day Came, and I will be signing, and hoping for a divine appointment for my apologetics book, The Root that Never Died. I will also be speaking in the Exhibit Hall about Pearls of Promise in a message called “The Promise of the Pearl.”

All this is greater than myself!

But as I prayerfully produce eight interviews and ask the LORD how I can honor Him on the platform, I relax, knowing that it’s not about me and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). I have also realized that the LORD called us to do this because it often feels like an “out of the box” experience. When I start to think from an earthly perspective about all involved, I get a little anxious.

When we are called to do something greater than ourselves, we must submit to the one who is Greater.

I often worship in the morning to songs about God’s greatness like Great are You Lord, (the Casting Crowns version), or Greater Than by Gateway Worship. It’s my way of saying to God that I am nothing. I can only accomplish this calling if His greatness flows through me. When Jesus came on the scene, John the Baptist said, “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30).

One of the interviews we are doing is with the CEO of “Ministry Watch,” Warren Cole Smith. He wrote a book about all the religious scandals over the years called Faith Based Fraud: Learning from the Great Religious Scandals of Our Time. It occurred to me that those scandals probably happen when people are called to something greater than themselves, but they begin to rely on themselves.

Do you feel like a burden for something greater and feel ill-equipped to proceed? Then know that if it glorifies God, it’s probably from God. And you cannot proceed without Him. How great is our God!