"I need to rest more before God can use me for anything important."
How it sounds in your head: Maybe once I get my energy together, once I'm less tired, then I can serve God or do something meaningful. But right now? I'm too exhausted to be useful to anyone, including God.
"And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'"
-- 2 Corinthians 12:9Religious lie that God needs your strength rather than His strength working through your weakness.
Church culture celebrates the busy, energetic volunteers and subtly communicates that tired people should sit on the sidelines until they get it together. She feels disqualified by her exhaustion.
Gideon was hiding in a winepress, weak and terrified, the least in his family, from the weakest tribe. God called him 'mighty warrior' while he was HIDING and used him to defeat an army of 135,000 with only 300 men—God deliberately chose WEAKNESS to display His strength.
I REFUSE the lie that God needs me rested before He can use me. IT IS WRITTEN: 'My strength is made perfect in weakness.' I am NOT disqualified by exhaustion. I am POSITIONED for God's power to shine. Gideon was hiding when God called him mighty. Moses was 80 and stuttering when God sent him to Pharaoh. David was exhausted and surrounded when God gave him victory. IT IS WRITTEN: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord. I don't need MY strength. I need HIS. And His strength is ALREADY perfected in my weakness. I declare I am useful to God RIGHT NOW, exhaustion and all.
The Father isn't waiting for you to get your energy together before He uses you. He's running toward you in your exhaustion, calling you 'mighty warrior' like He did with hiding Gideon, ready to display HIS strength through YOUR weakness RIGHT NOW without delay.