She did that for some years, and since then, she's been able to raise up someone, and hand over the ministry. Now she's working as an advisor to the United Nations. How does a little Kiwi girl get to be an advisor to the United Nations? Well, it just started off helping girls who were in need, and following that through, step by step, and gradually it grew and grew. Step by step, the Lord raised her up, until now she's an advisor to the United Nations, in the issue of child prostitution and trafficking of people!
Do you understand that God can make ways for people to go forward? You don't have to worry about that. Worry about what's going on in your life with what you have now. So, an opportunity comes. Let's go find someone who knows how to play a harp - they thought the music might help.
1 Samuel 16:17-18 – “Saul said to his servants: provide me now, a man who can play well, and bring him to me. One of the servants answered and said: look, I've seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him.”
Needs are opportunities to advance. Let other people promote you. Don't promote yourself. One of the interesting things about leadership is, what kind of report do people have? What are people saying about you? They will be saying the kinds of things you will like. What you do, and the dealings you have with people, eventually it comes to a point where you have a whole flow of people that know you, and they know what you're like. When there's a need somewhere, they will speak up on your behalf, and say: oh, I know so-and-so, they'd be just right for that. This is what happened. David never had to advance himself.
One day a messenger came, and he said: listen, we want to you to come to the king's palace, come to the place of Gibeah. There's a season now of promotion, and preparation for the next thing God has. I want you to see what they saw in his life, because this is the thing - most of the time when we look at the story of David, we think about slings, and Goliaths, and lions, and bears, and battles. We don't think about what was really going on in his life, that got him into those places. We've got our own battles, and Goliaths and things to fight; we need the similar heart and spirit of this man.
What did they notice, that lead to him being promoted? Here's the first thing… he's skillful in music! He had a musical skill, an ability, a skill that he had developed. Have you got any skills that you've developed, that someone might want to pay for? If you have no skill, then you're an unskilled laborer; but if you have a skill, you can do something that others can't do. Develop skills!
They noticed he had a skill, an unusual ability - developed from a lot of time alone, playing an instrument. He's skillful in playing; a mighty man of valor. Secondly, they saw that he had a reputation for courage. A person with courage, or a mighty man of valor, is a person who, when challenges come up, can face them head on, and not be afraid and back off.
Have you developed skill in your life, that people know about? Have you developed courage in your life, that people have heard about? People are running down their friends, but they just stood up for their friends - that's something! The whole class was laughing about Christian things, but they just stood up, unashamed - wow! The crowd all went to the party, and were drinking, but they just left, because they won't get involved in that - courage! People going out sleeping with one another, but they said: no, I'm keeping myself! Everyone laughed… courage! You get known. and not everyone likes it, of course - not initially, but they do respect it. Have you developed courage in your life? Courage means there's issues, and you face them, front on, and don't run away from them. That's what he was known for.