It’s good to look at people when God gets a hold of them. As soon as Jesus was baptized and anointed, he was taken by the Spirit up into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Then he returned in the power of the Spirit and preached the sermon in Luke 4…”The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because he has anointed me….”

Paul was led to the house of Ananias (probably one of the men highest on his hit list) to receive prayer and healing for his blind eyes. He then testified boldly in Damascus, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was truly the Christ. Then he was taken to Arabia to receive a massive download of revelation.

Peter denied Jesus three times to save his own neck; and even after he had seen the resurrected Jesus, Peter was the one leading the other disciples back into fishing expeditions. Jesus appeared to restore him, and soon after commanded him to wait with the other disciples in Jerusalem and pray. Peter obeyed; and sure enough 10 days later he and the others were baptized in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other languages, and Peter was the one God gave the interpretation of the message - look at the powerful sermon of Acts 2.

Every single person in the faith chapter of Hebrews 11 demonstrates what it looks like when God gets a hold of a man. Again, these are just people like you and me, not mythical action figures. They’re not described to us as dead heroes, but as witnesses - their lives speaking volumes to us about what life can really be if we walk into the door that God has opened. Paul connects the dots to our everyday lives in 1 Corinthians 1:

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are….

If you identify with this group (not wise by human standards, not influential, not born royalty, foolish, weak, lowly, despised, have-not, are-not); don’t be surprised or overwhelmed when you hear God call you to a life that goes beyond all of that.

Mary’s response (when God got a hold of her) is perfect: “May it be unto me according to your word.”