Bob Sorge’s 1-Talent Anna

And then there’s Anna (see Luke 2:36-38). I call her 1-talent Anna. Nothing in the biblical account would suggest that Anna had any outstanding giftings or abilities. She didn’t have any marketable skills, but she knew she could do one thing: she could be a wife and mother. But after seven years of marriage, God snuffed out the life of her husband. This catastrophe sent Anna reeling. “God, how could You remove the light of my eyes? How could You destroy every vision I ever had for my life? You have taken from me the one thing I could do.”

In the grief of that moment, Anna had a choice. She could become bitter against God, or she could press deeper into God than ever before. Choosing the latter, Anna began to seek God with her entire being. “God I don’t know why You’ve devastated my life. I can’t see Your goodness in my life, yet I declare that You are a good God, and I’m going to seek You until I see Your goodness. I declare You are a loving God, even though it sure doesn’t feel like You love me right now; but I know You are a loving God, and I’m going to seek You until I see Your love in my life.” And Anna began to press into the Spirit of God like never before.

And then one day she heard the voice. “Fasting and prayer? Night and day? Okay, Lord, if You say so.” She turned the furnace up sever times hotter and began to give herself to fasting and prayer, ministering to the Lord night and day.

The months turned into years, and then the voice came again. “MESSIAH?? Oh my Lord, Messiah!!” God had shown her that the Messiah was soon to be born and that by her intercessions Anna was fulfilling a critical role in preparing the way through prayer. With redoubled urgency she travailed in intercession for the Messiah. And then the day came when she held the answer to her prayers in her own arms! I don’t think I’m stretching the story when I suggest that Anna prayed in the Messiah.

Anna is the 1-talent woman who could have become a casualty through bitterness; but because she pressed into the face of God, the Lord turned her barrenness into fruitfulness, and now she is a spiritual mother to the entire household of faith. She thought God had buried her 1 talent, when in reality God was inviting her to a dimension that superceded it.

I believe there is an army that will arise on the earth in the last days that will confound the powers of darkness. They will ask, “Where did this army come from?” The answer will be, “This is the army of 1-talent saints who chose to dig up their talent, clean it off and deploy it for the sake of the Kingdom.” The last days’ battle will be won by a host of 1-talent warriors who will give their all for the sake of the King.

-BOB SORGE, from Envy