Been convicting me ever so gently of a HUGE piece of my walk with Jesus that needs some attention.
I have shared here before that I love the church, love the body of Christ. Love that we are Jesus' hands and feet on this earth. But I am also disappointed with the church, myself more so. I am so tired of hearing the excuses of why we aren't living out our Christian faith. So saddened by all the people in the world that need Jesus and the hope of salvation so badly, not only to save them for Heaven, but to save them from this world!
Have given so many of those excuses myself and today they seem so empty...not a good time, don't want to offend, my mission field is here at home with my children, I am doing other things for God so don't need to evangelize, He hasn't called me to that. Seriously, who am I kidding? Yes this momma's heart wants more than anything for my children to grow into strong men and women of God. But I will be so ashamed if I stand before God and the children in my home are the only children of the Living God I have shared Jesus with.
My pastor at my local body of Christ this week shared God's plan for His church from Revelation. Revealed the truths behind the verses in Matthew 16 when Jesus takes His disciples to the place called "the gates of hell" in their community and asks, "Who do you say that I am?" and after Peter's response, goes on to say "Upon this rock I will build my church (my people!) and the gates of hell will not overpower it" That Jesus took them right into the place where the enemy was taking ground and stood up and said I am about taking back the taken ground and invading the enemy lines and you should be too.
And I get all fired up, ready to go out and share my faith with every person I see. Ready to be bold, not care what evil place I have to go to, because that is how brave my God is so I will be too. Ready to make a plan to get around people that need Jesus, and be Him to them. And within a couple days I reflect and realize I only told one person. Only shared my faith in Jesus Christ with one person in those days.
What is it about us that makes us not take seriously God's command to go into the world and make disciples, to share His good news? We see hurting people that need the spirit of the living God to fill them and transform them, but we aren't willing to be kind to them, to tell them of Jesus' love, to build a relationship with them. For a long time I thought that if I didn't end sharing my faith with the prayer of salvation, I had failed. Is that what the problem is? We want to see that step of faith? Don't want to be part of making deposits into their lives, planting seeds that others will water? If we can't be part of the moment they are making Jesus the Lord and Savior of their life than we don't need to be part of their life at all?
Do not mistake, I believe there is vital importance in studying God's Word, in being in a Bible study with other believers, in taking classes that help us to grow and learn and stretch, in being part of a prayer group. Knowing God more is how we know what it is we are selling. Can't be good consultants for Jesus if we don't know the manual. BUT if you are a Christian, have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, YOU ARE FULLY EQUIPPED. You don't need anything else to start spreading His news. You will continue to study and learn and grow because you love Jesus and you want more of Him. You will become more devoted to the things of God because His Spirit within you will bring about change in your life. But you already are fully equipped followers of Jesus, and if you are waiting until you have it all figured out to go and share the good news, to bring hope, you are wasting God's time, wasting your life. How many years have I already wasted. We are here to be His hands and feet for but a moment. Within the blink of an eye our life here ends and we are with Him for eternity. What in the world have I been doing with my chance?
Pretty sure His disciples were not well learned theology students when He sent them out into the world. They were just ordinary, maybe even sub-par, guys who had encountered the resurrected Jesus Christ and they couldn't do ONE other thing in their life but to go all over telling everyone. It wasn't that they shared their faith once a week, here or there, it was their life, their WHOLE life. So who is in your Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria that needs you to go be Jesus? Just read one thing in our city's or country's news and you will see there is PLENTY of hurt here and many who need Jesus. Who is in your remotest part of the earth? That needs love, human touch, food, water, and most of all the gospel of Jesus Christ.
If you can not remember the last time you shared your faith or if you can remember and it was not today, let's get going. Let's do better for Jesus. Good grief, yes He asks a lot. Asks us to lay down ourselves daily and follow Him. Lay down our pride, our comfort and talk to others about Him. But no one else has done as much for me as Jesus, so I will keep saying yes. And I pray the church, the body of Christ here on this earth, will keep advancing the line and take back from the enemy what is God's for His glory.
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