As I write this summary of our time in evangelism last weekend, I am reminded that there is no joy on earth like the joy of telling someone about Jesus. No “preaching” required or strange actions like rolling on the floor in uncontrollable laughter or being “slain in the spirit” to fall back in some sort of altered state of consciousness. There is none of that required to know God and feel His pure, honest love.
I got down on my knees this morning and said, “Lord Jesus, I believe in You. I believe You are the way, the truth and the life, and that no man comes to the Father except through You. I pray You will take all of me, because I cannot stay in a place of surrender on my own. I need You, and I need You every hour. I know You know me, and I know You know me by name, and I know that before I was ever born You had a plan for me. Don’t let me miss out on anything that only comes through obedience and surrender—don’t let me miss out on a moment of the blessings You have when I obey and surrender. Help me to live an honest life, and I need You, and I thank You for setting me FREE from sin, and I pray You will keep me far, far away from it.”
Recently, I have heard about a pastor who is in very bad health. Many people love him, and I am one of those people. As it turns out, he has been an alcoholic for years, and he almost literally died from it this month. No one knew but God. I am sure that this man, who knows so much about the Bible to preach very meaningful sermons, KNEW he needed help. I am sure God let him know that he was not only hurting God and his family, but he was also hurting himself. I am sure that God loves him and knows him and came to convict him time and time again to get help, yet the man could not surrender. I realize I am no better apart from God’s grace to keep me in a place of surrender, even a place where I want to surrender. Well, time goes on, and he almost dies this month from liver damage. God loves him so much that He saw fit to get him to a place of surrender, even though it hurt God to do it publicly. Now everyone knows about this man’s addiction to alcohol, and he will never be a pastor again. How sad, and I could weep right now as I write about it thinking about how many years the man has been hurting AND GOD HAS BEEN HURTING, too.
My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and when I hurt myself, I hurt God. What a wonderful lesson I have learned from the testimony of this man’s life. I have learned that I will never outsmart God, and He can and will expose anything at any given time if I live a life of secrets. I have learned that a life of secrets can offer me nothing. I have learned that knowledge of the Bible is not the same as surrendering to live an honest life. I have learned that my God is not my “ministry” in Lighting the Way. I have learned that I have a gentle Savior who is longsuffering to convict me time and time again before such harsh discipline. I have learned to not judge someone based on how much the person knows the Bible, because knowledge is not the same as godliness and surrender. I have learned (once again!) that I should not assume someone is “great” without knowing the person, especially when it comes to someone in a leadership position, because very few people can handle attention honestly and in enough humility to live authentic lives. There is no such thing as a great person apart from honesty.
Most of all I have learned that IN MY WEAKNESS GOD IS STRONG AND NO TEMPTATION HAS OVERTAKEN ME. People don’t have to live lives of defeat if they know Jesus. I don’t have to succumb to failure in my Christian life, because of Jesus. I have been given victory in Him. Not only that, but HE promises to “provide a way of escape” for me from any temptation that comes my way! (1 Corinthians 10:13).
What a lesson I can also learn in not taking advantage of God’s grace. If I pray, “Lord, I know this is wrong, but I will just do it for a while and then be done with it,” God shows us through the example of this pastor addicted to alcohol that when we start something we can become addicted, to the point where we cannot stop. It is as if the Lord says, “Ok, you want this instead of Me? I will give it to you, and I will let you have it as long as I see fit, even longer than you want it! I will do this to show you that I am God, and I am YOUR God, and there is no other God but Me.” (Isaiah 43:10)
Well, I have tears in my eyes as I write about it today. I have tears of joy that there is such an intimate Lord in existence, and He cares very deeply about having ALL of my heart. He brings me peace. He puts me at ease. He lets me attest that “as for me, the nearness of God is my good,” even when people misunderstand me and when nominal friends come and go. He is truly my Good Shepherd. (John 10, Psalm 73).
So, I tell people about Jesus because of His great love for me. It is not about my love for Him that miserably fails time and time again. It is not about my strength, because I am undeniably weak. It is all about Him and how He fights my battles and wins them and how He sets me free from sin and keeps me there, and it is about a supernatural presence and indwelling that is one of total honesty, purity and peace with Love from a “suffering Servant” who paid for all my sins with His life. It is about a love for my soul to last for all of eternity.
We had a great day in evangelism last weekend in Little Five Points. God brought up Larry, who spoke with us for at least an hour. He took ‘Can You Be Good Without God?’ by John Blanchard. He is agnostic but could not explain the mystery of the conscience if there is no moral God when we asked him about it. He also took quotes from evolutionists about how they really have no proof for believing in evolution; they just don’t want to believe in the Bible! (The quotes were compiled from the book, ‘That Their Words May be Used Against Them,’ by Henry Morris.) God brought up two people who believed in universalism, which teaches that when Jesus died for the world (John 3:16), no one will go to hell as a result and the whole, entire world will be saved. I had a list of verses on hell, and I offered the list to someone believing in universalism. She said, “No, it is too long, and I will not read it.” I responded, “Ok, well, since you are here, and we have a Bible on the table, let me just pick up a Bible and read you a few verses to show that the Bible clearly teaches that people will go to hell without Jesus as Savior.” I turned to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and Revelation 22:15. I also read her Acts 17:30-31 and Galatians 5:19-21.
I worked with Charisse Graves and John and Lee Rosser, and we were all very busy having conversations with people who were open to hearing about Jesus and having answers to life’s deepest questions based on the Bible.
But, my relationship with God does not end there. It is every single day, every moment of every day as my Husband, my Friend, my Comforter, and my Keeper and my Savior. “Blessed are those who HUNGER and thirst for righteousness for they shall be SATISFIED.” Matthew 5:6. It is true. He satisfies me, BUT that satisfaction only comes from my “death” to my desires for a LIFE much better in Him. It does not come by Him giving me an easy life or letting me have whatever I want. It comes from surrender, and that involves a lot of pain. It is not contingent on a 501 (c ) 3 or a new web site. No one sees but Him. I love Him so much for being such a humble God and for making me better, for making me more like Him as I “die daily” in the power and victory of His resurrection.
I got down on my knees this morning and said, “Lord Jesus, I believe in You. I believe You are the way, the truth and the life, and that no man comes to the Father except through You. I pray You will take all of me, because I cannot stay in a place of surrender on my own. I need You, and I need You every hour. I know You know me, and I know You know me by name, and I know that before I was ever born You had a plan for me. Don’t let me miss out on anything that only comes through obedience and surrender—don’t let me miss out on a moment of the blessings You have when I obey and surrender. Help me to live an honest life, and I need You, and I thank You for setting me FREE from sin, and I pray You will keep me far, far away from it.”
Recently, I have heard about a pastor who is in very bad health. Many people love him, and I am one of those people. As it turns out, he has been an alcoholic for years, and he almost literally died from it this month. No one knew but God. I am sure that this man, who knows so much about the Bible to preach very meaningful sermons, KNEW he needed help. I am sure God let him know that he was not only hurting God and his family, but he was also hurting himself. I am sure that God loves him and knows him and came to convict him time and time again to get help, yet the man could not surrender. I realize I am no better apart from God’s grace to keep me in a place of surrender, even a place where I want to surrender. Well, time goes on, and he almost dies this month from liver damage. God loves him so much that He saw fit to get him to a place of surrender, even though it hurt God to do it publicly. Now everyone knows about this man’s addiction to alcohol, and he will never be a pastor again. How sad, and I could weep right now as I write about it thinking about how many years the man has been hurting AND GOD HAS BEEN HURTING, too.
My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and when I hurt myself, I hurt God. What a wonderful lesson I have learned from the testimony of this man’s life. I have learned that I will never outsmart God, and He can and will expose anything at any given time if I live a life of secrets. I have learned that a life of secrets can offer me nothing. I have learned that knowledge of the Bible is not the same as surrendering to live an honest life. I have learned that my God is not my “ministry” in Lighting the Way. I have learned that I have a gentle Savior who is longsuffering to convict me time and time again before such harsh discipline. I have learned to not judge someone based on how much the person knows the Bible, because knowledge is not the same as godliness and surrender. I have learned (once again!) that I should not assume someone is “great” without knowing the person, especially when it comes to someone in a leadership position, because very few people can handle attention honestly and in enough humility to live authentic lives. There is no such thing as a great person apart from honesty.
Most of all I have learned that IN MY WEAKNESS GOD IS STRONG AND NO TEMPTATION HAS OVERTAKEN ME. People don’t have to live lives of defeat if they know Jesus. I don’t have to succumb to failure in my Christian life, because of Jesus. I have been given victory in Him. Not only that, but HE promises to “provide a way of escape” for me from any temptation that comes my way! (1 Corinthians 10:13).
What a lesson I can also learn in not taking advantage of God’s grace. If I pray, “Lord, I know this is wrong, but I will just do it for a while and then be done with it,” God shows us through the example of this pastor addicted to alcohol that when we start something we can become addicted, to the point where we cannot stop. It is as if the Lord says, “Ok, you want this instead of Me? I will give it to you, and I will let you have it as long as I see fit, even longer than you want it! I will do this to show you that I am God, and I am YOUR God, and there is no other God but Me.” (Isaiah 43:10)
Well, I have tears in my eyes as I write about it today. I have tears of joy that there is such an intimate Lord in existence, and He cares very deeply about having ALL of my heart. He brings me peace. He puts me at ease. He lets me attest that “as for me, the nearness of God is my good,” even when people misunderstand me and when nominal friends come and go. He is truly my Good Shepherd. (John 10, Psalm 73).
So, I tell people about Jesus because of His great love for me. It is not about my love for Him that miserably fails time and time again. It is not about my strength, because I am undeniably weak. It is all about Him and how He fights my battles and wins them and how He sets me free from sin and keeps me there, and it is about a supernatural presence and indwelling that is one of total honesty, purity and peace with Love from a “suffering Servant” who paid for all my sins with His life. It is about a love for my soul to last for all of eternity.
We had a great day in evangelism last weekend in Little Five Points. God brought up Larry, who spoke with us for at least an hour. He took ‘Can You Be Good Without God?’ by John Blanchard. He is agnostic but could not explain the mystery of the conscience if there is no moral God when we asked him about it. He also took quotes from evolutionists about how they really have no proof for believing in evolution; they just don’t want to believe in the Bible! (The quotes were compiled from the book, ‘That Their Words May be Used Against Them,’ by Henry Morris.) God brought up two people who believed in universalism, which teaches that when Jesus died for the world (John 3:16), no one will go to hell as a result and the whole, entire world will be saved. I had a list of verses on hell, and I offered the list to someone believing in universalism. She said, “No, it is too long, and I will not read it.” I responded, “Ok, well, since you are here, and we have a Bible on the table, let me just pick up a Bible and read you a few verses to show that the Bible clearly teaches that people will go to hell without Jesus as Savior.” I turned to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and Revelation 22:15. I also read her Acts 17:30-31 and Galatians 5:19-21.
I worked with Charisse Graves and John and Lee Rosser, and we were all very busy having conversations with people who were open to hearing about Jesus and having answers to life’s deepest questions based on the Bible.
But, my relationship with God does not end there. It is every single day, every moment of every day as my Husband, my Friend, my Comforter, and my Keeper and my Savior. “Blessed are those who HUNGER and thirst for righteousness for they shall be SATISFIED.” Matthew 5:6. It is true. He satisfies me, BUT that satisfaction only comes from my “death” to my desires for a LIFE much better in Him. It does not come by Him giving me an easy life or letting me have whatever I want. It comes from surrender, and that involves a lot of pain. It is not contingent on a 501 (c ) 3 or a new web site. No one sees but Him. I love Him so much for being such a humble God and for making me better, for making me more like Him as I “die daily” in the power and victory of His resurrection.
