SHARING YOUR FAITH WITH OTHERS

"To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me". Acts 26:18

Son, so many of my sons and daughters have not understood the Holy Spirit who is equal to myself and my Son. He plays a special role on the earth and in the life of every one of my kids. He is the one who convicts you of sin. He is the one that prompts you to do something. He is the one who operates through your gifts (Isa 11:2). He was there when my Son was baptized (Mt 3:16). He is the source of my power imparted to every son and daughter. He is as real and tangible as I am. He is the reason you have motivation to seek me every morning. "God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will" (Heb 2:4). We both operate as the wind; you can feel our presence, but you cannot see us. I know you have experienced his special touch in your life and have experienced his unique expression on many occasions. Help my sons and daughters understand and honor the Spirit's role in their lives. On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39

MOTIVATIONS TO CALL

 ..."Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." Mark 10:49

Do you recall the circumstances when God first called you into relationship with Him? Were you in need of something? Were you in a crisis situation? Every day God calls someone into relationship with Him through different circumstances. More often than not, the circumstances relate to a need in their life that only God can meet.
Bartimaeus had the need to see again. He was a poor blind beggar, who had heard about Jesus and the miracles He had done. The crowds rebuked him for seeking Jesus, yet he continued to cry out. "Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!'...Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus" (Mk. 10:48,50). That day, Bartimaeus saw for the first time. But more than that, he saw with spiritual eyes for the first time.
Each workday, we rub shoulders with someone who has not met this Jesus we know personally. God uses needs to draw us to Himself. What need has He placed in a coworker that only Christ can meet? Perhaps you are the instrument He wants to use to introduce that person to Himself. It requires availability and a willingness to look for people with needs, then point them to Christ to meet their needs. Pray for divine appointments today.

WHEN HIS WORK EXCEEDS HIS PRESENCE

 

If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here (Exodus 33:15). One of the great dangers in Christian service is to move from a presence-based work to operate purely on our natural skill. Once we become established in something, the daily maintenance can lead us into complacency until a crisis arises that forces us back to our knees to appeal to the Lord for His presence to return. Things were going well for Moses as he led the people out of Egypt. God was calling him to Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God, to receive the Ten Commandments. While he was there, the people fell away from the Lord by returning to the ways of Egypt by building and worshipping a golden calf under Aaron’s watch. This revealed that the spiritual foundation of the people and the leadership of Aaron had not been grounded enough for the leader to have an extended absence. God’s presence had left the people.  If you are in management, you must know the condition of your team to know how long you can be away from hands-on leadership. When Moses came back and saw what had happened, he recognized the solution as well. Having God’s presence return was the only way they could proceed and have success. “How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" (Ex 33:16). Moses also realized a weakness in his own ability to lead. He pleaded God to mentor him: “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you." Is the presence of God in your current activities? Are the people you lead mature in their faith that allows you to be off site? Ask for God’s help on both counts.

FAITH PROVED GENUINE

 

Even one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons."  This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth (Titus 1:12-15). In December 1983, The Princeton Religion Research Center published a landmark survey conducted for The Wall Street Journal by the Gallup Organization. The researchers measured a wide range of moral and ethical behaviors, such as calling in sick when not sick, cheating on income tax, and pilfering company supplies for personal use. The results were disappointing, to say the least. But what the researchers found most startling was that there was no significant difference between the churched and the unchurched in their ethics and values on the job. In other words, despite the fact that more and more people were attending churches, churches seemed to be having less and less of an impact on the moral fiber of their people, at least in the workplace. To quote the researchers: “These findings will come as a shock to the religious leaders and underscore the need for religious leaders to channel the new religious interest in America not simply into religious involvement but in deep spiritual commitment.”[1] “Either these are not the gospels, or we’re not Christians,” said Thomas Linacre, Henry VIII’s doctor and Renaissance thinker, after given the four gospels in Greek. Linacre recognized a great disparity between those who proclaimed Christ and how they lived their lives. If our faith life is not validated through our behavior then one must question if we even have a genuine relationship with Christ. The apostle Paul didn’t like what he saw in the believers on the island of Crete. They proclaimed Christ with their mouth, but their behavior looked no different than those who did not claim Christ. Pray that your faith is “proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7-8). [1] – Princeton Religion Research Center Study, 1983

FREE TO STAND

 

"That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies..." Joshua 7:12 It matters not how strong you are. It matters not whether you have the greatest resources and talent. It matters not if you have the best plans and procedures. It will all fail if you have a break in your armor. This is the message God told Joshua when he attempted to go against a small army at Ai, which was the Israelites' second battle in the Promised Land. Sometimes we try to figure out why we are not successful in an endeavor. We look at all aspects of our performance to see what went wrong. For the people of Israel, it was not easily seen on the surface. Everything seemed just as it should be from Joshua's vantage point, so when his army was soundly defeated, he cried out to God, "Ah, Sovereign Lord, why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?" (Josh. 7:7a) The people had been defeated because God could not bless them. One person had violated the covenant with God. They were not to take any possessions from the first battle, but one person failed to live up to this, and the whole army suffered. Sin makes our armor vulnerable to attack from satan, who then gains permission from God to attack us in the area where we have failed to uphold righteousness. If we break down in moral purity, satan comes in and establishes a stronghold. If we give place to bitterness and unforgiveness, we will break fellowship with God and others. If we become money-focused, we will fall into greed and deception. It is a vicious cycle. Examine your armor today. Make sure you are not susceptible to attack. Begin from a solid spiritual foundation and your chances of success will be great.

VESTED INTEREST

 

When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed (Neh 4:1). Leaders who attempt something greater than themselves will always get attacked and it often comes from those who have a vested interest in what you are changing. Nehemiah was rebuilding the ancient wall of Jerusalem. It was a major undertaking. Not everyone was pleased with this initiative. Sanballat, another government worker, did not want this to happen. When Jesus began confronting the Pharisees about religious traditions, He was attacked by the religious establishment because they had a vested interest that would be negatively impacted by His teaching. The apostle Paul confronted a religious tradition that generated income for those in the trade. Opposition arose because he was impacting a vested interest. “About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: "Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty" (Acts 19:23-27). Whenever you introduce a new product into the market, expect opposition from competitive products that have a vested interest. If God leads you to initiate a cause greater than yourself, expect opposition from those who may have vested interest.

SEEING THORNS AS BLESSINGS

 

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me (2 Cor. 12:7). Have you ever had something in your life you wish was not there? If God gave you one wish, perhaps it would be to change that one thing. Perhaps it is the source of pain or challenge in your life. You seek God continually for relief from it, but He seems strangely silent. Paul also experienced an ongoing burden that he called a “thorn in [his] flesh.” Bible scholars have speculated as to what this thorn might have been, but no one knows for sure. We do know that it was so hurtful to Paul that he asked God on three different occasions to remove it from his life: To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor. 12:7-10). Paul had a great calling on his life. The revelations and faith experiences that God gave him would have been too much for any man’s humility. So God, in order to insure His investment in Paul’s life, gave this man a thorn in his flesh to help him maintain a humble, godly perspective. Perhaps God has given you such a thorn designed to allow you to place greater trust and reliance upon Him. Ask God to reveal to you the blessing of the thorn He has placed in your life. The bloom of a rose is beautiful, but the thorn of a rose produces only pain. Thorns hurt us yet they humble us. That is the blessing of thorns.