I felt blessed today going to a Bible Study and a man from a far off land came to tell the Gospel. Praise God in all He is doing… I wanted to post something like THIS for a while but now I really am going to since he shared it as part of the message.
I have always felt I am not a very strong man. Not used to labor I kept assuming that I don’t have much strength. That is not the kind that I am talking about though.
Close to what I mean I realize that without God in our lives we can do nothing.
If you are really “Broken” before God you know that you cannot live without Him. We are weak without His help, His guidance, His conversation with us through the Bible.
With all of my heart and with God’s help I hope I can deeply encourage you today. The Holy Spirit has laid some things on my heart and I want to share this with you.
Where do I start? I know; I could focus on the verse one of my favorites from the bible and see if this helps draw you toward a wonderful path.
“Ephesians 4:29 ‘Let no unwholesome talk come from your mouths but only what is helpful in building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
Do you want to live for God? Do you want to be in Him in all that you do? Are you there yet to that realization that people need the Lord in their lives just as much as you need Him?
If so, that is wonderful! People need Him so much and sometimes all people will need is just a person who will help them or show a good example to ones when there are others who are not like that.
Do you know what your calling is? A pastor, just a preacher, do you just want to share the gospel with others? Do you write, draw, or want to do crafts or et cetera for the Lord? If so listen up.
First off if you are into serving I hope you see or get the idea of the film “The Second Chance.” (I hope to review this sometime soon). Know that all it takes is real heart for God and He can use you in all things and for whatever your calling could or is going to be.
Just a quick suggestion (and hopefully more than a plug for a future article, haha).
But if you want to be a doer of the word know that humility must come with it. Being humble is like a king who bows to a higher one, a husband saying to his wife “I don’t know why you ended up loving someone undeserving like me,” a wife who tells loved ones in public her married one is her “better half.” And they all sincerely mean it!
We also must realize that we can nothing apart from God. But the best part of this is that in Christ you can do anything!
The Lord will guide you and the father watches over you as you do His will and who knows what can happen? All of this is wonderful and amazing and worth it.
What I can hone in on is that we are weak if we think we can do it on our own strength. There were times I said “God keeps me strong” but there was more pride to that statement that I was so-called quote unquote “fine.”
Could I share the Gospel effectively with that? Not really.
I praise God for doing so much for me that I didn’t deserve, my heart wasn’t always into going to church. My dad was consistent with making sure I definitely went to church whether I wanted to cry, didn’t want people to know how I was feeling, didn’t realize that through anything God still loved me… once, even went while covered in bugs and felt like they were eating me alive! (Seriously, they went into places they shouldn’t have!!).
Slight kidding aside my dad showed God’s patience by knowing that I needed to hear His word when I wasn’t listening to His ways, didn’t think God had enough mercy to care about me, and realized best of all, Jesus’ heart through it all. My father still loved me.
And whether you believe it or are struggling in heavy guilt and just don’t feel like even going to a bible study instead of a church because of that believe me… He still does.
The father has always loved you. When you didn’t even know what love was, He first loved you.
With His redeeming power He can transform you too. He can do amazing things if you trust in Him and by His will lead you on a way that is not meant to harm you but help you.
But sometimes Satan leads you into thinking you won’t be able to do enough or that God doesn’t really love anyone that much. Or maybe you think that one day… just one day… you will be used by God. Guess what, shed that last belief because He has strength for you today. He may not love the sin you sometimes do but He cares for you and knows the way for your journey to go.
God does. In His strength there is no power from evil, nothing from anywhere that will separate you from the love of Christ. Amen?
Listen to this story of the power of Christ’s transforming power:
This was a man that believed he was doing God’s will by killing people who believed in Christ. He went to prisons that were kept in harsh ways, rats, all kind of lack in upkeep. Then as he went down the road to Damascus when he encountered a light that shone around him.
A voice then said “Why are you persecuting me?”
In his state he this man Saul probably had nothing to say but he had fallen to the ground after hearing this.
Saul said, “Who are You, Lord?” The one he called Lord in that moment said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
He was trembling and astonished. “Lord, what do you want me to do?” Then the Lord said to Him “Arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do…”
The men who journeyed with him heard a voice but saw no one. Saul arose from the ground and when he opened his eyes and saw no one. But they led him by the hand into Damascus.
Three days he had no physical sight, and did not eat or drink.
Ananais was then called by the Lord in a vision to see a person, one called “Saul of Tarsus” for behold he is praying.
And in a vision sees a man, you, coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he will receive his sight.
Ananais seemed troubled about Saul because of the deaths he caused in Jerusalem and there in Damascus had authority from chief priests to tie up ones who call on Him.
But the Lord wanted Him to go because he was a chosen vessel of the Lord’s to bear His name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.
So after all of that Ananais did a wonderful thing by following the Lord’s orders. When that happened ‘scales’ fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again! He arose and was baptized.
Do you know what he changed as? He became a fully devoted believer in the Lord. More than that because of his weakness as being known as ‘that Sanhedrin’ who was leading people to murder, he was changed. The people who belonged to God and followed Him faithfully kept him protected because he was a light for the Lord though there were many Jewish people who as a twist, wanted him dead!
But the Lord through His people did not let that happen… and much later he was known as “Paul,” a disciple long after Christ’s death and resurrection but as real to him as you or me of Christ today!
Isn’t it amazing that Jesus wanted Him to live even though he didn’t deserve God’s mercy? That is just like us (or me anyway…). We do not deserve His mercy though we may go to church, have fellowship with people who are devoted to God… the Lord loves us though he has to show us new mercies every day. We must ask God for forgiveness from things going on from our old life, or that we might think we can do things in our own power, well guess what? We can’t!
We just can’t do it.
Maybe you already show His strength in your weakness or you see other examples and you want to be like that. Do you know of a blind man who has passionately memorized scripture? Do you have a heart for God but because you can “do it” on your own you don’t know where to start? Do you think that you don’t know what God’s love is?
Well you can once you just ask Him. Maybe He can reveal wisdom if you want to love Him but we must “die” first, let the old man pass by, maybe tell others of His great love about things you have struggled with in the past… something for God!
Just do something. The supposedly little thing you can do in His will can become great for His Kingdom. You just might have to realize you are “weak” first and by that moment He will shine the way.
wondermedia 