Can You Relate? Then Participate!

Acts 13:2-3 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

I want to move to the middle of nowhere; I want to stick my head in the sand to ignore; I want to never watch the news; I want to disconnect from society; I want to scream from the rooftops what the $&#$ is wrong with you people……can you relate? I get so mad at the level of evil evident among us today. When you watch the news you see it played out locally and on large scales nationally and politically. I get so frustrated at the double-standards played out in the open, accepted just as if covertly seduced. I am appalled at the selfishness that breeds so many of these problems, yet I know the biggest problem is how far we have drifted from God. I know Satan is smiling as his limited power is peaking in my lifetime, but he will fall. I know Satan is smiling at the universalism and prosperity gospels that so many pastors are leading thousands to Hell with. Even Paul on this first missionary journey confronted the false prophet; 9 Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? The only way to know the difference in false prophets and Godly ones is to spend time in prayer and God’s Word yourself. You WILL BE given discernment to know the difference!

I miss preaching, the pulpit, the preparation, the gifts from God for the messages for his people. That season in my life brought incredible highs and lows, but all of it brought me closer to the Lord. My pulpit is now social media (until blocked again), and wherever my feet are for the day. My outlet is wherever and whoever God puts in my path. An evangelist spoke to me deeply on my first missionary trip. “We share about sports, the weather, and ourselves, why can’t we share about Christ? What if that was the last conversation someone had, and they didn’t learn about Jesus?” Sharing your faith does not mean a full gospel presentation every time. Sharing your faith is relative to the situation God has put you in with someone at that time. How does your faith relate and effect what you are dealing with, and how can you simply share it? It can even be as simple as, “Well, when I don’t know what to do, I always pray about it. Would you like me to pray?” Through that act, God softens hearts and you just might play a part in preparing someone for eternal paradise. God is always at work in the unseen, and uses those willing to be bold in their faith to do heavenly work with him. 1 Corinthians 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. It is always God, not ourselves accomplishing the work of God, we are just blessed to be used by God doing his work.

You have a mission field. Those closest to you are where you start. Your family knows you better than anyone, and they know if you are living your faith seven days a week or for just a couple hours on Sunday. Your whole life should be filtered through your faith. Your actions, words, thoughts, decisions, acquaintances, work, and yes, your motives for each of these. If you proclaim Christianity, the world filters it’s opinion of you and your God through it. Everything you do is judged by those around you. How did they handle that as a Christian? How can they speak like that as a Christian? How can they post about their faith, and then their drinking on social media? How can they post about their love, and then their hate in the same day? I don’t know nothing, except the grace and love of my Savior, and I am blown away at why I (and you) have received both. But, I do want to spend my life telling others about Jesus, no matter how bad I want to run and hide. It is all about Him, and not about me. If you read verse two in Acts, everything we do, we are truly doing FOR God.