Last night was a typical Saturday night with praying for pastors before going to bed, being woke up to pray for them, and then praying for them again this morning. It was funny when God woke me at 3:21 He put it in my mind that we all need to be ready when the time came to preach because He might change what we were to tell the people. Three...two...one...it's time! We should always be ready to share the Gospel and share it in the way He desires. We should never speak without be filled with the Spirit. When we live in such a manner, we will realize what God desires of us in a mighty way. Before going to bed He had me pray for all pastors to be obedient to His Voice. He had me pray for those leading children, teens, and adults to make sure His words flowed from them. This morning I woke up with an urgent call from a family called to the hospital for the probable death of their loved one. They put me on speaker phone so I could pray with them. Being far away from people in such a situation breaks my heart. So many times after coming to South Carolina I have received calls of this type. I just want to be with people who are hurting so badly at such times. I have been with this family through so many hurtful times and my heart breaks for them. I know God will be with them and love on them through others. I pray there will be a chaplain there at the hospital who will comfort them and give them exactly what they need. My heart breaks for what they are going through. Life is challenging but we must live a life in His presence so He can empower us through whatever comes our way. We must allow Him to live in and through us so we can spend eternity with Him. Without God we have no hope. Living in the ways of the world provides no hope. Living in His presence is where we all need to live. Ryan Stevenson wrote of his song The Gospel:
"Over the last couple of years it's been very easy to see the constant stress, tension and disunity within our society. We are such a distracted culture, and I feel like the first thing we do in the wake of tragedy is attempt to speak to the issues at hand. I believe that the only answer that will shift our nation, is believers coming back to the feet of Jesus; to living out The Gospel plainly and blatantly for the world to see! Only by getting back into alignment with the heart of Jesus will our lives then become a projection of the one we've encountered in intimacy and this is how we show the Gospel, the good news, to today's culture!"
We, as believers, need to get better at sharing the Gospel. We need to get bolder as the Lord lays it on our heart to speak. We need to realize time is growing short and if we want others to spend eternity with Him, we must share His love. We must not just 'talk the talk' but we must 'walk the walk' so people see His love flow in and through us. I am reminded this morning of the words in the first chapter of James. Verses twenty-two through twenty-five in The Passion Translation reads:
Don’t just listen to the Word of Truth and not respond to it, for that is the essence of self-deception. So always let his Word become like poetry written and fulfilled by your life! If you listen to the Word and don’t live out the message you hear, you become like the person who looks in the mirror of the Word to discover the reflection of his face in the beginning. You perceive how God sees you in the mirror of the Word, but then you go out and forget your divine origin. But those who set their gaze deeply into the perfecting law of liberty are fascinated by and respond to the truth they hear and are strengthened by it—they experience God’s blessing in all that they do!
I love this. So always let His Word become like poetry written and fulfilled by your life! Woo hoo! Praise His Holy Name for His Word!
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for loving me so much! Thank You for a good day yesterday with Your peace encompassing me even though a lot of the time I was alone! Thank You for the day ahead! Thank You for the sermon You laid on my heart to share today! Thank You for being with this family who are hurting so badly as they have been called to the hospital to be with their loved one who will take their last breathe today unless You intervene! Thank You for continuing to heal the hurts of my heart with Doc and Mordecei gone! Father, cleanse me so You can fill me with more of You. May You shine brightly through my words, actions, attitude, and thoughts throughout this day in a new, different way. May people see/hear You instead of me. Lord, I continue to pray for this tingling in my head/face. I pray You will give me exactly what I need to get through this time. May You be greater than it. May the tingling not be a distraction today that will take my focus off of You. I pray You will be with Joanne who has been admitted to the hospital. May she feel Your peace. Thank You Jesus for being My Past, Present, and Future! Amen.
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