Images

Time to get Uncomfy

When was the last time you shared the Gospel with someone? Not just sharing your faith and what you believe, but sharing that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life…?

Some months ago, we walked into our church sanctuary to see all the chairs rearranged. Each chair was facing another chair. There was not one seat that was facing the stage. My husband had to serve in the sound area, and so I would be sitting alone. I hesitantly walked in while slightly panicking. What in the world are we doing today? I thought to myself.

As people started to trickle in, our pastor walked around handing a little sheet of paper that asked us when the last time was that we shared the Gospel with someone. The question was followed with three options in which we were to check: 1 week ago, 1 month ago, or 1 year ago. 

I’ll tell you that I felt guilt start to creep in as I had to THINK about how long it had been since I had shared the Good News with someone. After worship, the pastor came up to the pulpit and told us the results of what everyone had written down. Are you ready to hear?

Out of a room full of about 55 to 60 believers…

7 shared their faith that past week

2 shared their faith that past month

and the rest in the last year. 

Imagine if this were true for churches all over! Are we really living our lives to make Jesus known? Are we seeking out the lost and sharing the hope of Truth with them? 

All I can think about lately is that there are so many in this world who do not know Jesus. I am so anxious for His second coming and yet my heart aches because I know that so many have yet to receive Him as Lord and Savior. I want everyone to accept Jesus and know Him personally not because they are scared of hell and what is to come, but because Jesus is TOO GOOD to not believe. 

It is super easy to get caught up in our everyday grind. Honestly, we are so caught up in ourselves and the things we need to do, the schedule we have created and want to stick by, etc. We get super comfortable where we are that we neglect to do what Jesus commissioned us to do… preach the Good News while baptizing people in the name of the Son, Father, and Holy Spirit. 

What if we step out of our “me” mindsets, setting aside our routines and comfortability in order to be completely available for the Holy Spirit to use us? What would it look like for the church as a whole if Christ followers would be more attentive to the Holy Spirit’s prompting in our everyday lives? 

I am so challenged by the statistics our pastor presented, and I feel so compelled to get uncomfortable and invite the Holy Spirit to speak through me. The momentary awkwardness that we may feel in these moments of witnessing to people, maybe even strangers, will not even compare to the celebration that will take place when we see them in Heaven. God wants to use us to be little slices in planting Kingdom seeds in hearts while the Holy Spirit comes in and waters those seeds. 

Ask the Lord for His anointing over your words, interactions, and that He will give you divine encounters to tell people the good news of Jesus Christ. I pray that we can be a piece in setting the captives free. I pray that we can reach as many people as possible before Jesus comes back. That they will know the Truth, and the Truth will set them free. 

Are you ready to get a little uncomfy? 

Love Isn’t What You Think It Is

Work has been pretty demanding. Alan and I have not had much time together these past couple months. So last Friday we planned a little in house date. But wouldn’t you know it, I got a terrible migraine, could barely finish my dinner, and couldn’t even keep my eyes open from the pain. I wasn’t much of a date. But my sweet husband set everything aside, told me to lie against his chest, and he rubbed my head. He massaged the parts of my head that were causing me the most pain until I fell asleep on him. 

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking, wow, that is love. My husband just demonstrated Christ’s love to me tonight. 

Media fills our minds with false illusions of what love is. Movies and books depict love to be a feeling or fondness that can fade. Oh and don’t worry, if you lose that feeling of love, then you can leave that person and find someone better. 

The world really feeds us such a distorted view of what love truly is. If we are not meditating on Scripture, we may slip right under the influence of the world instead of the Truth of God’s Word. 

Before Alan and I got married, our pastor and his wife had invited us over to dinner. At the time, I was still pretty new to the church while Alan had been attending and serving for a few years. The wife had prepared a really tasty Dominican meal. As we gathered around the table, I grew to be a little nervous. My Spanish wasn’t amazing, and I wanted to make a good impression on the pastors. We made small talk for a while. They asked about my story and how I arrived in the Dominican. Then the pastor skipped right to the deep stuff and asked us a probing question. 

“What do you think love is?”

I pasued to let Alan answer first as my mind was trying to translate what I wanted to share before I opened my mouth. 

Alan and I both ended up sharing the same idea that love wasn’t about us at all, but rather serving the other person and demonstrating Christ’s love to one another. 

Luckily the pastor agreed, and I think he approved of me because he ended up marrying us and now I am a member of the church.

I could tell you all the things that I have learned about love since meeting my Alan, but I rather go straight to the source which is the Bible.When we dive into the Scriptures, we learn that it isn’t about us at all. True love is patient, kind, not prideful or arrogant, isn’t jealous,  isn’t self seeking, it isn’t irritable, it keeps no record of wrongs, it rejoices in the truth. Love believes, hopes, and endures all things. Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). 

This is true love. Not the sweep you off your feet and fall in love in 4 days kind that the movies portray. This is love as God designed it. Love that lasts. Love that covers all wrongs (1 Peter 4:8). The kind of love that doesn’t give up when things are hard, but rather chooses to stay and fight for your person every single day. 

This is the kind of love that led Jesus to die on the cross for us, and the kind of love we should aim to have. A selfless kind of love.

Operating Out of Fear vs. Faith

Did you know that the Bible tells us time and time again, don’t fear? And you know what is funny? One of our first human instincts is to worry. 

We worry about what we will eat.

We worry about what we will put on in the mornings. 

We worry about our jobs.

We worry about what others think or say about us.

We worry about our health.

We even worry about things that could potentially happen, but will probably never even come to pass.

We are big fat worriers.

My husband and I have walked through some challenging times, and I always tell him, “We are people who operate out of faith not fear.”

But I am sad to share that I have been operating out of fear. I have been allowing my mind to jump from one negative outcome to the next until I am spiraling and planning for the worst case scenario. 

I believe that we have to get our hearts of faith and our human brains on the same page. I have been in so many situations where my heart of faith is so confident that God is going to come through while my human brain is freaking out wondering out how everything will come together. It is a constant game of tug of war between the two. 

I love the Bible. Whatever we are wrestling with, the Scriptures give us encouragement, guidance, wisdom, literally everything. It is God’s Word to us to help us in our everyday faith walk. Today I looked up the word fear in the index. The last verse listed was Philippians 4:6. 

Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:6-7

God’s Word tells us not to worry but instead pray and give thanks. When we do this, then God will cover us in His unexplainable peace. 

Remember how I said that a big piece of operating out of faith instead of fear is training your mind to line up with your heart of faith? The next verse tells us to do just this. 

Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable–if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy–dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:8

We must fix our minds on the things above. In order to be people who operate out of faith, we have to retrain our thoughts and make them come into alignment with God’s Word. When we allow our minds to dwell on what the world says or what seems to make sense, we begin to act out of fear instead of faith. On the other hand, when we dwell on thoughts that are pure, lovely, true, just, and admirable, then we begin to respond out of faith. 

May we cast all cares to our Jesus who is always available and more than willing to carry our loads. May He guard our hearts and minds with His peace that passes all understanding. And may we be people that dwell on the things that are eternal so that we can drop the fear and operate out of wild faith.