I recently lost my sister on April 26th 2020, she fought a long hard battle with cancer, had many victories along the way and our journey though was long, God’s hand was there the entire time. Miracle after miracle, testimony after testimony, so many unexplained events occurring that doctors had to admit themselves, only Jesus could have done it. God’s fingerprints were all over our journey everywhere you turned, yet, in the end, God brought her home to Himself, no more pain or suffering, she is in the hands of Jesus.
These situations often bring questions of “why?” after all those answered prayers, would God still bring her home? Well, I believe that sometimes ones trial is not for themselves, but quite often to prepare or strengthen the faith of someone or of someones around them. Though I may have questions for sometime as I did when the Lord took my Mom in 2013, yet I cannot deny the impact my sister’s life had on so many. So many people’s faith in Christ was STARTED, STRENGTHENED, RENEWED, and/or REKINDLED, through my sister’s journey, her great sacrifice.
God used her mightily through this. My sister even said that in her prayer time early on during her journey, while she was in such pain, she said that “she believed this journey was NOT FOR HER, but for SOMEONE ELSE…” Those were her own words. So as our family mourns, we also know with certainty we will see her soon in heaven, and THAT is the Hope in Christ we hold dear in our hearts.
So, moving a bit forward to today, so many things going on in our world, from deaths from COVID-19 to George Floyd and his most TRAGIC death, people being locked down, Marshall Law in some places, extreme abuses of power, and more! People experiencing, fear, anger, hatred, resentment, hurt, depression, rage, and so many also turning their backs on God and sin is so great in this place right now because of it all…so many emotions swirling around WE THE PEOPLE of the World. We are looking for hope, answers, something, anything to cling to. The GOOD NEWS is that Jesus can give you that peace even amidst the trials, a peace that passes all understanding. Click here to learn more about ‘How much God Loves You and has an ETERNAL HOPE for You, that can heal this need!”
For those grounded in a relationship with Jesus Christ, I want us to journey to a new perspective today. This is something the Holy Spirit has been laying on my heart and showing me for many weeks now, it is only now I am putting it more together to share with you. Let’s Go!
Strange things happening around us, God taking people home…
Something that I cannot ignore that God has been revealing to me lately is how many BELIEVERS, those who are in Christ are left and right going home to the Lord as of late, people around me personally and it is not because of COVID-19… Through this, I am feeling some kind of anticipation, of what God is doing around us and an urgency for His calling? It is giving me a new perspective from God’s eyes. I can’t help but think, is God starting to little by little draw believers back home unto Himself? Maybe yes, or no, but it still should open your eyes as a believer in Christ of the urgency of the call and the DEBT of the Gospel…
Remember, these trials around us have ALREADY been written, God knew about COVID-19 LONG before us, and HE is not shaken, so neither am I. Our journey here is temporary, our REAL LIFE begins when we are home with Jesus. This life is precious, but as scripture tells us, our life is but a MIST, here today, gone tomorrow…
James 4:14 NIV 1984
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
What Does This Mean for You and I who are IN CHRIST?
Let me tell you the things that God has revealed to my wife and I in the past weeks. God provided an opportunity to dig deeper in Discipleship, working with people around us to help them come to KNOW Jesus, GROW in Him, and then SEND them out to tell OTHERS about this hope in Christ.
But you say, that’s not for EVERYONE, that’s just for Pastors…. Yah, I have to tell you, God commanded it right here in the book of Matthew…by example from Jesus Himself.
Matthew 28: 18 – 20 NIV 1984
18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19Therefore go and make disciplesd of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
We are the church as in Acts 6:7, and during such a tumultuous time as this, we must NOT shrink back, but press forward for the Gospel of Christ. because people are perishing daily, minute-by-minute, while we sit at home and wonder when we can go and sit back down in our church seats!
What is God revealing during such a tumultuous time as this?
These horrendous and tragic situations we are in the midst of right now is not something God created but rather SIN, when it entered the world in the beginning, THIS is the result! God gave us a choice to be in perfect union with Him, or choose to break that union and thus sin entered the world. See this section to learn more about this subject. Now as a result of that choice, we, ME, (The chief sinner), must navigate a world full of sin, and first and foremost, reveal the HOPE God has for those who are In Christ, and help lead others to a relationship with Christ!
As a believer in Jesus, your debt is to the Gospel…that comes FIRST before the protest. Legislature will only fix things temporarily, but Christ will give them LIVING WATER, ETERNAL life, GOD Perspective! Without that, we are just lost people running in circles, and in the end, those without Christ, will die in a place separated from our Eternal God, in LAVA as my daughter says, but is she so right…SHE Get’s the urgency! The answer is in yours and my SIZE 10.5 WIDE…The HANDS AND FEET of Christ are right in front of us….YOU and I who are in Christ! Learn More about Jesus here…
Romans 10: 14 – 15 NIV
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”[g]
Ready for the BIG REVEAL Action step?
One thing that is more common in other countries is LIVING the Gospel in your community and in your life around you. This involves being personally involved with those around you, being the hands and feet of Christ in their lives, OUTSIDE of the Church building.
You and I are the CHURCH… 🙂 It is up to us, through the filling of the Spirit of God daily, to go out into our community, and be Christ to those around us, just as Jesus did in his ministry, he went everywhere! He didn’t invite everyone to a church building, but rather he SENT himself and all his followers out to share THE LIVING GOSPEL with those in the world!
In closing, we have such an opportunity right now with most of us not being able to be at church anyway, to invite a friend to coffee each week, introduce them to Jesus as God presents the opportunity. Pray for your neighbors, be Christ to those around you OUTSIDE the building….
Are you ready to be Sent? well here we go…God bless you as you journey out and be Jesus to those around you!
Acts 6: 7 NIV 1984
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.