Michael
The Challenge
We are faced with a challenge...
Every day we have a choice, every day is full of
moments where we have to make decisions and the choice is always up to us:
-Am I going to live for Jesus today?
-Am I going to be obedient?
-Am I going to selfless or selfish?
-Am I going to live for my glory or His?
I believe that what God has been doing in our
church the last few weeks is that He has been making invitation after
invitation to come to Him and be healed, restored, and filled - to get equipped
to go out and be Jesus to broken and hurting people.
As God's people we need to get educated and
informed - we need to know what's going on - ask God to give us eyes to see the
bigger picture. We need to see through His eyes, outside of our bubble. We cannot
bury our heads in the sand or let life distract us from what's going on in our
country and around the world. The entire world is crying out for freedom and
peace, but they don't know that it is only Jesus that can give them these
things. We need a revival and that will only come by the power of God's Holy
Spirit and by the prayers of believers.
*We are incapable of convincing people that the
Bible is true and that its truth.
-The Holy Spirit has to reveal it to them and give
them eyes to see.
*We are incapable of compelling someone to give
his/her life to The Lord.
-Jesus has to draw them first before they will
humble themselves.
We are capable of living as an example of
righteousness and showing God's love to all people, regardless of race, gender,
religion or sexual preference. We are capable of praying people into the
Kingdom of God and as believers we are responsible to do so.
The days of "playing church", checking
the box, and patting ourselves on the back are over. If you aren't serious
about serving The Lord, you're going to be gobbled up by everything that's
going on in the world. You must know your Bible and God's voice, otherwise you
just aren't going to make it - the rubber is hitting the road, we have to live
out what we profess to believe in. We are living in a blind and deaf world,
where the devil is plugging up ears, covering eyes, and hardening hearts - he
is stealing, killing, and destroying.
I want to challenge you - to go deeper than you've
ever gone before, to completely submerge yourself, your life, your family in
the presence of Jesus, to live wholly unto Him and nothing else no matter what
comes your way. When the Holy Spirit is moving among us, and you're at your
seat, if you hear a voice that says "Oh, don't worry, you're fine. You're
not like these people, they have real problems. Jesus doesn't need to touch
anything in your life, you've got it all together," or "Don't even
think about it, do you know what everyone is going to think about you if you
ask for prayer? Don't bother, just keep it to yourself. God won't do anything
anyways." - in those moments, you need to tell the devil and your pride to
hush up and take a hike and you get to the altar, you go get prayer. We ALL
need Jesus. We ALL need His touch and cleansing and His mercy.
I want to challenge you - to seek out what God's
doing and partner with Him. We may not to be able to go to every place that has
a need but we can pray for resources, protection, provision - we can pray
that the Holy Spirit would come in power and rescue the lost and the hurting.
Remember that prayer is not a last resort, its not the last thing we do - it's
the most important thing we can do for anyone and in any situation. Don't ask
God to bless what you're doing, ask Him what He's up to and how you can help,
because His work is already blessed. Join Him. Find out what's going on in the
country and in the world and ask God how you can pray for those things.
God has so much for all of us and He's waiting for
us to step up and take hold of it. We have a choice to receive everything He
has for us or not. God is gentleman, He is never going to force Himself on you.
He isn't going to make you take anything from Him. What The Lord gives, He
gives freely out of love for us as His children. Living for Jesus does come at
a cost to us, its ourselves - our selfishness, and its a small price when
compared to what Jesus gave up to give us life and reconciliation. He died to
restore us to the Father, purely out of the love He has for us and to bring
back wholeness to the relationship between God and us - not because of how
great we are or because of anything that we do, but because of His unselfish
love. God's grace is a gift that is given to each of us in unending abundance,
so what are you waiting for?
Dive in. Go after God with all that you have and
don't look back. Press on to attain the prize - live with an eternal mindset,
see through heaven's eyes. Give all that you are to God and see if He won't do
something amazing with you.
Are you up for the challenge?
Casey
McReynolds
6/2013
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