Good morning Lord Jesus, I seek your Spirit inside me to guide me throughout my day..
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “ But the righteous man shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)
I saw a documentary on The Church in China and how it is spreading like fire. The interviewer asked, a couple small house church leaders why they think it is spreading? One Chinese woman replied, “When we were being persecuted for our faith, our persecutors forbid the mention or sharing of the name of Jesus or the spreading of his Gospel. Now that we can share it, if we do not share it everyday, the days we don’t share Jesus's name we partner with those that persecuted us. The days we do not share the name of Jesus we are like those persecutors who will not share the name of Jesus. For if we go throughout our day and do not share Jesus with someone, how are we different from those who do not believe in Jesus, who hate Jesus and try to stop the spreading of the Gospel? Each day we we do not share Jesus with someone we are no different from our persecutors and join their side. We want to be on the side of Jesus every day, so we must share his name to at least one person every day.
If you look back on your past week, how many days this past week have you been on the side of Jesus and how many days have your been on the side of unbelievers who hate, persecute and try to silence the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus? We are almost half way through the year. Open up a calendar of 2023 and put a check in the days on your calendar you shared Jesus with someone. Now look at your calendar. Would your calendar confirm that you as a persecutor of Jesus or a presenter of Jesus? Remember that omission is a sin.
Below is a video of my daughter Milan when she was 17 years old and a senior at Bob Jones High School. In her English class they read the book “Beowulf.” Their teacher assigned the class to present a “Beowulf” speech; boasting on themselves, their greatness and their power. The video is of my daughters speech to her class. Without fear, (or maybe with fear) she shared the Gospel and name of Jesus to her class. When you watch it you may reply to yourself, that is amazing! However, this is not supposed to be amazing. It is supposed to be the norm of your daily walk, some thing you are doing on a daily basis. “People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.” (Matthew 5:15). Jesus was not killed by the world and resurrected to give you light in your baptism for you keep to yourself and tuck the light away in a hidden box to pull out at your time of death to keep you from going to hell. The light was given to you to share and rescue others from their hell. Your personal knowledge and relationship with Jesus and the light you received has absolutely no impact on those around you and their darkness unless you share it.
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). The salvation that is found in no one else but Jesus is only possible if the Name of Jesus is given among men, meaning shared by you with others. To the people the name of Jesus is not given, salvation does not occur.
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” 2Timothy 1:8-9
My family, I pray today as you begin a new week you will reflect on, “Who’s side you will be on today?” I pray by the leading of the Holy Spirit that at the end of this day you will be able to put and “X” on your calendar that you sided with Jesus and those who are not ashamed of the Gospel and shared it with someone. I pray that every morning of this week in your calendar, and everyday you are given the gift of awakening, from this morning until you leave this earth there will be an “x” marked that you sided with Jesus. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!!