Witnessing 101: Where Is This Class?

Today was pretty remarkable. It started with my verse for this morning:

Psalm 25:7 NIV

Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.

 

That couldn't have been more appropriate. That was reassuring  for someone who hasn't walked the walk much in the past 40 years. It put a smile on my face that lasted the whole day.

It also set the tone for the morning. I have to tell you about yesterday to tell you about today. I spoke to one of my contractors about getting his inspection set up, he and I went around the block about all sorts of things, to get us to his sheepish request that I pray for his son. "I don't know if you do this or not, and if you don't that's okay...but will you say a prayer for my son. We found an inflamed lymph node in his armpit. We're hoping that it's just the immunizations he just got, but they put him on some antibiotics. So just say a prayer if you can." I told him that I was going to activate the prayer tree...I thought he was going to cry, which made me want to cry. I told him not to worry, his boy was in God's hands. I asked the good folks at work to start praying for him and of course they are. I said all that to say this, I had to call my new friend to tell him this morning about when his inspection is scheduled. I also asked how his son is doing, told him I was praying for him to have strength to get through this. I added that I don't ever ask for healing alone, but for God's will be done and the strength and courage to make it through. Even as I am saying this, I'm tearing up...he then asked me to pray for him to find God again. I wish I would have had a Witnessing: How To Book, or a script to read, or something!!! I just talked from my heart. I talked a bit about what I went through and how it was hard for me get here. He shared that he had loss, and I won't get into great detail, but it was enough to make even a strong person question their faith. He has, indeed, been through some heavy stuff. I told him that he needed to read my blog because it was easier to read it and not have to listen to someone drone on about it. I remember what it was like when someone was trying to tell me why I needed to be faithful. It was kinda like hearing the voice of Charlie Brown's teacher when people would talk about how I had to be in church, blah blah blah. I am not the type of person to be motivated by fear or guilt. I also invited him to church, gave him directions and everything. He didn't seem likely to be there soon, but I told him I was going to keep inviting him. It took me most of the morning to regain my composure. I was all verklempt , to say the least.

I think that I am going to call him next week and invite him to lunch. My husband, him, and I will just have a friendly get-together. 

The Day That the Lord Has Made

Each day we are given is a chance to show the world how God has blessed us and how he can bless them. Last night was another night of lost sleep battling with thoughts and still not knowing what I should do. My morning devotional was laden with pleas to help me to be the person God wants me to be.  Show me His will, guide me, and prayers to bless those that are needing his hand.

Everyone who has ridden with me or been on the phone with me during rush hour can testify about my aggrivation about non-drivers. I have no patience for inconsiderate motorists.  Invariably, I will have cars fail to yield with little room to react on every trip to and from work. Today, it almost tweaked me but I didn't get mad. When the next one jumped line, it was almost funny. By the time I made it to Sage Meadows, those two cars were expected to cut in front of us even if it meant running a stop sign. It was foreign to feel almost peaceful when I turned onto Peachtree. As I rounded the curve, this is the view I had. This is a day that the Lord has made, be glad in it. 

Lifetime Change-Romans 12:1-2

 As we were walking into church this morning, this is what I saw. I took this with my phone, no special camera, and no post-editing.

July 29, 2012 Brother Blake gave the sermon in Brother Terry's absence. It was extremely poignant and pertinent.

A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.

  

Brother Blake broke it down into three points:

1. Sacrifice ourselves
2. Transform our life
3. Submit our will 

1. Sacrifice ourselves, surrender all, be a living sacrifice, a holy sacrifice, and a pleasing sacrifice. He didn't halfway die for us, so we can't halfway life for Him. 

2. Transform our life. The light of a new Christian is brightest at rebirth. I liken it to a sparkler on the 4th of July. When you first light a sparkler, that is so bright you almost need welders goggles. But as it burns, it runs out of fuel and the light gets dim. If you don't give it more fuel to burn, it will eventually die. Our faith needs fuel, and that fuel is the word of God, and it is the fellowship of our church sharing in our light that keeps it burning. If what we were doing before we found God was so great, we wouldn't need him. We have to become what is pleasing to him to be able to fully gain the benefit of the gospel. Be set apart from the world in speech, in actions, in life. Be a living word and message of God. We will fail, but it is how we pick ourselves up when we stumble that defines us. Renew your mind. What you put in your head is what feeds your spirit. Don't feed it with vulgar music and movies, tv shows and books. 


3. Submit our will. We cannot do the will of God if we are under our own will. He has a plan for us, but we can't see it and have to have faith in him to guide us. We must obey his word and submit. A pilot can't fly a plane that's on autopilot. One of the two has to relinquish their will over the plane. Let God steer us. He referenced Jeremiah 29:11-13 with emphasis on verse 13.

Jeremiah 29:11-13
¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

I think of all these, the transformation would be hardest. I once thought submitting my will would be, but I have decided I have done a spectacularly awesome job of messing things up so it's best I let God lead the way from here on out. Transformation isn't going to be easy, though. It took years to get to where I am. I am regimented; I am structured. But, I have to ask each day to be that person that others see Christ through me. I don't want people to question if I am His child. I want it to be obvious that I was born again by the blood of Christ. All this in His name. Amen.

My Path, His Will

You are about to read a blog by a person who has not been in church her whole life. This is a prelude to how I have found Light in my church family, and in my life family. I went as a kid. We were exposed to it as children, but to say we were immersed in the life and lifestyle would be a misnomer. My paternal grandparents were in church every time the doors were open, but I never saw the Light through them. They were mean, bitter people and I never felt that I was loved by them. They didn't encourage us to be better people. I learned a lot of how not to be by watching them, but I also learned why they were they way they were. They had a hard life. They suffered bitter disappointments. About 20 years ago, Dad started going to church every time the doors were open. If there was a church service, my father was there. I went to appease him, but I still felt alienated and not welcomed by the Church. It might have been more of where I was in my life at the time than their attitude, but there was severe issues within the congregation. There were fierce battles of control and power with some of the members. Once again, the Light was not shining through them. It hardened me against Religion, and I struggled with my Faith.

For awhile, I justified not attending church as I don't have to be with those of like faith since there aren't many who believe as I do. I was against organized religion, but still retained my belief that God sent his Son as a sacrifice for my sins so I would not spend an eternity in Hell, but have everlasting Life with Him. That's all well and good, except that in order to feed your spirit, you have to eat and drink from the body of Christ, translation you have to meet with those who can lift you up and you have to have the word of God spoken and discussed as part of that fellowship. I stumbled through life for the past 18 years. I have endured abuse, custody battles, divorce, terror, being homeless, my daughter nearly dying multiple times, my husband nearly choked to death while on duty, an employer fired me and then threatened to kill me and a fellow co-worker, family battles that would make Jerry Springer blush, court battles, and estrangement from my son. My job was so stressful I was having health problems from it.  It wasn't until I began attending church again this year that my life began to turn around. I know now that all those things were a test of my FAITH and not a punishment for my sins. Bad things are going to happen. Let's face it. If being a Christian meant that life was going to be gravy what would be the point of Heaven? We pay our penance on earth to have our glory in Heaven.

My daughter is probably the biggest reason for my renewed faith. For me Faith is not Christianity. Faith is that even though I can't see Him, I know I can surrender my will and give all to Him. My daughter has bloomed from learning of His word. She was saved a few weeks ago and was Baptized last weekend. It is so wonderful to see her singing in the choir. People come to us and speak of how special she is and how they love to see her in the loft. "She just smiles and sings with all her heart." "She's such a sweet girl." They see the Light through her. My girl is one of those children that seeks those that are look sad or lonely, that no one else will play with. That takes strength of character that a lot of adults don't have. We all want to be accepted and we want to run with the pack. To break out of the pack and nurture the wallflowers, the shy ones...that is Light. She's at Bible camp this weekend and my anxiety level is peaked. But I know that she will be able to learn more from them than I can teach her since I wasn't raised in the church. I have to be a good person and do what is right in His eyes as an example for her. I have to show my daughter that we will be faithful and obedient and with that comes mercy and glory.

I still have a problem with Religion. Religion is a set of rules and doctrine that is rigid and structured. It is a business. It isn't for spiritual growth, it is an epidemic. Religion is the reason for most wars and a lot of political rhetoric. I would rather people ask me what my Faith is versus what is my Religion. I am a Christian because I believe in Christ. Our church is Southern Baptist and subscribes to their doctrine. While I still cannot attach myself completely to the idealism of the business of religion, we have made a full-fledged proclamation to immerse ourselves in our faith. God led us to our church, and He has brought us back to this church. And since we have, I can testify that my job is less stressful and I am having less trouble sleeping. My husband has garnered the attention of his supervisors in a positive way. He has started attending the Men's meetings, and has encouraged us to be better Christians. He has taken his role as a Christian father and husband. We are both happier and our marriage is even stronger (if that was possible!) Our regular preacher was on a much deserved vacation this week, but our youth minister stood in for him. He did a wonderful job. One of the many things that stuck with me was that even though we can't earn our way into Heaven, we need to show the world that God loves each of us by doing good deeds. Call someone and say, "I don't know what you've got going on in your life right now, but I just wanted to say I love you, and so does God." Smile at a total stranger and say, Hi. Post onto someone's Facebook and tell them you're praying for them. Don't wait until there's a prayer request to pray for people. If you know they're struggling or grappling with a dilemma, pray for them.


 Brother Blake said today that we need to start off each day with a simple two part prayer:

1. Please make me the person you need me to be, Lord
2. Give my your spiritual armor to protect me, Lord.

We need to end each day with a simple prayer:

1. Thank you, Lord, for all you have given to me.

If you stayed with my rambling this long, I appreciate it. This was mostly a cathartic writing to put into words what has been bouncing around in my head. My heart is aching over other things, but I think that starting my secret public journal will possibly help. If it helped you in any way, give praise to God.