As some of you read in previous blogs, I've walked into this identity of preaching. Yes, Sarah Ann White is a preacher. Haha I never thought I would say those words!
Fear of public speaking, so I've heard, is the number one fear of people in the world. Surprisingly, its an even greater fear than death!! Why do you think that is? I believe the enemy is trying to combat every single one of our strengths. He instills fear in our life in places where we can thrive for the Lord so that we never reach those heights.
Combating fear for me has led to many people learning about Christ's love from a different perspective, healing, prophetic words, prophetic visions, and understanding a love that never made human sense. I've seen people accept Christ, watched people feel His presence, and have seen tears that showed nothing but a loving Savior taking in a lost son or daughter.
I wanted to share with you a sermon that I shared here tonight here in Nepal. It bounces off a sermon from Bethel Church, called "Orphan Heart" by Bob Johnson.
In Matthew 7 it talks about the narrow road that leads to God. Throughout my childhood, I was so lost in this verse. The narrow path felt to me like a balance beam, for I constantly walked carefully as to not trip or fall on either side. I believed that by being a Christian, I needed to act a certain way, read the Bible, not sin, be well-liked by everyone, make good grades, get a job, get married, have children, and life would begin. If I fell, or if I sinned, I would somehow lose that identity or that reputation I had made as a Christian, and I would have to start all over again.
I was wrong.
The path is narrow because there is only one way to the Father! Jesus (the way, the truth, and the life) is the door at the end of that narrow path that leads you to the Father. When you accept Him in to your heart, or believe that He is the only way to get to the Father, He opens the door. When this happens, you are then looking at the entire Kingdom! There is no more narrow path, no more tippy toeing around sins, but you have this huge eternity of freedom through Christ.
When we accept Him into our hearts, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the OT, the spirit of the Lord dwelt within the Arch of the Covenant. However, since we are living in NT times, and it says in John 14:16-17, I will ask the Father to give you a helper to be with you forever, the spirit of truth, for the world cannot understand Him or see Him, but you will because He will live INSIDE of you.
Now that you have the presence of the Lord within your soul, you now leak him everywhere you go. There is no need to package Him into a nice little present, with the name of Christ written all over it. There is no need to ONLY talk about Him in a church. You are made in love, and therefore ARE love because you have God inside you. Therefore, everywhere you go, you are Jesus to someone.
My favorite quote that I've ever heard is: "So wherever you go, PREACH, and if you have to, use words."
Bob Johnson shared a story about attending the largest pagan celebration in the earth today, where 50,000 people gather at the black rock desert in Nevada. He said its absolutely crazy, and about half of the people are naked! Haha. I couldn't imagine a pastor going to a place like this.
He walked up to this one man and said, "Hey dude, you want some cosmic energy?!" The guy answers, "Yeeeaahhhh (Napoleon Dynamite accent)." So he puts his hand on his chest and his back and the man says "I can feel it!" Haha yup, thats the Holy Ghost. Bob didn't even have to say Jesus' name in that pagan filled place to see the power and love of the Father on one of His sons. Holy Spirit can be cosmic energy! Shoot He can be anything you want, if you use Him out of love. If Bob had approached the man screaming Jesus in His face, I bet you he would not have gotten far in sharing love. You are free to show the love of Christ in anyway humanly possible. That is what FREEDOM is!
So you see, we are free to share the love of Christ in any manner he calls us to. We can preach with words, we can share His name, His story, and His love, or we can just BE LOVE, which is who we ARE because we have the Holy Spirit in us. There are no boundaries to His love because He is the number one Father, who loves us all. His love never fails to show up when we carry it in our hearts.
So as I am traveling around the world to 11 countries in 11 months, my goal is not to preach until everyone only HEARS Jesus' name. My prayer is that everyone has a Father encounter, that the Holy Spirit shows you in a physical way the love of the Father. This could be a tingling in your body, blowing of the wind, pounding in your heart, thoughts in your head, pictures or images, dreams, or just a sense of love or belonging. There are no boundaries to His love. He is too good of a Father for that.
If you are reading this, I've prayed over this blog, that the second you read these words you would have a Father encounter where you feel absolutely nothing but love surrounding you — That the hole in your heart would begin to fill up, and you would let go, release all fear, combat the enemy because you are equipped to do so, and let His love shine through you. Amen!
