Matthew 9: 37-38 (ESV) Then he (Jesus) said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
Jesus came to seek and save the lost and he is longing for us to finish the will of His Father. This world is a dark and broken place and in the absence of light, darkness prevails. The reason darkness prevails is that the children of God are sitting back and not shining the light they have been given.
I had a vision the other day that really brought a concept that God has been teaching me full swing. In the vision I saw people chained up in a dark room. They were in all sorts of bondage and were imprisoned by a secular humanism that stemmed from being hurt by people. Particularly being unloved by the very one's whose leader said that the world would know who they were by their love. The sad thing is these people who were chained up truly believed they were free.
I saw as people beat them over the head with a Bible that their hearts were becoming more and more hardened to the Gospel. The verse, For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6) came to mind. There is no power in our message if it is not gift wrapped in love by the power of The Holy Spirit.
I heard God tell me to Love them. As I began to love them, a light started to beam. The light pierced through their hardened hearts and chains began to break. The demeanors on the faces of the people who were chained up started to change as their hearts were beginning to turn into beautiful gardens. Light began to abound all around and they started to become so hungry for the True Gospel. When you love with Gods love people will be drawn to you, it's mesmerizing.
In my last blog I wrote about The Orphan Mentality vs. The Sonship Mentality and why it's so important to understand that as the beloved, I am called to live my life from His love and not for His love. It's also really important to understand why I love Him as it will affect how I present Him to the world. I don't love Jesus not to go to hell, I love Jesus because He made me come alive and His way is true.
If my message is totally consumed with me just not wanting them to go to hell than I rob them of truth. That is a part of it but there is so much more. My motive for telling people about Jesus should be for them to know Him because He is the best thing that ever happened to me. A true abiding relationship produces on earth as it is in heaven in our lives and I want people to experience that.
Jesus calls us to put our lamps on a lamp stand for all to see and we need to use that for His glory. We need to stop spoon feeding the broken people of this world the letter that kills and start giving them Jesus, The King who abounds in love. With Jesus, Heaven doesn't start after you die, it starts today.
Has anyone ever found a lost person that doesn't want to be found? Just look at the conversation that Jesus had with the Samaritan woman (John 4). She knew that there was a Messiah coming who would explain all things but she had never had an encounter with Him. A lot of people know about Jesus but have no idea who He is. We owe them that encounter.
We become free when we truly believe what God says about us and He uses us to set them free by presenting Him as He really is. As we truly show them God's love they will taste and see that The Lord is good and will experience that it is His kindness that leads a man to repentance. Chains will be broken overnight and The Kingdom will expand. Everybody wants a King like Jesus, they just don't know it yet!
There was one woman, one encounter, and her city was never the same!
Re-Present Him as He really is today!
-Robert
John 4:26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."
