I am up early this morning & feel led to sit down & write. My husband got me up to help him clean out his truck before he left for work. We moved the car seats from my car to his truck over the weekend to run some errands that required a pick-up truck. So, it was an absolute mess of toddler toys, empty fast-food containers, crumbs, & car seats. I was happy to roll out of bed early to do that for him because he needed my help & he wanted my help.
Don’t you feel that too sometimes? Wanting & needing help!? I know I do!
I’ve realized lately how much joy there is in helping others who ask for help.
But there are many times that I complain about the simplest of requests.
Like:
Husband: “can you get me a drink?”
Exhausted me: “ugh can’t you just get it yourself?”
I’ve been thinking though…
What if God treated me like that when I needed His help? When I ask for His help!?
What if God was like, “I don’t feel like it, just figure it on your own”
He wouldn’t!
He doesn’t!
& we can be confident in that & KNOW that He doesn’t do us like that. We KNOW that He cares for us & loves us.
We ask him because we KNOW he cares. We trust Him. We find comfort in Him.
When people ask me for my help I have started to see it in this way.
They ask me because they love me, they trust me, they need me, they find comfort in me.
Like my kids needing my help 24/7. It can get so exhausting & annoying at times but I think of the heart of God & choose to reflect that same love toward them & all who ask me for help.
If I start to respond to everyone who asks for help with: “I just don’t feel like it”, “leave me alone”, figure it out yourself”, “ask someone else”, how is that modeling God’s love?
Which leads me to this sermon I listened to on Sunday about sharing the gospel.
The man speaking urged us to start speaking out & telling others about the gospel. That we must pray & trust that the Spirit will give us the words to say.
Talk to others! Get out of your comfort zone & speak!!
But I feel led to add to that message a bit.
I want to add:
Don’t just SHARE the gospel.
SHOW the gospel.
The Holy Spirit within us makes our presence powerful. We are the temple of God Himself. We are the church. The church is not a building that we go to. The church is all of us believers wherever we are!
So, SHOW God’s love in however & wherever the Spirit leads you.
If that is with words, then speak boldly.
If it is with prayer, pray.
If it is with a hug, then hug!
If it is with a dish of food, bake & deliver.
Sharing the Gospel isn’t just about going door to door, audibly telling others about Jesus.
It’s about everything you say & do & pray on the daily.
It’s about SOOOO much more than just quoting scripture to people.
It’s about saying “yes” when someone needs your help.
It’s about being there for people.
It’s about how we treat others who have wronged us.
It’s about genuinely praying for others.
It’s about modeling God’s love.
It’s about dropping our selfishness at the feet of Jesus daily & becoming His servant.
A servant serves others before themselves. A servant THINKS about others before themselves.
Lord here we are, your servants, Your living church, send us out in this day! Help us to seek hard after You today. Help us to hear You today, help us to stay focused on You today.
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
The members of the Body of Christ now serve as the Lord’s spiritual Temple, carrying out His purposes. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6 that the Holy Spirit resides inside us and that our Body is His Temple.
Today’s Church is the Temple of God, built of living stone, and the Spirit of God resides within our earthly bodies so God’s presence might be seen/felt rather than our own.
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 1 Corinthians 1:17 ESV
Like Paul, we are not called to proclaim the gospel of Christ by the strength of our own selves because doing so would diminish Christ’s sacrifice & rob it of its divine authority.
May we strive to be an accurate representation of our Father & follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit & live high-minded lives in Christ Jesus to the glory of God. May we be prepared to share the gospel of grace in Spirit & Truth, & not through the cleverness of phrase.
During our time here on earth, may we remain steadfast in the authority of God’s Word and faithfully portray Truth.
May we never lose sight of the Lord as THE source of our strength. The Lord declares that the only way we can triumph in tribulation is through His Spirit, not power or might.
When you start to have “random” thoughts about others, don’t shake those thoughts. Believe that the Spirit is guiding your thoughts. Maybe those people that are “randomly popping” into your head are in need of prayer, a text, a call…
Nothing is a coincidence with God.
Lord, help us to realize that we didn’t leave you on a pew on Sunday, that you are within us & go before us!
8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Deuteronomy 31:8
The Holy Spirit guides us by giving us the words to speak, the thoughts to think, and the desires to act. The Holy Spirit also teaches us how to pray and what words to say.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:26 ESV
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. John 16:13 ESV
Thank you!! I needed to read this today. Sitting in a cancer center for 8 hours is depressing seeing all these people fighting cancer……. you are so right be the church.