Sue O’Donnell. 19.11.20
“ ‘To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God...’” (Luke 8 v 10)
Give witness straightforwardly,
Offered in all happy sincerity.
Say what the Lord Jesus means to us,
And to you specifically, personally.
Recount His influence upon daily life,
How exactly He lifts above strife.
Glory in His all powerful name.
Proclaim how life is never the same
Once you have met with our Saviour.
Talk about this first meeting,
Recount the Lord Jesus greeting you.
Let the result of His love shine through all you do.
“ ‘If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him’.” (Luke 11 v 13)
Give witness daily if you can,
For God gifts Jesus to every man.
Speak then simply of faith’s effect,
Be descriptive, be direct.
Say how life is shaped by Jesus,
God’s own Son, full of purpose in the Spirit.
Tell of His marvels for you personally,
As faith is to be shared widely, spiritually.
Respond to God’s invitation to speak Spirit led,
For our task is to help others to seek and be fed.
“ ‘So I say to you’, the Lord Jesus says to us, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you’.” (Luke 11 v 9)
“ ‘For everyone who asks receives, and (s)he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened’.” (Luke 11 v 10)
Lord, we are frequently told the church exists to evangelise. Yet often, for many a different reason, we fail to do this. Forgive please our reticence.
Empower us by the faith illuminating Spirit, encouraging us to speak, showing us where and when, even gifting us the words to say.
May the Spirit so enthuse us to the most valuable gift of Yourself Father, given through the Lord Jesus, that we cannot fail to speak about You.
As a Trinity, You are our life, our hope, our peace, our fullest, highest, richest joy in this kingdom here on earth that Jesus established for us.
Father, this is Your kingdom where we are all to pray, hear and heed Your will. But we need help to do so. Please send Your enlightening Spirit.
Come, Holy Spirit, breathe enthusiasm into us, a new resolve to give witness to the Lord Jesus, the most precious friendship we can ever have as together with You, He leads us homewards to heaven.
All of mankind needs to know this, to realise the Lord Jesus is close at hand to help us, inspire us, uplift and encourage us, all by the power of holy love.
We are meant to be an encouragement to each other and the best way to do this, is to give witness to the life enhancing power of holy love we have received.
Teach us how to broadcast the fact that, “Christ in us is the hope of glory” (based on Colossians 1 v 27) and how we have personally experienced this, our life being irrevocably changed in meeting with our Saviour.
The Lord Jesus asks us to answer such a significant question. “ ‘If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe when I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3 v 12)
Holy Spirit, Lord, we need Your help with this truth. Give us what to say that will have a real and lasting impact, by intriguing the listener to seek and find the Lord Jesus for their self.
I suppose this all comes down to prayer. For we are told “ ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore seek the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into the harvest.” (Matthew 9 v 37, 38)
Just as the Lord Jesus commissioned His first disciples to act in His name, even to the working of miracles, surely we are called to live similarly?
For when Jesus “Had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of diseases.” (Matthew 10 v 1)
Today we see many sicknesses of heart and mind because the sufferer does not know the love You offer us Father, that healing love of the Lord Jesus, an uplifting love.
Our schools on the whole, no longer teach about Jesus. Forgive us. It must then be up to all who have met Him, to proclaim the power in His name, that name above all names, the name we worship by.
We must still learn from Jesus the Saviour teaching us, speaking the words of life to us, manifesting Your love to us, dearest Father. We have to learn from the teaching and the Teacher’s example.
To do so, we need to call down the power of the Spirit to move upon us in that face of faith, which enables us to give eloquent, convincing witness that Jesus is real to us.
We have a Brother we can respond to and rely upon, being easily recognisable, and He is our Saviour! Praise be for the godly results which ensue from meeting with Jesus.
We are promised the Saviour will “...baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matthew 3 v 11) the warmth of enthusiasm, conviction, confidence and hopeful expectation.
Such joy has to be contagious. Jesus is fullness of life to us. A baptism by fire will also purify us, obliterating our sinfulness, all thanks to Jesus at the †of our redemption.
The salvation found in the Lord Jesus means we can be bound to love, honour and serve You Father God, in Your Son, by Your Spirit, all to our hope and joy.
We must, must, must share this as best we can, whoever we are in Jesus, wherever we are living in His kingdom on earth as citizens bound for heaven.
What, or who then can help us evangelise? To “Stir up the gift of God which is in us. For Lord God You have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (based on 2 Timothy 1 v 6, 7)
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,” (v 8) nor tongue tied, not even reticent. Let us be filled by You, Holy Spirit, Lord of our faith, praying daily to this end that You can then send us out to
evangelise.
Here is some sound advice: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is Your will Lord God in Christ for us. Do not quench the Spirit.” (based on 1 Thessalonians 5 v 16-19)
We are told to “Test all things, hold fast what is good,” (v 23) which is all that the Lord Jesus reveals to us as Spirit and life, as love of the Trinity, as notable Christian witness, our service completed in love.
Yes, let us strive to help each other to “Abstain from every form of evil.” (v 22) Only last night in the national news increased anarchy and foul immorality were broadcast as bound to happen because of particular circumstances and beliefs.
Let us have none of it! Let us proclaim Jesus as Lord, Saviour and Master, the Prince of Peace and King of Glory, the Redeemer of the world, the One to live through.
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him” (Colossians 2 v 9, 10) we are promised. He who is Your living and abiding Word of life gifted us, thank You Father God.
As we are made complete in living though the Lord Jesus “Who is the head of all principality and power,” (Cont) it is a travesty if we do not broadcast this truth.
Jesus describes Himself as Your truth and truth cannot, does not lie. He is who He says He is, the Son of Man, the suffering Servant enabling us to live in His and Your Spirit.
“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our Salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him...” (Psalm 95 v 1, 2)
“For the LORD is the great God, and the great King above all gods...Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.” (v 3, 6)
“For He is our God” (v 7) in three Persons. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we honour and adore You, exalt and esteem You, amaze at You and admire You. For You are our everything necessary to live a holy and happy life.
“Today, if we will hear Your voice,” “Do not let us harden our hearts,” (based on v 7, 8) nor ignore and overlook You, pretend You have not spoken, as we turn a deaf ear to You.
Instead, please equip us to “Declare Your glory among the nations and Your wonders among the peoples,” (based on Psalm 96 v 3) for this is truly life changing for us, both now and eternally.
“You Lord, are great and greatly to be praised, feared above all gods...Honour and majesty are before You; strength and beauty are in Your sanctuary,” (based on v 4, 5) and this You so generously offer to share with us, made Your family in the Saviour Jesus, by the Spirit of all holiness.
Let us then “Say among the nations ‘The LORD reigns”, for this is the truth “...You will judge the peoples righteously” (v 10) in the right standing our Saviour Brother wins for us.
“Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad” (Psalm 96 v 11) truly happily fulfilled to give their life to Jesus and always praying to be ready to share the best news ever, that we have a Saviour.
How happy then we all would be. “The LORD reigns” sovereignly. “Let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad...and all the people see His glory... and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name,” (Psalm 97 v 1, 6, 12) which we will endeavour to ever broadcast as widely as possible.
All praise ever be to the utmost glory of the Almighty Trinity, as we, the modern day followers of the Lord Jesus, baptised in the Holy Spirit, seek in all earnest to accomplish this. Then all will be well! Amen.
Images by Artist Christine Garwood
http://www.christinegarwoodartist.co.uk/
Season
Key Themes
BELIEF
EVANGELISM
