Perspective

How easy it is to lose perspective.  The verse that continues to thrum throughout my soul since Ted  deserted me and went off to Heaven to have a wonderful time with Jesus is I Thessalonians 4:11: "Make it your ambition to live a quiet life, mind your own business and work with your hands."  Obeying His guidance through that scripture keeps me reasonably focused on His clear calling on my life.

I have told you that the Lord brings teenagers around me and this astounds me!  Every once in awhile He shocks me so fiercely that I re-refocus on my assignment from Him. Such a day was last Tuesday.  Around the host's living room sat a circle of teenage girls. There was no Bible study planned by the teenage leader so the girls began to "share". What an understatement! They began to bleed! ...and my heart began to shatter! Only one girl is in a home with an actual mother and father. I cannot reveal to you more than that. The Lord is giving me a workable Plan and He is revealing that He has others already in place to help with this Plan to bring His Truth into the raging sea of lies that Satan is telling our teenagers.

Discipleship is always about working ourselves out of a job by bringing others who are ready alongside. II Timothy 2:2 states it right on. Read it!  There are four generations in one verse. The flesh wants to build a visible evidence that we are "successful" in ministry. Godly success has never been about numbers. Down through history, one person has been plucked out of the multitude by God to stand and die for His Truth that frees others. I watched as Rosa Park's statue was dedicated in our nation's capital a couple of weeks ago. ...a black woman whose occupation was as a lowly servant to others. ...but she refused to stand up on a bus even though threatened by a racist bus driver. She was put in jail for her brave refusal to give in to tyranny.  I think of John Newton, raised in a godly home but who abandoned Christ and became a cruel, cut-throat sea captain, kidnapping and murdering countless precious black people for his own financial gain. ...and then he was brought crashing  to his knees by God and spent the rest of his life being a "servant of slaves". It was written about him that as he aged,  he lost his mind because all he could speak about was God's "Amazing Grace". Well, I hope to tell you! What else matters?

So...Precious Lord, take my hand.
Lead me on. Help me stand.
I am tired; I am weak; I am worn.
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the Light
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me Home.

When my way grows drear, Precious Lord, linger near
When my life is almost gone.
Hear my cry, hear my call,
Hold my hand lest I fall;   (and that's a critical prayer. I've already broken one hip!)
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me Home.

...but please don't "lead me Home" quite yet, Precious Lord. You're reving up my motor and I'm with you all the way, because ...

All the way my Saviour leads me; what have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy, Who through life has been my guide?
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know whate'er befalls me, Jesus doeth all things well.
For I know what'er befalls me, Jesus doeth all things well.

You can't meet everyone's needs. Everywhere we turn someone is in pain. ...but you can love someone to the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you even think of entering Heaven never having led one soul to Christ! Do you know how?

1. Start with building a relationship, softly and gently.
2. Determine if this person is "ripe" or "green" fruit.  "Ripe fruit people" have had some exposure to Christianity or church and hopefully that "exposure" has been authentic and not phoney. If it has been "phoney", tread lightly. These people must see authenticity. ...a lot, for they have been disillusioned by a caricature of Christ and not the real deal!

 "Green fruit people" have no acquaintanceship whatsoever with anything or anyone Christian. These dear people will not want you to invite them to church or a Bible study. They will want you to invite them to dinner! ...preferably at your house. ...so you don't want to cook?  Too bad. Order it, but dress it up!  Honor them. They are made in the image of God with a mind with which to think and a will with which to choose. They are royalty! Don't insult their minds or their wills. Keep your conversation simple and warm. You never have to manipulate someone to Christ. It won't work anyway, so forget it! Read Colossians 4:2-4. Paul was in prison. He wrote the little gathering of Christians in Colossae, asking them to pray that "God would give him a door for the gospel, and that he would proclaim it clearly, that he would be wise toward the lost, making the most of every opportunity (with no manipulation), and know how to answer their questions."  The presupposition is that he would have created an atmosphere of acceptability that invites a question. Take your time. God isn't in any hurry so you can't rush Him.  If you have earned the right, gently ask questions. Ted wrote a book once entitled: "Think Lost and Help the Lost to Think". ...so there ya' go.

It's really very simple. ...and I don't want to hear this from you: "Jo, you have always had the gift of evangelism!"  Baloney!  Once I was blind; now I see. That's about it.

What do you "see"? Do you see the dead walking around with no hope or are you only in the company of those who have been made alive by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? That's called "insulating yourself in the Holy Huddle". For Pete's sake, break out of it! God will break you out of it if you ask Him. SEE people. SEE the lost. Be a friend to them. They are miserable, whether they show it or not. They are going to die and they know it. Everybody knows that. I knew that when my mother would tell me to pray my "Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." What kind of a terrible thought is that to lay on a kid before she goes to sleep? "If I should die?"  Running through my head was, "Where will I go? Where did my gramma go after she died? Does anybody in this family know or even care?" ...but my Lord Jesus Christ heard my cry. ...and people are "crying" all around you.  Are you seeing, and are you listening?

All you need is God's love pouring through you and a very few scriptures to gently lead someone across the threshold from the road to hell into the arms of Jesus who is waiting with arms open wide.  Who in Christendom doesn't know:
John 3:16 and 17 and even 18, for Pete's sake?  Use it. Gently. 

Who in Christendom doesn't know John 1:11 and 12, for Pete's sake?  Use it.  Gently.

Who in Christendom doesn't know Ephesians 2:8 and 9, for Pete's sake?  Use it.  Gently.

If your friend seems ready (...and here you can expect Satan to have the phone ring or the cat to parade across your Bible or your kid to start whining), ask them gently if they would like to ask Christ into their heart? If they indicate that they would, ask them if they would like for you to pray for them or if they would like to invite Him in themself? Keep your prayer simple. ...very simple. 
...and then cap it off with

I John 5:11,12 and 13. There you will see the black and white of the absoluteness of knowing Christ has entered. 

Study these scriptures. Be ready. ...in season and out of season.  Some of you are running out of "seasons". Get with it, my dear friend. There is no joy like that of gently leading a floundering, sad, grieving, confused, lost person to your dearest Friend, the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's it for today. I am going to Bakersfield to the Memorial of Tony Engel. He and June were two of a throng that flooded into our first pastorate. Many have gone to Heaven now, and steadily, more are joining them. I chuckle as I think, with my silly human, wifely imagination, that Ted, their former pastor, is meeting them at the Gate, saying,  "Welcome, dear friend. Now, open your Bible to...."  I know that is not happening. It is our Lord Jesus Christ Who has transported them from their bed of dying on this earth to the Throne of God. He alone will reveal all Truth, finally, to my Ted, my Doug, and all the others who are blessed to be finally at Home.

Love, Jo