A POSSIBLE YOU
FINDING GOD’S DESTINY FOR YOUR LIFE
PART 48
BEING SAVED FROM OURSELVES

Do you have a burden for souls? When you are in a huge crowd of people, do you ever wonder about the lost and how many do not know Christ? Have you ever thought about the amount of people in the world that do not know Jesus? When we were little children, we sang songs and confessed in Sunday school about how we were going to let, “this little light of mine” shine so that everyone would be able to “see” Christ in our life. We have been taught that our life can be used by God as a “witness” to minister His gospel to all who are lost. And we know that the heart of evangelism is all about spreading His Word and that through His conviction He knocks on the hearts door of the “whosoever wills” with a loving invitation to accept Him. I can honestly say that I have failed many times to represent the Lord with my best behavior. I have had some success throughout the years and on certain occasions I believe the Lord did use me however; I know there is also much room for improvement. Even beyond the witnessing, I am looking deeper into my life and trying to see the bigger picture of where I am and what I am doing. I have found a wonderful little church that is excited and on fire for Jesus and I thank the Lord for guiding me there. I am starting to get involved and it feels good since I have been taking a break from church for the last few years. I opened the service the other night and felt the Lord was saying that many people are hurting and worried so I took a few moments to just encourage the body and prayed a blessing over them. I have been thinking this week about my blessings and it occurred to me that it does not take much to get me upset. When I think I am having a crisis, many times it matters very little and this causes me to wonder how I would react to something very serious like the economy collapsing or a crisis of this magnitude. I have written many messages and songs throughout the years that contain God’s truth – I just need to walk what I know and allow these messages to penetrate and saturate my own heart and soul.

Praise the Lord, Ignite church has seen 26 people accept Christ over the last 4 months and this is awesome! Most of the time when we think about evangelism, we are faced with the reality that many people are just not interested, so it is amazing to hear about God drawing people by HIS power! People tell me all the time that in the place where they work, the co-workers run away whenever someone mentions the name “Jesus”. You would think that as difficult that life is, the world would be running “toward” the God that has the solution to every problem and the answer to every question. Of course I am concerned because this burden reaches into much of my family, my wife’s family and those we are acquainted with. My first thoughts are that I am failing as a representative of God’s Kingdom and this makes me feel sad because the most effective deed I can do (prayer) is the very thing I struggle with! I am aware that in the end of the age there will be many that will suffer a terrible consequence for their rejection of Jesus as their Lord but just how much responsibility will we have because we failed to pray? Have you ever wondered how all of these people will ever hear the gospel? Most of them have probably heard it before and are living on the thin ice of mercy and we can also agree that the doors of opportunity will only be open as the Lord allows. But, the sobering facts about those we care deeply about is that as they close as their conscience the tenderness of their heart becomes more clouded and spiritually desensitized. Christ will not force Himself upon those who do not want Him and only He knows the amount of times He will offer His salvation to an individual. His Word is the POWER unto salvation but He calls everyone to make the decision TODAY. Each day that passes without being transformed, the heart “sets-up” and grows harder like concrete or glue and becomes more calloused with sin. Each hour without Jesus, a person falls deeper into the dark abyss and it will take a longer “lifeline” to reach them. Selah. Does this mean that a more fervent intercession is required for an older person? Maybe, because an older person becomes so molded in their ways and defiant, they are more likely to dismiss the idea of being changed and spiritually “transformed.” It is God’s perfect justice and judgment that manages His grace as His foreknowledge allows Him to know the ones that will never respond to His love.

Have you ever thought that the human brain is so independent and the will is so strong that it is a HUGE miracle when anyone is saved? Only God’s power could cause a spirit to be transformed and a mind to be renewed (re-programmed). I have heard people say that it is offensive for anyone to probe or ask another person about their spirituality. They say that what we believe is a private matter and that it is no one’s business what another person believes. I am sure that if I took a survey this view would be a common response but what are we to do with this? We are from another dimension – this world is not our home. We now have an agenda and that is to be used as a constant missionary within the framework of divine appointments. Our mind is to be focused on the job at hand and out heart is to be submissive to God’s instructions. We do not have time to be a hypocrite or friends with the world’s system. We cannot be what Jesus died for us to be and entangled with the distractions of this life at the same time. We only have a certain amount of time and only one life to accomplish our mission. For some reason we have been convinced that we can be an “under-cover” agent for God and not reveal our identity until we are in heaven. This is NOT the way it works! Allow me to say and hopefully encourage everyone within the sound of my voice; if you were planning on doing something – the time is NOW! If you cannot afford it – sell whatever it takes to finance it! If you are afraid – pray and fast until you become filled with Holy Ghost boldness! If you are overwhelmed with excuses to not step out by faith and accomplish your mission – seek God’s face until you are saturated with the revelation of His direct command for your life! If you KNOW what you have been called to do and are NOT doing it – you are in disobedience and God is not happy with you. If you do not know what he has called you to do, it means that you are not interested enough to find out. This means God is still disappointed in you and is waiting patiently for you to get your act together. Of course we do not have the time! Our lives are packed with all of the things we want instead of what God wants. In order to become a disciple we must drop what we are doing and “follow” Him. Why do you think He made sure to record Him “calling” His disciples? So that we could see the concept of sacrifice and the seriousness of commitment! We have every intention of doing everything we want first – and in the end we try to squeeze something in for God. The tragic deception is how the masses believe that God will overlook our wrong priorities. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (I John 2:15-16)

I realize this is a very hard subject but I am also a firm believer in opening our eyes and heart to the truth. We have mentioned before about how we all want to think that everyone goes to heaven because it gives us peace (whether it is true or not). The true reality is that only a small percentage of people are truly born again and that the majority will spend eternity without God. I am not trying to be negative but I must include that God’s true salvation also does not spread like a contagious disease but rather is usually a very small, personal experience that happens to only a few here and there. We notice that in the world today, the Muslim religion seems to be growing rapidly but this has nothing to do with God’s plan of redemption. The Muslim idol is a false deity that is from Satan and is growing because of the multitudes of blind and ignorant humans. The God of heaven loves everyone and desires to save the lost, but very strong demonic deception continues to keep the masses in bondage to the devils lies. I was on vacation recently and as we were passing through a small town in Alabama, I saw where a church youth group was having a car-wash and a man was standing on the side of the road preaching and pointing to His Bible. This was to communicate that God and His Word is the only way to eternal life and that Christ died that we might be saved. I believe those saints that become “overwhelmed” with the burden for souls feel that if they do not do “something” they will explode. These are the ones who might write everyone they know a personal letter about why Jesus came to earth. Or they may actually gather the courage and go out on a corner and preach a message. Some try to communicate God’s truth through music or art or writing books because an attribute of being saved is the burden to give others the cure that can heal them. If there was a pandemic and you had the cure but just continued to mingle among the sick without helping them, it would be like you were getting some sort of twisted pleasure from seeing them suffer. I am convinced the reason why we are not more effective as evangelists is because we do NOT have our priorities where they need to be. I promise you that if anyone was seriously dedicated to being used as a sower of the seed – the results would be miraculous. I personally have had “small” seasons of soul-winning in my life and I can testify that it was amazing. The reason I say small is because the enemy has always attacked me very violently and derailed me every time I seem to develop some evangelistic momentum. I remember years ago, I was interceding and being anointed to witness to several people at work and one man that was an agnostic was actually beginning to respond with questions. I could sense in the Holy Spirit that the Lord was convicting Him and I was very excited with what was happening. The next day I was injured in an accident at work and was out for about a month. During this time he drifted back into his defiance and showed no interest at all after I returned to work. I also remember another story that had a happier ending with me talking to young man over the course of a couple of weeks. This man was so under conviction that he was having dreams and was noticeably shaken with God’s power until we ended up sitting in his car one day and I led him to the Lord. He was weeping and laughing at the same time and I was convinced this was a genuine conversion. I remember coming home that afternoon and falling on my face with overwhelming joy from what I had experienced. It is so inspiring to actually be a part of God’s plan and to literally see the mercy and grace of God intervene into someone’s life. It was very soon after this that the devil attacked him and he was fired and I lost contact with him. Satan hates the intercessors and will pull out the “big guns” to try and stop evangelism. Praise God, let it be known that the Lord will step in and make a way for His Word to NOT return void and will defend, protect, guard, and provide whatever is necessary to accomplish His will! Amen! I am sure that many of you have been used in leading others to Christ and can relate to I am saying about the intense battles and joyous victories.

Our adversary is more clever than we think! It is true, we are not to be paranoid all the time but it is wise to use discernment as an asset to staying in God’s presence. This acknowledgment of the devil’s sneakiness and ability to roam around the earth causing trouble is not meant to glorify Satan, but to understand his strategy so that we will not be deceived. For example, instead of taking away the things we love, he actually wants us to be “consumed” by them. Instead of making us poor, it is not beyond his power to help us become wealthy and be so absorbed in the pleasures of this life that we never even think about God. The devil is a relentless influence that desires for us to fall into the attitude of taking everything in our life for granted. Walking in carnality that dominates our mind and will is the evidence of a mediocre, lukewarm existence that has no passion, motivation or sympathy for anything or anyone. It is the mentality and spirituality of being spiritually neutral and sadly this is where many people live. When most people hear about God their attitude is they can take Him or leave Him – it really does not matter. If we take a closer look at the condition of our world, we will discover the average person does not realize they have been caught in this delusional spider web of darkness. Soaking in the negative information that the world spews out continually can shape and harden a heart until a protective wall is built in the name of self-preservation. This is actually a false sense of security whose roots run deep in the abundance of selfishness which is the opposite of a Godly nature. Most people take for granted they will have plenty of time to pray before they die.

So, for us who know about praying for the lost and the gift of salvation, allow me to ask a simple question; do you believe one person can pray another person into the Kingdom? And if this is true, just how much prayer and what kind of praying would it take to do it? I am sitting here tonight with my eyes welling up with tears because I honestly believe that nothing is impossible with prayer. What about you, do you think your prayers could be used to save souls? I know I have said this before, but if I REALLY believed that my prayers would play a part in the salvation of a loved one – then I need to do it! And if I choose not to become diligent in this task then I have failed at much more in life than I realize! When will I stop being concerned about so many things that mean very little while ignoring my highest obligations?