God, Use My Life and Story!
Let my love look like You and what You're made of..."
The God of the universe loves us. He is God and he is a person. He lives in relationship and created us for relationship...with him and with each other. God communicates most significantly and reliably through his Word, the Bible, but also through nature and other people. Lately, alongside his Word, God has used song lyrics to underscore his messages.
Over the past weeks, I have been reading and meditating on (chewing and ruminating on verses) 1 Peter chapters 1 and 2. As I was reading that again today, "The Proof of Your Love" by For King & Country was playing in the background. The line, "So let my life be the proof, the proof of Your love. Let my love look like You and what You're made of..." jumped out at me.
God wants to use our life and stories to communicate his story of love. Jesus brought us Good News and it's ours to share with others. We are not here for ourselves to enjoy life and have it all. We are "elect exiles" (1 Peter 1:2) and a "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9). The priest's job was to represent people to God and be God's messenger to people.
God really wanted me to get this apparently! Besides the song and the Scripture, he also used Henry Blackaby's "Experiencing God" daily devotional (June 25). The message was about using our lives for God's Kingdom. Blackaby writes, "There are two ways to look at every situation: How it will affect you, and how it will affect God's Kingdom... (the Apostle) Paul's concern was how he could use his current situation to tell others of God's good news of salvation."
God wants to use my life circumstances, my story, to tell others of God's good news of salvation! Blackaby ends with the following challenge, "Ask God to make you aware of how He could use your present circumstances to bless others. Perhaps someone around you needs to see the difference Christ's presence makes in your life. Are you willing for God to use your circumstances to demonstrate His saving power to those around you?"
Today, the answer again is, "Yes Lord! Use my life and my story." What about you? Are you letting God use your life and story?
Need help with how to live your story to bless others? One resource designed for this is, The Story Lives, www.thestorylives.com. You can also get it at Amazon paperback or for Kindle, or for Nook at Barnes & Noble.
Yesterday as I spent time with God reading and praying I had a strong sense of this message. What do you think? Is your story cloudy?
"Tell my people their story is cloudy. There is no sunshine when I'm gone out of people's lives. Their lives seem dark and without joy. There is no hope. People look for hope in the world around them. They have forgotten me. They've given in to their wants and clamor for the world's lures.
Make your story a clear best seller!
God wants us to tell people through our live stories: "I am your sunshine, your joy and your crown. I am your treasure, your abundance and your provision. I bring life in the desert."
"Return to me," says the Lord. "Turn away from your wicked ways. Live your life and story for me and in the light of my Presence."
"Return to me all you who are weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest. (Matthew 11: 28, 29) I will take care of you. I am all you need. I am the Lord who comforts you and there is no other."
We need to live our stories clearly...like Kathy when God invited her to use just $5.
nor will there be one after me."
Conversion signifies change from one state to another or a change in character, form or function. It comes from the Latin conversio which means "a complete change."
Recently, I had the opportunity to restore a relationship with someone after a falling out. The young woman I met with was one of the teenagers that had lived at our house for a short time. Things had become tough and we parted ways...for a while. She wanted to make things right so we met for coffee. We had a great conversation.
On my way to meet with her, I prayed about the time together. I asked God what his plan was for the meeting. An interesting question came to mind, "Do you know Jesus or do you just know about him?"
Invite Jesus through a simple prayer to come into your life and take control of it through the Holy Spirit.
How amazing to be part of this change from one state to another. Have you ever experienced it? Will you share your story here?
"I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so that they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."
How do we make sure to stay on mission with Jesus? In the last post, we discussed that it is easy to get sidetracked from Jesus' mission of reconciling people to God and onto a mission of our own making. So, how can we stay focussed on what Jesus invites us to do? The Apostle John tells us that we need to stay connected to Jesus.
What does it mean to stay connected to Jesus?
I believe that remaining in Jesus means spending time with him in prayer and through reading the Bible. It means a conscious awareness of his presence and a choice to follow his leading. It means allowing him to change us from the inside out.
If we remain connected to Jesus, he promises to stay in us. Fruit will only grow when we remain in the vine - in Jesus. Apart from him we can do nothing worthwhile or lasting.
How are you doing with Jesus and his mission?