good news, timidity, good news

how awesome You are, Father. You so wish to show Yourself in power to mankind, and we Your people are infrequently aware of what You want to do. Lord, I ask for the consistency to walk in the Spirit. Not hot and cold, not in boldness followed by timidity, but to walk in Your boldness period.

Yesterday I had a moment of boldness in the Lord followed by a moment of cowardice, but that is not the end.

Good news
I went to do a few errands in the afternoon, one of which was to stop by my local fellowship to get contact info for someone. It wasn't necessarily going to be my first errand, but I ended up in the parking lot. Just as I pulled in another car pulled in as well. I went into the office door, and a gentleman from that car followed me in. He asked the secretary if we had a food pantry. There is one, we showed him where it was and he gladly got some food.

As we walked back to the office, I sensed I was to talk to this man. The secretary said "God bless you" as he walked out and that was it. I followed him outside and said "Sir, can I talk with you for a second?" He turned around and obliged.

His name is Jim. He does drywall subcontracting and hadn't done a job in about a month and a half. I asked him about the Lord, and he said he knows the Lord. He shared more about his life, some strong events that had taken place in the last couple of years and the resulting domino effect of them.

As he talked I could sense the disappointment inside him, and as I looked intently at him there seemed to be a grayish/off-white coloring on both the outside edge and at the center of his eyes.

As we continued to speak, I said "Jim, I sense the Lord wants to give you His peace. I don't sense you have His peace, and He wants to give it to you."

We prayed, and the Holy Spirit gave the words. The verse about "My peace I give you, not as the world gives" came up, that's all I recall from what He led to be prayed.

After we prayed we shook hands. As I shook Jim's hand I sensed another bold statement of encouragement and confidence from the Lord which I spoke to Jim. As I looked into his eyes as the Holy Spirit gave this utterance, the gray coloring around and in his eyes was gone. Totally gone. His eyes were pure brown, no grayish/off white coloring at all, and I could see a confidence in them which had not been there before we prayed.

Jim thanked me, and started to walk back to his car. He took two steps, then stopped and exclaimed "I feel chills all over my body!"

"That's the Holy Spirit of God, Jim" I said.

I pray the Spirit will stay strong upon Jim. That he will continue forward to walk in the power of the Lord. That this be a beginning for a higher walk in Jesus for him.

Timidity
This awesome moment was followed later by going to a local mall. After coming out of the store, I was heading back toward the mall exit. I saw a lady up ahead who walked with a limp. It did not appear to be an injury, but rather one leg being shorter than the other. She had a dejected countenance on her face as she walked. I was prompted to speak to her as I passed by her...but I froze up. I didn't speak. Maybe the Lord wanted me to encourage her. Maybe it was just to share a morsel of His love to her. Maybe He wanted her to sit on the bench in that mall and then watch her leg grow to normal length right before her eyes.

The memory of her face is burned in my mind. Without hope. Discouragement. Bothered. It made me think "Wouldn't God healing this woman's leg change her life? Radically, it would!"

Imagine if that's what the Lord wanted to do, and He did that miracle for her. I imagined her then running and leaping through the mall, praising God to where the whole mall literally could hear. Did my timidity prevent a glorious, undeniable healing from taking place? Maybe. I repented right then and there to the Lord for not following His lead to speak to her, for whatever it was He had wanted to do.

That then made me think about the Body in America. How many of us are actually open to God doing something in people's lives like this? Not on Sunday morning, at the altar call or prayer time in the midst of a body of faith, but on a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of a mall. God have mercy on the stench of our Sunday-only, believer-only thinking.

I believe in His power. I have experienced His healing power in my life multiple times. I have seen it in others. This week. Last week. Ten years ago. Twenty-one years ago.

I have no idea if that lady has given her heart to Jesus or not, but it doesn't matter. Have you noticed the Bible doesn't say that signs and miracles are only for Believers? If the lady in the mall is not a believer, don't you think her receiving a miracle would give her instant faith/belief/knowledge of Him?

Is there not a general or unspoken belief among the Body that God's touch and miracles are for Believers? What about for those who aren't followers of Jesus? Where in the gospels does it say Jesus only healed or performed miracles for those who had believed Him as the Messiah? Let me know when you find it.

The American Body in general says "lifestyle evangelism" is THE way to win people to Jesus. Well, you know, lifestyle evangelism is one way for others to come to Him, but it is not the only way.

How about us as Followers actually taking Jesus at His words in Matthew 10:8 and Mark 16:17-18?

If we were actually doing what He said His followers would (not might) do, there would be a stunning outbreak of salvation. Imagine that: the Body of Christ actually living what Jesus charged us and gave us the instruction to do, instead of treating the Bible like a cafeteria line and picking and choosing only the verses that our comfort level or denomination or background says are acceptable to believe and adhere to.

Lifestyle evangelism says you build a friendship with someone and gain their trust. Upon earning their trust, they will then be open to your sharing into their life. Lifestyle evangelism done right means they would see or notice something different in our lives, then when their trust is earned Believers share Jesus. He in us is that something different that had attracted them.

Does lifestyle evangelism occur? Sure, but know this: if the Lord has chosen yesterday to heal that woman's leg to match the normal length of the other one, there would have been instant trust established with her. God's power right before her eyes would have created trust in a burst, right then and there. There would have been no need for lifestyle evangelism. She would know the stranger who spoke with her knows the one True God and His Son. You think her ear would have been open to hearing about the Source of her healing? Think she might want to personally know Who had done this for her?

Why don't we as followers of Jesus believe in the powerful, awesome witness of Jesus through miracles? Are those reserved for Sunday morning prayer at the end of the service? Are they reserved for Believers only? I can't find that they are.

I find accounts of Jesus healing all who were sick (Matthew 8:16, Matthew 12:15, Matthew 14:14, Mark 6:56, Luke 4:40). A portion of these vast crowds were unsure of Him. Some believed. Others had heard of Him and the miracles, wonders and healings but wanted to see for themselves. They were unsure. Others came as pure skeptics. "Who is this Jesus?" they sneered. They came disbelieving, and doubting what they'd heard would happen before their eyes. Some of these skeptics were plain, ordinary people. Other scoffers were religious leaders. They saw His miracles over and over again and still refused Jesus as the Son of God.

God, have mercy on us. We think we're just walking so greatly in You with our lifestyle evangelism, and while we're doing that people are hurting and dying all around us. Shatter vain religion, God! Shatter man's idea of what You are, man's idea of what You are capable of, man's idea of how You want to show Yourself and reveal Yourself to the world. Shatter our notions of how You wish to move in us and through us.

Good news
God wants to move powerfully through me. He wants to move powerfully through you. He desires to show Himself to the world in His ways, not our ways. Are we seeking His ways for Him to move, and following His ways as prompted by the Holy Spirit, or are we living our own view of Christianity--and doing so in His name? (Matthew 7:21-23)

"I want to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection" (Phillipians 3:10). Is that truly and honestly our desire? The power of His resurrection. Stop and think about the power of His resurrection. Really. Stop and ponder it.

What does resurrection power mean? What does it include? Who is this resurrection power available to (preachers and Bible thumpers only)? What is it for? Who is seeking it? Who gets it? When is it available? Is it only for 'mature' believers--is some 'qualification' or spiritual 'maturity' needed to receive it? Is it raw and available for new believers, whose faith is so pure and child-like that His resurrection power can go forth, simply yet miraculously? Does unbelief affect it (does Matthew 13:58 come into play)?

The power of the dead being raised again to life. That is the power He wishes to use in us and through us to be His witnesses to the world.

Do we seek to know, or want to know, the power of His resurrection? Really. Do we? Are we truly and bluntly hungry to know it? Or are we playing church to some degree, giving lip service to Him, gracing Sunday smiles and faces to each other, and having our church-wide garage sales and Sunday School attendance drives? (all in Jesus' name, of course)

I'm guilty of this. Anyone else?

God wants to show His power, to draw people to His Son, and our idea of witnessing to others, our idea of God's power, is telling a stranger "God bless you." Boy, the earth really comes to the fear and knowledge of the Lord when we say that, huh? (James 2:19)

The Bible says "faith without works is useless" (James 2:20). Has it ever occurred to us that the "works" in this verse might be something greater than lifestyle evangelism and helping out with a church activity?

What if the works of believers demonstrated the power of God (healing, cleansing, speaking, raising, casting) as in Mark 16:17-18?

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" (1 Corinthians 2:4-5).

No wonder the world is bored with what conventional Christianity offers.

The good news is we CAN be used of the Lord in His power. Yes, the same Resurrection power that raises the dead! Are we willing to believe? Are we willing to take Him at His word? Are we willing to learn the leading of the Holy Spirit? Are we willing to step in faith to see God's power delivered, here, on earth, today? This week? Next week? From here forward?

There is an able Father and Creator waiting for us to seek Him in this. We have a willing Savior, who wants us to know Him and learn from Him. The Holy Spirit is ready, to teach us and guide us into all Truth (John 16:13). Not Truth in words only. Truth in the power of Jesus' resurrection.

Give us a hunger to know You, Jesus, and the POWER of Your resurrection.