Are you sometimes reluctantly to tell your story because you are ashamed, or because it doesn’t make you look good? Your story is not supposed to make you look good. It is to proclaim how good God is. I heard or read somewhere that we are not our stories, we are the story tellers. I agree. You can get stuck believing what happened to you is you and it can make it difficult to move forward. But if you understand that God is the Author and He has chosen you to tell the story, you can move forward. It may not be easy, but God will give you strength to do what He has chosen you to do. Our story does not define us in anyway except by the grace of God we lived through it to tell it. This does not mean we have to stand on the street and shout out our business to the world. The time, place, and who to tell should be left up to God. He is the editor and publisher. He will let us know when it is the right time. He will let us know who needs to hear it. We just need to be obedient. When Jesus performed miracles and healings, there were times He would say now go and tell, and there was times when He would say tell no one. In Mark 5:17, the demon possessed man was in a Gentile region where not many knew about Jesus or cared about the coming Messiah. After Jesus had healed the man, they begged Him to leave the area. Jesus left, but told the man to go and tell what had happened to Him since He would now be the only real witness in this region. In Mark 5:43, Jesus raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this. The Jewish anticipated a coming Messiah and Jesus did not want to stir up a crowd. He did not want people distracted from what He really came to do. His essential aim was to preach the message of the Kingdom and then die on a cross. He wanted to avoid the envy of the Scribes and Pharisees. It was not time for Him to die or time for the full manifestation of his glory. Did you notice in the scripture that Jesus only allowed three of His disciples to follow Him to Jairus’s house? Did you also notice that once there, He put all the people in the house out except the parents and the three disciples? My point is that your story may not be for everyone to hear. Let Jesus decide who and when! We should never limit the Holy Spirit by deciding ourselves who or who may not need a word from God. We may not feel comfortable talking to certain people, or we may feel it is putting our “business in the street” if we tell our story. We may even be afraid that we will be rejected or laughed at when we share the Gospel. But guess what, Jesus was rejected and laughed at. That did not stop Him from being obedient to our Father. We are to send God’s Word into lives by faith and trusting the Holy Spirit to do the teaching and imparting. We are as fisherman; we throw the rod out and let God reel it in. The Lord promised to put His laws in our minds and write them on our hearts. (Jeremiah 31:33) We as believers know His requirements and feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit when we do not meet them. God said all shall know him, from the least to the greatest.
God expects us to feed one another. Whatever testimony, knowledge, grace, peace, or comfort, that God has given us, we should pass to one another. We should especially be committed to allowing the Holy Spirit to use and direct us to bring souls into the family of Christ. Love and Blessings…
“Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolishow much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” (Mark 5:17-20)
“He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.” (Mark 5:37-40)
“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15)
“I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:17-18)
EMMANUEL 