December 16, 2019
Sometimes I think of life as a big wagon wheel with many spokes. In the middle is the hub. Often in ministry, it looks like we are running around the rim trying to reach everybody. But God says, “Start in the hub; live in the hub. Then you will be connected with all the spokes, and you won’t have to run so fast.”
Christianity is a power religion. Christ has the power to recreate men from the inside out, as every man who has ever met Him knows.
Do what you can, when you can, and all you can, wherever you are, and God will make you ruler over much. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is not to be reserved for some future occasion but is to be used today.
The “least of my brethren” are the hungry and the lonely, not only for food, but for the Word of God; the thirsty and the ignorant not only for water, but also for knowledge, peace, truth, justice and love; the naked and the unloved, not only for clothes but also for human dignity; the unwanted; the unborn child; the racially discriminated against; the homeless and abandoned, not only for a shelter made of bricks, but for a heart that understands, that covers, that loves; the sick, the dying destitutes, and the captives, not only in body, but also in mind and spirit; all those who have lost all hope and faith in life; the alcoholics and dying addicts and all those who have lost God (for them God was but God is) and who have lost all hope in the power of the Spirit.
Regarding women evangelists, I was asked why I allowed women to preach the Gospel and replied, ‘if I as a man would drown in a river, I wouldn’t care if a woman or a man threw me a lifeline.’ Evangelism is an emergency-operation and we are all called to engage in it. Rather win a soul than win an argument.
We are called to search out those in whom He is incarnate whether male or female and release them into freedom to serve according to their callings. We will know them because in their submission to God’s discipline they will reflect His holiness. They will demonstrate His nature and His character by having a servant-heart and walking in humility and obedience. Such people will exhibit the mind of Christ manifesting His wisdom and His authority. His love, His Word, and His anointing will be in them and through them, the world will see Jesus.
Faith…needs to be matched with action. Belief is not just brain cells in motion. It demands a response. Do we do what we believe? If we believe in a seed, we plant it.
It is easy for us to look at people who seem to have “more talents” than we do and become jealous. We think we want what they have. Little do we know that we have what we have right now because it is what we can be safely entrusted with. If we had more, the more would destroy us instead of bless us. God is not looking for talent; He is looking for faithfulness. This is the key to growth and maturity.
Each of us needs to learn – even if the lesson is painful – that our work doesn’t belong to us.
Whether we are cleaning toilets or leading a country, we should never lose sight of the fact that whenever we are doing something for God, we are doing a great work that makes our life worth living.