HEAVENSREEF

Is this you? Do others leave your presence better than they were before?  Do they encounter a JESUS, shown by you with your words and actions?

If we are humble and consider others better than ourselves, then we will strive to lift one another up and edify each other.

But what about those who haven’t encountered this JESUS we love and know…….what then?

We all have HIS spirit and HIS power within us.  We need to set ourselves aside and allow this power to work through us.  Often we get in the way of it.  We think we know better.  I don’t know about you, but when my mind takes over rather than my heart, I often mess up with others.

Our daily encounters with JESUS in the word that transform us daily, should expand out into the world around us.

ACTS 1: 8 “BUT YOU WILL RECEIVE POWER WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS COME ON YOU, AND YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES IN JERUSALEM, IN ALL JUDEA AND SAMARIA, AND TO THE END OF THE EARTH.” 

So, do you brag on and say many meaningful and wonderful things about the GOD you love with all your heart and soul?

Here is a question: who do you brag about?

Think on this……..we brag about our kids, or our husbands, a friend or a relative, but do we really find ourselves bragging about JESUS?  Do others around you hear about the best thing you could ever have in this whole wide world?  

Speaking of JESUS is speaking of the best love, the best grace and the best freedom.  Who wants to settle for second best, when you can have the BEST.  Second best just won’t do!

1 CORINTHIANS 2: 12 “NOW WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD, BUT THE SPIRIT WHO COMES FROM GOD, SO THAT WE MAY UNDERSTAND WHAT HAS BEEN FREELY GIVEN TO US BY GOD.”

Others can see in us our passion for our SHEPHERD.  When asked about HIM, our faces shine and eyes light up.  HIS power in us helps us to help others.

An encounter with a JESUS follower should leave an unbeliever better than when you found them.  They should have received…….

compassion for their broken heart

wisdom for their many problems

answers to their deepest questions

love when and where it was needed

Let them see JESUS in you; be different, be bold, but just be there……..and listen.  Let their souls be touched by the ONE who offers redemption and forgiveness, because chances are, they haven’t found those things anywhere else.

And let’s ponder this together……..

If we have been embraced by the Sovereign LORD of this world, why can’t we fully embrace others?

Because we are human and broken!  However, we have HIS spirit within, HIS power within us too.

EPHESIANS 4: 32 “AND BE KIND AND COMPASSIONATE TO ONE ANOTHER, FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER, JUST AS GOD ALSO FORGAVE YOU IN CHRIST.”

Kindness and compassion is in short supply today……..so share it with someone, even if it is a stranger.

Here is a sweet encounter I just had:  I was at breakfast with my husband and our waitress was really quick, on the ball and never let my coffee get cold.  She was very attentive and besides leaving her a good tip, when we left I walked by her waiting on another table.  I looked her in the eye thanking her again as I touched her arm and she turned around and hugged me.

Yes right then and there, she stopped in the middle of the restaurant and really hugged me!  I didn’t know her situation, but I am wondering if my kindness, rather JESUS’ kindness was felt through me for her?  Maybe that was the only hug she had in a long time.  I didn’t know her current circumstances, but JESUS did that day!  My small encounter with her was all about kindness for her.

We never know how kindness and compassion can touch anyone we touch.  But one thing we do know, that they have a story and they have a heart.  And their heart has either been embraced by love or broken by the cruel world in which we live.

Loving others no matter who they are, takes effort on our part.  It takes letting go of our selfish desires and putting others before us in a big way.  It is watching for those openings that give us the opportunity to be HIS hands and feet, no matter how small.  A small gesture speaks volumes sometimes……..we can let a small touch be paramount for someone.  And like I said before, we don’t know………but JESUS does!  HE sees what we can’t.

The enemy wants to divide and isolate……..let us unify and embrace!!

EPHESIANS 4: 1-3 “I THEREFORE, A PRISONER FOR THE LORD, URGE YOU TO WALK IN A MANNER WORTHY OF THE CALLING TO WHICH YOU HAVE BEEN CALLED, WITH ALL HUMILITY AND GENTLENESS, WITH PATIENCE, BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE, EAGER TO MAINTAIN THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE.”