“Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached Me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead My people Israel out of Egypt. But Moses protested to God, ‘Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?’” (Exodus 3:9-11a NLT)
Do you understand that God has hand-picked you to reach the people in your spheres of influence for Him? If you’re willing to look closely, virtually everything you’ve experienced in life has equipped you to be the perfect person for the job. There’s often only one thing that stands between them and heaven – your fear!
Remember why Moses left Egypt? He killed an Egyptian who was attacking a Hebrew slave. Moses was geared up and ready to be God’s one-man Army to deliver his people until he found out Pharoah had a price on his head. He had the right idea, just the wrong timing and methodology. But the fear he felt that caused him to hightail it out of Egypt the first time, that had laid dormant for 40 years, was now, once again, rearing its ugly head, standing in his way of responding positively to God’s call.
What is it for you? What’s the trigger for your fear that Satan is using to help keep you from fully depending on God to use you to carry out His purposes? May I be honest? I’ve walked with the Lord for more than 60 years and have shared His message literally hundreds of times, yet I still get nervous. It’s natural to get in our own way, but what keeps me on track is thinking about being in heaven and learning no one else shared the Gospel with someone the Lord laid on my heart to share, so they’re not there.
We would do anything humanly possible to rescue our spouse, child, or grandchild from harm’s way, why won’t we open our mouth and tell them how to be rescued from the grip of Satan? When our fear stands between us and a loved one’s salvation, that’s a problem. And yes, of course, they have to personally make that choice, that’s not on us, but God has equipped us to give them the right tools to make the right choice.
One problem I’ve encountered in sharing my faith is making the Gospel more complicated that it is. With every new book I read or idea the Lord gives me I feel compelled to cram a little bit of that into what I’m trying to share with someone. But what happens? I muddy the water! I lose focus in sharing what needs to be shared, and what I so want to be clear, becomes confusing.
One way I’ve sought to avoid that is by thinking through and writing out what the Lord gives me. While every person is unique and may have a “hot” button when it comes to something we share, we must trust the Lord to reveal that; otherwise, we go “fishing” and convolute what needs to be very simple.
We’re sinners in need of a Savior, but our sin blocks our access to God. So, God opened a way to Himself by allowing His sinless Son to offer His own body on the Cross as a sacrifice for our sin, giving us access to God’s throne of forgiveness based on the gift of grace offered by Jesus. We receive the gift of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone.
The greatest Gospel “presentation” is a heart on fire for the Savior. If you love Jesus and your heart’s cry is to see your lost loved ones and friends, come to Him, ask the Lord to give you courage to do what Moses did – simply obey God one step at a time. Fear is a vapor that disappears once we commit to following the Lord’s lead.
Trust Him. He’s with you and will speak through you in ways you haven’t yet imagined He would.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 