Reaching the Whole World—Now, Chapter 4

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Until You Do, I Can’t

Jesus had the whole of human history in view when He told His disciples to go to the uttermost parts of the earth.  He had come the first time and fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament.  And he finished what He had come to do by dying on the cross and rising from the dead.  But Jesus had told them, “I cannot finish the complete story of mankind on Planet Earth—until you do your part!  Then, and only then, can the end come.  The eventual end of Satan’s rule and the end of sin and suffering on Planet Earth can come only when I can come back.”

Am I doing my part?  My heart has been stirred as I have been reading the book, Praying God’s Way:  Proclaiming Jesus Christ as the Answer to Every Human Need, by Evelyn Christenson. 

When I started reading this book, I must admit the fire in my heart for sharing Jesus’ great love with others was slowing fading in my life.     I was reminded of how I used to have such an evangelistic heart.        I remember being involved in an Evangelistic movement in the City of Janesville, WI.  I was blest with the opportunity of sharing Jesus with one person and she chose to invite Jesus into her heart.   The joy that filled my heart was overwhelming.

Since I started this book, that fire is returning.  I am not sure how God will use it, or what doors he might open, but it is so exciting to me. 

 

I have made my list of family members and I am praying for all of them.

This week I went to a movie that touched my heart.  I don’t know if I can say the title, but the story line is about a college student who would not write something about God on his professor’s piece of paper.

Then he set out to prove that God is alive.  I will not tell you the end, but I was so blessed.  I pray that is will spark the hearts of many to share Jesus with others.

God is stirring the hearts of people.  What about that person I know that I have not shared Jesus’ love with them?  What about that person who is in the hospital who is close to dying.  What about the people I see day in and day out.  Someone needs to care enough to share Jesus with them.

Who God?  ME?  Bring them to me, take me to them and I will share your great love with them.  The fire within my soul is getting brighter.                          I am ready to go wherever God leads me. 

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Until we reach the whole world, Jesus cannot put an end to Satan’s evil activities rampant here on earth; He cannot bring Satan’s kingdom of darkness to an end.

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Reaching the Whole World—Now!

So the issue is not if, but when every tongue and tribe and people and nation will hear of Jesus.  Jesus can come back and the celebration can take place in heaven when we finish the task assigned to us almost 2000 years ago.

 

 

 

Praying God’s Way: The End or Just the Means…Chapter 3

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The New Testament uses such words as “saved” (Acts 4:12), “born again” (John 3:3), “becoming a new creation in Jesus” (2 Corinthians 5:17), or “believing in Jesus” (John 3:16) to describe the end Paul was working toward—and the end we should be working toward.  It is that moment in time when the sinner repents, is forgiven, and becomes a child of God with Jesus living in him or her.  It is that instant when their name is written in the book of life.  (Sometimes those brought up in a beautiful Christian environment find it difficult to pinpoint such a time, and only God knows when their name was written in the book of life.  But there is that actual time of writing their name in the book of life.)  And it is whether or not one’s name is written in the book of life that determines whether he or she will escape hell and rejoice for eternity in heaven (Revelation 20:15).

This moment of naming Jesus as Savior and Lord is the end toward which we should diligently be using all of our means. 

I remember the day that my name was written in the lamb’s book of life.  I was 12 years old.  I definitely remember how I felt after I prayed and invited Jesus into my heart.  I felt so peaceful and loved.  It was a life changing moment.  I prayed something like this:

Dear Jesus,

I know I am a sinner and I do things that are not pleasing to you.  Please forgive me of my sins and come into my heart and life.

There it is.  Once I prayed this prayer my name was written in the lamb’s book of life.  Because of my prayer I can KNOW that I will be in heaven one day. 

Since reading this book, I have put together a list of family members who know that their names are written in the lamb’s book of life.  Then I have another list of those family members that I do not know that their name is written in the lamb’s book of life.  I am going to begin praying for an opportunity to share God’s great love for them.

I want to know that my family will be together in heaven one day. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.        John 3:16

I want all of my family to know that they will have eternal life in heaven someday.  So, I will begin with my family and then move on to anyone in my world that has never opened the door of their heart to Jesus.

Of course the key to all of this is prayer. I will be praying for each family member, and each person God would want me to share his great love with them.

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How about you?  Are you excusing yourself for not personally sharing Jesus with the lost because your spiritual gift is something other than evangelism?  Because God has called you to do other things in His kingdom?  These other kingdom activities are right and good.  Don’t stop.  But while you are serving Him-and them- are you letting them end up in eternity without Christ?

Are you inadvertently sending them to hell because you never get past the means and never quite get to the end of sharing with them the good news of Jesus’ salvation?

This book has been waking me up and helping me to realize what I need to be doing out there in my world.  I do have an evangelistic heart that has been buried in the tyranny of the urgent of everyday life.  I have been challenged to get out there and share Jesus’ great love with others.  What about you?

 

 

What Difference Does It Make?

What Difference Does It Make?

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Today Jesus is asking you and me if we understand that there are only two categories of people living around us or with us, in our communities, in our country, and in the world.  Those with whom we rub shoulders in our everyday life.  Do we understand the eternal consequences of being in each category?

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Now that we have read Jesus’ emphatic teaching in Matthew 13, we are without excuse.  We, too, understand that there are only two classes of people, and with that knowledge comes responsibility.  Responsibility for sharing Jesus with those immediately around us all the way to the throbbing masses in the uttermost parts of the earth.  However, not just responsibility is ours—but so is the almost incomprehensible privilege of having been entrusted by Jesus today with their eternal destiny.

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Jesus told us in John 12:46 why He came to planet earth: I have come as a light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.

And we Christians have been entrusted to bring that Light--Jesus Christ--to those lost in darkness.
It is time for ACTION!

So where do I begin?  It begins with God.  He is the one who has the power to open people’s hearts.   He is the one who will open doors of opportunity for me to share Jesus’ love with my family members.

Then I make a list of my family members and begin praying for them and asking God to open a door of opportunity to talk to each family member.

Yes, this will all take time and an effort, but it is so…. important to begin today.  I do now know what tomorrow will hold.  I do not want to live with regrets that I never told someone I love about Jesus’ love and plan of salvation.

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Jesus clearly describes hell as a place of fire.

When He explained the parable of the tares, Jesus told us that hell is a place of torment.  He calls hell “the furnace of fire” and says, “In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  (Matthew 13:42

Second Thessalonians 1:8 tells us that hell will be a place of punishment, not reformation, for those who do not accept and obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  Then the very next verse explains that these will be banished “from the presence of the Lord” while paying the price of eternal destruction.  Of all the aspects of hell, this would be the most devastating to me.  Banished from the Lord—from His love, His protection, His comfort.  Banished from all holiness and goodness. 

Hell is forever.

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Hell, according to Jesus, is where everybody without Him will be—eternally.

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Is God asking you to help people get ready to die?

Wow, my heart is filled with a passion to share Jesus’ great love with people I love.  I will be praying for every person in my family.  It is urgent.  We never know from one day to the next when anyone we know will die.  How would I feel if I never shared Jesus’ love with them?  How would I feel if I knew they would be in heaven.  Big difference!

Chapter 1: There Must Be Something More

Praying God’s Way

     Proclaiming Jesus Christ as the Answer to Every Human Need

by Evelyn Christenson

 

While reading the very first chapter of this book God began prompting my heart.  “Do I really care that people are lost in their sins? “ 

I remember back to a time in my life when sharing the gospel was the absolute passion of my life.  I even served as a missionary for three years.  But honestly, my passion has been dying. Why?  The pressures of life keep me running around in circles and the passion for the lost is slowly dying.  Am I falling into the ways of the world?  So what can I do?

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Jesus entrusted to us the incredible privilege of bringing to all people the greatest news this earth has heard.  He is the answer to every problem and evil engulfing human beings. 

Jesus is the answer to every problem.  Why do so many people rarely think of him as the answer?  I am guilty of this at times.  We probably all are, but what does it take to spark that fire within us to share the gospel with everyone.

I remember many years ago when I was a young mother I had a deep passion for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others.  The desire was there, but I did not know how to share the good news of Jesus with others.  I needed to be taught how to share the Gospel message.

One Sunday there was an announcement in our church bulletin that there was going to be an Evangelism Class.  I was so excited.   I was going to learn how to share Jesus’ love with others.  I was sure there would be so many people there. 

The day arrived for the class. I had a terrible day and I did not feel like going, but I wanted to learn to share Jesus’ love, so I made myself go.  When I arrived at church I thought there would be a big crowd, but there was three men and myself.  This scared me a lot. How could I possibly do this? 

Well, I did take the class and learned how to share Jesus’ love with others.   It was challenging going out to houses and sharing Jesus’ love with a perfect stranger, but doing it filled me with a burning passion to do this more often. 

So we need to be taught how to share Jesus' love with others, but how do encourage people to do it?  It begins with prayer.  Our Christian world needs to be filled with an amazing passion for sharing Jesus with others. 

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A longing, an almost frantic searching for “something more” is welling up all across our country.  It seems no matter what we do, the crime, violence, and deterioration of our morals are overwhelming us.  Almost in desperation we are asking, “What is the something more we need to do to turn our country around?

A telephone call from Shirley Dobson, Chairperson for our country’s annual National Day of Prayer every May, reflected the heart cry of so many of us.  She was preparing for her third annual training session for the leaders of local National Day of Prayer events and seemed so puzzled. 

“Evelyn, I’m getting the most unnerving phone calls from my state and large-city leaders.  They are saying, “Shirley, we have prayed and prayed like you taught us.  We have marched for Jesus, we have gathered to pray on our capitol steps, we have held concerts of prayer, we have hosted governors” prayer breakfasts.  Shirley, we have prayed and prayed and prayed!  But—while we were doing all that praying—our country morally has been going down the tubes faster and faster.  Shirley, what’s wrong?  What are we missing?”

Then she said softly, “Evelyn, do you have an answer?  Is there something more we need to do?”  “Shirley,” I replied, “I think God gave me the answer the other day in my devotional Bible reading.  It is in the second chapter of 1 Timothy.”

Then I explained how those first three verses held a theme for our more than twenty-five-year old current prayer movement:

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men (humanity), for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.  This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior (1 Timothy 2:1-3)

“But,” I continued, “we have stopped at the end of verse 3.  We have put a period there.  However, God showed me it is not a period—it is a comma!”  I explained that we must include in our prayer theme what is after the comma to make it not only grammatically but doctrinally complete.  Verse 4, which follows the comma finished what it will take—in God’s sight—in addition to the praying to produce that ideal life:

…who desires all men (persons) to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.

I explained that the praying for a tranquil and quiet life in godliness and dignity certainly has been and still is good and acceptable to God (verse3).  But somehow we have thought that just praying for all people would automatically produce that wonderful lifestyle in our country.  Now, I cautioned, there is no question God does not intervene when we pray, and we should never stop.  He did not cancel verses 1-3 when He gave us verse 4.  But His purpose for us to live the lifestyle of 1 Timothy 2 is so plain:  He desires all people to be saved.

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Are we going to leave reaching the world with Jesus to the next generation?  Or are we all going to join together—praying, loving, reaching those still in darkness—until our whole country, like Humaita Prison, is transformed by Jesus?  Jesus is the “something more” our country needs.

(Is it hard for you to share Jesus’ love with others?  Just pray about it.  God will give you the confidence that you need.)

 

My Last Book: Praying God's Way

The past 15 months has truly been an Incredible Journey with Evelyn. 

January 1, 2012  I began reading all of Evelyn’s books beginning with:

Prayers & Answers, A keepsake of God’s Handiwork

Lord Change Me

What Happens When Women Pray

What Happens When We Pray For Our  Families

Gaining Through Losing

What Happens When God Answers

Battling the Prince of Darkness

Praying God’s Way

Read to My Grandson Jacob

What Happens When Children Pray

My First Journal of Prayer

Now, here it is the very last book.  I have begun reading Praying God’s Way,  Proclaiming Jesus Christ as the Answer to Every Human Need, which God has so beautifully orchestrated this book to be my last.  After all that I have learned, this is what I should be doing in our world, praying for the Salvation of people of my world.  I am so excited to read my final book.

So on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 I will begin blogging from this book.  Here are the Chapters.

Section One

Why Evangelize?

      1.            There Must Be Something More

2.            What Difference Does it Make?

3.            The End of Just the Means?

4.            Reaching the Whole World-Now!

Section Two

Our personal Preparation

       5.   God’s Cleansed-Life Requirement

      6.   Revival Through Repentance

      7.   God’s Last Kind of Repentance in Revival

Section Three

God’s Power for Reaching the World

     8.      Don’t Go Without Power

9.      Empowerment for us, Too

Section Four

How to Pray for the Lost

10.  Pre-evangelism Praying

11.  Triplet Praying

Section Five

How to Pray for Each Other

     12.  Prayer for the Soul-Winner

Section Six

How to Reach the Lost for Jesus

   13.  Do it – Now!

I will be blogging about this book for 13 weeks.  We should complete this book on July 1^st. 

I am praising God for my Incredible Journey with Evelyn.  I have been so blessed.