Thursday September 10, 2009 WHERE IS YOUR LIGHT SHINING?
So they went to John and asked him, "Rabbi, do you remember the man you spoke so favorably about when he was with you on the other side of the Jordan River? Well, he's baptizing, and everyone is going to him!" John answered, "People can't receive anything unless it has been given to them from heaven. You are witnesses that I said, 'I'm not the Messiah, but I've been sent ahead of him.' "The groom is the person to whom the bride belongs. The best man, who stands and listens to him, is overjoyed when the groom speaks. This is the joy that I feel. He must increase in importance, while I must decrease in importance. "The person who comes from above is superior to everyone. I, a person from the earth, know nothing but what is on earth, and that's all I can talk about. The person who comes from heaven is superior to everyone and tells what he has seen and heard. Yet, no one accepts what he says. I have accepted what that person said, and I have affirmed that God is truthful. The man whom God has sent speaks God's message. After all, God gives him the Spirit without limit. The Father loves his Son and has put everything in his power. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, he will see God's constant anger." John 3:26-36 Wow! Talk about humility! Talk about truth! John the Baptist had it! He knew the truth. He was willing to become less and less. He loved Jesus. He sent his disciples to be Jesus' disciples without one iota of jealousy. Even so, he ended up in a prison cell, began to waiver in his faith, and was beheaded for speaking the truth. Oh, the price of loving Jesus! John had an awesome task. He was the forerunner of Jesus. Yet, all the time He knew that his day of being a leader would stop. He never wanted to be important to people, he just wanted to be obedient to God. We need some of John's wisdom. As far back as Ezekiel 36:26-27 God began telling people: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws." This is what it means to be "born again." It means to experience a spiritual rebirth: to know an inner transformation of the sin-hardened heart; a redirection of the life toward God. Only a supernatural work by God the Holy Spirit within us can accomplish so dramatic a change. Oswald Chambers says, "If you become a necessity for someone else's life, you are out of God's will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a 'friend of the bridegroom' (John 3:29). When you see a person is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don't try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ." Wow! What an awesome responsibility we have as light bearers. We are to hold the torch in the direction of Jesus until another person's torch is burning and then walk away. In the world of dysfunctional people (codependents) crisis is a way of life. They live to rescue people from crisis situations. Living that way keeps us from looking at our own "stuff." I lived most of my life with that mindset. However, when God began breaking me and showing me my "stuff," I began trusting Him instead of running to the rescue. Even so, there are times in the ministry when I want to run a rescue wagon. I want to jump in and rescue people before God is through getting their attention. I try to be the bride (I've had my turn and some other folks' too) instead of being the maid of honor. Ouch! Father, help us know when to offer a helping hand and when to step back and watch Your hand at work. Help us Lord to keep our light shining on You and not on ourselves. O. Addison Gethers e-mail address [email protected] [email protected] twitter URL http//:twitter.com/OAddisonGethers Messenger contact window live/msn messenger: [email protected] aim: durangoadd64 skype: cowboys62 yahoo messenger: OADDISONGETHERS rs --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Deaf-Blind Inspirational Life Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/dbilg?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
