Last evening I was  much encouraged. I went to a couple’s house for a Bible study and the husband was saved recently but the wife still was not. We covered the first lesson in a new convert study our church has and I was amazed that though the lesson dealt with salvation and they both had worked through this lesson prior to my coming the wife still was not born again !  Oh she thought she was, but despite tremendous verses and completing the lesson before hand something still obviously was not clicking for her.

The deal in these discipleship lessons is the person or persons is to work through a lesson and then someone from our church goes over it making sure they understand and such.   So I paused several times as I covered each section to relate to her this critical subject (salvation) and hone in on exactly what was the sticking point in her accepting the Lord.  Poking and probing her heart and throwing at her several verses to move her to make a genuine decision I sat back and watched the Holy Spirit do His great work with her and all of a sudden she did something in all my years of leading people to Christ I can’t recall anyone has done.  Instead of me seeing her ready to pray and her asking for help through it, she just broke out in a simple yet effective salvation prayer to God !   She just talked to him and asked His forgiveness for her sin and to be her Savior !  It was a truly sweet moment to witness from a sweet lady connecting with a sweet Savior !!

Paul wrote to the Roman believers, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (10:13).   In context we find the request is dealing with a person converting to Christ and so this petition most definitely means for the one calling to be saved God will certainly honor said request  if it is sincere and understanding of the gospel.    What a promise though we have had delivered to us at our conversion and what an encouragement to see a new birth before one’s very eyes !!  Growing up on  a farm I have witnessed all manner of farm animals being born (cats, dogs, cows, pigs, chickens, even horses) but to see a soul born again is a boost to one’s soul that cannot be surpassed for it is a special work of God.   So, why not ask God to be in on a new birth soon?   A saved person needn’t be a pastor or a missionary to do this, just be a witness for Him !!

Well, it’s July again and with it warm temperatures, and around here of late, very warm !   It sure makes you appreciate the blessing of air conditioning, ice tea, and a nice shady tree !   I do not know how people in the deep south survive quite frankly.  But  I am reminded as a believer in Christ of the passage in Luke 16 of a man who had no such relief and so these hot temps encourage me to be better at evangelism !   Read what Jesus told us of the man who was in hell, “And he cried and said ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ (vs24).

What we tend to forget through the hustle and bustle of life is that this is a very real happening with many who have already ended up in hell and will be for many headed there.  We get spiritually lethargic and maybe even stick our heads in the proverbial sand about the plight of souls around us. Do you know someone who is unsaved as yet? I’m sure you do, perhaps a coworker, neighbor or even relative.  Odds are there is even someone in your own church who professes to be saved but they truly aren’t for they have prayed the ‘sinners prayer’ without the proper understanding or sincerity needful for a genuine conversion.  They did so to “fit in” but manifest not the signs of a true believer.

Some years back I recall speaking with a teen about her soul. She was cold as ice spiritually despite having attended a wonderful church and Christian school.  I wondered if she were really born again and asked her as tactfully and concerned as I could. Her response confirmed to me she was not but it was years later she came back to me saying our conversation that day was the impetus that the Lord used to bring her to true salvation !   Time is fleeting, life is short and we never know when someone we know or love will be gone, so why not commit yourself today while its hot to the same reminder of being a better evangelist.  Grab some tracts at church to start the conversation rolling and give someone one, share how you were saved to another who is unsure of their eternal destiny but be committed to giving out the greatest message there is in the gospel of Jesus Christ.     In so doing you make the world a much better place, you give a soul relief from eternal heat to come !!

Major storms have been coming through the midsection of the nation and now they are here bringing thunder, lightning and a good bit of rain.  Though we don’t often like the storms and the “disruptions” we feel they can cause to our lives, God knows what He is doing!  He knows the water we need, the nutrients required for the ground, the purging of the landscape, etc.  He maintains and cares for His creation with meticulous action and yet you are even more important to Him !  Jesus said, “But the very hairs of your head are numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Mt.10:30-31).

The storms will come and go and God will use them to do what’s needed to develop and care for you as His child, a person of intense value to Him ! So don’t fret, lose heart or fear the worst, expect God’s best as you go through these times knowing He knows what He’s doing ! Seek His strength to ride out the storm and follow His Word through it and He will bring you out even better when its subsided.  Ahh, when the rainstorm is over there is a freshness in the air, a relief, and a great calm.   Whatever today may bring your way, storm or sunny day, remember He is in complete control and values you greatly !!

If you have been saved you likely know how God uses His Word to really speak to you.  Any believer who has been in a church where he has been taught properly knows that one must approach the Word cleanly so that the Spirit of God may speak clearly.   So to that end, before we get ready its good to have a little chat about your soul and clear out any clutter or sin that may deter God’s Word from really speaking to you.  But it is also so gracious of our God and Heavenly Father to know that in our darkest hours He stands willing to communicate to you just what you need for that hour.  What a comfort the psalms have been to both my wife and I just this week.   How utterly astounding it must be then to the angels when they see us “skipping” out on reading the Bible !!

My first summer as a pastor, I served as a youth pastor in my hometown and I was, needless to say, a bit anxious about it all so in my very first day the Lord gave me exactly what I needed from Joshua chapter 1.  That seasoned general was very concerned about his role as the new leader of Israel now that Moses had left for heaven and so the Lord tenderly encouraged Joshua thus: “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life; as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee; I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.  Be strong and of a good courage. . . ”  (1:5-6).  I sure needed that challenge then and maybe today you need the same.  But if it’s not some worry or fear you face it is something else in this pilgrimage here we call our life.  And the amazing thing is the Lord has the remedy already in print, you just need to read it carefully and consecratedly !!

A few years back I bought a rhubarb plant from an Amish man in the area. He told me to put it in and not harvest it the first year and let it get established.  I like the tart taste of the plant. As a boy we had some on our farm and we would eat it raw and Mom made a sauce out of it and sometimes even a cobbler or pie with strawberries !      But I learned something else about the plant recently that fits my spiritual lesson today.  The leaves are poisonous (which I have known for years) but God made even them to serve us in an interesting way.  The leaves have high amounts of oxalic acid and so can be used to make a natural pesticide !     A person can boil these leaves in water and make their own pesticide which SHOULD NOT be placed on anything one wants to eat for it can cause even death !!  But your roses and other plants can be sprayed to deter any bugs which would attack the plant and you save money and help the environment by not having to buy or use chemical products.

Whether or not the poison in the plant was a result of the fall of man when God cursed the ground or not the point is that all around us in God’s creation now are things which are good for us and things which are also deadly.  There are things that bring us joy and sorrow and yet God is wondrously able to work through them all for us on our behalf to work about His grand plan and provide with whatever we need to do His will. Peter wrote, “According as His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” (2Pt.1:3).

God has called each of us to “glory and virtue” !  Its is your explicit mandate from Him today to choose so that He is glorified in your decisions and that His communicable attributes shine in you.  Such as the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, etc.).  There will be poisonous ideas and options out there to thwart God’s purposes for you but even those if we choose well God is able to turn the poison into pesticide !!  Take that bitter thought that would shackle you and forgive,  overcome that evil with good, turn that temptation into triumph by His grace and power because all things really can work together for good to them that love God and that are called according to His purpose !!!!  Use the whole “plant” in your life today for the glory of God.