PennyDaisy

It is the Holy Spirit who convicts men of their need for a savior,
not me. 

It is God’s Word that converts the soul,
not mine.


This is what my dad has taught me. 


Imagine you are a vessel,
and you are empty. 


You will fill up with something;
as a Christian it should be God.


Your responsibility
is to fill yourself up with
God and His Word and His truth
so that you overflow and it “slops out” on whoever is nearby.


Now, get this, it is God who decides where it slops out,
not us.


How many times have I
tried to tip the vessel so that it could spill
out on someone,
but I was tipping it because it wasn’t full enough to
overflow!
I was mixing up my responsibilities
with God’s.


He doesn’t read my Bible for me,
and I can’t decide where I will have impact.


Obedience.


Not worrying
about what to say, or when to say it.


Not worrying
that someone will go to hell because I messed up.


(Am I really that conceited? 
to think I am so great
as to make God lose one of His own?)


Obedience.


If I focus
on my relationship with Christ,
how can I help being a good witness?!


Isn’t that what Paul said?

What shall we say then?  Is
there unrighteousness with God?  Certainly not!  For He says
to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” 
So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised
you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be
declared in all the earth.”  Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.  (Rom. 9:14-18)

…not of him who wills, nor of him who runs…

(And this from a man who was bent on finishing the race.)


There are some who believe they are called to be a witness simply through a godly life.


There are others who believe they are called to seek the lost.


(Don’t confuse that with going out to “seek and to save that which was lost,”
Luke 19:10–that was not us He was talking about.)


Still others are called to minister to the church itself.


Can you imagine
if missionaries and evangelists did not spend time filling themselves up before they spoke?


What could they possibly have to say?


Is it any wonder that men like David Brainard
spent 3-8 hours in prayer every day. 


Some might call that selfish.
(Couldn’t he do with two hours a day?
He might be missing an opportunity to witness.)


Some might call it pious, even too pious.

But isn’t it rather
wisdom enough to recognize a desperate need?
To men like that,
prayer and time in the Word is much more than duty.


It is daily bread.


It is survival.


I may not be called
to be a great missionary,
or even a marvelous witness.


But I am called to take up my cross and follow.

I am called to fill myself with Him.


Obedience…

That is what I am learning.  Read Romans 9.  Better yet, read all of Romans.