If Your Life Is An Open Book
What Will A Reader Learn?
God blessed me with a most wonderful experience this week that I would like to share with you. A contractor came to my house to give me an estimate for some work I needed done and in the course of discussing the job he noticed a picture of the Holy Land in my garage. That picture opened the door to a conversation of how the Lord is moving in each of our lives. It was a Spirit led discussion that was so uplifting and edifying. We ended by agreeing in prayer for each other and God’s ministry on earth in this season.
Do You Live His Agenda or Yours?
This man mentioned at one point how wonderful it would be if all our encounters could be so God ordained with only His agenda at the forefront. I could not help but think that each of us as believers should be walking out our daily life in just that way. As a believer you have a ministry to mirror Jesus Christ to those you encounter whether they are fellow believers or non-believers. Your changed life is the ministry platform from which the Lord can draw others to Himself. We often think of ministry as reserved for those in formal pulpit arenas but ministry is for all called Christian.
You are indeed a minister of the New Covenant if you are a committed follower of Jesus Christ. What does this mean and how does this look in your everyday life? The shift from your old life to a new one in Christ should manifest in a change in your heart (for it is always a heart issue). As the Spirit works to cut away old patterns of thinking, feeling and reacting, you literally become a changed person reflecting the Lord in your life. You no longer react to people and circumstances the same way. You are convicted of any thought or reaction that is not in line with God’s best. If you note the conviction and respond accordingly you will continue to change from glory to glory.
Remember, the Holy Spirit will convict you not condemn you. You will know before you speak or sometimes right after that you should have responded differently or not at all. There will be a check in your heart to handle a matter with the compassion of Christ rather than the way of the world. Remember, to operate in the ways of the Kingdom you most often are operating in ways contrary to the way the world would have you react. Also, know that if you feel condemned that is not from God at all. Conviction is gentle, condemnation is harsh and critical.
What Are You Reflecting?
You may be the only Bible someone reads. What does that mean? Your life reflects who you are and what is in your heart to all around you. If you are saturated with the Word of God you will radiate that healing grace to any you encounter. When was the last time someone told you that they saw something different in you? When was the last time someone told you there was a peace or a glow about you that they do not see in others? If you live in the Spirit you will walk in the Spirit and it will be a palpable attraction to all you encounter.
Always know that how you act and react is transparent to those around you. Do you bad mouth your spouse, parents, those in your life? Check your heart for out of it flow the issues of your life. If gossip (talking about others) is part of your life pattern purpose to cut it out. If jealousy, resentment or bitterness holds a place in your heart cut them out. Any discordant emotion in your heart that conflicts with the love of Christ will be readily apparent to others and hinder the work God can do through you.
Choose Your Genre
What open book are you presenting with your life? Is it drama or fiction? Is it mean spirited and vicious in word or deed? Is it a short story of malingering? Or, is it a novel filled with vignettes of all the Lord has done in your life? Is it poetry like a soothing Psalm? Is it a parable of encouragement with sequels to follow? Take some time this week to think about what people are reading through the open book of your life. Are they seeing you or Jesus? You write the story of your life with every thought, word and action you allow. Purpose to make the basis of your book (life) the Word of God, the person of Jesus Christ. Let your life be the ministry of the Word lived through you. Knowing the Word should never replace living the Word! Be the Book!
Quotes to Ponder This Week
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” Jesus, Matthew 5:9-10
“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life.” Romans 6:4
“Trust in the Lord and do good….” Psalm 37:3
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
“As the resurrection of Christ operates in our hearts, it will dethrone wrong things and will build right things.” Smith Wigglesworth, Devotional, pg. 291
A Prayer Request
Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray. Please keep all who serve our country, our servicemen and women and their families in prayer for salvation and safety. They are our front-line on the battlefield, let us be their front-line in the spirit. Also, let us cover all who have come home wounded that they and their families will receive the kindness, help and support they need to go forward in their lives.
God bless all our diplomatic and military personnel and their families. May the Lord keep them safe. Pray for all throughout the world for hedges of protection against radical Muslim extremists and all forms of terrorism. We have long prayed for spiritual victory over radical Islam in Esther’s Warriors Ministry. We now see the reality of this threat come to the forefront in this time in world history.
Please pray for all in authority over us, for the full truth to come forth concerning Benghazi and for safety in Israel. May God richly bless the United States of America, bring to light every single crooked place and keep her safe. May we may arise united once again as One Nation Under God in this auspicious season in our country’s history.
The lives lost in Benghazi, the continuing targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service, Operation Fast and Furious, the Department of Justice targeting journalists phone records, the National Security Agency overstepping its legal authority are hardly “phony scandals.” We continue to pray for truth to prevail in each of these situations. Pray for the families who have lost loved ones, for those relentlessly targeted and for all of us who call ourselves American. These are treacherous times and now more than ever we must maintain our walk with the Lord, saturate this country in prayer and stand for all that is right in America. Fail not in this hour.
Please Join Me In Prayer
Father we thank You for Your Word. May we be the epistle read by all we encounter. Use us to bring Your will to earth as it is in heaven. Remove from our heart anything that is not of You and fill us to overflow with Your compassion and mercy. Let us be the Word to all we meet. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen and amen.