Can God Use Someone As Tired As I Am?

   I have had sleep problems all my life, and as a result I have fatigue during the day, almost always. Some days, it is just too hard to get out of the house. Going to the grocery store in itself can be a major chore. I have also noticed that since I spend a lot of time in store parking lots giving out tracts and talking to people about the Gospel, this problem with insomnia has gotten worse. I see a connection in the spiritual realm, and that is a good sign. My thoughts are that the devil isn't happy about my using the strength and energy that have been allocated to me, on passing out the word of God to people who live in a dark world.
   Saturday was an interesting day for me. My preparation for this Saturday started sometime during the week. I blew up about 30-40 beach balls with the Gospel message on them. I put together coloring books and crayons that have been imprinted with Bible verses and urls to my blog pages. Also got a lot of the other toys with Scriptures on them gathered and put in a bin to take with me to the arts and crafts festival that we have a table at.
  I have to think ahead now, so I can go to bed early Friday night, in order to get enough sleep to wake up very early Saturday morning to leave. The car was packed up and ready to go early Saturday morning. I had tracts and books labeled, as well as the Living Waters New Testaments.
  After getting all the toys, books, and tracts ready late Friday night, I prayed for God to bless our time at the booth while we were at the festival. I prayed for no complications (wind blowing tracts away, not finding a parking place, etc.) as well as for people's hearts to be ready to hear the Gospel and for us to communicate the Gospel message clearly as we talked to people. I prayed for a good night's sleep for all of us as well.
   My loving husband brought me home a King Smoothie, Camocha flavored (this is the best flavored smoothie I have tasted), so I drank it. I knew of the possibility that it could keep me up all night (this flavor doesn't come decaffeinated).
   So, bedtime came and went. My eyes, pretty much, stayed open all night. I got very little sleep. How should I think of this? Certainly, God doesn't want me to be too tired to go out there and minister the Gospel to people, does He? Shouldn't I stay in bed and try to get a little sleep? I can try again next year, and skip the coffee smoothie the night before.
  Another thought came to mind though. Maybe, God will give me the strength to do this, in spite of the fact that I didn't sleep. Maybe this really is an attack of the devil to keep me from being out there. Does God shelter us from all the attacks of the Enemy? He didn't do that in the book of Job. Satan's activity is very obvious if you can see in the spiritual realm. Sometimes, the devil lies to us and reasons with us, to keep us from doing God's will. His lies are custom made for each person serving God. The lies will make sense to the person the devil is trying to reason with, based upon the person's weakness and temptations. But God is bigger and wiser.
   I did go out and pull my wagon a couple of blocks away, and set everything up. At first, no one came to the table, and the thoughts were coming to my mind of 'Why am I here? Nothing's happening. What a waste of a day already." But, as usual, when you stay there long enough, people do come up and ask questions. A couple of hours later, we had group after group of people standing in front of the booth looking at the posters with the ice-breaker questions. Then we would go out and talk with the people. Those who were open to talking, we were able to share the Gospel message with. Lots of the toys were taken home, as well as the tracts and literature.
   The wagon was heavy and hard to pull back to the car, and I still wondered if anything will have come out of that day. God's word does not return to Him empty, and I believe a lot of people were affected by the Gospel message. We saw people who were convicted, while others were more engaged. We might not ever hear of the results of the work we did on Saturday, at the arts and crafts festival, but in eternity we will see the fruit of our labors and how God worked when we simply did what He told us to do in His word, "Preach the Gospel to every creature..."

                 

Salvation Army Evangelism

  I love the Christmas season. It gives so many opportunities to tell the reason why Jesus came to earth. There are parades to give out tracts and talk to people. There is Christmas caroling. We can go to nursing homes or places where needy children live. We can bake for our neighbors, and get to know them, in order to provide the  opportunity for an open door for the Gospel message to be communicated. Plus, a lot of people are shopping and the parking lots have more people than usual. People are active during the Christmas season and are more readily available to talk to.
   One tradition I like is the Salvation Army bell ringers in front of some of the stores. These people are usually easy to talk to. I always carry a little change with me to put in the pot, and give the bell ringer a tract (Now I can give them a toy with Scripture on it, if they have children). I came across a lady today, who was a bell ringer. She was easy to talk to, and I gave her a tract (Sorry Publix. I know you don't want me to pass out tracts at this store, but I had to do what God wants me to do, not what your customer service tells me to do.) I do have to give Publix a lot of credit though. They cater to people with needs or who are disabled. They are good to their workers. They can't help the fact that a grouchy old lady came in angry because I offered her a tract. I'm sure, after all these years, they don't want to lose her as a customer. But beside all that, I love Publix and will put in a good word for them.
   This Salvation Army volunteer was a woman who had very little understanding of the Gospel. She was very nice to talk to, and I had given her a million dollar bill tract, which she appreciated. I was able to go through the whole Gospel with her, from Adam and Eve to the Cross. Either she had never heard that before, or she never connected the dots. I also gave her a 'How Good Are You?' tract. Please pray for her. I will call her G.
   I am looking forward to talking to more of these Salvation Army bell Ringers. A couple of years ago, I met a wonderful lady named 'Ann'. She told me her basic life story. She seemed to be a Christian who came from an Atheistic family. She explained her struggles in life. At the time I was talking to her, she was undergoing medical treatment and was unable to go to church. She was probably a Christian who was floundering. There is a field of wheat ready to be harvested. Let's pray for the Lord of the harvest to raise up laborers to work in the field.

Two Thoughts

I have two thoughts that have to do with evangelism, as well as other parts of our Christian lives. One of them is the issue of pride, and the other is the issue of prayer. They are both very, very important issues in our walk with the Lord.
   Why is pride so bad? Are Christians proud? What does the Bible say? The Bible does talk about pride, and uses the word pride often. It also uses other words like haughty, or lifted up. Pride goes before a fall, every time. Pride is the root of our sin. Many of our sins are rooted in prideful thinking. Most of all God will resist the proud.
  How do we know if we have pride? The question is not if we have pride, but where pride is in our lives. We have to find it and dig it out. I know when I get angry, many times the issue really is pride. It has to be dealt with. It can't continue. I have to take the log out of my eyes before I can help others to get their own logs out. Mine has to be removed first.
  I do have a concern I see though. I see a lot of zealous Christians who are faithful in preaching the Gospel. I see a perseverance through challenges and difficulties. I see a vision in these people. But what I don't see is a true compassion for people. They would say that the most compassionate thing we can do is to preach the Gospel. When many of these people are challenged in what they are doing, I see a defensiveness come up. This is a fruit of undealt with pride. I don't see these people taking an interest in other people and showing compassion to them. I once saw a group of people who went to a third world country to preach the Gospel. They prided themselves in not giving out water bottles, or anything to these poor people. They said the only thing they needed to do was to preach the Gospel. How well do you think the people responded to this? What do you think about just preaching the Gospel, and leaving any other kind of service out?
  The second thought I have is the one on prayer. I have to admit, I am starting to see what looks like the Enemy trying to get my to not get to my prayer time. It has happened so often now, that I am able to work with it. I have to make the time to pray earlier than I have been doing.
   Prayer is one of the spiritual weapons, according to Ephesians 6. Satan hates it when you pray. You might be thinking that your prayer is not very meaningful, or you might not be strong in faith. But that is exactly where God wants to meet you. Satan would lie to you and tell you all kinds of lies about your praying. He doesn't want you to pray. He also doesn't want you to know that God is all powerful, and He is a powerful, mighty God. Satan will tell you that God doesn't hear you or that you aren't good enough and God won't hear your prayers. He will keep the Gospel from your eyes and heart. Please go to the blog page on the Gospel Conversation http://thegospelconversation.blogspot.com .
  Tied in with prayer is the subject of faith. Satan wants to attack your faith because your faith will destroy the lies he is trying to tell you. You need to bathe your mind in Scriptures. You need to get to know this wonderful, all powerful God who created you, and sent His Son to redeem you and deliver you from your sins. The power of the Cross can break all the powers of Satan, and it will break any hold it has in your life. This is another area that we need to cultivate humility in. God will help us, but we must have humility or God will resist us. We need God's help more than anything. We can come boldly to the throne of grace. We need to pursue this with all our hearts. Remember, we have an Enemy who doesn't want us to know all this. Let's learn what God says and go for it! We can turn the world upside down when we do!

Do the Demons Know Who You Are and Who You Serve?

And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:

So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them those who had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.

And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?

And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Acts 19:12-17.

   This story gives us insight into some of the ways evil spirits operate. Notice in the passage that the evil spirits knew who Paul was. Of course, they knew who Jesus was, but they didn't know who these 'sons of Sceva' were, and they were successful in wounding them.

   What about us? Do you think the evil spirits know who you are? They will know exactly who you are, if you are in Christ. Evil spirits know who those human beings are, who belong to God. They don't know those who don't know the Lord though, and they will prevail over them. 

   If you have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ through His death on the Cross, then the evil spirits know you. It is an honor to be known to those in the Dark World. If you are in Christ, the Bible says that you have authority over all the power of the Enemy, and the evil spirits do not want you to know that, nor do they want you to use your authority over them.

   The reason that the sons of Sceva were wounded was that they didn't have a relationship with the True and Living God. They were still in the kingdom of Darkness. They tried to use God's power, without having a proper relationship with God. They got hurt.

   If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, and you are trusting in His Cross to pay for your sins, you have authority over the evil spirits and do not have to be afraid of them (but you have to use the authority over them). If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ yet, please consider what He has done for you on the Cross. If you would like more information on how to come to the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in Him as the atonement for your sins, please go to http://thegospelconversation.blogspot.com or http://test4gp.wordpress.com 

This issue could not be more serious.