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Tuesday 29 March 2022

Prepare ye the way of the Lord {Introducing Jesus to the outside world}

We both heard it! My friend and I had gone into the cafeteria in the garden centre to have a drink.  As we walked through the area displaying the artificial flowers for sale we could hear a voice on the cafe radio saying 'Where is Jesus?' If my friend had not heard it too I would have doubted hearing correctly. However, when we got into the cafe there was nothing on the radio to indicate that anything to do with religion was being spoken about. It was hot and stuffy inside the cafe and my friend said ' Shall we sit outside?' There was an outside area designated for customers with chairs and tables, so we paid for out drinks and went and sat down at one of the tables. There was a lady sat at another table who had her leg in plaster, and beside our table was a large pond with lots of fish in it.

The Lord had been calling my attention to evangelism for some time. Shortly before I had gone on holiday to Lancashire a person I had not seen for a long time asked my friend and myself to visit a home for the elderly to sing the songs and read the poetry that we have been inspired to write since becoming Christians.  I had felt a little apprehensive the day before we went there because I had not sung or played my guitar in public for some time.

That morning I was reversing out of my drive thinking about this. The CD player had started automatically when the engine had been turned on, and the first song that began to play was 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord'. After the Lord had spoken several other things to me from the scriptures I had been able to go to the home the next day with far more confidence, believing that it was indeed the Lord's will that I should do so.  How true the scripture 'We can do all things in Christ Jesus Who strengthens us.'

Sitting there in the cafe garden, I suddenly had a revelation that God was continuing to speak to me about evangelising to the outside world and was confirming it through hearing 'Where is Jesus', then moving outside to the garden to have our drinks.  I felt the woman with the plaster on her leg represented the spiritually lame outside, and the fish represented the catch that would be had because the Lord had made us 'fishers of men'.  This is the scripture that has been impressed on my heart for many years.

On the three occasions I had seen my friend while I was on holiday there had been much discussed and prayed about concerning evangelism to the world, and I felt that our last day spent together that week ended in such a beautiful way in the garden centre, with the Lord reminding me of the importance of introducing Him to the outside world.
The Lord speaks to us in many different ways, and He continued to speak to me about my part in spreading the gospel to the outside world.  While I was in Lancashire, I sketched out on a stretched canvas two tigers at a waterhole.  When I returned home and started to paint it, I noticed that the picture I was painting it from was a leaflet for the WWF, {world wildlife fund} and written across the front of the leaflet was 'Your gift of a legacy could make all the difference in the world'.  That same morning I had noticed that, where I had been wearing my sandals on holiday, the sun had burned stripes on my feet between the straps and I thought 'Gosh, they remind me of the tiger.'  It suddenly fell into place why tigers had been cropping up in my life for some time.  I felt it was to bring my attention to the words on the leaflet, that the Lord was saying through it all that whatever gift He has given me is part of His legacy and must be used to make a difference in the world, the marks on my feet emphasizing the fact that my feet must be shod with the gospel of salvation.
When I arrived home there was a letter from my brother in Australia in my mail, and in it he mentioned a book which he had acquired written by an American evangelist called Rick Warren.  It is called 'What on Earth am I here for?' For me this says it all.

As the scriptures say 'Everyone who calls out to the Lord for help will be saved, but how can they call to Him for help if they have not believed?, and how can they believe if they have not heard the message? and how can they hear if the message is not proclaimed?'

Romans ch. 10 vs 13 and 14.

 

17 comments:

Martha Jane Orlando said...

This beautiful and inspiring reflection gave me, what I like to call, "God bumps." A call to evangelize is definitely from God, and it seems you are faithful to that calling and will leave many people with the legacy of Jesus' love for them.
Blessings!

Victor S E Moubarak said...

We evangelise by the way we live our lives.

God bless.

Brenda said...

Hi Martha,
thank you for your lovely comment. I used to love going out into the streets with my friend in Wales, singing and giving out the leaflets that our Lord had enabled us to put together. I miss that now as my husband and I are living in Northern Ireland not. However, I still like interacting with other bloggers and reading their blogs, including your lovely one. I have tried to get your blog on my sidebar, but it doesn't seem to come up how to do it. Hopefully I will get there. God bless.

Brenda said...

Hi Victor, to me evangelizing is spreading the gospel, it is what the scriptures have told me, and I really enjoy it. Of course we also have to learn God's ways and think His thoughts, that is also what the scriptures say, and it is a process that takes time as we grow from being a child of God to growing in Him. God bless.

Sandi said...

I like how you look for the Lord in all things.

Brenda said...

Hi Sandi, He does accompany His Word with signs, and I see this many times in my life. We have different things happen in our lives, but are all joined as one in Jesus. Praise His lovely name.

Laurie Collett said...

What a beautiful testimony, Brenda! I love how the Lord brought everything together in a unique way to speak to your heart, and how you noticed and appreciated every detail. May we use the gifts He has given us to tell others about Him. God bless you.

Brenda said...

Hi Laurie, the testimony was from some time ago. I was in my workroom looking through some of my booklets and came across that testimony. Time means nothing to God, and He can use something He brought into our lives years ago to speak to us personally again or share with others. Thank you as always for your very kind cement, all glory to our Father God, and His Son Jesus. God bless you.

Brenda said...

Predictive text said 'cement' instead of comment.:-)

Violet said...

very nice. Good

Brenda said...

Hi Violet,
thank you for visiting.

Sandi said...

Brenda, I was just praying about something and then clicked over on my blog list and saw a post titled "Out of My Hands" and I thought of you. What I was praying for is in the Lord's hands, not mine. I thought this is like one of Brenda's signs. 😊❤️

Brenda said...

Hi Sandi, a great big AMEN to what you have just said. I love the way the Lord speaks to us, with His perfect timing. I had something happen yesterday where I had been praying about a promise the Lord had given me dome time ago. My husband was looking through the TV Channels and went past lots, including a Christian Chanel. I said 'go back to that and let me watch it' As soon as he put it on a man was talking about holding on to the Lord's promises until they come to pass. I can not even put into words how the Lord used that man to increase my trust for His promise to come to pass. God bless.

Victor S E Moubarak said...

God bless.

Brenda said...

You too Victor, with all He has for us in Jesus.

Lucinalva said...

Olá Brenda
Linda postagem, o evangelismo está no coração de Deus. Abraços.

Brenda said...

Hello, Lucinalva,
I went over to your YouTube site, but it would not translate into English.