Attempting to become a world changer for God doesn't come with a specific motif or calling. God has a unique plan for each of us. All we have to do is seek His face to find what that calling is and start using it to change the world, one life at a time. GB
Hi friend! Welcome back to another post. I trust that you were able to read last week's post and that God is also doing some work in your life.
As of today, you have lived through 72 days in 2021. How much have you accomplished so far? How have you changed your own small part of the world?
Its crazy to realize that we are already almost half way through the third month of the year. A lot of us most likely started out great, but there are probably areas where we have been slipping. I'm not saying this to judge any of you, in fact its quite the contrary.
My husband and I were cleaning the house just yesterday and casually talking about some of the goals that we are already struggling with. Things that we had made up our minds to do when we wrote out goals at the top of the year, but are now having difficulty accomplishing because of other commitments.
Thankfully, by the end of the conversation, we agreed to pray and ask God for better time management and that we would become more intentional about our priorities. The reason for this, is because we both want to become world changers; and in order to be that, our priorities have to be aligned with Christ and then we also need to be disciplined to follow through with the things God has placed in our heart.
Acts chapter 17 chronicles some of Paul and Silas' missionary work to different parts of the earth. However, the focus of this post is only in the first nine verses of the chapter with an emphasis on verse 6.
"Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go."[ Acts 17:1-9; ESV]
In the verses above, we find Paul entering a Jewish synagogue and preaching the gospel of the resurrected Christ. The Lord's anointing along with Paul's orator skills causes several of the people to join Paul and Silas. It's assumed that they most likely became Christians. However, this didn't make the Jews too happy; as they became jealous and upset over this.
Let me pause the synopsis here and ask this question: how many times have you started attempting something great for God and all of a sudden the people around you become jealous?
One thing the Lord has been teaching me the last several years is that when God is truly working in your life, not everyone is going to support you, or remain your friend [and yes you read that right, several years, because that's how long its taken me to finally get it]. Sometimes, the very people that we are expecting a lot from, are the ones that will cause the biggest hurt in our life.
The interesting part of the story in the text is that, Paul and Silas were probably invited into this Jewish Synagogue. Had they just prayed and blessed the people and walked away, we wouldn't be reading this story. Paul was bold enough to attempt to become a world changer in spite of whatever backlash he would receive. And in so doing ended up being labeled as one of the people who had turned the world upside down. "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus."
Friend, what is your excuse today? What's keeping you from attempting to be a world changer. For years I put off starting a blog where I could write about the work Jesus is doing in my life because I was afraid. It took a pandemic and several personal tragedies for me to finally accept that calling.
Conclusion
Attempting to become a world changer for God doesn't come with a specific motif or calling. God has a unique plan for each of us. All we have to do is seek His face to find what that calling is and start using it to change the world, one life at a time.
Perhaps you can start by looking around you this week. Maybe God is calling you to simply pray for someone; or invite them to dinner; or be a better witness at your job.... The point I'm trying to make is that it doesn't have to be an elaborate thing, even the small things matter too.
You see, in order to change the world, we have to start by impacting the people around us. I pray this is our testimony for the rest of the month and year.
Challenge
Ask the Lord to show you ways to impact someone in your life
Share in the comment section below how you took steps to become a world changer by the end of the week.
Stay Blessed
❤
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