Your love compels me!
I looked into their eyes and saw they had no hope.
You gave me grace and told me to share.
I obeyed with the help of my friends and You amazed us.
We look into each other’s eyes and now we see hope and so much more.
You give us grace and we share with one another and even others.
We obey and the stuff of God flows through our lives like a mighty river.
Thank You for love, hope and grace. Thank You for opportunity to receive, share and give!
Thank You that we can thank you!
There are times in your life, when the words leave you. You just don’t know what to say or how to say it. You know what you are feeling, thinking and living, but it’s almost impossible to communicate.
The Spirit has really been talking to me, teaching me and growing me in the last couple of years. And just when I think I’m beginning to really get it, the Spirit just keeps on bringing it!
For well over a year now, the Spirit has been growing a burden in my heart for the lost. Especially for the lost that think they are found. I have met, talked and ministered to at least a thousand people in the last year that are spiritually homeless. These are very special people, they look, act, talk, love, and live just like you and me. The difference that we often preoccupy ourselves with is how they live, but the difference we really need to be concerned with is how they die!
Here is the burden that the Spirit has been growing in my heart: “If I miss the opportunities that God is giving me to share His amazing grace with others, then they very likely will die without the gift that God has for them of a Heavenly home.” Many would say to me: “You are putting too much pressure on yourself!” And I have to respond: “No, I am not allowing enough of the right pressure to shape and direct the focus and actions of my life!”
A big problem for me is forgetting the obvious. I get so distracted by life, that I sometimes miss the many of the opportunities that the Spirit provides for me to share with others. I could feel this burden growing inside of me, even though I had no idea how to express it. At one point today, as I was trying to think my way through it, I felt the Spirit leading me to go out with my camera to a certain place.
So I headed out and was taking a few moments to walk through the woods with my camera. Spending a little time with my Creator in His creation and snapping shots of things that caught my eye – here are a few:
As I was walking on through the woods, listening to the sounds of nature and actually allowing my mind, heart and spirit to rest, something caught my eye that I had not ever noticed before. It looked like someone had built a building of some sort and this really surprised me, because I knew this property and was pretty sure that no one would be or should be building on it. I moved in for a closer look and discovered that it was more than a building or a club house!
As I moved in closer, I could see that this was more than the work of some kids!
Someone was or had been living here. I walked up very slowly, wondering if someone might be at home. I moved around the shelter quietly and could see that there was no one inside. When I looked inside, it was obvious that someone had been or is currently living here.
As I looked inside, I halfway felt like someone might be looking back at me. I actually was a little scared, but looking forward to possibility of meeting someone. There was no one home, but it was obvious that someone had made this their home. There was a box of clothes, a makeshift bed, divider wall made of dried bamboo canes, a fire pit, a bottle of water, a torn up cooler and a bucket.
I was in shock and I did not want to leave, but knew that I could not stay. I walked back through the woods and made my way back to my truck thinking to myself: “Even though I know this is a reality, because I have talked to and ministered to some of these very people, it is still hard for me to believe that people live this way today in the United States of America.
In my heart, there was something even bigger eating away at me and it wasn’t until I had spent a few hours in prayer and contemplation that it really started to come together and make sense.
Physical homelessness is a very sad thing, I don’t like it and I want to do all I can to help in any way that I can. But worse than physical homelessness is spiritual homelessness and the spiritually homeless are dying everyday and heading into eternity without the benefit of their Heavenly home which God offers as a gift to anyone that will receive it.
If I, if we don’t do something about it, then multitudes are going to be spiritually homeless, not just for their life here on this earth, but for all eternity. The really sad thing is – we are not just talking about strangers here, we are talking about family, friends, co-workers, classmates, neighbors and acquaintances.
Lord, Please forgive me for all of the time and energy I have wasted and please help me to make the most of whatever time I have left on this earth and in this life to reach out to the spiritually homeless with Your precious gift of amazing grace so that we all might enjoy the gift of Your Heavenly Home for all eternity!
When I read about the early church in the book of Acts, I am always amazed and excited about the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of such ordinary men and women.
In my life time, I have caught glimpses of the Holy Spirit working in this amazing way, but I long to see it, like I read it in Acts. Ordinary men and women totally changed their lives and world in the span of one generation, all because of the vision of Jesus and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 1:8 Jesus tells His disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The really cool thing about what Jesus is saying us in this verse, is that it is both a promise and a command. There is the promise of the Holy Spirit and the command to be His witnesses.
It starts with “you will”, not “you might, but “you will!” Jesus is saying: You – ordinary will be – extraordinary. And what Jesus said became reality. We are the testimony that shouts out to the world: “Jesus Was Right, Because Here I Am!”
Now, here is the big question that you and I have to answer – “WILL WE?” Do you believe that when Jesus said in Acts 1:8 “you will”, that He was talking to you and me? I believe He was and if you believe the same thing, then that brings you to another question.
How will you live out the reality of Acts 1:8 in the world, time and space that you are living in right now? This is a question worth asking and worth answering, so take a little time, think it through and let the Holy Spirit guide and grow you!
Michael Joe Harvell 