Make
a difference – In His Word 11-11-13
Are
you making a difference? Are you in the Word studying it out? Do you
know what to say when someone asks you why you believe? When you
first believed you probably told everyone! If you were like me you
wanted to do everything the Bible told you to do to the dot; are you
still on fire for God? Do you still care about the lost?
Have
we begun to become complacent in the Word?
We
are told to be content with where we are in our walk with the Lord,
but are we taking what they say too far? I know I am asking a lot of
questions but this past series that my pastor has been preaching have
me thinking about the reason we are saved. What he has spoken has
not much to do with that as much as that it has to do with how we
live our lives in Christ according to His Word, I think.
I
believe we should be excited to serve as Christians, just as a
soldier does in the army, or a sailor in the Navy we should be
willing to sacrifice our time an strength with joy, with peace, and
with unending gratitude to God for allowing us to serve for our
church, neighborhood, or town. I think we should be as Elisha was. He
was told that Elijah wanted him to come with him and he went. Just
like that! He didn't say wait let me pray about it, he just did it!
He was blessed for it! He got to be a prophet of God to the people.
He was there to raise a dead child to life, as was he there to save a
starving widow and her family by giving them something to work with
that they already had in the house.
God
does that for us; He shows us how to use a tool we have to reach our
needs and the needs of others. For me that tool is the ability to
write, He gives me what I have already got to spread the news that He
gives me to write down. I hope that I am making a difference in
someone's life each week and I pray accordingly for each of you who
reads this.
One
day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and
cried out, “My husband who served you is dead,and you know how he
feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my
two sons as slaves.”
“What
can I do to help you?” Elisha asked.
“Tell
me, what do you have in the house?” “nothing at all, except a
flask of olive oil.” she replied.
And
Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your
friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and
shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the
jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.” So she did as she
was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her and she filled one after
another. Soon every container was full to the brim!
“Bring
me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There are no more”
he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing. When she told
the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the
olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what
is left over.” 2Kings 20:1-7
Thinking
some more on the widow and her oil I find her making a difference in
Elisha's life because instead of having to sleep on the ground
someplace she had her son build a bedroom for him to stay at when he
was in the area. Elisha had paid it forward in a way, and received a
blessing for teaching her how to take care of her family. She had to
do something herself to receive the blessing that God put in the jar.
It
wasn't her works that caused the oil to keep coming, but it was in
her obedience that God chose to bless her by causing this miracle. If
she had done like some of us she would have gone back home thinking,
“This is crazy, I only have a few drops of oil and he wants me to
get a bunch of my neighbors to give me their empty jars? What am I
supposed to do with all these things if it doesn't work?” Yet she
still did what she was told, and in doing so she made a difference in
someones life! Mine, yours, and whoever else reads this scripture; we
are changed by it because it shows us that God will provide and gives
us hope to endure hardship and encouragement that God is listening.
Today
is Veterans' Day in the United States and we use this day to tell the
military members and veterans that we are thankful that they made a
difference in our lives. Because of their sacrifice we have the
freedom to read what I am typing today. I can speak of God, the Bible
and Jesus without being put in jail. I am thankful to them for all
they do, because they truly make a difference in our lives.
What
are some things we can do to day to make a difference?
- Begin with reading the Bible; just reading it will make a difference in someone's life. If they see you reading it or find it laying around where you left it they may decide to read it too, if not they will at least have thought about it.
- Tell people God Bless you when you pass them on the street.
- Tell someone God loves them randomly as you see them standing all alone.
- Invite someone to church on Sunday, or bible study during the week.
- Play worship music with your windows down; you never know who hears a song and gets encouragement from the words they hear.
- Reach out to someone and invite them to know Jesus.
- Share a meal with someone just because. If you don't think you have enough food then read about the loaves and fishes in His Word. God can stretch what you have to meet the needs.There are many things we can do to share God and make a difference; our job is to step up and begin.
Try blessing someone next time you go to Starbucks, pay for the person behind you and tell them God Blessed you, or ask the person to write on the cup Blessed by God? Bake a cake and bring it to your neighbor, just because. I don't care if they don't speak to you, bring it to them and tell them God loves them today.Make a difference in someones life by giving them a hug from Jesus today.I could go on all day but I will stop with this thought, to find a small thing that you can do that will make a world of difference in someone else's life today.
Jesus
made a difference in your life, my life, lets pass it on!
Dear
heavenly Father, thank you for the difference Jesus made in our lives
today, help us to pass it on, in Jesus' name, amen.