Sharing My Faith-It's Different Now!!!!

Hi Everyone,

I want to preface this post by saying that by writing it i have no intention of bragging about me or anything by writing it. I just have to share more of what God is doing. First off I just have to say that now that I KNOW that I KNOW that I KNOW that I belong to Christ and that He has brought me to Himself, the way I share my faith has totally changed! I used to tell people before and enjoyed it in the sense (probably a pride thing) that I was telling the most important message in the world. But it was just a fact--not a living relationship with me to our Holy and Perfect God-the Creator of all!!

Now when I share my faith it is very different--different in the sense that it is no longer an attitude of "I want a notch on my belt, so I'll share the gospel so God is pleased with me (ukk!) cause I did my duty today" (Ugg!! Gross! It was the wrong reason and motivation, not to mean that God didn't use it at times! and YES, I USED TO ACTUALLY THINK THAT!!) NOW it is an attitude of "God, my loving Father, tell me WHO YOU want me to share with today--and give me the words that they need to hear because you only know where they are in the process of being brought to Yourself. YOU KNOW WHAT THEY NEED TO EXACTLY KNOW POINT."

And it has been amazing because usually at least once a day, I share with someone---people in totally different situations from one day to the next. The other day I was in McDonald's and I overheard a tiny part of a young woman's conversation without meaning to. And The Spirit of God spoke to me and said "Go talk to her" and immediately an opportunity arose when the person that she was eating with left to go do something else for 20 minutes. I didn't know exactly what I was going to say word for word beforehand, but I prayed and God gave me the words to say to her. I KNEW that I could NOT LEAVE THE BUILDING 'TIL I HAD SHARED WITH THAT DEAR STRUGGLING PRECIOUS YOUNG LADY. Today it was a Jehovah's Witness, yes again, in McDonald's. I could feel Christ's love for both of these people even though I did not know them. I told the lady that was a Jehovah's Witness today that it was Jesus Christ's love that compelled me to tell her although I had never met her before. His love, through me, was literally loving her! It was a very real and tangible thing!! May HIS LOVE COMPEL US!!!!!

Sharing our faith is NOT about getting "Notches on our belts because we witnessed" That's a poor and incorrect reason! BUT SHARING OUR FAITH IS ABOUT TRULY BEING SENSITIVE TO THE SPIRIT OF GOD AND BEING WILLING WHEN HE TELLS US TO SHARE WITH SOMEONE, NO MATTER WHERE WE ARE, TO DO IT, AND SIMPLY OBEY HIM--WE ARE HIS AMBASSADORS-SPREADING THE FRAGRANCE OF HIM TO EVERY PLACE.

Sharing our faith is also NOT about us trying to "convince people to 'get saved.'" Here is some news for all of us---WE DON'T CONVINCE ANYONE TO GET SAVED!!! ONLY THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN DO THAT---IT IS HIS JOB---so let's not try to take it from him---we won't do it any better than He will. He will convict them of sin, and draw them to repentance (which is simply a turning--a change of mind about our sin--NOT a "WORK" for our salvation--NOT something that we muster up to try to "fix" our lives.--it is a response and a gift from God that He gives to us because we truly understand that HE loves us and we, therefore, CANNOT EVER LIVE THE SAME--at least we don't desire to keep living in the same dung pile of sin that we used to) and trust in Him in HIS TIME AND HIS WAY.

When we realize that it isn't OUR JOB to save anyone, there is a freedom and a joy in that--because we are simply a channel to be used as God sees fit and we can totally leave the results to Him---in His perfect all-knowing hands! GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!

Beloved, pray for me!! Pray for me as I am in my hometown. I know that in God's perfect timing I will return to Mexico, but let me tell you that there is such a JOY in my heart-a joy from finally being truly at peace with God and at peace with myself after years of turmoil and distrust in Him, trying to "conjure up" my "salvation moment" by MY own efforts (Yes, I DID DO EXACTLY THAT--I USED TO ANYWAYS---NOT ANYMORE.) There is a joy and a peace in knowing that for the first time in my life I am truly EXACTLY where God wants me to be and DOING what He wants me to do, and that He us using me for the remainder of this time and season of my life here. (I don't need to SEE the results--I can just trust Him to do his work-that His Word will go out and accomplish the purpose for which HE has sent it!)

PLEASE PRAY FOR ME!! PRAY that I will make the most of the opportunities that GOD gives to me and KNOW when to speak and when not to, and WHAT to say at the proper times--that I will know how to answer those that ask me and that GOD brings across my path. May I, and all of us that know Him, have "Conversation seasoned with salt and light and the true knowledge of Him."

IT IS A JOY TO SERVE HIM----AND I WILL NEVER GROW TIRED OF THAT---WHEREVER I AM!!!!

REMEMBER THIS ALSO-I do not mean this as a cliche that "we often throw out there" but remember that when we get to heaven, there will be no unbelievers to receive Jesus Christ's free gift of salvation. I do not say this to make people have guilt-trips--let the Holy Spirit again speak to you and me as well about it. WE CAN ONLY SHARE ABOUT JESUS AND HIS ULTIMATE GIFT OF LOVE ON THE CROSS ONCE AND FOR ALL DYING FOR OUR SINS AND TAKING THE PUNISHMENT THAT WE SO TOTALLY DESERVED TO PAY HERE ON EARTH!! WE WON'T BE ABE TO DO THAT IN HEAVEN.

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God."

2 Timothy 4:1-3 "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."

Ephesians 5:15-17 "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."

Colossians 4:2-6 "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

2 Corinthians 5:13-15 "If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.