The Light is Shining

One of the main changes that has occurred in my thinking since attending the school here is how to reach the lost. Actually it is not being changed, but formed for the first time in me. How did I used to think we should win the lost? I dunno…bring more doughnuts to Sunday school and hope they smell the aroma? I realized that I didn’t have any plan to reach the lost. Sure, I went to church faithfully and served in ministry. I also went to work all week with the same people, some of whom are lost, and tried to live an exemplary life in front of them hoping they would be interested and ask me about the Lord. I was faithful as I knew how, but honestly I had never led anyone to the Lord before. And that’s pretty sad considering that Jesus left us with the thing called the ‘Great Commission’ in which he instructed us to be about the business of winning the lost until he returns. Winning the lost and discipling them IS the business of the Kingdom of God.

I’m beginning to understand a little more about process of evangelism, and I’m really excited about it. Basically, if you don’t go where there are lost people, you can’t win anyone to the Lord. So simple yet so profound. How can we win the lost unless we go to where they are? The call of God isn’t to stay in the comfort of the church building as I have done all these years, but to go out into the dark places of society and share the love of God where hurting people dwell. This is the reality of light shining in the darkness. Funny thing, if you turn a flashlight on in a well-lit room, you will not even notice that the bulb is burning. But, if you turn off all the lights, then that same flashlight becomes a beacon to all those stranded in the darkness. Even so, all my shining in church will catch little attention, but shining out in the world makes tidal waves of change! I have just the story to illustrate:

MSM (Morningstar School of Ministry) got an invitation to bring some students down to Orlando last weekend to pray for people and give them messages from God. In Christian lingo, we call this ‘Prophetic Ministry’. But this wasn’t a church that they were invited to. It was a business conference with business leaders from around the country paying $500 per person for 3 days of business development instruction. The leader of this conference loves prophetic ministry, and put her reputation on the line as a level-headed business person to have our students show up and provide prophetic ministry. The teams have been returning to class this week and sharing the amazing experiences they had. They led tons of people to the Lord! Initial reports were that about 100 people made decisions to invite the Lord to come into their lives. There were a total of about 800 people present, and many were already saved. Those who made decisions for the Lord this week were from many different backgrounds: Atheist, Catholic, Muslim, New Age, Agnostic, etc. They had one thing in common. Our teams heard God’s message to each individual and shared what He was saying. The atheist who had come to mock the Christians gave his life to the Lord because he couldn’t deny that the Lord had told our teams the secrets of his life. A flashlight had come into the dark place these people were living in and began shining God's light. It was amazing to have this opportunity to go into a secular place and bless the people who were attending. What was more amazing is that several of those salvations also occurred at the gas station and hanging out in the hotel between meetings. Lost people are in the world living their lives. They are not in church hearing about God. If we are going to have an impact at winning souls, we must go find them. This is something the Lord is awakening within my heart. How many more friends might he have if I only choose to go out into the darkness?