Don’t you wish you were Wonder Woman sometimes? Hulk? Superman or Spiderman? Superpowers are so cool! Sometimes I wish I could fly. Wouldn’t that be amazing? What about running super fast? Or being able to breath underwater. Imagine the adventures you could have! The stories you could tell. You’d be famous! Wow. Isn’t that fun?
Which would be the most fun? I’d probably pick flying. Or water breathing. Not much else is as appealing.
What if we had the power to go back in time?
What would you change?
What would you do?
Who would you save?
It’s interesting sometimes to daydream about what could be fun, or would be useful. It never losses it’s wonder. But do we realize that we’ve got the greatest super power ever? Do we realize we’ve got the power of GOD in our hands? We can’t go back and change the past, but we have the power to change the future.
Romans 1:16 says “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is THE POWER OF GOD unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (gentile).”
Do we understand this verse? If we took it to heart how many more of us would use this power? The power of God to salvation.
Salvation is this thing that saves us from ETERNAL SUFFERING! Salvation is free to everyone and anyone who will take it, and we stand here holding this power in our hands thinking, “Well, I’m a bit scared. What if they don’t want to hear it? I guess I won’t try.”
“Oh, but what if they think I’m silly? This isn’t a comfortable time. They might think me to be a weak religious person.”
And this one is most often my own excuse.
“They won’t listen, and they’ll never listen again. Once I lose them I’m never gonna have another chance. I don’t want to ruin it for someone who might be called to talk to them.”
My heart cries. I wish I had the courage to do it. A pastor that I have been listening to, the youth pastor of Calvary Costa Mesa in California who teaches at the Bible College in Murrieta. In one of his sermons he calls fear of what people will think and say about you “verbal chains.” He says that if we cannot stand up to verbal persecution then how can we be so quick to claim loyalty to death? We do not even risk verbal chains in spreading the power. The possibility of being a device God uses to save a life! We shrink at the idea of being rejected and thought of as fools.
I want to be a fool for the gospel! I want to live with Abandon! God fill me afresh with the Spirit you promised would work in me both to will and to do Your good pleasure!
I want to do everything I can to earn those chains for Jesus’ glory, for His sake. I hate the fact that I’ve never experienced any sort of opposition because of the Gospel. I hate that I’ve never had to stand up for Jesus. I live such a comfortable life. There’s nothing to give up, nothing to risk in my life.
God change that, change me! Give me the courage and the place to live with abandon. Give a place to shout your glory from the rooftops and to use Your power. I want to please you. I want to have scars and chains to show off Your goodness and glory.
Girls. God’s goodness is not the lack of opposition and pain. God’s goodness comes when He strengthens us and encourage us through life. His goodness is His mercy, His forgiveness. His presence right beside us through everything saying “I’m here. I’ve got you. I love you.”
“I love you.“