More than any other blog, I would like to emphasize the song that I have attached to it.  It captures the heart of what I am trying to convey.

 

In this trying time, we must NEVER LET GO of what God offers or the incredible blessing that comes from having His hand on all that we do.

 

Why?

 

Because God changes nations through individuals and this is the most incredible miracle (besides all of the others) in the Bible.

 

It is the idea that rather than conquering all—He would choose to have the devotion of one.

 

Think about it?

 

This radical thought and movement is the reason that all of us say it is 2020.

 

Jesus moved through the hearts of individuals SO MIGHTILY that He captured nations.

 

Case in point:

  1.  He ministered to an outcast woman at a well, breaking Jewish law and sending a message TO ALL OF US:  Do we love individual people or do we love cliques, movements, political parties, or governments?  John 4.
  2.  He met Paul on the road to Damascus, sending a message TO ALL OF US:  Are we truly willing to forgive, and even collaborate with, someone who is our enemy?  Acts 9.
  3.  He met Nathanael after watching Him under the fig tree.  He INVESTED TIME in knowing Nathanael and Nathanael ALONE.  In doing this, Jesus is sending a message TO ALL OF US:  Do we love individual people?  John 1.

 

 

I can remember being offended as a man spoke in our church and made fun of his Sunday school class, his church experience, and his disdain for going to church with his parents.  I can remember him talking about his incredible fear that God was going to send him to Africa to be a missionary where he would eat bugs, live on the ground, and do things that he hated.

 

What was he really saying?

I think that today I finally understand.  I think that He was saying that He had no idea that God wanted to know him—him!  That he had no idea that He wanted to know him as an individual!

 

Where did this speaker end up?  In Africa.  But it was his choice AFTER God got a hold of him.  Because once He understood that God loved him for who he was, going to Africa was easy.

 

 

What about you?

Has God gotten ahold of you?

 

I am praying that this very day——He does.

 

Jesus is using this time to break into “group thinking”.  While it is powerful to be in a political party or a union or an association, membership to these should NEVER take away our ability to think individually.  Jesus does not want us to bury our identity in a group, but to bury our identity in Him … and Him alone.

 

And salvation and connection to God, only works in a group when all the individuals have done so on their own accord.

 

To make my point, I want to finish with a testimony.

 

God moved in my life in a big way in 2002.  Due to the evil actions of a colleague at work, I was alone, depressed, not sleeping, and in a place where I was going to resign from my job and move on to do something else.

 

But God showed up to rescue me.  

 

When a man does not sleep, he begins to slowly go crazy, but he has plenty of time to bare his heart to the Lord.  And I, indeed, had a full measure of both.  And though my flesh became crazy, my spirit has never been more clear.  And God told me two things:

  • “I will protect you with rumors”
  • “I will choose you for the big battles”

 

God protected me with rumors—nothing could be more true.  It was incredible how the Lord used something usually meant for evil to protect me.  And as far as the battles—the Lord always tells me, or convicts me, when it is time to stand up.

 

But this is not the story of the blog today.

 

The story of the blog today is about YOU.

  • It is about the fact that He has created you–that He knew you as you were knitted together in your mother’s womb.  
    • Psalm 139:13  For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
  • It is about the fact that He has seen you, and you alone, in ALL of your life.
    • John 1:48  “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
  • It is about the fact that God wants to move in YOU in a way that uses who YOU are.
    • Exodus 3:12  And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

 

I am fully able to misrepresent the God of our universe.  A pastor is fully able to misrepresent the God of our universe.  A church is fully able to misrepresent the God of our universe.  And so today, I challenge you to follow the advice of David:

Psalm 34:8

Taste and see that the LORD is good

 

As we see in today’s world, people and groups are capable ruining everything—especially individuals.  But God?  He is not.  And that is because God doesn’t use groups to change the individual, He uses individuals to change the world.  And never forget …

He knows you.  He loves you.  He wants to carry out all of your hopes and your dreams.  And He wants to use you to love others by testifying of His love for you.

He is in the business of YOU

 

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew0g1xnOT30

 

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Coach J