You Can Do It, Too!

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Today's Passage: Matthew chapter 3
Memory Verse:Jeremiah 1:5

I greatly admire evangelistic ministries that have been called and anointed by the Lord to draw people to His kingdom. They invest much time and quite a few resources in training and equipping people of all ages and backgrounds with the strategies to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever they go. In my days without the saving knowledge of Jesus, I myself encountered groups of young people from one of those ministries, Campus Crusade for Christ. Now that I think back to my time with them, I realize that the training they had received, coupled of course with a deep passion for God, gave them the boldness to share their faith.

But although ministries of this kind exist to produce witnesses for the kingdom, does this mean that the rest of the believers who never had the privilege of receiving such training should remain silent? Are we to believe that God really expects us to hush until we get formerly trained to share our faith? I think not! On the contrary, I believe that God already gives us what we need, according to the power that works within us, to accomplish the Father's Will on this earth.

Let's look at the life of John the Baptist. He is known as the voice crying in the wilderness to those who didn't know to look for the Messiah. He came out in Matthew chapter 3, wearing weird clothes and eating weird foods, not to draw attention to himself, but to let the people know that God's plan of salvation was about to be revealed. Did he receive the formal training of the Pharisees and Saducees? No. But look a little closer in the first and second chapters of Luke. The prophecy of who John was and what he was being sent to do was given, and the anointing to spread the news of repentance in order to receive salvation was given to him in his mother's womb.

God told Jeremiah in so many words, "Everything you need to serve me has already been placed on the inside of him before his mother even knew he would be born. And this is the same promise that we can claim about our own lives today. If you have an opportunity to sit under training where you can receive the information that would help you share your faith in Christ more boldly, by all means, do so. But never for another day let the enemy make you think you don't have what it takes, right now, to be used of God in a mighty way to bring the gospel to those who are lost. Every moment we take to yield your life for the kingdom will forever be recorded in eternity, but I would do it for Christ even if that were not a possibility. You can do it, too.

Prayer: Father, thank You for the giftings and anointing that You have placed inside of each of us. But more than that, I'm so grateful for a heart to do Your will. Please fill us now with Your Spirit and His power to share the love and good news of Your kingdom. May every word be used to populate heaven and take from hell what already belongs to You -- the souls of many. In Jesus' Name, Amen.