SAYING YES

How often does God call us to step out in faith in our Christian ministry, to say yes to further His kingdom?

How often are we obedient to those little promptings the Holy Spirit gives us?

How willing are you to challenge yourself, doing something out of your comfort zone, to say yes to a new adventure in your faith journey or ministry?

 

I was reflecting on these questions because of two occurrences this past week.  One was my book launch where I shared about the making of God’s Presence Illuminated:  Treasured Thoughts to Inspire Hope and Light, and the other was from a Bible study on the book of Jonah.

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You might be familiar with the story and the book of Jonah, which is only four chapters long.  A brief synopsis of the book of Jonah is as follows:

–Jonah was a prophet, someone who shares specific, divinely inspired messages from the Lord.

–Rather than saying yes to God by sharing God’s message, Jonah flees from God and boards a ship going to a faraway city.

–A great storm arises on the sea. Jonah is cast overboard and ends up in the belly of a whale.

–Jonah then calls out to God and repents of his disobedience. The whale, after three days and three nights, spits Jonah out on dry land.

–Jonah concedes to share God’s message of warning with the city of Nineveh. Nineveh repents, so God has mercy on the city and does not destroy it.

 

From this story, we see…

—The importance of being obedient to God, saying yes.

–How important it is to follow God’s leading in our ministries and our lives.

–If we, like Jonah, don’t initially follow God, He is always ready with His loving, open arms to accept us if we repent.

–Jonah, just a single man, reluctant yet obedient to God, was able to get the entire city of Nineveh, more than 120,000 inhabitants, to repent!  What mighty things God can work out if we follow His will.

 

 

 

Penning weekly thoughts is one of the ministries God has given me.

A way to see God in the ordinary~

A way to share my faith~

A way to evangelize.

 

God has led and opened doors of writing weekly for the last six years on this website, which has evolved to the birth of a book.  It was never something on MY bucket list, but I see where it was His will with Him putting people in my path to make it all come together.

 

 

This led to a new adventure in my ministry, a book launch. My pastor, from the moment I first mentioned it, has shown enthusiasm and given me moral support, which has been a great encouragement. God definitely called me to step out of my comfort zone as I am not confident talking in front of a crowd. Public speaking is not one of my gifts. The only other time I ever spoke in front of a crowd was at my niece’s/goddaughter’s wedding when I did a Bible reading.

I felt God was leading and challenging me to grow by sharing verbally in front of a crowd.  I told some on how the book came about, my faith journey, and the many ways God has shown Himself through this whole process.  Despite the pandemic, I was pleasantly surprised to have twenty people come to show their support of my ministry. It was a special time of feeling joyful obedience to God~loved and valued by Him and by other people.

 

 

 

I have to admit that I ended up focusing a little too much on the negative afterward; the way I felt my shaky voice came out too many times, the way I probably talked too fast, and might have gotten a little quieter toward the end. I feel I did the best I could under the circumstances and that I was obedient to God’s will.  I tried to give it my all.  I think my one friend summed it up well, sharing, “Honestly, I know speaking is not your forte, but you did it with grace! Your emotion came through also.”  I was grateful to God for that affirmation, as well as the many others who encouraged me after.  Often we are too hard on ourselves.

Writing a book and then publicly launching it weren’t my plans. They were God’s plans for me, and I would have missed the opportunity to serve Him if I hadn’t been obedient-even if I was nervous.

 

 

May these two stories inspire you in whatever ministry you are called to, and even in your everyday faith journey, to…

…Embrace new adventures

…Remain obedient, saying yes, to the Lord

…Grow in faith and trust

 

Understand you may never fully know how God will use your obedience in the lives of others…

…Be available to be used by the Lord

…Know God equips the called

 

He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.  –Philippians 2:8  (NLT)

For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.  –Romans 5:19  (ESV)