Sharing Your Faith

Sharing Your Faith
Shaun King

“How much does a so-called Christian have to hate you if they really believe in Jesus, Heaven, and Hell and never tell you about it?”

While those words may sound like they came from your local evangelist or pastor, they didn’t. Not even close. Instead, they came from the mouth of one of the most famous non-believing atheists in the world, Penn Jillette, widely known as the bigger half of the performance group Penn & Teller.

When I heard Penn make this statement it was like a kick in the gut. Let me tell you why. Penn made this statement after finishing a show. A very warm, sincere man waited patiently to meet with Penn and gave Penn a small Bible and told him very kindly how much he believed and valued the words inside of that book.

Now, before you get too happy I want to tell you ahead of time that Penn still says he could care less about the Bible, but he was moved by earnest honesty and beliefs of a simple man that wanted to share his faith in God with someone that he admired. Not cliché, not judgmental, not snobbish, the man very plainly and simply shared his faith and it broke through Penn’s very cynical exterior walls.

When reflecting back on this encounter later that evening, Penn said that he wasn’t even slightly irritated when the man shared his faith. Indeed, he said what troubled and irritated him even more than someone sharing a deeply held faith in God, was a man or woman that claimed to have a deep faith about a risen Savior, or an everlasting afterlife of Heaven or Hell, but thought so little about people that they never told them about it!

Ouch! Strong words? Yes.
But Penn is right.

Either we don’t really believe in an awesome Savior that chose the nails and the cross for us or we must hate people so much that we know this Savior for ourselves, but don’t want anyone else to know Him.

Who are you telling about Jesus? Better yet – who are you not telling about Him that really needs to hear His story and yours? Are you sure you believe in Jesus and in Heaven? If so, why not tell everyone you know about this amazing news we call the Gospel?

One thing that I have learned over the past few weeks with the deaths of Michael Jackson, Steve McNair, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, and others is that tomorrow just isn’t promised and that we should never assume that we have another hour or another day or another random time to tell someone about our faith journey.

Maybe they’ll reject the Gospel and reject you and move on, but maybe, just maybe they won’t. Maybe God will use you as a springboard into the heart of that person or that family that you need to talk with. Just understand this – our faith is not a private faith. It’s not a secret, keep-it-to-yourself type of faith.

It’s a tell-the-whole-world-because-you-contain-yourself type of faith and people need to hear from you.
Today, I dare you to start sharing your faith today and see what happens!

Shaun King is Lead Pastor of The Courageous Church in downtown Atlanta. A king of multi-tasking, Shaun is a proud husband, father of four, grad student, regular guest on NPR, and an avid blogger at ShaunInTheCity.com.

Keep Your Head to the Sky

Sometimes I get so frustrated by this world…the senseless violence, lack of compassion, disasters and pain.  If you look at what’s in front of you, it can be difficult to have hope and faith for what the latter will bring.  I’m reminded that we should look to the hills from which comes our help .  That when we look up and know that there is one that is far greater and is sovereign, we are comforted.  I absolutely love Earth, Wind and Fire and the message in this song is so encouraging and the ending so ethereal I wanted to share.

 

What a Marvelous Thing!

Glory to God in the highest who deserves all of our praise, now and forever, Amen!  Everyday we have reason to give thanks to our Maker who made heaven and earth and for reasons above our own, decides to breathe life into us each and every morning.  But this weekend, we are reminded of the primary reason (besides Him being God) of why we give Him praise and worship.  We are reminded of His love for us.  A love that surpasses all understanding.  To be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.  That our chastisement of our peace would be upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.  Yes, we are healed today.  Because of His wonderful love and mercy! He stepped down from glory to become like us, to redeem the wretched so that we wouldn’t suffer and be scorned; That we wouldn’t be eternally apart from Him because He desires our company/fellowship so much.  That is why we can say that we shall live and not die! Because Christ did it for me.  He did it for you.  We are loved by the Almighty God who was, and is, and is to come! This weekend and always, remember why we celebrate life.  It’s because there was One who decided that your life was too important to perish that He had to lay down his own.  Glory be to God.  Truly, what a marvelous thing He has done!

With Long Life

My God will satisfy me and I will praise Him forever!  God has done some amazing things in my life in the past week and I am mos def in a praising mood.  My God is so good to me that words are not enough.  I hope to share what has been going on with me, but today I would like you to join in praising God in remembrance of all the good things He has done for us.  That even includes the things/experiences that don’t feel good, because in the end it is all for our good.  We will live and shall not die!  Happy Monday.

How Would You Introduce Christ?

Happy Monday everyone.  I got this in a forward and it may me ask this question…how would you introduce Christ?  Now I know some would stand to judge the man (Steve Harvey) in the clip.  But can you look past the messenger and hear the message?  Can you see agree with truth when it is spoken?  There could have been unsaved souls in this audience, but I believe practically everyone stood up.  And then there are the saved children of Christ that when opportunity arises (particularly Sunday mornings) for them to stand up, honor and acknowledge their God, they struggle to get on their feet, open up their mouths and give Him the glory.  I’m sorry, but I will bless the Lord at ALL times and His praises shall continually be in my mouth.  Because I know that my existence depends on Him.  If God were to choose to stop thinking about me, I would cease to exist.  A simple way to introduce Christ to others is letting Christ shine through you.  There maybe times when you can’t talk about who He is (like on the clip) but you can reveal things about Him through your conduct and character.  Are we not called to be His image-bearers?  Will the real believers of Christ please stand up.

God’s Love and Lemonheads

Since I’ve started school, I haven’t had much time doing posts midweek. Sorry.  Keeping with this month’s “Love” theme, I wanted to share with you some words from one of my devotions this week.

God’s Love and Lemonheads
Aqualyn Toi Jones

I’m in search of the ultimate synonym.

I’m trying to think of every possible way to describe God’s love without using the word ‘love.’ Let’s face it – that expression is misused possibly more than any other word in our language. It really doesn’t matter what language you speak.

The word just doesn’t hold the weight that it should.

Recently, I came across a writing prompt that instructed you to jot down a list of everything that you love. It was supposed to help me discover what I’m passionate about and in turn, possible topics for a good story.

Well, two 8 ½-by-11 pages later, I quit. I wasn’t finished; I just stopped. As soon as I wrote one thing down, another popped into my head.

That simple activity showed me a few things.

One, I love a lot of people and things. Two, I mistakenly use the word “love” to describe things that I like a lot. Or things that I like “right now.” Certain items will never be erased from that list: family, books, lemonheads, etc. Other items should’ve never been included at all (I won’t embarrass myself with those examples).

1 Corinthians 13

Happy February everyone!  Well, this month can be considered the month of Love.  Well, if you don’t consider it, I know for darn sure, Hallmark, et al wants you to.  Anyway, Love is such a precarious word/emotion/action.  You have teenagers believe they found true love at age 14 (not discrediting high school sweethearts who actually got married and stayed married) and will do everything to spend time with him or her.  Then you have the middle-aged women driving across country in a diaper to chase down her boyfriend’s lover in the name of Love.  It’s a powerful thing!  And one would argue that it is an emotion that cannot be controlled, like for instance, anger.  Love as an emotion can wash over you sometime making you feel helpless in its tide.  But as it is Monday and I do want to motivate you in a positive way, let us look at love in a way that I feel best describes it:

 

1 Corinthians 13

Love

 1If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,^[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I encourage you to have healthy loving relationships, not just with others, but with yourself.

Patience and Maturity

So the New Year has started.  How has it been so far?  Have you already taken the time to write down your goals/resolutions for 2009?  Or has the same procrastination and lack of vision from 2008 found a way to come over?  In my recent conversations with friends and loved ones, I realize that similar things are being said.  And well, I’m a person that is growing in sensitivity to repetition.  What I mean is that I’m more aware when something is being said, or an emotion is being felt by numerous people at the same time.  And when this happens, something occurs in the atmosphere. Please bear with me as I try to clarify.

 

For example, the months leading to my blessed lay-off, I had a friend tell me her story about how she was unhappy in her last job and how she prayed for God to release her.  Also at that time, I had other friends sharing stories of people who were being laid off and how they were unhappy at the jobs they were in, etc.  Something was obviously going on in the atmosphere and I noticed. It was also during this season that I was pleading to God for a way of escape/ or change in my work circumstances because I didn’t know what to do, and I sure as heck wasn’t about to quit without a plan.  Well, He had a plan for me and the day I was called into the conference room by my bosses, I had this feeling in me that something was up and I wasn’t going to be discussing my yearly review, but would graciously be shown the exit sign.  I was so elated and wasn’t surprised in the least.

 

I have also shared with you that I will be going to graduate school to pursue my destiny (yay me!) Well, during the months that God was confirming the way that I should go, talks of graduate school was rampant.  Friends who didn’t even want to go to school were talking about going back.  Also, it seemed that people that I knew started talking about separation and divorce. Then week after week I was hearing the message about how much marriages were under attack.  Then I started to meet people, who were in school for the very thing I was praying about, and I reconnected with an old college colleague and she is a Marriage and Family Therapist! 

 

You see, I believe that words can set the environment.  Words are capable of changing the courses of things and the directions that we should go; if we believe and our sensitive to it.  I don’t believe things happen by coincidence, everything is purposeful.  There was a book I read in college called the Celestine Prophesy which was very interesting.  The book comprises of interactive psychology, Eastern and Western philosophies, science, futurism, ecology, history, and mysticism…so yeah, not all things Biblical, but a great book that makes you think why you are where you are in your life.

 

Okay, back to my earlier statement (sorry for the digression) about what I have been hearing recently – Two words that have been repeated since this year has started have been “maturity” and “patience”.  I believe that this is the year that God is calling us to mature and grow in all things.  Many of us have accepted certain child-like behavior from ourselves for far too long now.  We’ve been selfish, or throw tantrums whenever things haven’t gone our way.  We’ve found ways to manipulate people to do what we want, and have been oversensitive to those who don’t even know they are being offensive.  And even in the spiritual, we’ve accepted doing the same things we’ve done in years past and wonder why we don’t feel closer to God.  We haven’t tried to pray in a different way, read a new book, attempt to memorize a verse, go to Bible Study or a conference, spend time in devotion, fast, visit a different church heck, or even sit in a different spot at church.  We have accepted doing things religiously and are stuck on neutral.  How do I accept a new thing from God if I fail to do a new thing in Him?  I have to decide that I want to mature in my spiritual life as well. Otherwise I age without wisdom and grow without knowledge or understanding.

 

The second word is patience.  Patience is a funny thing because many of us believe it’s the ability to wait.  But it is more than that.  It is endurance without complaint.  Aha!  Key words, “without complaint”. How many of us think that we are being patient during our tests, but the whole time, all we are doing is complaining. 

 

Quick story – Saturday I was at the health food store and was standing in line behind an older woman.  She was one of those older ladies that like to chat and she carried on a personal conversation with the checkout girl (the only checkout line open) and one of the managers, as I and another shopper waited.  She had already paid for her items, but stood there nonetheless enjoying her conversation as if these women didn’t have work to do or that there weren’t customers waiting to purchase.  I stood there thinking that even if the older woman couldn’t see us (her back was turned) the cashier and the manager could see us clearly and still were not trying to bring the conversation to a close.  Normally I would clear my throat, or kindly say “excuse me” to bring to everyone’s attention that “HELLO! There are people standing in line waiting.”  I was quite shocked that I just stood there…patiently waiting.  And you know what?  When it was my turn to get rung up I opened up my purse to realize that I left my wallet at home.  How much of a fool would I have been if I sucked my teeth, huffed and puffed, and complained for that lady to get a move on and then had to apologize because I couldn’t pay for the groceries I was so quick to purchase?!

 

See, patience and maturity go hand in hand.  You have to mature enough to access a situation and be patient enough to know how to handle it while you are going through.  I know I touched on several different points today, but I leave you with this: Patience and maturity are characteristics that we constantly need to work and pray on.  What good is a blessing to you if you aren’t mature in handling it, or aren’t patient in receiving it? I am speaking that will have a mature and patient spirit in 2009.  What do you say?

Happy New Year

Happy 2009 everyone!  Wow, we’ve made it over into a new year.  Millions didn’t make it, but I was one of the ones who did, and for that I am grateful! I can’t remember a time when I was this excited about a new year.  I mean, I think a lot of times we are just ready for the previous year to end because, well, quite frankly, it wasn’t that great.  So we are practically yelling at Father Time to let that New Year’s baby loose so that we can start “anew”.  But to be honest, this year wasn’t that bad.  Yeah, I was unemployed, wandering in the wilderness of doubt and confusion, but in the midst of it all I grew closer to God and stepped up in my praise and worship.  Also, the key thing is, when I felt that spirit of depression trying to knock on my door, God’s grace kept my mind and kept me sane.  So yeah, I guess the last time I was looking this forward to a new year was New Year’s Eve 2002 after a year of being depressed, I was ready to get out and start over in 2003.  But even still, this anticipation is a bit different, because there is a certainty in my spirit that this is going to be one of the best years of my life! Ohhh, I’m so excited!!!

 

Okay, let me explain.  I know that my posts have been spotty as of late.  It partly had to do with the holiday season, but the other reason is that your girl has been getting prayers answered, clarification given, and well, drum roll…applying to Grad School.  Yep, I said it ya’ll, I am heading back to school.  It was confirmed that I’m to go and study to become a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). Wow, I know right?  So this New Year will be bringing a whole lot of new experiences and new challenges, but I’m ready for them.  I’m so happy that He’s faithful and does answer prayer.

 

Many people usually have some sort of resolution that they make around this time.  I’m a bit over resolutions so my husband and I have been making it a tradition to sit and actually write down our goals for the year.  We break it down by financial, spiritual, marital, personal and house improvements.  Now, we don’t always achieve all of them, but we do our best.  They are very tangible and real (unlike some resolutions). Last year we did less than we would have liked, and we believe this was due to not going back to the list more often.  We’ve learned, and we will do better this year. I declare that.

 

So what are you expecting out of this year?  What are you expecting out of yourself this year?  Are there things that you have realized you are just too old to be dealing with?  Are there some habits, or even some people that you know you need to part with?  Is this the year that you decide you to become your best self?  Is this the year that you face your demons and conquer? Is the year that you treat others better, that you treat yourself better?  Are you going to give up that quick temper and negative thinking?  Are you going to stop allowing people to get you off your square?  What is your vision for this New Year; This new opportunity to live out your destiny and purpose?  I think we need to ask ourselves these questions not only at the beginning of each year, but often throughout the year; to help measure and guide.

 

I encourage you to look back over this past year and recall the victories and the defeats.  For you to understand your strengths and see where you need to improve.  Trust me; if you are still here, it is not by accident.  God has given each of us another opportunity to get this thing called Life, right.  Believe me, even if last year was difficult and trying, the key is that you made it through and you are stronger because of it.  I believe for all of us, there are going to be great and amazing things that will be presented to us, we just need to make sure that our house is in order so that when they come, we don’t allow them to pass us by.  How will your 2009 evolution be televised?  Hmmm?  My prayer for you is that you receive everything that God has in store for you.  And that His unmerited favor be bestowed on you and that you have joy, peace, health and success this year.  

Love Him Like I Do

Happy Monday everyone!  This is one of my jams from my boy Deitrick Haddon (that boy has a voice on him!).  Let me tell you that it sucks sometimes being in this body.  Just a week ago I was thanking and blessing to the high heavens.  Talking and spending time with God like it was nobody’s business.  Then came this morning.  I was struggling to get into my devotion time, but every time I hear this song, you can’t help but bounce and remember that

Somebody told me that we over come by our testimonies
But you wouldn’t believe how doubt and fear use to paralyze me
But God hands lead me through a test
And he brought out the very best in me
And now I’ll never forget to tell the world
What you mean to me

Have a blessed one.