“Our Daily Bread”   

http://odb.org/2012/10/26/even-her/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht

Luke 24:49… “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”  (NKJV)

These were Jesus’ last words to His disciples, right before He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father…  But unlike His ascension into heaven, as recorded in the Book of Matthew and Mark…Jesus tells His disciples not to go out and preach the “good news” of the gospel, until they were empowered by the Holy Spirit His Father was going to send down to dwell with-in them, after He was gone…

The word gospel means “good news”…  All Christians have been commanded to carry out what is known as “The Great Commission”; which means to share the “good news” that there is a way for sinners to be forgiven of their sins (or not) by understanding and obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…  We see this very clearly in the Book of Mark, where Jesus tells His disciples (and us) this, in…

Mark 16:15-16… And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶ He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”  (NKJV)

One has to read all 4 of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John) to get a complete picture (with no discrepancies) of the life of Jesus, as He walked the earth…  It is only in this opening scripture from Luke, that we are given this very important piece of wisdom to help in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ…

I was listening to a man of God on the radio last night, who explained that it was the power of God that many Christians were missing…  All the wisdom that digesting the meat of the Word the Bible has to offer (which I wrote about yesterday), can be read and absorbed into the Christians meager mortal brain…  But without the full power of the Holy Spirit working with-in the Christian, they will not be prepared in their own strength, to share their faith in a way that can always be defended to those who question their testimony and/or the gospel of Jesus Christ…

The Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter both give the Christian good advice in helping to share their faith in…2 Timothy 4:2… Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.  (NKJV)

1 Peter 3:15… But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

It is indeed, as I personally found out after 7 years from the time I was graced with salvation by God…a combination of spiritual wisdom one acquires by diligently reading God’s Word; along with being totally filled with (controlled by) the Holy Spirit…that will give the Christian the ability without reservation or fear, to share the gospel of Christ and/or their own testimony, any time God has placed someone in front of them to witness too…

Those of you who have been following my writing, know what a proponent I am about the need for all Christians to put on the “Whole Armor of God”…Ephesians 6:10-20… In my first 7 years of being a Christian, I had diligently put on 5 of the 6 pieces of God’s spiritual armor… All of this armor starts with reading and digesting God’s Word…  Wearing the complete set of God’s armor can and will protect the Christian from all of the attacks Satan will make (Ephesians 6:11)… But my feet were not protected, as the Apostle Paul writes about in…Ephesians 6:15… and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  (NKJV)

The Apostle Paul goes on in the following scripture, with this…Romans 10:15… And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”  (NKJV)

Although I had enough of the spiritual wisdom I needed to be an effective disciple for Christ…I had only shared the gospel of Christ twice in over 7 years…  My own flesh had some how taken back control from the Holy Spirit… I was involved in my churches youth group and other positions of responsibility…but just like the church in Ephesus that the Apostle John had written about in…Revelation 2:1-7…I had lost my first love- Jesus Christ… I wasn’t having a problem fighting off Satan’s attacks, or even my own flesh’s temptation to sin… But the Holy Spirit took a back seat when I somehow took control away from Him…

The filling of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-20) is the key to being equipped to effectively share one’s faith; along with the spiritual wisdom that must be written in the heart of the mature believer…Jeremiah 31:33…&…2 Corinthians 3:3…  Christ’s apostles had walked with Him for over 3 years… They had all the spiritual wisdom Jesus had given them first hand… But it was their Helper, the Holy Spirit that was still needed, that God the Father was going to send down to them after Jesus was gone…  Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit would bring to their mind all that Jesus had taught them… John 14:26… This is why Jesus told His disciples in the opening scripture, to wait for the “power from on high”, the Holy Spirit…before they stepped out in faith to share the gospel to the world…

The same was true for me…  Once I got down on my knees and prayed to the Lord to take back control of my life, the Holy Spirit immediately took charge…and my commission to share the gospel of Christ has become a most important part of my life through my writing, and to those around me that I care most about…

Heavenly Father, I pray that everyone understands that it is a combination of relying on the Holy Spirit; along with reading and digesting the wisdom that can be found in Your Word…that will give the complete Christian the right combination to be confident in their ability to share their faith with those around them in need… I pray for this ability to share one’s faith for all of Your children…in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills