Friday Night Lights

Hello my lovlies!
As some of you know, my brother and I are working on pulling together a Prayer ministry in our church, a task that is not easy. Tonight, as I was working on pulling together some last-minute thoughts (we present this to our church tomorrow) I was cruising through the New Testament with a verse in my head that I had to find... in turning pages, I came across one of my favorite verses in 1 Thessalonians.

Now, before I go any further, I need to explain a little detail about my Bible. It is a NIV - The Message parallel Bible, meaning each page has one column of NIV, and the same passage in The Message in the second column. It's wonderful! The NIV is in clear language, but the Message makes it personal.

Anyways, to continue. The verse I found in 1 Thes. is 1:2,3. I'm not going to write it all out here, but I do recommend you look it up sometime. That verse is highlighted on the NIV side of the page. As I scanned over the rest of the page, I saw another line that had been highlighted on the Message side. Verse 1:4. I don't remember highlighting this, but I suppose I did at some point.
Read this:
"It is clear to us, friends, that God not only loves you very much but also has put his hand on you for something special."

Wow! Can you imagine God touching you, paving the way for you to do "something special," equipping you with whatever you need. What a wonderful thought!

But wait, there's more!
As I read on, reading the context, I found even more gems!
Verse 5.
"When the Message we preached came to you, it wasn't just words. Something happened in you. The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions."

And still, in verse 6, "Although great trouble accompanied the Word, you were able to take great joy from the Holy Spirit! -- taking the trouble with the joy, the joy with the trouble."

There's an entire sermon right there in those few verses!
"It wasn't just words..." How many sermons have we sat through in our lives that were just words? That really had no impact except on our heavy eyelids? When Paul was preaching, talk about enthusiasm! We know how much this man went through! HE had a live-altering experience with GOD! This man had a mission and a message, and nothing was gonna stop him. No matter what audience he spoke to, "it wasn't just words."

But you know, he's no more of a changed man, no more of a sinner, no more of a saint, than we are. He even describes himself as "the worst." (1 Tim. 1:15) Are any of us that humble? We are all "the worst" sinners. Yes, God has put his hand on US for something special. How awesome is that?!?

God gave Paul steel in his convictions. There was no question in his mind. People knew God exsisted just by seeing what He had done in this man's life. This man had started out killing God's people, and now, he was sharing the same Christ. God is good.

We can have those steel convictions. We can have something happen in us. It's not hard, we just have to accept God's will, and let him do something special through us.

The lights have gone out, it's 10:30. I think it's time for bed.
God bless you all! Have a wonderful weekend!


I never did find the verse I was looking for originally....Hmmm...