Happy 4th Of July… What Are You Wearing For Shoes? Is Revival In The Air?
Good morning beautiful people, good morning. Wow, I have a problem this morning and I can’t figure it out. I was preparing for church on Sunday and put my black shoes on when I realized after a few hours wearing them, my feet hurt. These shoes were not mine. I have spent a few days contacting my daughters, my friends, re-living in my mind places where I had been. Somewhere someone has my black shoes and I have theirs.
Last evening, I began to sort through some papers I had packed away in a box as I am trying to organize my writings, etc. when I ran across a writing that I penned some time ago and I wanted to share today. It was actually a sermon I preached at a church here in Maine. Are you ready? I’ll cut it short.
Until You Have Walked A Mile In Their Shoes…
I wanted to talk about love in the body of Christ. God’s word tells us that love is the key. That Jesus Christ died on a cross over 2,000 years ago for all mankind, all who would accept him. I want to share some of my experiences as a child growing up in church. I learned about Jesus. I heard many stories about how Jesus loved me, but I didn’t believe it. I had a sister that sang in church, read her Bible and loved Jesus. It was after her death, her hairdresser called me. She said she would like to meet me. She told me that my sister never felt that Jesus loved her. That made me sad. That made me really sad. My sister was handicapped. Her hairdresser’s name was Angel, ironically enough. She told me how she would pray over my sisters’ toes and how they would straighten. My sister had been through a lot in her years here on earth. Can you believe a woman that attended church, read her Bible, taught Sunday School and never experienced the love of Christ? It happens every day. If the people in church don’t feel loved, how does the people on the outside feel?
As you know, God gave me a vision for women in crisis many years ago. Little did I know in the years that followed I would be that woman myself. I often reached out for help within the body of Christ. Here I was a radio talk show host, a working woman, a woman with a destiny and I didn’t have enough confidence because of past traumas in my life. If I told you some of the advice I rec’d from Christians and what some had done to me during those hard times, you probably wouldn’t believe me. For me unfortunately the church wasn’t the safe place I needed it to be.
Today, I know God wants to trust our churches with people that don’t feel loved. But are we ready to receive them? I remember once the Lord asked me if I would stay up all night with someone if I needed to, that was fighting addiction. It’s easy to say yes, but it’s hard to do. If we have never been there ourselves, only the grace of God can give us the compassion to do that. If we have been blessed to walk without such issues, sometimes we can feel we are maybe holier than thou. Thank God that we all have escaped some things.
The world is full of hurting people that need Jesus. Our churches should be full. We must ask ourselves why? Where are all the lost people? Why are they not coming? God, what is going on? Then we must listen, really listen.
Let’s start with prayer asking him for his plan, for strategies to reach them. What can God trust us with? These are the last stats I have for where I live here in Maine.
In 2017 we had 418 people die of opioids here in Maine. You know that number has increased. We had 1,997 abortions here in Maine in 2016. We had 235 suicides annually and that number has risen since 2016 data right here in Maine. There were 14,000 victims of sexual assault in 2015. That is reported assaults. Do you know how many go unreported? Not many report, so I believe this number is very low. We had 373 rapes & attempted rapes reported in 2015. Also. 200-300 reported sex trafficking victims in 2016. I heard of a report in a coastal area a girl was trafficked right out of a youth group in a church. That seems far out to people like us, but it is real.
Did you know that Maine is the 2nd least churched state in the United States? We are ripe for revival… as Maine goes, so goes the nation.
How deep is our compassion for God’s People? Are we comfortable or are we complacent? What are we willing to do for God. I don’t know what he may ask of any of us, but I know one thing he is asking and that is to share your faith. We are saved by grace, but we should have some good works to show with the talent he has given each of us.
A few years ago, I went to put signs up for the Healing Waters Womens Conference in a small town here in Maine. There seemed to be very little places to post a sign. One door had a small note that read; ring the bell if you have a delivery. I couldn’t believe what was behind the door. A woman that was suffering and needed help.
One young man approached me on the street that day. He told me he just came out of jail. He was having trouble with his girlfriend as she became a Christian and he was struggling to stay off of drugs. I prayed with that young man that day. He was such a handsome young man. I never saw him again until I was in a store a time later, where he was working and I asked him for help. I then inquired what would be a good business to start in that town as I knew someone that just bought a building. He replied, drug paraphernalia. Oh, I said I am all about Jesus, that kind of business as his answer took me by surprise. He overdosed that same week. He told me about his mom and his dad. He liked to write as his mother was a journalist. He told me he liked to write poetry. I like to write, so we talked about that as we talked about Jesus.
Today, let’s thank God for revival. Revival is all about people and I believe it is in the air. How much can you love people? How much can you help people? How much compassion can your heart hold? What are you willing to do? Revival is in the air, and it starts with me and you.
Father, we receive…. Amen.
Let the fireworks begin!
