"Candles......................."

In Yancey’s book, he speaks of people in history who have served to witness for Christ, some who were utilized by God to merely prod a nation’s moral existence at the time and others whose legacy, for whatever reason, more resembles that nail Martin Luther drove into the wooden door, changing the Church thereafter. In suggesting that while there is a prophetic moment when God may, indeed, call any of us to fulfill either analogy, the author declares that, for most of us, divine appointment will amount to something like “scribbling in the sand”. There should be no “tinge of shame” in knowing such assignment, he says, for it equates to Christ ministering individually to that woman brought before Him, taken in adultery. Around us, daily, are those who are crying “Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?” Not audibly, but out of an inner void needing to be filled. Most are so busy and burdened with surviving that their own knowledge of such pleas, if realized at all, comes only in the middle of a crisis too big to face, or at night as they lay there in the darkness unable to sleep. Is heaven beyond hearing their petitions? In my own opinion, the problem is not that God is deaf, or that God doesn’t care, but in the truth that humanity is unaware that there is possibility of “contact” available unto them via Calvary and the resurrection. The problem is in the Church, not the world around it, who for the most part has failed to bring forth evidence of the very doctrinal foundations that form the very basis of their faith. When we reduce the Gospel to theology, to not much more than just another religion, or when we, on the other side of that coin, claim for ourselves the identity of the Holy Ghost as if we control Him instead of the other way around, unbelievers see only our “flesh” and judge us therein. Honesty helps. Convincing others of His reality, however, can only come through a “drawing” of His Spirit; and that means we must be vessels surrendered unto Him. Flow comes from our “belly”, not our head. Witness entails a whole lot more than knocking on doors with a verbal reference to chapter and verse. The event is not always appointed unto us to address the mass. Most of us will not become martyred for such cause. Each of us, however, if we will receive it, will know many one-on-one opportunities where all that is required of us is a few words spoken under His anointing……….