They Grow Higher

The godly grow like a palm tree; they grow high like a cedar... Planted in the LORD’s house, they grow in the courts of our God. They bear fruit even when they are old; they are filled with vitality and have many leaves. So they proclaim that the LORD, OUR protector, is just and never unfair. Psalm 92:12-15 NET

There is no better way to put it. God fills our heart with a burden and a passion to act on behalf of His people. Therefore where we are residing at any given season in our lives is where God has planted us. He may move us to another location. He may not.  Many of us will have the most kingdom impact, growing old, by the Lord’s grace, holding His lantern in a town needing His light. Embrace the commission. There is no choosing to live through the Spirit of God without choosing to be changed by Holy Spirit. The way we speak, the way we act, even the way we feel, these things must shift as we change from relying on our own strengths to leaning on the strength of God.   Our naturally selfish ambitions, even when cast through the lens of good intention, have to begin to fall away as they have been crucified with Christ. Let us seek to approach and act out our daily lives with kindness, compassion and humility, having accepted that the fruit of the Spirit is beyond what we could accomplish alone, and it’s through Jesus Christ that we are empowered with purpose. Planted. Rooted. 

Many of us have rooms in our homes that need to be redeemed, it doesn’t matter if it is a 3,000 sq ft home or an 800 sq ft home, there is a kitchen table, or living room couch, spaces where we need to say, "Lord, we want You to use this. You gave us this house so we could have people over.” Let's redeem it and give it to God. Be loving. Be hospitable. Be welcoming.  I think it comes down to walking in our giftedness. God has put a spiritual gift in each one of us and He wants us to put it to use. Right where we live! 

There are gifts of encouragement, of leadership, of teaching. Some have service gifts, which are gifts of hospitality, mercy, and other gifts like those. Go and serve in the ways that you're gifted. But let God put it together for you. Allow the Spirit to guide you in your talents and gifts.   If we walk in love, in hospitality, and in our giftedness, we will see God's hand in the lives around us. If our desire is to reach our towns, neighbourhoods and cities than we need to  ask God to do amazing things in this place. Right here! The place we are planted in! Your community, our community.

How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  Romans 10:14 NIV

Have you ever led someone to Christ? If not, why not? Maybe you think that God can never use you in this way, that you’re just not gifted in that regard, and it is only for a privileged few to lead others to Christ. But if this were the case, why was the Great Commission given to every Christian? Every believer is called to “go and make disciples of all the nations...” (Matthew 28:19). That means we are all called to evangelism. We all have a part to play.

I must admit that it’s a mystery to me that God has chosen to use people as the primary communicators of His truth. An interviewer once commented to me that I seem to be very natural when I speak, that it must come easily to me. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” I said. “Before I was a Christian, I wasn’t a public speaker.”

I remember being in an English class in school where we were all required to give an impromptu, five-minute speech in front of the class on an assigned statement. Being a poor student, I hadn’t read the assignment, so I stood frozen with fear in front of the class. I was not a public speaker. 

But after I came to faith in Jesus Christ, I realized the best way to help people believe was through verbal communication, be it in front of a group or an individual. I realized that it is not about me or what I feel comfortable doing; it is about obeying God. Because the primary way God reaches people who do not yet know Him is through conversation,  communication. How can people hear about Christ unless someone tells them? and that someone is supposed to be you and me.