e164 Illuminate My Witness with Gratitude (Jesus, reconcile my Spirit every day)

This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.  

Season 3 Episode 164 Illuminate My Witness with Gratitude (Jesus, reconcile my Spirit every day)

Here’s the gist, human. When I am blind to my intent, Jesus helps me see my motivation through his eyes. When I am paralyzed by a problem, he moves me to my next step. When I accumulate earthly scabs from being “in the world” he purifies my inner skin. When I turn away from his voice, he whooshes divinity deep into my ear. When I am thrown down by my human nature, he raises my spirit. Blind, lame, infected, deaf, and dead. That’s me. But God gave me the gift of reconciliation through his Son. And now, I (and all believers) have this gift we can tell others about. It starts with our gratitude that we can see, walk, heal, hear and live eternally. We can do what Jesus tells us to do, “report to others what we hear and see” our Savior doing in our lives.

So, another human can be reconciled to God.

E164. Thanks for listening.

Question: Do we not have a thousand examples of how Jesus reconciles us to his Spirit every day?

In episode 163 it became more spiritually accessible to me that persecution comes from people, but also directly from the enemy’s sway of this world and his attempts to rule my earthly life. The context in this episode was living a life worthy of the gospel.

This is important to discern in our lives: public persecution from humans vs private persecution from the enemy. And how we gain spiritual clarity, or maybe just a window into our journey and share the power of the process with others. The core of our journey is this: reconciliation.

A reconciliation of the direction life is going for each of us. A reconciliation of persecution, the people who react to our outward actions of faith grounded in God’s faithfulness. What it looks like—the struggles, the revelations, the losses, the backsliding into the world, the reaching for, the climbing out of the hole we have let ourselves slip into, tiny slides that accumulate into an inevitable loss of our spiritual grip.

Jesus is always reconciling our public persecution within relationships, and the private reckoning the enemy brings to our mind’s eye. Frankly, I am talking about the way the enemy messes with our emotion from deep within.

Jesus is always reconciling.

God Reconciled You to Him through Christ

So, it isn’t a surprise that the apostle Paul calls us to embrace how Jesus reconciles our earthly lives, both public and private. This is key to laying down an accessible witness to others. A witness that can open her or his heart and give the nonbeliever the courage to accept God’s gift of reconciliation and share that conflict with others.

Let’s listen.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

 

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 

Paul tells us that first, we see Christ from a world view. Impersonal, separate from us. Separated from salvation. First, we need reconciliation with God because our relationship with Him was broken. God is holy and righteous, and our sin separates us from him.

Isaiah 59:2

 

2 But your iniquities have separated

    you from your God;

your sins have hidden his face from you,

    so that he will not hear.

 

But now we see Christ from the perspective of being saved. That we are a new creation. God did this. God reconciled us to him through his Son. On the other side of salvation is our ability to be ambassadors for Christ, vessels for God. He makes his appeal to others through us.

God Gave Us a Ministry

God gave us our ministry. To reconcile others to his Son through how Christ has done this in our personal lives. The most important thing we give others is a relationship that shows the path to reconciliation. This is what evangelism is. How deeply we have accepted our gift of reconciliation, how well we are spiritually tracking it is the reservoir from which we present God’s gift to others.

Romans 5:9-10

 

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

 

 

Colossians 1:21-23

 

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

 

Illuminate the Power of Reconciliation with Gratitude

So how do we illuminate the power of reconciliation? How we do this with others is demonstrated in the Gospel of Matthew. A very clear command, an example, straight from our Savior. Remember when John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to inquire if Jesus was the prophesied Son of God? Remember what Jesus told them?

Matthew 11:1-6

 

Jesus and John, the Baptist

 

11 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.

 

2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

 

4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

 

Whoa.

Although Jesus is talking about specific miracles he is also talking metaphorically.

When I am blind to my intent, Jesus helps me see my motivation through his eyes. When I am paralyzed by a problem, he moves me to my next step. When I accumulate earthly scabs from being “in the world” he purifies my inner skin. When I turn away from his voice, he whooshes divinity deep into my ear. When I am thrown down by my human nature, he raises my spirit. Blind, lame, infected, deaf, and dead. That’s me. But God gave me the gift of reconciliation through his Son. And now, I (and all believers) have this gift we can tell others about. It starts with our gratitude that we can see, walk, heal, hear and live eternally. We can do what Jesus tells us to do, “report to others what we hear and see” our Savior doing in our lives.

I am so thankful I can see, grateful I can walk, heal, hear and live raised above the destiny of my sin nature.

Every day. Thank you, Jesus.

Let me apply this to my life, the daily stuff that illuminates my witness.

What I should say to others.

I am talking about starting your witness to someone with how it started with you. Gratitude for the gift of reconciliation from God. Your gratitude can overflow into building a bridge to a conversation. Not intimidating. Not fake. And likely, something that person may not have heard in a while.

It is easy to mentally shut down any attempt to share our witness before we take any action. People are busy, not focused, or seem disinterested in engaging in any type of conversation.

Many of the people that cross my path are surprised if I just say something as simple as “Good Morning.” It’s a big verbal jump, a massive conversational leap to start talking about Jesus. So how do we bring someone one step closer to reconciliation with God, one step closer to accepting the gift he has for us. The only gift in this earthly life that matters.

Our first step in bringing the gift of reconciliation to someone can start with the same gratitude we have in receiving it for ourselves. Take that conversational leap by thanking the person you are talking to.

I can 100% guarantee that God will give you something to be thankful about in that moment. The other day I was at a checkout counter in a retail store, and the clerk smiled at me when I came to the counter. It was such a genuine smile. I thanked her for that, that my day had a rough start, and she helped turn it around. Just enough.

You will get really good at this with repetition. Finding what someone is doing that serves you and makes you grateful. People are doing kind things to make your life easier. They are being thoughtful. Intentional. And when they are not doing this, or when they are doing it as a job, thank them. Let them be lifted by your gratitude for who they are in that moment. The choice they made. Jesus lays down the bridge between you when gratitude is exchanged between two humans.

If your relationship is much deeper, a close friend or family member, even more so. You may not be saying the name of Jesus yet, but when you express, when you focus on how that person has helped you, what God-given qualities they have, that are contributing to your life, you are committing to the kind of conversation Jesus wants you in. His image lives within them. Identify it.

He will use your gratitude to lay a bridge down to a deeper connection. It starts with gratitude. And that leads us to sharing how Jesus has and continues to reconcile your daily life. So, you can see, walk, heal, hear and raise up to his purpose every day through his power. To his glory.

Your Witness Lights the Way Back

Do we not have a thousand examples of how Jesus reconciles us to his Spirit every day? How he makes it possible to see, to walk, to heal, to hear, and to raise up? This is our witness archive, our witness inventory to share with others. One example at a time. He did it in fitness class this morning. I was feeling taken advantage of, I was feeling territorial, but he reconciled my ego to his Spirit.

How deeply we know what Jesus gives us, this, this, this inspires us to tell others about the gift of reconciliation intended for every human. The Greek word describes the reconciliation process as “to bring back a former state of harmony.” Share the way Jesus reconciles you to your Creator in your daily life.

Our witness illuminates the perfect path to return to our Heavenly Father. We are witnessing about our return and bringing this path to someone.

Is this not a beautiful truth to embed in our daily witness?

A Savior who reconciles our spiritual shortcomings so we might see, walk, heal, hear and rise up.

Through his nature.