How I met Jesus: Spreading The Good News
Rather, how Jesus introduced himself to me.
What is faith?
How do you share that?
These questions are forever on my mind. But they aren't on my heart. Faith is on my heart and that's never changed.
My case for faith:
From the mind-Faith is a personal change of stasis which comes from meeting Jesus, not from having your mind (or worldview) changed. You can't conjure up a new heart by pouring intellectual arguments into the brain. Several years at seminary can't teach into your mind a method for you to transform a hardhearted persons stony heart into a heart of flesh and blood ready to receive Christ. Osmosis faith fails in times of testing like the seed that fell among the weeds and rocks. Intellectual thoughts at best can give support where a stony heart has already been cultivated by meeting Jesus on his terms.
Christians are not called to win thought debates, we're called to make disciples, advocating for Jesus Christ and his kingdom. We're called to capture thoughts it's true, but we're never going to become the popular trend. The first thoughts we need to capture are our own. We need to understand we're not going to be popular. No modern trendy worship music can win the heart to Jesus, it can however give support and comfort to a new childlike faith that is primarily a consuming faith. Maturing Christianity is not cool. It’s the most counter-culture “movement” of any counter-culture movements that have ever existed because it threatens the deluded reign of humans on the thrones of their hearts. And by definition, unbelievers cannot allow (coexist) a space in the public discord for firm believers because it's seen as an existential threat to the unbelievers ideals and lifestyles. We all have our sins and unbelievers don't appreciate the light of the gospel bringing that reality to remembrance.
The Apostle Paul explained this very clearly in his first letter to the Corinthians when he wrote, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1:18)” and “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and a folly to Gentiles (1:23).
We preach strength in the faith where unbelievers see only weaknesses. And today many who practice apologetics approach this challenging environment with the idea that it's a matter of winning over the mind. It's thought that the problem is it's an intellectual battle of the mind, and thereby the solution is to manipulate the minds of unbelievers and get them close enough to the truth so that the truth by osmosis might overcome the rocky objections of the stony hardhearted. You see it will always come back to the heart of the problem...the heart.
Contrary to modern belief, we are not mind centered beings. Faith isn't a matter of dealing with philosophical idealism (change the mind change the heart). In general Jesus is an uninvited guest into an unbelievers space, and for a lot of believers, though he is welcomed, Jesus remains a guest. There are no practical terms for convincing the mind that Jesus is God and that they should "realize he is their Lord" ( I really hate the phrase "I make you my lord" ).
Faith from the heart-Over many decades of contending for the faith and practicing apologetics, I've come to realize that the battle is best fought through prayer and share. By means of calling upon the power of Christ and his Holy Spirit to soften (cultivate) the hearts of the unbelievers. Jesus introduced himself to me through prayers. Why would've I do likewise? I don't know if people in my history were praying for me. I do know my grandfather was a praying man. I saw that with my own two eyes. What he prayed I can't say. He never shared his faith with me. I don't know if my parents prayed for me, they never seemed to put a value on a life of living faith. I wasn't raised in a church. I wasn't fed a steady stream of being churched memories to cling onto that I could then use as an adult to build a foundation for a life of faith. But I did pray.
I climbed a very tall silver maple tree very often. It was my church. I climbed to the top of the canopy. So high I could see heaven, and much of the city where I grew up. From that altar I would pray to whoever. I didn't call him Jesus, I didn't use words like "King of The Universe", or "Great Spirit". Truth be told I would cry out to my mother I didn't know. Who, by the way, I was told was dead at that time. I'd cry out for rescue, for comfort, for something other than. My thoughts and prayers were pretty much of the consumer sort. Oh don't get me wrong. These were sincere genuine prayers filled by tears and sobs, snot running down my nose, the whole water works. I'd sit amid the canopy top in my tree branch crotch of desperation, and I'd lay it all out. Pouring out all my frustrations and sadness. It was truly a spiritual thing for me.
So what was the faith factor there in that treetop sanctuary? Was it books? Bible study programs? Worship songs? Thought provoking intellectual arguments?
Nope...those came later on...after the Holy Spirit got his grip on my heart.
What won me over was the still small voice. The whisper of my name. The angels watching over me. The revelation through hard times and sorrows met by many epiphanies along the path. And more and more prayer, and most importantly more and more answers. That's right...he answered my prayers. And, do you want to know what's the hardest part of being a person of faith? It's not remaining convinced intellectually. I don't need week after week, month after month, year after year of continual re-education camp to remain a person of faith. I don't need a steady diet of music and ritual to remain a faithful Christian. The hardest part is the times when you're not hearing the small still voice as often as you'd like. The hardest part is remembering to pray often in the way I did as a child in that tree top. The hardest part is forgetting that it's not about religious actions, it's about loving God with your whole softened heart. And it's about coming into his presence through genuine heartfelt prayer and a longing to hear him.
I love His voice. I love his ways. I don't question his mysterious ways. I listen for the small still voice. I give him time to reply to my prayers in his way and in his time. It's a Kairos thing. God's timing is best. And I think that's what my grandfather did. He prayed and he prayed and he prayed. And as a result I love to pray. So I like to think he was praying for me. The one time I was watching him pray with his hands raised up high looking at a picture of Jesus that hung on the wall of his apartment, I know he knew I was there. We didn't speak. He just prayed and prayed. And I learned to do likewise.
Friends,
There is no greater power on earth given to us than the power of prayer. I pray often. I pray when I'm driving, working in the garden (a favorite time to pray and talk with my Lord). I'll pray publicly if it's needed, and I pray in my private prayer closet times everyday. My faithfulness is filled with prayer. And there is no way in hell I'm going to let the world tell me that the ONE THING that wins over the heart and the mind isn't enough to conquer evil in this world. In fact I'm convinced that it's the lack of genuine sincere snot running down your nose prayers that's what's wrong with this world. My questions about God weren’t answered in a way that could overcome my mind until after I prayed my faith in Jesus. It begins in the heart. And flows via the blood to the rest of the body. The heart feeds the faith. It's the source of nutrition for the soul.
Please let's continue to pray. Get a tissue, get alone or in a group. And get busy praying. Anyone in need of prayers can definitely drop that prayer concern right here ✍🏻👇and I'll be sure to pray for you. He☝️hears me, and he answers 🌈.