Keep Speaking Truth and Do Not Fear

2 Timothy 1:5-7 ESV

 

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother… and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

 

My Grandmother’s Journals

 

Eighteen years ago my husband Rick and I were training to be church planters with the Christian & Missionary Alliance (The Alliance). Rick was going for his ordination, and I was going for my consecration. This was now the summer of 2004. And about that same time I came into the possession of my grandmother’s (my mother’s mom’s) journals which I had never read before. She died when I was only two years old, so I never got to know her.

 

But as I read her journals I began to cry. This woman who I had no memory of was like me in so many ways. She really had a heart for Jesus and for his ministry and for reaching people with the gospel and for prayer. She was a real prayer warrior. I am not the prayer warrior that she was, though. But her writing was so much like mine, and the way she phrased her words was so much like I do, and so I really connected with her at that time.

 

She loved the Scriptures, and I did, too. Her favorite ones were many of my favorite ones, too. They were ones God had used in my life at various times. I never connected with anyone else in my family in quite the same way as I connected with my grandmother through her writing. There was a real bond there. And she had this saying (I didn’t know what it was at the time) that she kept repeating over again about a herald running with something.

 

Eventually I discovered that it was a Scripture passage from Habakkuk 2:2-3. I was not familiar with it. This is what it said:

 

“Then the Lord replied:

 

‘Write down the revelation

    and make it plain on tablets

    so that a herald may run with it.

For the revelation awaits an appointed time;

    it speaks of the end

    and will not prove false.

Though it linger, wait for it;

    it will certainly come

    and will not delay.’”

 

Then that passage of Scripture kept showing up at other places, too, and so I began to take note of it and what it was saying. And then there was a C&MA District Prayer Conference Rick and I both planned to attend in September for all Alliance workers in our district. But Rick hurt his back and he could not go, so I went alone to represent our tiny congregation.

 

At the Conference

 

At the conference the Lord spoke to me about many things through the various people who spoke, as they shared what the Lord was teaching them through his word. So, I took detailed notes so that I would remember what all the Lord taught me. This is a summary of what I learned:

 

·       Preach the Word of God, not the teachings of man

·       Listen to God, hear what he is saying, and then obey him

·       Tell the people what God tells you to tell them and leave the results in his hands

·       What you are going to do, do it NOW

·       You were appointed by God as a herald and a teacher of true faith

·       God has given you a clear sense of his purpose for you and an urgency…

·       Fan into flame the gift(s) of God within you

·       Give your ministry over to God – it is not yours; it is his

·       God may have something else for you to do that you have not even thought of

·       Write down what God shows you and then wait on him to bring it about

·       Don’t ask God “why,” just trust him – stand firm, press on

·       What you are going through is much bigger than you can imagine

·       NOW is your time! – For such a time as this I was placed upon the earth…

·       Be a tree climber and get a closer look at the Supremacy of Jesus Christ

·       The Church is in crisis – the crisis of Supremacy

·       It is indistinguishable between the lives of evangelical Christians and the world

·       We need to get back to the basics – we need to put our focus on Jesus and the cross of Christ instead of on the teachings of man

 

The Call

 

Habakkuk 2:2-3 was one of the passages of Scripture taught on at the conference, and it was then the Lord began to call me to this present ministry, although I certainly did not understand at that time what this would look like. Without going into all the details, it became apparent at the conference that I was not going to be a church planter with the C&MA and later it became apparent to my husband that it was not his calling, either.

 

And by November of that year it became apparent to me that God was calling me to a ministry of writing down what he teaches me from his word each day and of placing it on the internet so that the internet could “run with it” (the name of my blog). But it wasn’t until June or July of 2006 that the Lord called me to do this full-time. And that is what I have been doing since then, writing down what he teaches me and putting it on the internet.

 

I would never have imagined then the journey that God has taken me on these past eighteen years. My Lord has taught me so much about himself and about the Scriptures. He has taught me so much, too, about what is going on in the world around me that previously I was totally oblivious to. He opened up my eyes to see so many things I had no clue about. I never would have imagined how much deception is going on in the church, too.

 

I believe the Lord is saying to me here that the same sincere faith that dwelt first in my grandmother now dwells in me, and he is reminding me to fan into flame the gift of God within me, which is first of all my salvation and my relationship with Christ and then the indwelling of his Spirit and then the gifts and ministry which God has given me to do. And I am not to be afraid of any or all opposition, but I am to keep on speaking the truth for the salvation of human lives. All glory to God!

 

And I hope that through what I have shared with you today that this encourages you who are following Jesus with your lives to follow the leading of the Lord in doing what he has called you to do, and to not fear any opposition that might come against you, but to keep speaking the truth for the salvation of human lives and for the glory and praise of God.

 

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

 

Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907

Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907

 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Thou art the potter, I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.

 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Search me and try me, Master, today!

Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,

As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Wounded and weary, help me I pray!

Power, all power, surely is Thine!

Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Hold o'er my being absolute sway.

Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see

Christ only, always, living in me!

 

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