John 17:20 - [Jesus prayed to the Father,] "I do not ask for [my disciples] only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word."
Have you picked a Lenten discipline yet? No matter your response, please pray about starting the discipline of sending a short Bible verse to some people each day.
Some will ask you to stop, but many more will thank you regularly. And some, for the first time, will be moved from religion to a personal relationship with God through Jesus, which is what Jesus promises in today's verse, namely, there are people who will come to believe in Jesus through your word! In other words, when you pass on God's Word through your relationships, family, coworkers, and acquaintances, Jesus promises that others will be eternally blessed.
Just like yesterday when one of you shared this devotion with a friend who recently suffered a stroke and another day when one of you had just come out of a meeting saying the exact words that then appeared on your phone in this devotion, God has a plan for you to miraculously touch lives when you pass on his word.
As my brother, Ben, sent to me in a devotion yesterday, "Whether by the Internet, telephones, old-fashioned letter writing or a face to face visit, we can all declare God's glory and tell of His marvelous works. We can share favorite songs of worship, declare the beauty of God's creation or simply share a testimony of God's love and faithfulness...Today, share something about the Lord with others. Whether electronically or in person, get in the habit of declaring God's glory for He is great and greatly to be praised...[Encourage each family member to] identify at least one person with whom they can share something about God this week." (www.fbckpt.net/bgcampaign is the source of those words and my brother's church website in TN.)
Can you imagine a world where every believer in Jesus regularly passed along God's word? Jesus did just that in John 17:20, saying that there are many in our world who will come to faith through you!
So give it a try, starting now with Lent, and see for yourself the lives that God wants to touch through you!
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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