Ephesians 6:19 “And for me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
The Lord has had me ponder this verse for some time now. I have thought about the many times I open my mouth, and it does not lead to the gospel in any shape or form. The thing I love about the gospel is its simplicity. It is not hard in the slightest; it is not chemistry or genetics or physics (thank you, Jesus). There is a song even entitled The Simple Gospel; It starts by saying, “I wanna know You, Lord, like I know a friend.” I long for every soul to know my Savior as I do: Friend, Savior, Sovereign Lord, Safe Place, Trustworthy God. I desire for every heart to know that He is everything.
I ask myself then what keeps me from boldly proclaiming the gospel with that stranger, with that friend, with that lost loved one?
After sitting with the Lord, we have narrowed it down much to my own pride. I think about past conversations where I have tried to please the person, showed kindness to the person, but have not actually shared the gospel. I have thought I must ease the person into the idea before actually sharing the gospel. But, that is not what Paul says in Ephesians; Paul instead says that we should be BOLDLY PROCLAIMING the Gospel. It is easy to say, “Oh, I am a missionary.” It is a whole different thing to directly ask a person, “Do you have a personal relationship with the Lord?” We do not typically start out our conversations with that one. Why don‘t we? Truly, if we believe what we proclaim to believe this is a person’s eternal destiny we are speaking of. Paul tells us we are ambassadors. If you look this word up a basic definition is a representative of something or someone. Wow! We get to represent Jesus! It is only the Lord who can change a heart. But, are we representing Him well? Are we making straight the path to Him?
Galatians 1:10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
The first thought I had while reading this scripture was, “God, but I don’t want to come across as one of those crazy, religious people. I just want to love the person in front of me and show them kindness so that they will long after the Your heart.“ This is exactly what we are called to do, yet I feel burdened by being Christ’ ambassador and knowing His Love to boldly proclaim the gospel with my life, as well. Even if it is not the popular thing, even if it is not well received, even if it costs me. This is what being His disciple means. The Lord has giving us discernment. Use it, but don’t use it as an excuse to forsake the simple truth of the Gospel.
We have been partnering with Hope Church in Craiova to do just that: to share and make known the simply truth of the gospel. I HAVE LOVED IT! So far, our days have looked like meeting at 9am every morning to pray for the day and for the minstry and its partners. We spend the morning then until noon doing administration. Then later everyday from 4-8pm we evangelize on the streets and throughout the villages. They speak Romanian here so it has been challenging, yet so beautiful the divine moments the Lord has used us to bring forth. It is an incredible thing to share and to be reminded of the simple joy in our salvation.
Lord, give us boldness and courage to boldly proclaim the gospel. When we really stop and find quiet in the business, it should break our hearts to know that every day people are dying without knowing You. Lord, move and stir our hearts with passion and purpose. Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done.
Your Beloved, kel
Yes, people are dearly dying and going to hell and yet we have the answer in our heart and on our tongues. Shame on us if we do not proclaim it. This convicted me as well and pushes me to want to do more. Yes, it is pride about how we will be received. However, we want to stand blameless before the Lord Jesus Christ on that final day. Thanks Kelsey for the reminder!
Holy Spirit daily convicts me of this, as well. Angela, you do a wonderful job of being a vessel for the Lord to proclaim His goodness through! I know He has proclaimed so much goodness and truth through you to me in the mere time we had to spend together !