This month, our meditation has been excerpted from the book entitled, Bound to Be Free (With the Suffering Church), compiled by Jan Pit. In the following short quotation from Yang Zhang (a fiery evangelist from China, writing under a pseudonym for his protection), there is fodder for reflection and perhaps application: 

You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. (Jeremiah 1:7)

        God sent Jeremiah to Israel to speak on his behalf. His words were to be God's words.

        God has spoken to us through His Word--the Bible.

        In my country, we experience a great shortage of that word. So, for us, the verbal sharing of the Word of God has become very important.

        'And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us' (2 Corinthians 5:19-20).

        Whether we are free--or in captivity--there will always be opportunities to share the news that Christ came to save sinners.

        Do we use these opportunities or are we too afraid of the consequences: Prison, persecution, torture, even death? May we be people about whom God says:

       'They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death' (Revelation 12:11) 

A moment of introspection: Sharing the Word of God--frightening, isn't it?  Sharing the news that Christ came to save sinners--boring/trite/passé, isn't it?  In our lives filled with the knowledge of persons who need Jesus yet don't know it--our responses to their plight is one or the other:  fearful or apathetic.  Are we committed to the message of reconciliation which we have received as Christ's ambassadors?  1 John 4:18 says "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.  But he who fears has not been made perfect in love."  The solution to fearing to share one's faith?  Get into a quiet corner by yourself; pray the prayer that God will honor:  "Lord, I humbly ask You to replace my fear of sharing my faith in You, with Your perfect love for those I know who are spiritually lost."  Are we instead apathetic toward the estimated 55 persons dying each second who do not know the Savior’s love?  Ask for God's forgiveness and His courage/resolve. Who do we know, who isn't saved?  Will we go to them, and share the message of reconciliation which He has committed to us?  Join me, then, in sharing your faith with someone in need of Christ's salvation.  Pray that God would lead you to that someone He would have you speak to, concerning His call on their life.  May it be said of us:  'They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.'  Whether we are free or...