The Ripple Affect

Week 51

“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:13

Has anyone encouraged you today? What sort of affect did it have on you? Did you, in turn, want to encourage someone else? It can have that affect on us. Just as someone complaining can have the same affect on us. What we live with, what we hear becomes the way we live and the way we speak.

Most of us, as Christians, will not make a difference in the world like evangelist Billy Graham. At best, we can make a difference in our homes, our places of employment and our neighborhoods, but when it comes to reaching the masses, we just don’t have the opportunity to do so.

On any given day, we can wake up and offer ourselves to God. Read Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.” 

If we offer ourselves to God on a daily basis, we are inviting his Holy Spirit to control our lives. If you stop and think about it, whatever you do, wherever you go, whoever you meet in the course of the day is a God-ordained meeting. 

A few years ago when I started working for a newspaper, I was sent on assignments all around the county. As a Christian, it occurred to me one day that since I am an ambassador for Christ, he was directing my steps and would use me in my work. I began to picture myself claiming land for God wherever I went. I claimed the promise that God had given Abraham that wherever he set his foot, the land would become his. I started claiming the land where I walked for the kingdom of God.

I took it a step further by asking God to work in the lives of all the people who read our paper, or whose names were in the paper, those who received the free Sunday paper, even if they didn’t read it but instead tossed it in the trash. It is easy to pray for people when you have a God vision of them. I’m not claiming them for myself or asking for anything from any of them, but I am asking God to intervene.

I can’t honestly say that I have seen a difference in the county where I work, but I don’t have to see it, only believe it. If God could use me in my job, he can use everyone in their jobs as well. It is up to us to let the Holy Spirit direct our thoughts and prayers for those in our pathway. It is just a matter of yielding.

God is a God who can use the smallest things to accomplish his will. His kingdom will be expanded by the tiny things we do each day. 

A good illustration is Rahab. She was a prostitute who lived in Jericho. When she hid two spies sent from Joshua, she was promised that her family would be spared when the Israelites came back to destroy Jericho. Her family was spared, but that isn’t the end of the story.

Rahab lived among the Israelites when they destroyed Jericho. She is mentioned again and again in the Bible. In Matthew we find out that she married Salmon from the tribe of Judah. She was the mother of Boaz who married Ruth and Rahab was the great grandmother of King David. Hebrews says, “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” 

The little things we do can make a difference in the kingdom of God. A kindness, a smile, a word of encouragement is never wasted in God’s eyes. The entire kingdom can be affected by the things we say and do. The key is faith. When we act out of faith, God responds in ways that we may never see or know. It is believing that God will act that prompts us to act. 

In James we read once again about Rahab. “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.” James 2:18b. “In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” James 2:25-26.

Paul tells us that we live by faith not by sight. That is a wonderful way to live when we can trust God to lead us. We can also trust him to accomplish his plans through us as long as we are following him and living lives in step with his Spirit. How do we do that?

Romans 10:17 says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” We cannot hear God’s voice instructing us on a day to day basis if we don’t open up his word and read it. Each morning I begin my day with a Bible reading and a short devotional. Sometimes I make time to sit and meditate on the word and other days, I have to go with very little time spent in the word. But the word is a daily part of my life. We can’t just hear the pastor read scripture on Sunday morning and expect God to speak to us the rest of the week.

The more of God that we search for, the more time we spend with him the more likely we are to walk in the spirit daily. God really wants us to desire to do his will, he expects Christians to desire to be like Jesus. He wants to use us to make a difference right where we live and work. 

Father, We want to make a difference for your kingdom, we want to be used by you to minister to all those around us. We know that you can take even the smallest gifts we have and do mighty things with them. When we enter your heavenly kingdom we want to hear you say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ Direct our feet where you would have us walk and speak to us through your precious Holy Spirit. In Jesus name. Amen.