Iwona Do you remember this moment about your conversion, the new birth, that you wanted to preach Christ to everyone? I do. Correction: to preach Christ to everyone and see the results. Preferably as soon as possible. I just wanted everyone to feel what I did, to jump to that level of „enlightenment” as quickly as possible, and thus – euphoria, which I was at. I don’t even know when I took responsibility for bringing other people to God.
Don’t get me wrong – I am convinced that each of us who has experienced the love of Jeshu and has been found by Him has a great desire that as many people as possible experience the same, and that as many people as possible will be freed. However, one should not lose sight of oneself in all this.
I have the personality of a guide, teacher, and I am happy to take responsibility for everything I do – even if it concerns…. leading others spiritually, but today, in retrospect, I believe that I gilded the lily. Here are my mistakes – maybe you make them too?
Mistake # 1
Suppose your friend, colleague, or adolescent child becomes interested in God. Wonderful! That’s what we want, right ?! This good new soul has a lot of questions to which you are eager to answer, eagerly suggest various materials (books, teachings, testimonies) and even invite this person to your Christian community. Meanwhile, you encourage her to deepen her relationship with God, and he or she seems…. Really making progress. And suddenly there is a screech.
Something is getting weaker. Your „recruiter” admits that he does not hear God, or does not feel convinced that he should, for example, quit smoking.
What was I doing? I was on my way to convince my „recruiter” that we were going in the right direction! That (s)he should pray more or differently, read more or less, start going to church (or stop going) – as if I was giving the best recipe for the perfect cake.
Mistake # 2
The spiritual child has many questions that seem infantile to you – the old fighter;
Should I wear a cross around my neck? Is swearing a gross offense? Can I use contraception? And so on.
And again: you have good intentions. What you start to do? To answer all of these questions with zero-one. You don’t want your „recruit” to have any doubts that would stand in the way of his development.
What was I starting to do? To solve his or her problems and set him up for life. And all I should have been doing maniacally, was constantly drawing his/her attention to a personal relationship with God as a source of answers to every his/her problem and question! After all, I did not convert this person to myself, but to God! Had I forgotten about it?
By being an overprotective guide, I make the person Jesus found, lazy! Instead of a relationship, there is a course „How not to get into God’s black books” – and we know that Christianity is not an attempt to avoid punishment, but a desire for an intimate relationship with the Creator! Life in the presence of His heart!
Mistake # 3
Someone has trusted you and has become your „spiritual protégé” – they even call you their spiritual guide, so it is natural that you want to rise to the occasion! You should take on your shoulders his „education”, that is: spiritual growth, and you want to see the work finished!
Here God came to help me (it really needed help) with a dream. He showed me pictorially the words from 1 Corinthians 3: 1-9 and my role in all this – that He uses me at HIS discretion – not my plan! That sometimes I have to appear in someone’s life for a while and disappear. And that I really do not have to „adopt people” because I will not give them growth anyway – this can only be done by the Holy Spirit, whom I wanted to help so much that he could almost help Him out..
Being in God and wanting to cooperate with Him, it is worth being a person with a flexible approach (susceptible to God’s suggestions) and, above all, humble.
What else is worth? It is worth asking the Holy Spirit to examine our heart – is our commitment to „saving” someone dictated by wholesome intentions? Do we have a problem with being in control or not trusting God?
If our „service” is marked by constant concern, control, tension – something is wrong. Perhaps you are bearing a yoke that is not yours. And God forbid – you will impose them on others. When you interact with God, you are relaxed and confident in who you are and in Who you are.
This dream in which God showed me what He meant in cooperation with me, set me free. I stopped:
– convince people, explaining or excusing God and everything that He „did” to people in the infamous Old Testament (some people cannot be persuaded, and those who have a sincere desire to know God will sooner or later be convinced by the Holy Spirit)
– to arrange people’s lives, especially if they don’t ask for it.
– to supervise the entire course of „conversion” and I accepted the role that God will assign to me on an ongoing basis. Once it was the baptism of a person I met only once, we had a wonderful day, I baptized her and then we never met again. It was supposed to be like that. As with the biblical Ethiopian.
Do you know how many times God uses you to just point someone…. the direction in your town, gave him/her money when (s)he didn’t have any change for a ticket, or exchanged a few encouraging words with him while walking the dog?
God showed me that He is using me THIS WAY! That if it is necessary to cast out demons, He can call me, but in my everyday life this, what matters to Him are small things done with great love.
It may be hard to believe, but I received the most important, groundbreaking message from My Father:
You have My love within you – share it in the easiest way possible. This is your most important task on earth.
How are you doing in saving others? : -)
