For Everyone Who Does Not Believe In Jesus Christ

I had one of my most powerful experience in the Holy Spirit in February 2015.
We were at NCCF State conference and it was the last day.

 

I walked into that service not really expecting much but as the minister started speaking and talking about how God would visit some people today, I could feel that itch inside of me to be part of them.
And so I simply prayed that God would not leave me out of the persons who He’d chose to show Himself to that night.

 

It didn’t take long before it happened…

 

I lifted up my hands, released myself and the Spirit took over like something else.
When I mean something else, I mean something else.
Of course I fell and then it came with all the gyrations you feel and the part of speaking in tongues and not being able to stop, crying and laughing at the same time.
You know when the Bible says “be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit?”
Well, I got to experience firsthand that the Spirit that can fill you up to an extent that you become drunk not with wine, but with Him.

 

The ushers carried me outside, I was basically aware of what was going on but was helpless to stop it or even wonder about what was happening.

 

I started laughing, crying and my tongue couldn’t stop speaking in the language of the Spirit.
At a time, all God led me to do was to surrender my life to Him… surrender everything that I am. Shivers are almost coming on me as I write that now because I realize just how much I cannot turn back from God’s path ever again!
I have given it all out over and over since then…willingly and in true surrender.

 

And then after a while of staying on the sand, and just being taken over completely by the Spirit, I lifted up my hands, pointed forwards and it was almost like I was seeing a light.
And then I started laughing and saying “and they say that He isn’t real… they say that Jesus isn’t real.
He lives!
He lives!
He lives!”

I kept laughing and crying over and over again as I said that.

 

It was almost like a scale fell off my eyes and I was like “why do they say that Jesus isn’t real? Oh I wish everyone could experience this? Come and see this, He lives!”

 

As we prayed for lost souls in the world during our 16hours marathon prayers on Friday at Church, the replay of this experience kept ringing through my mind.
How can people say that Jesus isn’t alive?
How can you say that He doesn’t still reign on the earth, the heavens and beneath the earth?

 

And then I thought of “look at the lives of people who are in Jesus now..”
Look at me, the girl who was timid, shy, empty, committed abortions previously… see the life I am living in Christ now?
That kind of change doesn’t happen by will power alone.
Only the Spirit could have done this.

But how do we make people see that Jesus is alive?

 

I woke up this morning as I prayed for what God wanted me to write in today’s study and I was reminded of Saul’s conversion in Acts Chapter 9.

 

This guy had a radical kind of experience even more than the one I had in February 2015.

 

This was who Paul was:

“Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.”
-Acts of the Apostles 9:1-2 NLT

 

 

This was his experience with Jesus:

 

 

“As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus.
He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.
Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord!” he replied. The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”
“But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.”
But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.
Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days.”
Acts of the Apostles 9:3-19 NLT

 

This was what the experience turned Paul into:

 

“Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”
All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”
Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.”
Acts of the Apostles 9:19-22, 28 NLT

 

The persecutor turned into the one who started championing the work of Jesus.

 

And Paul grew so radical in his work for Jesus, he walked in Christ till his very death.
He had such confidence in Jesus, he knew that life with Jesus doesn’t end here.
As Jesus lives, so also would he live even after life in the now.
“If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again?
And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour? For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you.
And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus —if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!” Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.”
Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.”
1 Corinthians 15:29-34 NLT
So basically we can see how just one encounter with Jesus can turn a whole lifetime of doubts in Christ around.

 

Jesus says in John 4 that the harvest is plentiful..its ripe to be harvested…
But the harvest is full of lots of doubts.
How do we share the good news and cast down every doubt that arises in lives?

 

An encounter…
Just one encounter with Jesus and no one would leave the same.

 

This encounter may not be as radical as Paul’s was… this encounter may simply be God giving you the reaper of the harvest words of wisdom that no man can refute.
He can open up the truth to you so soundly, the other person can’t help but proclaim that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Basically I have written all the above for us to get here…
Please don’t leave this post without praying for lost souls.

 

Your heart bleeds when you see family and friends who don’t know God.
Sometimes even our words fall on deaf ears because it is only God who changes hearts and turns them to Him.
We are saved even still by His own mercies and Him choosing us.

 

So let’s pray for lost souls today… take a minute or 30 minutes or an hour and just groan for lost souls today…

 

Prayer:
Father we thank you for your Word…
We thank you for shedding your blood for us… we thank you for your saving grace.
Lord we come before you and bring lost souls around the world to your arms.
We pray for divine encounters with you…encounters that will transform lives and let them see that you are the only life that there is.
We pray for a bumper harvest of souls…
Help us to evangelize for you, through words and even with our lives.
Oh Lord, use us to reap the harvest… encounters Lord, encounters that transform lives to live in you, in Jesus name, amen.
Prayer of Salvation/re dedication of your life to Jesus:
Lord, I come to you this day in sincerity of heart.
I haven’t walked in accordance with your ways.
I am a sinner and have strayed into wrong paths… I ask for your forgiveness.
And I ask that you take me into your family.
Be my saviour… be my Lord, from now on, rule in my life.
Thank you Lord for saving me. In Jesus name I have prayed, amen.
Congratulations if you prayed that prayer from your heart!
You have just stepped into life that will blow you away.
Start Fellowshiping with Jesus in His word and prayers and join a church that can feed your soul.

 

You can also reach me at okorofrances@gmail.com if you need encouragement in your walk in God.
In these times, I pray we keep up with remembering the harvest and lost souls in our prayers.
And when God pushes us to evangelize to them we will do so in Jesus name, amen.

 

I pray that seeds will be sown through this post in hearts… seeds that will lead to you making Jesus lord of your life if you haven’t done so already.
Jesus loves you!
Yes, He loves you wholly!
Till our next online Bible study,
Love,
Frances.

 

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