✝ Daily Encouragement (10/18/23) "I'm Into God Now!"

Published: Wed, 10/18/23

A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber.

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Wednesday, October 18, 2023

This Lebanon County farmhouse on Stracks Dam Road still has many summer flowers! As Stephen was driving by I considered that this looks like a house that Grandparents might own; an inviting setting for grandchildren to visit, gather flowers, and walk around in the barn yard which is on the back side of this house.

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"I'm Into God Now!"

Message summary: Today's intro story is a little long but illustrates our main point well, that is we are to obey and leave the results to God.

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"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8). "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I attended a luncheon meeting with a group of Christian businessmen seeking to encourage each other in our witness for Christ in the marketplace. Following the meal George Mobarak , a friend and business leader I had met in the course of our chaplaincy ministry, shared a testimony about his faith in the Lord. He referred to brand awareness and challenged listeners with a spiritual application as he asked us, "How do you represent your "brand" as a Christian?"

Following college, where he studied accounting, George worked for a company in the Buffalo, New York area. He became a Christian at this time due to the witness of several devoted Christians whose lights shined at the workplace.

He told a personal story that goes back to the time when he was a very young Christian:

An occasion came up when he had to fire an employee due to ongoing substance abuse problems. It was a difficult dismissal as he worked for a large company and several were involved in the termination process. Following the termination others left the room and now he was alone in the room with the employee he had just terminated.

Suddenly George sensed the Spirit of God leading him to pray for the man. He of course initially resisted but the compulsion to pray was strong. He wasn't even sure it was "legal" but he asked the man if he might pray with him. The man said it would be OK and George prayed for him just before the employee left.

Changes were about to come for George and his family as well which involved a move from the Buffalo area to Lancaster County. Several years after moving to Lancaster George returned to the Buffalo area to visit his family and decided to enjoy a meal in a local restaurant. While he was eating a man whom he didn't initially recognize approached his table. He went on to identify himself as the very employee George had fired many years earlier. Then he excitedly told him, "I'm into God now" and then introduced his wife and three children to George. That must have been very encouraging to George!

In one sense I chafe a bit at the phrase "I'm into God now." It's sounds somewhat disrespectful and trivializes a relationship with the one true God of the universe, sort of like "I'm into green tea". (However I recall doing and phrasing things in a different manner as a young Christian than I would do or say years later.)

But there's a sense that it's actually a powerful expressive phrase describing our present relationship with the Lord. The daily verse states, "If anyone is in Christ". It's another example of a changed life that is taking place every day all over the world.

I consider George's rather unusual leading to "pray for him" and acting in obedience. George gave no indication that he noted any change in the employee at all when he obeyed and prayed. But in that providential meeting many years later he rejoiced to see how the Lord had worked it all out. It wasn't an instant answer, but it laid foundational groundwork for God to do a complete overhaul in this young man's life over a period of time.

Today we all have a call to obedience in our daily walk. For most of us it probably won't be something big or noticeable to others at all. In many cases we won't see tangible results to our obedience except for the peace that fills our heart as we lay our head on our pillows to sleep at night. I believe in a lot of cases we won't see the results till eternity. Whether the answer to our prayer is revealed in this life or in the life to come God still calls us all, as His new creation, to listen carefully to His voice and obey His commands.

Be encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13 )

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, I want a willing servant's heart that is obedient to Your leading wherever I am and in whatever setting I am found. As the old hymn goes, "It may not be on the mountain's height, or over the stormy sea. It may not be at the battle's front my Lord will have need of me. But if by a still, small voice You call to paths that I do not know, I'll answer, 'Dear Lord, with my hand in Thine; I'll go where You want me to go. I'll say what You want me to say and I'll be what You want me to be'". Help me not to dismiss Your still small voice simply because it's an unconventional prompting I sense. Instead I ask for courage to be obedient and faith to trust You for the outcome, whether or not it is revealed in my lifetime. In the loving name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" Listen on YouTube The Kauffman Family

"New Creation" Listen on YouTube Mac Powell

Another Lebanon County farmhouse that gets our attention every time we pass it.

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Lebanon County farm pond with the beautiful ducks (swans, I'm not sure) provides a serene setting amidst the deciduous trees that are starting to change.

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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.

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