“The Lord Can Use You Anywhere!”

“The Lord Can Use You Anywhere!”(Rev.1:9-18).
Armed men entered a Church during service and surrendered the worshippers. They asked the worshippers, “Who is it that was shouting, “Jesus is Lord?” The pastor pointed to the deacon, deacon refused and pointed to the choirmaster, etc. Nobody was ready to acknowledge that “Jesus is Lord.”
Today I mention Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian who resisted Adolf Hitler and the Nazi. He was locked up, but while in confinement he wrote many Christian treatises which became widely influential. One of his books considered to be a modern classic is “The Cost of Discipleship.” Bonhoeffer was executed in a concentration camp on April 9, 1945, but his letters and writings are still an influence on Christians worldwide.
Christianity is not about the good life that we cling on today. I remember Prof. Allison Howell, one of my lecturers at ACI, Akropong, Ghana telling us that in Ghana some people join a particular denomination just so that they would have a decent cemetery where they would be buried.
In fact, to some of us, take away our cars and we would stop attending church services. Some of us pastors refuse to go to remote villages; even our own natal villages. We prefer the cities. But the missionaries who brought the gospel to us went to those remote interiors despite the comfort of the cities of their homelands.
My friend, what according to you is the cost of discipleship? The last book in the Christian Bible was written by John when he was exiled to the island of Patmos “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”
On this island while in the Spirit he was asked to write specific letters to the seven existing Churches at the time. John says he was “a companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that is ours in Jesus…”
Though under suffering and being in exile, the Lord Jesus Christ still appeared to him and commissioned him in a vision. There is awe in the presence of the Divine. When John saw the glory of Christ he fell at his feet as though dead. But then, the Lord placed his right hand on him and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! I hold the keys of death and Hades.”
Dear friend, the words above are from the one who went through long suffering, torture and a shameful death. But through that pain and shame he was glorified. Today in your own pain and suffering, if you are in the Spirit, he places his right hand on you and assures, “Do not be afraid!…” The Lord can use you in your present predicament for his glory. Just be in the Spirit at the right moment.
Weekend prayer: Your will O LORD not mine, I will obey. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.