I have been talking about the importance of the legacy you are leaving and sharing stories of the people whom God used to change my life and impact His Kingdom. The second person I want to write about is named Jim. This is not the Jim I am married to, however he has also been a great influence in my walk with Christ. No, this Jim is a bit older than mine and in the 90's he was led to run a small Christian radio station and a singles Bible study called, "The Gathering."
The Gathering was unlike any Bible study I had attended and has still not been topped by any study I have attended since. It was a simple concept....reserve a room at the YMCA, open the study to local high school and college students, spend the evening lifting each other up in prayer, singing praises to our God, and looking into His Word to discover how to allow Christ to use your life for His purposes. There were no fancy lights, no game tables, no snacks and no band. It certainly doesn't seem like it would be a place for over 100 youth to come on a Thursday night, but it was. The room was often too full to move as we packed in and sat shoulder to shoulder to hear God's Word.
Jim led the study, speaking from his heart almost every Thursday. He encouraged us to truly pray for each other. Not just the "God help Mike" type of prayers, but specific prayers that would not only help and encourage the one we were praying for, but also impact the person praying. He asked us to truly worship. He didn't care how well we sang or if we knew the words, he asked us to give all that we had at that time to praise God. Forget the worries, set aside the stresses, ignore your "image" and become completely immersed in giving God the praises He deserved. And then, each and every week he would challenge us. He would challenge us to think beyond what the world was telling us and to look at God's Word. Challenge us to seek purity, to give each day to growing the Kingdom, to set aside our desire for a mate or material possessions and search only for what Christ had in store for us.
I had never experienced a challenge like this before. I had listened to many sermons in my young life, but the pastors didn't speak like Jim. He spoke with urgency. He spoke of God's best plan for our lives and of the amazing blessings that we will receive each and everyday that we seek Him first. He spoke of a Heavenly Father that loved me, loved me even with all my faults, loved me even more than I could imagine and wanted to spend each day in a relationship with me. These challenges changed my life!
I married the man I married because of these challenges. I live the way I live because of these challenges. I am who I am today because of these challenges. I praise God for Jim and the challenges he gave and how he allowed God to move through his life.
I encourage you to think of the people who have influenced your life for the Kingdom. I pray that you would be open to God using your life to change the lives around you. It obviously starts with your family, but extends to your neighbors, co-workers and people we encounter every day. The love you have for Christ can change the lives of those you encounter. Dare to leave a legacy!
No comments:
Post a Comment