I was on my way down!
Been going down for ages
I knew no other way to go
Down and round when He
Intercepted my circumvolution:
Jesus came down to get me up
Every day, He calls me to live it up.

I learned about someone who was discouraged in a part of their service to God because of negative feedback. God laid it on my heart to pray for this person and while I was praying, the story of the man Jesus delivered and sent out on his own in Mark 5 came to mind. The man in Mark 5 story lived a very challenging situation that was no secret. His condition defied solution until the day Jesus met him. Not only was he delivered, he was saved and sent forth on the same day. If it were today, the Minister who administered his deliverance and salvation will require him to attend church programs, even recommend seminary, in order to prepare for service. But not so with Christ.

Filled with gratitude and seeking to show appreciation, the man volunteered to follow Christ. What greater proof that Jesus is the Son of God, a mighty Healer and Deliverer than to have such a person tagging along, confirming His miraculous power! But no, Jesus sent him the other way:
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful He has been.” So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them. Mark 5: 18-20 (NKJ.)

My translation of the above verse is the popular quote, “Charity begins at home.” We don’t need a world stage and a global microphone to attest to God’s goodness and faithfulness toward us. We don’t have to tell what we don’t know. We don’t have to tell those we don’t know. What is required of us is to share out of the fullness of what we have experienced of God: the Good News of God’s salvation and deliverance.

We don’t need special gifts and exotic qualifications to showcase the extraordinary power of God demonstrated in our ordinary lives. We don’t need anything we don’t have to do what has been asked of us. What God has done for us is the only qualification required to do what we have to. Upon every one of us, not some of us, to whom God has been good, rests this calling to ‘Go and tell others’ the Good News that God lives, that God saves, and that no matter our circumstances, God is always good.

We need no pulpits or platforms. We need no money or tickets to travel to where we know not. The calling to share the Good News is to start where we are, with what we have (experienced), with those around us. Social media presents a valuable platform in that regard. The flip side is that it can also become a source of distraction and discouragement. Still, as the apostles declared years ago, necessity is laid upon us to share what we have experienced and attest to what we know, with what we have at our disposal. We cannot allow opinions of those who are not part of our miracles steal the Good News or the telling of it from our lips.

If there is need to do more, God will provide the means. If there is need to go further, God will make the way and open relevant doors. Until then, it is the same thing Jesus told that man in Mark 5 that He is saying to every one of us irrespective of the response or lack of it, “Go tell your story in your area, among your friends and family. Start with those you know, who know you. Start where you are, with what you have.”
(To be continued)

Glory!