When I think about all Jesus has done for me, I want to shout it from the rooftops! Of course, desiring to shout it from the rooftops and actually doing so, can be quite intimidating, especially when you have never done it before. It can be difficult to strike up a conversation with an unbeliever, but it is one of those things in life the more you practice and do it, the more comfortable you feel.

The first time I shared my faith was in Thailand with a girl who did not understand much English. She had many questions and though our conversation was broken and slow, I was surprised at how eager she was to learn of Jesus. It was quite eye opening for me to learn how many people do not know who Jesus is. It was also surprising to know how many are excited to do so. We as Christians hold the single most exciting piece of news in all the world and when we share it, people listen. Do not buy into the lies of the enemy, people need to know the good news of Jesus Christ.

There are three things we must do when sharing our faith; ask, obey and pray.

Let’s take a look at these one at a time.

Ask. God will open amazing doors if we are willing to be aware and ready. We must ask Him to lead the right people into our paths or us to the right people. Life is very spontaneous. We cannot always plan out what is going to happen day to day and minute by minute. If we are willing and open to sit back and be ready to feel His pull to this person or that situation, we will see Him lead us to the right people.

Obey. We may feel God’s leading to a specific person, but if we are not responsive, we are disobedient. Delayed obedience is disobedience. When you feel anxiety creep in where God has made clear an open door for you, consider His words.

2 Timothy 1:7
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

AND

Joshua 1:9
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Pray. It is so crucial that we understand the power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus leads our hearts to touch others with His words, we have fulfilled His calling in our lives. Absolutely nothing you or I say or do will convince someone to follow Jesus. Only the Holy Spirit has the power to truly prick the hearts of lost sinners and transform their lives into a beautiful gracious story. All we are called to do is follow in obedience and step back as God takes care of the rest. Pray without ceasing for the Holy Spirit to melt the hearts of stone even if you never see the fruit of those you share His glorious gospel with.

1 Chronicles 16:8
“Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!”

John 15:16
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

Do not allow fear, excuses or rejections to keep you from completing the work He has asked you to do. Remember if He has asked you, He will guide you. He alone can melt hearts of stone. Be willing to cast aside fear and leave your bubble of comfort so others may not spend an eternity separated from the beautiful God who created you and I.

Luke 12:11-12
“Do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Today, we are going to look at a passage out of Matthew and how Jesus calls us to flavor the world.

Matthew 5:13 says, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”

I’m sure you would agree with me that salt makes everything taste better. When you have a meal and it needs just that extra bit of flavor, salt can make a big difference. Salt was also used in biblical times to preserve food from rotting. Are you adding flavor to the lives of those around you? Do you carry around a rotten attitude to decompose like that of the world? When people see you, do they see Jesus? The concept is so simple friends and if we fail in showing Jesus we have failed our task. Have you ever thought about what you want to be remembered for? If someone who does not know you asked someone who did, “What is (insert your name) passionate about?” What would the response be? I sure hope mine would be, “Jesus.” It is incredibly easy for us to get off track and fall into the traps of the world and suddenly without noticing it ourselves, we become just like the world. When there is no distinction between us and those of the world, others will not see Jesus Christ.

Let’s look again at Matthew 5:13. Jesus at this point in scripture is speaking to His disciples. He charges them with this statement, “You are the salt of the earth.” Jesus did not say, “you could be,” “you might be,” “you kind of are.” He cuts to the heart of the matter and with righteous authority states, “You are.” As a believer, we are the ones sprinkled across the globe packed with the same righteous conviction Jesus gave in His command. Do you believe that? Jesus gave His disciples and all those who believe affirmations with His words. As He speaks to them on the mountainside here in Matthew, He speaks with authority. Anytime Jesus speaks with this conviction, we ought to receive it as affirmation and empowerment to our souls. Jesus calls us “salt of the earth,” therefore we are.

The second part of that first affirmation is followed by a question Jesus poses, “but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?” I will use an example to help illustrate this point. I love the ocean. Love would even be an understatement. Pristine waters, lush aquatic life and salty. Now suppose I plan a trip to the beach and when I arrive, jump in with my snorkel, mask and fins, and I notice the water is not salty. At first I am not bothered by this because if it gets in my eyes it will not burn or if it gets in my mouth I will not gag, but then I notice all the dead fish. The creatures in the ocean need the salt to survive. Without the salt, they all perish. The salt preserves their way of life, just as it symbolically preserves ours. If suddenly all the salt was removed from the world’s oceans, which makes up 96.5% of all water found on earth, how could it possibly be salty again? It would be absolutely impossible. If you or I become a believer and suddenly we lose our saltiness, we would be completely rendered useless in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you accept the call of Christ to change your life and you do not follow Him, share Him and live for Him in a way that is visible by others, you are salt-less. When this happens, you communicate to God you do not desire to be like Him or serve Him as His child. He cannot restore one who does not desire to flavor anymore.

Jesus makes clear in the last section of the text, the purpose for those without saltiness. They are, “no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” Jesus created you and I for a purpose. Just as salt has a function and a purpose, so do our lives. The hand of Creator God put within you a purpose to be so vibrantly righteous in your lifestyle that when others look at you they see Jesus. If the world looks at you and does not see Jesus, you have not given the Creator credit and do not trust Him to do amazing things with your path. You are no good without Jesus Christ and if you continue to live a life apart from Him, you not only miss out on the tremendous blessings of being a Child of God, but you are no different than those around you. Our world needs hope through Jesus Christ. Be that hope and provide Jesus by the way you serve Him.

If you tuned in last week and watched the devotional, “My Heart for Missions,” then you now know why I have a heart for different areas of our world. Hopefully my story gave you insight into my desires to visit foreign lands and meet people in distant places.

This week I want to share why that very first experience to Chiang Mai, Thailand changed the way I saw the world after returning to America. I want to explain to you why reaching our world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ is so incredibly crucial and why it is time for each of us to get out of our comfort zones.

When I came back to America after spending a month in Thailand, I could barely function. My desire to go back into a 9-5 work environment was low. Now remember, at this point I had been working professionally for only one year. You see, when I first learned sign language, I was excited to get as highly certified as I could and make a lot of money. That was my main goal. Now, less than a year of professional interpreting on my resume and one international trip, I could not stop thinking about the other “why” I had really learned ASL. It was now crystal clear to me, God needed me to utilize my skill to share His story with those who could not hear.

For the next three years, each summer I prayed about opportunities to travel and told God I was willing if He asked me to “go.” Each and every time I went overseas, God brought specific deaf people in my path and every time my mind was blown. God knows what He is doing. To be completely real and honest, sometimes I doubt that. Then I think about the encounters of my past and I am reaffirmed in God’s greatness over my life. All of us doubt God is able when it comes to various points in life, the key is not to stay there. Satan puts doubt into our minds, but if you think long enough I guarantee you will think of some moment in your life when God’s greatness awed you.

International travel by way of worldwide missions changed every aspect of my life. I no longer looked at deaf people as “clients,” but looked at them as real people with real needs and real struggles. I came to realize ASL was a gift God allowed me to succeed in and it is not just a “fun” job to help you earn a paycheck. It is to connect me with people who have dramatically changed the way I think about everything. It was at this point in my life I realized a career in interpreting for the next forty years would never be enough. God created me for something more. It was not a radical change overnight. I travelled to four different countries over the span of four years before I began to pursue a path for full time missionary service. Although it made sense for me to pursue this path, God did not open any doors for me. I contacted several companies handing them my life saying, “Send me anywhere!” But God was not saying yes. It was frustrating.

In the midst of it all, I met my husband and we wound up in The Federated States of Micronesia for a year. My husband and I were gifted the only deaf person on the island to be our student. Ironic? I hardly think so.

In Romans 10:13 Paul says, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” In verse 14 he begs the questions, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”

In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus tells the disciples to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Psalm 96:3 says, “Declare his glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!”

Scripture is constantly speaking to the fact that we are to declare the Lord to all the nations. It is commanded and the desire of our Father’s heart that all may come to know Him.

It is easy to think this way when we are on a trip with that specific intended purpose in mind, but our world is our mission field. Anytime I am out in public, that is my mission field. The grocery store, the airport, the walk to the mailbox when I see my neighbor, those places are our mission fields.

The biggest takeaway I have from my international travels is looking at the world with intentionality. There are lost, hurting people everywhere. We come into contact with them daily. I need to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus and follow in obedience to reach those who need Him. That is our purpose and missions has taught me that is my greatest purpose.

It was 2007, I moved away from my hometown for the first time in my life and began a new path as a professional sign language interpreter. I had lived on my own for about four years already, but relocating to a new city away from my family had quite the impact on my life. I also had roommates for the first time in my life and strangers at that. During the 2007-2008 year, much transpired and life became stressful and heavy for me emotionally and spiritually. I felt very alone and did not have much desire to break out of my comfort zone and meet spiritually solid people. Eventually as I mentioned in my testimony, I hit a breaking point and finally fully surrendered to the Lord. It was at the moment I really began to notice my life completely change.

It was somewhere around March of 2008 when I got a call from my brother asking me if I would be interested in joining a team from his seminary on a trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand. I laughed the first time he called to talk to me about it. “Why on earth would I want to do that?” I asked him. He shared with me the vision for the trip and how God had continued to lay me on his mind and he thought it was finally time to ask me about it. For a solid week, he called me daily to ask if I would consider going. He even threw enticing information about the trip such as, “You can ride an elephant.” After the fourth or fifth time he said, “Lindsey, promise me you will pray about it?” I agreed and I told God in my stupid stubbornness if He really wanted me to go, He would have to practically slap me in the face with an obvious sign.

The next morning, I was feeling weird about the whole thing and when I arrived to my staff interpreter job at a middle school, one of my deaf students asked if I would help him finish an assignment. I sat down next to a long table and noticed he had spread out about twenty National Geographic magazines across the table. The way they were spread out, you could not see the covers, only the continual overlapping of yellow from the rims of each magazine. He told me he needed to cut out pictures of things he liked and his love for nature led him to Nat-Geo magazines. As I asked him questions about what he liked, I was watching his responses in sign language while at the same time reaching over to feel my hand grab a magazine within reach. Now in both hands, I looked down at the front cover of the magazine I arbitrarily grabbed and nearly fell out of my chair. There, staring back at me, on the cover of National Geographic, were two people riding an elephant underneath the words, “Explore Chiang Mai, Thailand.” I called the seminary the same afternoon to sign up for the trip.

I had never been on a plane let alone outside of Texas hardly, so in deciding to travel across the world, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I did not know my teammates and the little they knew of me was that I loved deaf people and signing. We spent the majority of our time there learning about Buddhism and Islam and sharing the gospel of Jesus best we could with anyone willing to listen.

One afternoon during some free time, about ten of us from the team decided to go explore. We heard about a waterfall at the top of a mountain overlooking the city and immediately became intrigued. We found a guy willing to drive us and about fifteen minutes into the thirty-minute drive up the mountain, it began pouring rain. Had any of us been in our right mind, we would have turned around and gone back to the hotel, but none of us were. When we made it to the top, we located a covered pavilion within running distance from the van and agreed we would make a mad dash for it. We had been safe from the rain less than five minutes when one of my teammates tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hey Lindsey, I think those people are deaf.” When I turned around I saw a group of twenty or so adults signing. I could not believe it. Without hesitation, I walked over and immediately asked the first person that looked at me if they were deaf. They nodded. We began chatting and after a couple minutes it occurred to me that they understood American Sign Language (ASL). Most countries have their own sign language and for some reason, despite being in Thailand, they knew and understood my sign language. Again, I could not believe it. Not long after our conversation began, they told me they needed to leave, but gave me information about where to meet other deaf people. These people were Christians and upon leaving, one of them looks to me and signs, “God brought you here to us today because He wanted to show us there is hope.”

As the day went on I continued to think of that man’s words and it struck a chord with me. The next day a teammate of mine and I went to the deaf school. We had no idea if they would even let us in, but we decided to show up and see. The moment we walked into the gated school yard, we were welcomed into a classroom. Most of the students were in their mid to late teens and they understood everything we signed. Sadly, only a few of them knew who Jesus was, but they were eager to learn more. We returned for many days to the same students to continue to share the victorious stories of Jesus with them.

On our last day there, one boy asked if we would share another story of Jesus, but he motioned to the teacher and indicated she would not approve. He led us to a picnic table outside and asked us about how the world was created. My friend John did not know sign fluently so he began sharing in spoken English, while I interpreted his story. When we began we had only four students with us. As we shared about God’s creating all the earth, many questions arose and we addressed all of them as best we could. We started sharing more about the life of Jesus and I felt something touch my back. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw a small girl and when I lifted my eyes I saw a sea of children to my left and to my right watching us. There were hundreds of deaf children and teenagers gathering around us to see us share about Jesus Christ. I have absolutely no words to describe that moment. It was incredible.

As the afternoon pressed on and the stories continued, it once again started raining. We all made a mad dash for the outdoor cafeteria which sheltered us from the rain. The children continued to ask us questions about this Jesus and the bible. We spent time with them sharing, taking photos and laughing. My heart had never felt so full. It finally began to get dark and we decided it was time for us to head back to our hotel. I remember an adult approaching us as we left saying, those kids have dinner at a certain time every night and they never miss. We immensely apologized for having messed up their schedule. With a tear in her eye she said, “They know what time dinner begins and ends. God bless you.” These kids purposefully went without food that night because the joy of Jesus satisfied their souls more than any physical nutrients could.

One girl we had spent a great deal of time with came over to me to say goodbye with tears streaming down her face. She pointed to herself and signed something I did not understand. She pulled out a dictionary to look up the meaning of the word she was signing. When she handed me the dictionary the definition read, “Hollowed out, dull, boring.” She was saying this describes her. She signed to me, “you will go back to America and you will forget about me.” I told her she was beautiful and Jesus loved her so much. I also told her she would always be in my heart and I could never forget her. I will always remember the smile she had on her face as we left that day.

What she may not realize is that I have never forgotten. For it was in those moments I realized I would never again be the same. I was completely wrecked. Because of Thailand, my love for the people, nations and tongues of this world was born.

I am living proof Jesus wants to do amazing things in and with your life. He leads you to places you could never imagine and the impact His name has on this world will forever bring joy to all eyes, ears and hearts.

Many men and women throughout the course of history have stood up for Christ while facing persecution, including death. One of the greatest missionaries of our time outside of those mentioned in scripture is a man named Jim Elliott.

Jim was in his twenties when he and four other missionaries where brutally speared to death by ten Amazonian men. For quite some time, Jim felt a deep unexplainable pull in his heart for an unreached people group in the jungles of Ecuador. The Waodani, formerly known as the Auca Indians, were a primitive savage people. Oil workers drilling on a site near the Aucas territory were killed along with other Tribal people in Ecuador converted to Christianity. Despite all of this, Jim and his friends were convinced God’s call had not been altered.

In February of 1952, Jim boarded a ship from California to South America. He and missionary partner Pete Fleming, spent their first year learning Spanish. Jim also learned the tribal language of these people because he felt so strongly of their need to know Jesus Christ. He did not fear these people. He believed if they knew the true gospel, they would not want to kill.

Pilot Nate Saint, and the other missionaries flew around the area attempting to make contact and locate the Auca people. They began to lower baskets of gifts down to the Auca people and after months, they received gifts in the basket back and felt they were warming up to the idea of their contact. The missionaries found a clear stretch of beach to land and the five missionaries were flown in and set up camp. Within a few days, a few of the people came by out of curiosity and the missionaries shared a meal with them. A couple of days after that, January 8, 1956 two women approached the men looking less friendly than their previous visitors. Upon further investigation, the missionaries realized the two women were not alone, they were standing in front of ten men, all armed with eight foot spears.

What followed next is both tragic and savage. The ten Amazonian men overpowered the five missionaries and brutally murdered them with their spears. Jim had a revolver on him, but had vowed not to use it against someone who did not have a relationship with God. He was secure of his salvation; he knew these men were not. The men’s bodies were discovered later floating in the river near their camp.

Jim’s wife Elisabeth went home to the United States and after a year, returned to live among the very people who killed her own husband. In her obedience, the entire tribe was saved and the savage killings stopped.

One Auca man was so radically transformed by faith in Christ he said, “I have killed twelve people with my spear! But I did that when my heart was black. Now Jesus’ blood has washed my heart clean, so I don’t live like that anymore.”

Of course, Jim’s tragic death brought the light of Jesus Christ to a people who otherwise might still be living in darkness. He lived out his mission to God’s calling on his life. He wrote in his journal, “when it comes time to die, make sure all you have to do is die.”

In the world right now, it is estimated that there are roughly eight thousand unreached people groups (UPG) in the world today.

We are thankful and humbled by these five men who gave their lives up for the gospel, so others living in darkness could know Jesus:

Roger Youderian
Ed McCully
Pete Fleming
Nate Saint
Jim Elliot

Jesus died for you so you would not have to. What are you waiting for?

Is God calling you to go to the unreached deaf peoples of the world?

Walk into any bookstore and you are likely to find a “self-help” section in the Christianity aisle. The plethora of books available today to match any personal need is enough to make one’s head spin.

There are books written by men, women, couples, doctors, pastors and teachers of various backgrounds of faith. You can find books about parenting, marriage, faith, depression, success and yes, even topics of opposition to the Christian faith.

Many people do not believe the bible to be enough. I would say those people need to go back and read it. The Bible is chalked full of the only truth and wisdom needed to function in this crazy world. If you are left unfulfilled after reading the bible, consider a different approach. The magical “open my bible to any page and read” approach or the “one verse a day” method, should be revised. Read the bible with purpose. Pick a book of the bible and read through it and study it for 30 days. Another option that really pounds the Scripture in is one John MacArthur suggests. For the New Testament, pick a short book of the bible and read it all the way through every day for 30 days. For longer books, divide is you’re reading no more than 7 chapters or so and read those chapters every day for a month. Then do the same thing for the next 7 or so chapters of that same book. There are many options for how you can go about making your bible reading worthwhile. Make your bible reading time a priority and do it at the same time every day and build the habit of getting into His Word. Eventually, you will feel unfulfilled if you miss a reading.

Often when I read the bible I may not fully understand the text. This leads me to reach for a commentary or a bible companion type book to further expound upon the original text from Scripture. There are many resources out there to increase our understanding of God’s Word, but it is imperative to pick from those written by scholarly sources, men or women who write with deep spiritual bible believing conviction.

You see, the danger in self-help books in and of themselves, is the ease in reading them. Many books out there are “light” reads. They do not dig deep, they motivate you to think positive and help you feel as though you can conquer the world with a smile. Scripture warns us about adding to and taking away from His words:

Proverbs 30:5-6, “Every word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar.”

Deuteronomy 4:2, “You shall not add to the word that I command you, or take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.”

Revelation 22:18-19, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”

He also warns us to watch out for false prophets, those who look appealing in the light but are filled with darkness.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15

Self-help books may not blatantly take from or add to scripture, sometimes subtleties are the most dangerous and less obvious. But I tell you this believer, if a book is not overtly reaffirming the hope we have through Jesus Christ, then they are a real danger. True outside sources of biblical depth, will fill you with questions, convictions and ALWAYS point you back to scripture. If you read a book that does not do this, burn it.

If you are using outside books alone to be your source of spiritual fulfillment, I would encourage you to set those aside and create a meaningful bible reading plan for yourself before adding back in extra reads. Or read them in the evenings to reaffirm the truth of God’s Holy Word. I am an avid reader and on the regular, I read books that encompass all genres. My personal preference in recent years leans towards foundational faith books, written by pastors who I highly regard as scholarly men of faith. My overall goal when I read is to be challenged, convicted and deeply drawn back to the word so I can grow and flourish from what Jesus is already leading me to learn from the ultimate source of self-help, the Bible.

Other authors/resources to check out:
John MacArthur – gty.org
Albert Mohler – albertmohler.com
John Piper – desiringgod.org