I had a truth that hit me so hard today. I was face to face in a discussion today with a 17 year old boy that claimed to be atheist. My heart just bleeds for these young kids growing up in such a lost society that is trying to bring them down. I remember being young once and there was peer pressure and some of this I gave in to. Years later I had my own children and I would simply be at a loss of words sometimes and honestly I could have handled situations so much better if I would have applied some of these results in the messages to my kids with humility instead of anger or accusation.
Over the past couple of years God has revealed to me that reaching someone you love or even a stranger has to be approached with humility, understanding and love or they will cut themselves off completely and close their ears from what you have to say.
There are ministers that I have been blessed to call my friends and they have helped me with this problem area of weakness. Some of these posts were just to incredible not to share so I hope that you might gain some understanding as I did. Our kids are a big concern these days. There have been times I would have loved to grab my children by the ear and ringed there necks because I could not get through to them. I think every parent or adult is faced with this at one point or another. I would like to share a better route, one that I am learning and an example that I have been shown in progress.
Reading this young boys post of how he did not believe in God and how he thought Jesus was an evil spirit I could feel an urgency flowing in my veins and my heart even began to pump faster on how I could approach him and I couldn't so I prayed and then one of my ministers I fellowship with threw so much humility on this young boy I was just struck with so much truth to examine myself. I felt an urgency with my own kids and how to respond. This response is so full of testimony and how it was addressed. This boy turned out to be the minister's nephew. I posted the comments so you could see God working through this situation.
Minister commenting back to his young 17 year old nephew. Please take time to read this especially if you have kids that you can't reach at times.
After reading the dialog between my faithbook family and my precious nephew it both saddens me and encourages me even more to continue this ministry and evoke sensitive topics of discussions such as this one. Beloved Nephew, I must confess, this is a startling revelation regarding your non belief in God and denouncing of My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, although I don't agree, however I do understand. I also know that you meant no disrespect by voicing your opposing option at 17 years old. You have a rare and yet special gift, which pales among your pier, I bet your a guy most people come to for advice.
In fact I'm glad you stepped up to the plate and jumped into the discussion, your comments confirm many things, that you are insightful, intelligent and outspoken. You are indeed quite the Lewis Male(lol)a chip off the old block.
Nephew you are not alone, I speak to countless good hearted well intended people like yourself everyday, who feel the same way you do. Yet I must move past my emotions and even practical thinking and speak to you by my own personal experience. Let me ask you a theoretical question....How do you know who you are? Are you sure you weren't among millions of babies switched at birth? I personally know individuals who discovered they were adopted after believing they were blood family members their entire lives.... Mistaken identification is a crime against Self existing.
Nephew how could you prove your identity without a driver's license, voters registration card, or I.D. card?
Did you know that millions of innocent men and women are currently in prison serving time for crimes they did not commit due to mistaken identification...and a lack of character witness... Too often innocent men and women are even executed for the same reason. Many were long gone after evidence was later discovered that could have proven their innocence. How sad is that dude? How sad is it for an innocent man to die and the only thing that was needed to save him was evidence or just one witness?
Well Nephew, my so called Knight in Shinning Armor Savior that you were referring to is my innocent man, who took my guilt and yours upon himself, and the only thing that stands between you and eternal life is two things.........Evidence and a Witness. Once you have received the evidence then you will see the case totally different. The other thing that will confirm the identity of the convicted is an eye witness...
Nephew recently in the states of Florida and Texas new laws have been passed to pay restitution for prisoners who served prison time for crimes they did not commit. One man was found innocent and he received over two million dollars for his troubles. He served over 24 years in prison and he was on a life sentence and the testimony of one witness caused an innocent man to be set free.
Son, I don't believe you are really an atheist, I believe you are Godless....I believe you are suffering from a mistaken identity of God. You've encountered the wrong witnesses, and false testimonies thus you lack evidence of Him and you have charged an innocent man of being Guilt and Non Existing. Greg here stands before you both the evidence and a witness to the true existing God our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ......Let me reintroduce myself.....I now realize how the distance of our residency has alienated us as strangers, therefore we need to get reacquainted. I am a witness which would like to testify on the behalf of my Savior.
You may not know that death should have claimed my life several times and I learned how powerless I was in my own Self Existence. Ironically when I was 17 years old I tried to commit suicide and failed for reasons beyond my explanation. Years later when I was 45 years old I was stricken by the deadly flesh eating bacteria over 95% of it's victims die....including Jim Henson Muppets creator....My doctor which claimed to be a steep atheist, converted to Christ due to his witness of my miracle. Nothing in the history of medical journals could explain why death didn't claim the life of your uncle that is speaking to you now.
Son I pray that you will never be faced with a life threatening ordeal like either of mine, in order for you to come to the realization of Who God truly is......... I hope that you would take in serious consideration your Uncle's testimony as God's evidence of His Sovereign Power and his Undying Love..... What have you got to lose? Even if you doubt being who you are and die you die with a questionable doubt. Death is death and there is no doubt about it. Dying without Christ is to die a certain death.
He already died so that when you do, you can live eternally. When you die alone, sadly you are wrapped in your own arms, decomposing alone in your own crypt or tomb waiting for eternal judgement. And how tragic it will be for you to die, and have eternal witnesses and evidence that you were wrong. Whether you believe it or not your soul(spirit)will race the reality of the existence of...........in judgement.
Greg what if this is your last witness to testify on Christ behalf for your own good....Jesus died and rose for us to do the same and all you simply have to do is accept it.... That is all and nothing else...What evidence do you have to prove him wrong and how can you prove his non-existence. Without a witness nor evidence you are convicting an Innocent Man, and please the gravity of the eternal judgement sentence for such a crime....Besides you have nothing to lose knowing He is who He is....But everything to gain...........Lord please listen and understand this testimony and listen with an open heart.
Perfect answer for the unbelieving young and old. I needed this. I hope it blesses you and you share it with others that may need to hear it. God bless and prayers out to you. If God has done something special in your life I think Christ sincerely meant for us to share it. How else with the unbelieving, believe.
Testimonies are our proof.
3 comments:
Becky...I was about to close my laptop when I glanced at your blog post on facebook and had to stop to read it. What an incredible blessing. I am assuming this is Alvin and his nephew. A strong seed has been planted because of this blessed conversation. Not only one seed, but I believe there will be many.
From now on, everytime I think of Alvin or read one of his posts, I will take the time to pray that God will send blessed rain to water the seed in his nephew's heart.
You are a beautiful voice crying out for the sake of God's kingdom...and as you continue to grow, your voice becomes more and more beautiful to the ears of those people God has placed in range of your sweet sacred melody.
I love you and thank my Father for the blessing of you and your bold, yet humility filled desire to minister,
Cindy Leigh
Yes Cindy The posting was Alvin Lewis ministering to his nephew. It is amazing because over the past year God has blessed me greatly with a network of people that have helped me grow this year. The amazing part is the very selected friends that have inspired me, have also helped me purge through some of my greatest weaknesses.
The thing I found so humbling was when speaking to someone on our faith, walls should come tumbling down and we should not fear to show our weaknesses and talk to people like they are humans because they are. Even when they don't agree or have the same faith walk. I have had great counseling from peers that I have developed over this past year.
Alvin has been blessed with a gift that came through brokeness that he uses with everyone. I have learned it wasn't only about his nephew but allowing that window to open for God to speak through us. We can't always shoot scripture because many people will not listen.
God gives us the ability to speak on the authority of the Holy Spirit sometimes we may have to use analogies of our own experiences to bring understanding to the table. The sword that was used in the conversation was a real one and was gently approached and even understanding for someone that is not spiritually discerned.
We need to get real with one another. Throwing up a wall of division and lack of understanding can really stink up the process without submitting ourselves to those that don't agree and relying upon God to bring the words to teach. There are circumstances when there is a need to lay down the scriptures and to discern our wisdom that God gave us and to share why in fact we came to believe.
Humility comes through brokenness.
Becky, I agree 100% that sharing our experiences or analogies are sometimes the best way to engage someone concerning spiritual conversations...especially to a strong nonbeliever. I believe when we keep close in our relationship with our Lord, then we will be able to hear clearly what the Holy Spirit guides us to say in these conversations. Also, since our relationship with Him is based on His great unconditional love for us, we should have the same attitude of love for the precious soul we are talking to. Another important thing that Alvin did was to actively "listen" to his nephew. When I was young, I can remember "witnessing" when my motive was to speak a planned presentation and that meant that I would work at trying to keep the conversation "on track"...which meant that I often times paid little or no attention to what that person was saying.
Again, this was a powerful blog and you are bringing glory to God and encouragement to the body by sharing Alvin's words.
Praising God for the sharpening I received from you and Alvin,
Cindy Leigh ~~
PS. Taking time to pray for you, Alvin and his nephew right now.
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