The mind is a funny thing. Have you ever noticed whenever you buy a certain make, model, and year of car from that point forward your mind notices every other car on the road that is the same as yours? You don’t have to make a conscious effort to do it. Your mind just automatically does it. Our mind is the greatest supercomputer in the universe and it looks for the familiar, what it knows, what it feels comfortable with. In my case, my mind is fully engaged in pursuing the primary focus of my life, which is to witness for Christ to save, “one more for Jesus” every single day. I know God’s word as well as anyone not in the ministry. When I read the Bible my mind automatically recognizes the truths of God I’m already familiar with and know in my spirit. Every new revelation from God is like finding a long-lost friend. Bible verses that talk about witnessing for Christ flash like neon signs for those of us dedicated to sharing the gospel message of Christ with all nations and all people. When we say Bible affirmations in prayer before God it’s the same thing as saying yes to God. You’re quoting a Bible verse and then saying you’ll obey it.
Long ago the Holy Spirit gave me the ministry of studying God’s word and giving my testimony about God. This unquenchable thirst for God’s word led me to create two Christian blog sites, www.onemoreforjesus.net and www.christinatractministry.com. I have witnessed for Christ one on one and saved nonbelievers to heaven, but let’s face it, those opportunities are few and far between. The niche God has chosen for me is to witness for Christ by sowing the gospel seed “passively” through the written word of my two blogs and my Christian tract ministry where I distribute Christian tracts containing the written gospel message and the sinner’s prayer on the back page. My tracts primarily go to my seven prison ministries. I’ve been personally handing out Christian tracts for the last ten years wherever I go. This way I leverage my witness for Christ to reach the most people possible. It also happens to be the easiest and cheapest way I know to reach nonbelievers.
In my twenty years of studying God’s word and giving my testimony about Jesus Christ I have distributed over 40,000 Christian tracts, somewhere around 2000 Bibles, and several hundred Christian books and gospel comics. My thirst for God’s word only gets greater and my commitment to God only gets stronger. In the last five years I’ve posted almost 700 blogs on my two Christian websites. The vast majority of my blogs revolve around the twin themes of my website, which are to, “study God’s word” and “witness for Christ.” Every day I wake up with the same mantra, which is to save, “one more for Jesus.” You might call me a boring person or even a “one-trick pony” because of my obsession with serving my God. I live to serve God and I make no apologies for it. I’m always thinking about the best way to leverage my witness for Christ so that I can save more nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven. I’ve been indwelt by the Holy Spirit since the age of twelve so the Lord abides in me. As I read the Bible daily and pray to God multiple times a day I’m also abiding in the Lord. I’m in fellowship with my creator. When I read my Bible my mind picks up on virtually every verse that pertains to witnessing for Christ, and there are many.
The number one commandment from God to believers is to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with nonbelievers so that they too can be saved unto eternal life in heaven by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Saving lost souls to heaven is the only way we will ever please God and the only way we’ll ever build up honor, glory, and treasure in heaven. Every day I say yes to God by speaking my Bible affirmations to God in prayer. My Bible affirmations are prayers of rejoicing to the God who made me. My Bible affirmations help me keep my eyes on Jesus as I faithfully witness for Christ in obedience to God’s word. It’s not by accident that my Bible affirmations are centered around verses where the Lord commands believers to share the gospel message of Christ. It’s not by accident that my Bible affirmations confirm my obedience to God’s word and ask God to fulfill his word through me. You cannot achieve God’s salvation plan for your life without asking for the Lord’s help. You cannot save nonbelievers to heaven without God’s help so ask him.
MONDAY AFFIRMATIONS (continued):
Matthew 4:19 – (Jesus to Peter and Andrew) – Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Mark 1:17 – (Jesus to Peter and Andrew) – Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.
Luke 5:10 – (Jesus to Peter) – Do not be afraid, from now on you will catch men.
MY AFFIRMATION:
As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I’m a fisherman for God. I’ll fish for the souls of nonbelievers all the days of my life to catch them for heaven. In obedience to Almighty God I affirm that I’ll fulfill the Great Commission given to me by Jesus, which is to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with all nations and all people. Strengthen me O Lord, and help me, as I work in your harvest field to save many lost souls to heaven as I run my race before the Lord.
NOTE: The New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic gospels because they chronicle the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and he came down from heaven to die on the cross for the sins of all men past, present, and future. But Jesus also came to earth for another reason which most people don’t know about or tend to forget if they do know. The life and ministry of Jesus Christ was intended to be an example for all believers to follow. God wants all Christians to emulate the life of Jesus in the way they live their lives. Jesus lived a life without sin and fallen man will never come close to that perfect life but we can try our best, and that is achieved by daily Bible reading, daily prayer, and obedience to the word of God. Every believer should be familiar with the actions taken by Jesus during his ministry. Study your Bible. I suggest you order your copy of, “In the Footsteps of Jesus” by Jean-Pierre Isbouts, if you want a more in-depth study of the life of Jesus.
In the three verses above Jesus is selecting his first disciples. Did Jesus Christ pick educated men, rich men, or powerful men to be his disciples? No. Instead, Jesus chose simple illiterate fishermen who couldn’t read or write. As he walked along the shores of the Sea of Galilee (a large lake), Jesus selected four fishermen to be his first four disciples (Peter, Andrew, John, and James). Jesus chose these men because of their vocation as fishermen as an example to all of us that those whom Jesus calls must also be fishermen. A fisherman is the perfect metaphor for those who witness Christ because we all can understand it immediately. The fish are nonbelievers, the boat is heaven, the net is the gospel, and the fishermen are believers catching nonbelievers by casting their nets.
Mt. 4:19 and Mk. 1:17 are almost identical verses. When God says something more than once it’s very important to him so we need to pay particular attention to what is being said. Notice that Jesus never had a conversation with any of his chosen disciples to see if they were interested in the position. The universe was created by the spoken word of God. Everything obeys the word of God and Jesus is God. When Jesus used the authoritative “command” voice of God the disciples immediately obeyed because they had no choice in the matter. Luke’s account of this story in Luke 5:10 is a little different because Jesus is only speaking to Peter. All of the future disciples had been out fishing all night on the Sea of Galilee without catching any fish. Jesus directed them to fish in another area of the lake and Peter obeyed. They netted so many fish they couldn’t get them all into the boat.
In the first part of Luke 5:10, Jesus is telling Peter, “do not be afraid” because the disciples had just seen a miracle by catching so many fish and the realization hit them that Jesus was God. In Luke 5:10, Jesus goes on to say, “you will catch men.” So we have three gospels where the first thing Jesus says when he recruits his disciples is basically, “I’m expecting you to witness for Christ” to save nonbelievers to heaven. It’s the dearest thing to God’s heart and it’s the number one thing Jesus expects from his disciples. As believers we’re disciples of Jesus too so that command is for us as much as it is for the original disciples. When the Bible says believers are to do “good works” before the Lord God is talking about witnessing for Christ to save lost souls to heaven. The more souls we help save to heaven the greater the honor, glory, and riches God will bestow on us on the last day. There is a pecking order in heaven and where we rank depends on the number of nonbelievers we save to heaven.
This story in the gospel of Luke where Peter catches a boat full of fish is there for another compelling reason. Notice that the disciples caught no fish on their own but once the power of God intervened their catch was tremendous. So, as a believer witnessing for Christ, you might catch a fish once in a while by sheer luck. However, once you pray to the Lord for his help and bring the Holy Spirit on the scene, both in you and with you, you can harvest many fish (i.e., believers) for heaven. Saving nonbelievers to heaven is a partnership between the Holy Spirit and man.
Man does 20% of the work involved is saving someone and the Holy Spirit does the other 80%. The Holy Spirit does all the heavy lifting. The Holy Spirit doesn’t help us. We help the Holy Spirit. It’s just that God is graciously giving us credit for the soul saved to heaven, even though God did most of the work. As you witness for Christ to nonbelievers you should be praying for God’s blessing before, during, and after your witness. After all, it’s the Holy Spirit who saves people to heaven, not us. Praise God for his mercy and grace because all the glory belongs to God when someone is saved. As disciples of Christ, we’re merely vessels put here for God’s pleasure. God will give believers the honor, glory, and riches they deserve when they stand before the bema judgment seat of Christ on the last day, based on our obedience to the commandments of God during our lifetime.